Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[alway]

So, barring further rescheduling, the next SpaceX flight to the ISS will be tomorrow (Friday) at around 1:22PM EST.
http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/
And the spacex site now confirms that they will in fact be trying to land the first stage back on a platform/drone ship in the ocean: http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/12/16/x-marks-spot-falcon-9-attempts-ocean-platform-landing

As long as things go well enough to hit the target (or at least get close), we should get pretty good video of that, as I would imagine the ship has a bunch of cameras pointed in all directions for data collection.

[sneakey pete]

Oh my, i'd forgotten about this one, which is good since I didn't have to wait for it. Should be interesting.

[alway]

Looks like today's SpaceX launch is being postponed til January: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/545965826054963200

On that launch schedule link from my previous post, it now says Jan 6, so probably around that.

Edit: Reason why now posted: http://www.spacex.com/press/2014/12/19/crs-5-launch-update

SpaceX also conducted a static fire test on December 17 and while the test accomplished nearly all goals, it did not run the full duration.

So basically, they did a test burn a couple days ago, it shut down early for some reason, so they turned the launch into another static fire test (which operated successfully), opting to do the actual launch after reviewing the data.

[Guardian G.I.]

Russia has successfully launched the first Angara A5 rocket. Angara A5 is to replace Soviet-era Proton rockets.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Video, courtesy of Russian Ministry of Defence

[Sheb]

It's nice to see some Russian space stuff that's not just left-over Soviet-era rocket. It's supposed to be cheaper than the Proton too, I wonder how it compare to the Falcon, cost-wise.

[alway]

From what I can tell, the Protons are something like $100m. So it probably is somewhat close, as the Falcon launches are currently around $61m today, with Falcon Heavy launches expected for $85m. The A5 seems to have a payload capacity right in the middle of those two, so if it's around $70m-$80m it would currently compete pretty well. Similarly, their PPTS would likely be a competitor for the human rated version of the Dragon capsule when those start going up.

Of course, the big thing to watch on SpaceX launch costs is whether they can pull off re-usability of a significant portion of the rocket. Currently, they're cheap, but well within the realm of plausible competition with other well managed, similarly spec'd rockets. If SpaceX can pull off reusing some of the expensive bits, the cost could go well below that of similar launch vehicles.

[10ebbor10]

ESA is seriously considering backing Skylon.

Link

[Dutrius]

IIRC, the biggest problem Skylon is currently facing is making those pre-coolers for the engines. Once those get built and tested, the flight ceiling is the limit.

[sneakey pete]

They made those actually, i'm pretty sure (or a test prototype) to me the biggest problem is the whole everything else, pre coolers does not a rocket make....
This is great news though.

From what I can tell, the Protons are something like $100m. So it probably is somewhat close, as the Falcon launches are currently around $61m today, with Falcon Heavy launches expected for $85m. The A5 seems to have a payload capacity right in the middle of those two, so if it's around $70m-$80m it would currently compete pretty well. Similarly, their PPTS would likely be a competitor for the human rated version of the Dragon capsule when those start going up.

Of course, the big thing to watch on SpaceX launch costs is whether they can pull off re-usability of a significant portion of the rocket. Currently, they're cheap, but well within the realm of plausible competition with other well managed, similarly spec'd rockets. If SpaceX can pull off reusing some of the expensive bits, the cost could go well below that of similar launch vehicles.

If the cost of two extra first stages is $12 million, that's the most you could expect to save from a normal falcon 9 then, in fact probably less as you'd still need to clean/refurbish and reful the recovered stage, and the stage would still probably have a limited number of flights. There's probably also going to be issues recovering the core stage from falcon 9 Heavies also as i imagine that they will be going higher.

[10ebbor10]

And, IIRC, SpaceX looses like 30% payload capacity to make their system reuseable.

[alway]

More interesting stuff from the Curiosity rover: http://www.space.com/28194-mars-rover-curiosity-photos-ancient-life.html

A careful study of images taken by the NASA rover Curiosity has revealed intriguing similarities between ancient sedimentary rocks on Mars and structures shaped by microbes on Earth. The findings suggest, but do not prove, that life may have existed earlier on the Red Planet.

On Earth, carpet-like colonies of microbes trap and rearrange sediments in shallow bodies of water such as lakes and coastal areas, forming distinctive features that fossilize over time.

The distribution patterns of the microbial structures on Earth vary depending on where they are found. Different types of structures are found together in different types of environments. For instance, microbial mats that grow in rivers will create a different set of associations than those that grow in seasonally flooded environments.

The patterns found in the Gillespie Lake outcrop are consistent with the microbial structures found in similar environments on Earth.

What’s more, the terrestrial structures change in a specific way over time. As the microbial mats form, grow, dry up, crack and re-grow, specific structures become associated with them. Here again, Noffke found that the distribution pattern in Martian rocks correspond with microbial structures on Earth that have changed over time. Taken together, these clues strengthen her argument beyond simply pointing out the similarities in shape.

"But if the Martian structures aren’t of biological origin," Noffke says, "then the similarities in morphology, but also in distribution patterns with regards to MISS on Earth would be an extraordinary coincidence."

And the original paper, for those interested in the details and diagrams and such: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/ast.2014.1218

Inconclusive, certainly, but potentially quite an interesting find. Especially since, as it mentions, similar formations are some of the oldest known fossil evidence of life on earth (as they are essentially just large colonies formed from micro-organisms, and so don't require the complexities of multicellular evolution), and those fossils date to a similar time period to that in which Gale Crater was a lake.


And in SpaceX news, their big launch + landing has been postponed until Saturday, at 4:47 EST. A potential issue with an actuator on the second stage thrust vectoring system came up and needed investigating.

[WillowLuman]

Well, holy shit. Inconclusive indeed but fairly strong evidence.

[alway]

Well, the SpaceX launch is done, with mixed results. Payload made it up just fine; first stage hit the landing barge hard. So they've mostly got it down; they successfully hit the target, albeit faster than they would have liked.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/553855109114101760
"Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho."
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/553857574005915648
"Didn't get good landing/impact video. Pitch dark and foggy. Will piece it together from telemetry and ... actual pieces."

Webstream, from just before launch: http://youtu.be/p7x-SumbynI?t=19m45s
Music from Kerbal Space Program at 3:40 in the webstream. :v

[10ebbor10]

Their boat is hardly damaged, so that's good.

[10ebbor10]

So, according to the twitter thingy, the rocket ran out of hydraulic fluid just before landing.