SpaceX Falcon Heavy (updates & maiden flight)

[Draggendrop Veteran]

^ Now tell the truth....did you put too much sugar in your 5 coffee's.......you have been busy....   Good post! 

[Blue-Vision]

We've got one of the best up-and-coming Coffee Chains in the country here in my town ... waaaaay better than Starbucks and Tim Horton's.  And yes, I was on Mocha Latte' #3 by that post. They're still local (3 stores, 2 more opening by mid-summer) but if they keep it up they'll be going State-wide before the decade is out. If driving to Chicago down I-94, stop in and give them a try.

 

http://jacksoncoffeeco.com/  

[Blue-Vision]

And thank you very kindly for the encouragement. I've been taking extra Classes on the side including my normal coursework. I'm not taking the Summer off, gonna work straight through. Trying to get ahead. Those are the traits that SpaceX wants, and I really wanna work for them. Multi-discipline Graduates with strong cross-skill abilities. I'm going for the gusto ... 

[DocM]

I finished in 2.75 years , plus working, so buck up - you can do it

[Draggendrop Veteran]

young "grasshoppers" eh Doc!     

[DocM]

Yup, and passed it on. Our youngest starts at M in the fall with credits in his pocket. Grandson is doing the same.

[Blue-Vision]

Nice!

 

By the end of this third Term, I'll have 12 Credits already. (Gosh, has it already been 6 months?) I start my Degree work next Term (July 5th), keep working the classwork the entire year, take next summer off (I'll be ready for a break by then), then continue. All the while I'm taking extra Classes in Engineering and Math on the side, getting Certs wherever/however I can.

 

Those look fantastic when you're dropping Credentials. I've had to back up those credentials to a Professor, if you folks recall; and it all worked out. Took a minute, but it worked out.  

[Draggendrop Veteran]

SpaceX - Falcon Heavy - 39A Update 06-06-2016

video is 4 min.

 

 

[chrisj1968]

That Falcon heavy is a real beast. with all those engines firing and that kind of thrust what kind of payloads are planned for this?

[Draggendrop Veteran]

10 minutes ago, chrisj1968 said:

That Falcon heavy is a real beast. with all those engines firing and that kind of thrust what kind of payloads are planned for this?

There is a waiting list for commercial launches as well as being pivotal for Mars missions coming up. Some of the heavier F9 payloads may be switched to the heavy as well, for reusability benefits.

 

Launch manifest

http://www.spacex.com/missions

 

Falcon Heavy brief...

http://www.spacex.com/falcon-heavy

 

This is a monster and will be put to use immediately....will be the most powerful lifter on the planet, till SpaceX's next "puppy" is introduced.

 

 

[chrisj1968]

what mathematical computation would be needed to figure out how long a trip to mars will take? I heard people will make a one way trip to MARS to never return. that's one heck of a way to shape ones future. 

 

What?  time= speed of travel divided by distance?

 

Earth to Mars is 47.5 million miles

Edited June 9, 2016 by chrisj1968

[Beittil]

Current distance between the two planets is meaningless, you never travel to Mars as if in a straight line from A to B such as shown in your image. Mars transfers work in a way where you target for where Mars is going to be in X time.

 

As you can see in the image above (which is for Spirit and Opportunity rover trajectories to Mars), Earth and Mars were in fact quite close to each other at the time of departure, with Mars being a bit ahead of Earth. By the time of arrival however Earth was way ahead of Mars

[DocM]

Red Dragon in 2018 will likely use a March-December path, about 9 months.

 

BFS will use a ~90 day transit initially, but Musk is now saying this will evolve to a ~30 day transit later. Clearly, they have some kind of breakthrough propulsion in mind; fusion rocket, high thrust plasma engines, something.

[chrisj1968]

8 hours ago, DocM said:

Red Dragon in 2018 will likely use a March-December path, about 9 months.

 

BFS will use a ~90 day transit initially, but Musk is now saying this will evolve to a ~30 day transit later. Clearly, they have some kind of breakthrough propulsion in mind; fusion rocket, high thrust plasma engines, something.

a Fusion or plasma engine would definitely be a Star Trek like thing. seeing they used a nuclear reactor of sorts. I know a movie, but interesting as it is.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

8 hours ago, DocM said:

Red Dragon in 2018 will likely use a March-December path, about 9 months.

 

BFS will use a ~90 day transit initially, but Musk is now saying this will evolve to a ~30 day transit later. Clearly, they have some kind of breakthrough propulsion in mind; fusion rocket, high thrust plasma engines, something.

ooof...that thing would be booking.  New Horizons left earth's orbit going ~36,000 mph and would take it ~40 days to reach Mars in a straight line (assuming Mars closest approach of 35 million miles).  

(36,000 x 24 = 864,000 per day --> 35,000,000 / 864,000 = 40.5)

Of course, as @Beittilpointed out, we do not travel in straight lines....so you'd have to tack on a much further distance.

 

Going to be really interesting to see how SpaceX pulls this 30 days transit off...not only the speed it travels to Mars but the means of deceleration as well. 

 

[Blue-Vision]

If they're doing L1/L2 Refuels, then have low-dV TMI (Trans-Mars Injection) requirements for escape then it could be done without needing new technology. All they'd have to worry about is slowing down, and they'd have plenty enough fuel to do it with.  

[Blue-Vision]

Obviously they'll try it first with unmanned, likely a preliminary Supply Ship beforehand to get things ready for the "Footprint Crew" when they land.  

[DocM]

MSNW/Helion's** Fusion Engine reactor has DoD, DoE and private funding, and is targeting 2019 for startup and 2022 for going commercial. Another of their Field Reversed Configuration (FRC) techs like the ELF thruster, which has MASA funding. These guys are the real deal.

 

** spinoffs of the University of Washington, MSNW is <5 miles from SpaceX's data satellite/Hall Effect thruster factory in Redmond, WA.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Modifications Transforming Pad A for Falcon Launches

 

Photo by NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

 

Quote

Removing hundreds of thousands of pounds of steel and adding robust, new fixtures, SpaceX is steadily transforming Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for use as a launch pad for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

 

The launchers will lift numerous payloads into orbit, including the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft with astronauts aboard bound for the International Space Station.

 

A horizontal integration facility was built at the base of the pad and rails installed running up the incline to the flame trench. Instead of arriving to the pad on the back of the crawler-transporters, SpaceX rockets will roll on a custom-built transporter-erector that will carry them up the hill and then stand the rocket up for liftoff.

 

The fixed service structure at the pad deck will remain, although more than 500,000 pounds of steel has already been removed from it.

 

SpaceX has already started removing the rotating service structure, which is attached to the fixed structure. Built for the need to load a shuttle’s cargo bay at the pad, it does not serve a purpose for Falcon launchers whose payloads are mounted on the top of the rocket.

 

of note....

 

Quote

SpaceX leased the historic launch pad from NASA in April 2014 and has been steadily remaking it from a space shuttle launch facility into one suited for the needs of the Falcon rockets and their payloads.

 

It is the same launch pad where Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins lifted off on July 16, 1969, to begin their Apollo 11 flight that would make history as the first to land people on the moon.

 

Almost all signs of Apollo-era hardware were removed from the launch pad when it was rebuilt for the shuttle. Photos by NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

Very special pad, and fitting that SpaceX has it.

 

[DocM]

Note the tent. They're building the new launch table under it.

 

The vertical beams around the tent are massive 60 foot (18.3 meter) tall "rainbirds" - water deluges to reduce the huge acoustic impulse generated by Falcon Heavy's 27 Merlin 1D engines suddenly producing 5,130,000 lbf (22,819,000 Newtons) of thrust. About the same as 18 Boeing 747 airliners, or 5.96 times the thrust of a ULA Atlas V 401.

 

This beast is going to be loud.

 

Now consider that the BFR will generate 3-4 times as much thrust on liftoff

 

Edited June 18, 2016 by DocM

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Wow...that level would damage internal organs, if one was too close to the pad.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

bits and bytes

 

39A - Falcon Heavy Prep 7.10.2016

video is 2:28 min.

 

 

 

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Here is a Google Street view of 39A from January 2012

 

39A January 2012

 

then compare that to the image 2 posts above.

 

[Blue-Vision]

Awww yeah. Movin' right along.  The place looks pretty good! Thanks DD!

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

SpaceX still eyeing fall launch for maiden flight of Falcon Heavy

 

An artist’s rendering of Falcon Heavy launching into space. Image Credit: SpaceX
 

Quote

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Recent reports that SpaceX’s inaugural flight of the Falcon Heavy would take place in the spring of next year (2017) don’t gel with what representatives at SpaceX have told SpaceFlight Insider. According to SpaceX, the NewSpace firm is still planning on launching the first of these powerful new rockets “… later this fall.”

SpaceX Stats has reported that the first flight of the Falcon Heavy would take place in April of next year (2017) and that there was a 39 percent chance of launching at that time. The site goes on to state that this will be SpaceX’s first launch of the year.

Seeking to confirm this date, SpaceFlight Insider reached out to SpaceX spokesperson John Taylor who informed us that the Falcon Heavy is currently slated to take to the skies later this fall.

At present, SpaceX, working under a 20-year lease with NASA, is renovating Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A to support launches of the Falcon Heavy.

SpaceX has been kept busy in 2016 with eight successful launches having already been completed. Up next is the flight of the Amos 6, a 5.5 ton communications satellite that is currently slated for launch at 3 a.m. EDT (07:00 GMT) Sept. 3 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.

 

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/space-exploration-technologies/spacex-still-eyeing-fall-launch-maiden-flight-falcon-heavy/

 

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