SpaceX Updates (Thread 8)

By DocM
in Science News & Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

DocM

Posted
  • Author
Posted

The very smooth, and even more accurate, CRS-11 stage landing indicated another iteration. The stage GPS provides X/Y and a less precise Z. Radar provides the precision Z, and a few months ago there were extensive radar tests at Hawthorne and McGregor. Seems the results just went live, and the solution for ASDS and Landing Zones is pure KISS.

 

 

  • Blue-Vision
  • Like 1
Grand Master

Blue-Vision

Posted
Posted

Aaaaand NOW we know why the DoD was watching the NROL and Inmarsat 5 launches ... :yes: :woot:

Article link

SpaceX wins launch of U.S. Air Force X-37B space plane

Quote

x37b.thumb.jpg.eadaf443c19aefcc1d78eb02ae72b6af.jpgx37b2.thumb.jpg.af3f576fa4f4a6b329a2d7e5eee9953d.jpg

FILE PHOTO: The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mission 3 space plane is shown after landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California October 17, 2014 in this handout photograph provided by Vandenberg Air Force Base. Images (C) REUTERS/Boeing/ Vandenberg Air Force Base/Handout via Reuters/File Photo

 

By Irene Klotz | CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.

 

Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp will fly its first mission for the U.S. Air Force in August when it launches the military's X-37B miniature spaceplane, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said on Tuesday.

 

Four previous X-37B missions were launched by United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets. ULA is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Boeing Co (BA.N).

 

"SpaceX will be sending the next Air Force payload up into space in August," Wilson said during webcast testimony before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. She later specified that the payload would be one of the Air Force's two X-37B spaceplanes.

 

/giggle

 

ULA are DONE. Losing the USAF?! LMAO .... damn ... how badly do you have to mess up to pull THAT off? Only thing in memory is 1) Don't get it done, and 2) Let the competition bite ya in the rear end. 

 

Guess #2 applies here. :laugh:

  • philcruicks, flyingskippy and DocM
  • Like 3
Grand Master

Blue-Vision

Posted
Posted

Yessir. :yes: AND more buys are certain to be incoming, but I think that Falcon Heavy is going to find more use as a Mil/Gov launcher for the first half of its' service life -- at least until ITS Junior arrives in 2020/2021 (if the sources are correct).

  • 2 weeks later...
Grand Master

DocM

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Upcoming SpaceX appearances where exploration news may drop.

 

July 19: Elon Musk; ISS R&D Conference

 

June 21: Gwynne Shotwell; US Senate hearing "Reopening the American Frontier: Promoting Partnerships Between Commercial Space and the U.S. Government to Advance Exploration and Settlement"

 

June 22: Gwynne Shotwell; The Space Show 

 

Sept. 7-10: Tom Mueller; Mars Society Conference

 

Sept. 25-29: Elon Musk; International Astronautical Conference 2017

Grand Master

Blue-Vision

Posted
Posted

:yes: And there's a review of SLS incoming ... a HARD review, later this year and if things aren't looking up (and they WON'T), NASA is gonna cancel the SLS program in favor of ITS/BFR/ITS Junior. Orion will be adapted to fly on Falcon Heavy since it's almost done.

 

USAF/NRO/Gov payloads will be rerouted and reworked for cost effectiveness. Those "pork contracts"? DONE. FINISHED. Senator Shelby and the others who have kept the money train rolling will no longer have control of the funding. It'll be handled by the Vice President's Space Council directly.

 

Boeing has begun the process of splitting its' business into divisions in an attempt to "save itself" and isolate those sectors that are losing money. And guess what ... ten-to-one that ULA will be on the chopping block or spurred off into it's own independant corporation? Any takers?

 

Ahh ... the winds of change smell so sweet.

  • TrevorLahey
  • Like 1
Mentor

Beittil

Posted
Posted (edited)

Actually, if ULA were to be cut loose by Boeing/LM it would only be good for them! It would mean they get to keep their revenue and can finally start doing some R/D for themselves! Then again, IF this scenario were to ever unfold I fear it would be way, WAY, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to late for them to recover from headstart SpaceX has taken, not to mention that in a few years Blue Origin will no undoubtedly show them their heels as well.

  • Blue-Vision and DocM
  • Like 2
Grand Master

Blue-Vision

Posted
Posted (edited)

I would see this as @DocM sees it ... more of a Blue Origin buying out ULA. They get the access to the ULA patents and the proprietary technologies (the Atlas/Delta name, etc) and the talent pool, facilities, all of that. Then Bezos & Co. can really take ULA to the next level and truly be the "United Launch Alliance". Join forces with Orbital ATK, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and the rest of OldSpace. Sign agreements with LockMart, etc. I think it would mark a new beginning. So yeah, I'm with your line of thinking and DocM's.

Edited by Unobscured Vision
Grand Master

Blue-Vision

Posted
Posted

Yeah. I think ULA is gonna be worth $3~5 billion. Totally fair market value, given that they don't actually make any money right now. Bezos could make it shine, and Tory Bruno could actually have a fair shot at making things work for once.

Mentor

Beittil

Posted
Posted (edited)

True, I think that as far as leading the company goes Tory is doing one hell of a job, it just sucks for him that he is basically forced by the higher ups to achieve 'lowering costs' by means of staff layoffs =/ Ow well, at least he has an awesome voice. His talks and speeches are always a delight to listen to :D

  • Blue-Vision
  • Like 1
Grand Master

DocM

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, Beittil said:

Totally feasible to.. I mean, if he can buy worthless crap like Whole Foods and The Washington Post out of his pocket change :p Why not ULA :D

More like he bought WaPo with $250 million of the CIA's money, transferred from his AWS pocket ($600+ million/year for CIA cloud services) to the Graham family (who have been in bed with CIA for 60+ years.)

 

But we digress...

Edited by DocM
Grand Master

DocM

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

The new South Padre Island amphitheater's plan is now public. General purpose, but also oriented for watching SpaceX launches from Boca Chica.

 

Brownsville Herald....

 

Quote

The amphitheater will be located at Isla Blanca Park, overlooking the dolphin cove area and the ship channel.

 

"It's going to be very nice," said Joe Vega, Cameron County Parks director. "It's also going to be a great location to view SpaceX launches, as well."

He said there will be performing arts and concerts, and people could even have weddings there.

 

 

amphitheater.thumb.jpg.3f00e1404887dd80665562bce71eed7c.jpg

  • Blue-Vision, Skiver and Emn1ty
  • Like 3
Grand Master

Blue-Vision

Posted
Posted

Hehe! :D Ten years from now, Brownsville and the entire area surrounding it will be jamming. Won't even recognize it ... and the amount of brainpower down there will be literally mind-boggling.

 

It's coming, folks. The next great boom town. :yes: 

Grand Master

DocM

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

And for the record

Falcon 9 now has more successful flights than Delta IV (all variants)

35-34

 

A thought strikes me; what with CRS-12 and other launches moving into August and September leaving just IntelSat 35e in early July (so far),

 

LC-40 may be nearing completion and the planned LC-39A shutdown & upgrades for Falcon Heavy and Commercial Crew is immenent.

 

 

 

Edited by DocM
  • Blue-Vision
  • Like 1
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • 2TB WD_Black SN7100 PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD drops to its lowest price in over three months

      By eilegz · Posted

      prices are insane its like 140 dollars more expensive, sigh
    • Microsoft will soon allow some users to block Copilot from analyzing their Office files

      By Geezy · Posted

      This seems backwards. You should have to explicitly authorize files for outside use. It shouldn't be the default.
    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it

      By Steven P. · Posted

      Wow you are right, I never even noticed this until you said it! (870E Aorus Master) Before testing this card I had a TP-Link tx401 10GbE PCIe card in that slot (now using XikeStor 310 Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter).
    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it

      By DrWankel · Posted

      Lack of 5.1 makes this a no sale. What I really wish creative would make would be a USB version that supports 5.1 analog audio for speakers, can switch to headphone mode, and matches the specs of their top tier cards. The current X870E AMD motherboards dont have a great option for adding a PCIE x1 card without cutting down pcie lanes to the graphics card.
    • The Microsoft Office feature that time forgot

      By Usama Jawad96 · Posted

      The Microsoft Office feature that time forgot by Usama Jawad I have been actively using Microsoft Word for the past couple of decades in academic, professional, and personal capacities. Although I used it through the perpetual version of Office apps at the start, I have been an active subscriber of Microsoft 365 Family subscription for over five years now. This means that my Word installation is regularly updated with new features, some of which I don't really like, but that's beside the point. As new features get continuously added, old ones that used to be a staple of Word have started to take a backseat. While I was reminiscing over my Windows experiences from my childhood today, I suddenly remember one such capability that I heavily used in my younger years but have not really touched in over a decade, and haven't seen in documents created by others either. That feature is WordArt. Just to clarify, WordArt is not a Microsoft product specific to Word, and is included in other Office apps like PowerPoint and Excel too. However, Microsoft Word is the app that I used Word Art in heavily, while making assignments or other deliverables for school. If you're unaware, WordArt offers a collection of styling techniques for text, introducing 3D effects like shadows and reflections in the text. It used to be one of the coolest things ever when I was at school and me and my classmates would often compete to ensure that our assignment's title in WordArt was truly the best and stood out above the rest. See some examples of WordArt, still present in the latest versions of Word below: Although WordArt is undeniably cool, it has taken a bit of a backseat, and has been relegated from the Home tab to the Insert toolbar, along with a bunch of other utilities, making it very easy to miss. This isn't exactly surprising because WordArt doesn't really have a place in academic and professional documents anymore, and while I have seen some creatives using it while developing promo material, even that sector has gravitated more towards dedicated graphic designing tools in the past years. For the vast majority of us, WordArt doesn't really exist, and that's alright. At least, it's still an option that can allow us to reminisce our childhood or even make some quick text stylization, if we really need it. Perhaps its usage has waned over time or the novelty has worn off, but I haven't even seen children use it in their academic assignments anymore. In fact, many don't even know that it exists. Maybe that's the fate of every beloved feature. What once felt cutting edge eventually becomes a relic, quietly tucked away as tastes, trends, and technology move on. WordArt may no longer dominate school assignments or decorate the covers of classroom projects, but for those of us who grew up with it, it remains a colorful reminder of a time when making text glow, bend, and cast giant shadows felt like the height of creativity. Hidden behind a few clicks in modern Word, it still survives not as a productivity tool, but as a small piece of computing nostalgia that refuses to disappear.

  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      DrWankel earned a badge
      First Post
    • Reacting Well
      DrWankel earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Week One Done
      Supreme Spray LV earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Genuinetonerink- Dubai earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Genuinetonerink- Dubai earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      495
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      158
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      88
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      74
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      70
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!