SpaceX Updates (Thread 9)

[Beittil]

Whoa, Elon just had SpaceX and Tesla FB pages trashed after being called out on it in the #deleteFacebook movement. Dang. 

[DocM]

 

[TrevorLahey]

I don't understand what all the fuss is about Facebook.  I mean, Equifax lost much more confidential information.  Cambridge got who your friends are? (Which most people have set to public anyways).  A voter database was hacked a while back too.  Not a big deal apparently because that wasn't in the news very long at all.

 

I haven't been following all that closely, but I think this is blown out of proportion because their are ties to Trump's campaign, and anything Trump related is front page news. 

 

That's all I'll say... wrong place for this.

[Astra.Xtreme]

12 minutes ago, bguy_1986 said:

I don't understand what all the fuss is about Facebook.  I mean, Equifax lost much more confidential information.  Cambridge got who your friends are? (Which most people have set to public anyways).  A voter database was hacked a while back too.  Not a big deal apparently because that wasn't in the news very long at all.

 

I haven't been following all that closely, but I think this is blown out of proportion because their are ties to Trump's campaign, and anything Trump related is front page news. 

 

That's all I'll say... wrong place for this.

Well if any person or company remotely helps anything related to Trump, every lefty media outlet and their sheep will complain non-stop and take every possible action to tear them down.  They're so convinced that Facebook and the Russians won the election for Trump in some outrageously illegal way, and the circus has dragged on since election day.  They're the world's most pathetic sore losers.  But whatevs, it's their choice to live in a constant state of unhappiness and negativity.  

 

But let's not digress.  Back to SpaceX!

[DocM]

Another set of constellation launches....

 

 

[DocM]

There's a draft environmental assessment about Dragon landing in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

With a new Dragon processing, refurb & testing facility going up at KSC adjacent to LZ-1 & LZ-2 that should cover landings in the eastern Gulf, but for cargoes to be delivered to NASA Houston ISTM western Gulf landings coupled with cargo and hypergolic propellant offloading facility at Boca Chica would make sense. Once unloaded and safed they can truck it to KSC.

 

Quote

Draft Environmental Assessment for Issuing a Reentry License to SpaceX for Landing the Dragon Spacecraft in the Gulf of Mexico

AGENCIES: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), lead Federal agency; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, cooperating agency; United States Air Force, cooperating agency.

This Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) is submitted for review pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA; 42 United States Code 4321, et seq.), Council on Environmental Quality NEPA implementing regulations (40 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 1500 to 1508), and FAA Order 1050.1F, Environmental Impacts: Policies and Procedures.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: The FAA is evaluating Space Exploration Technologies Corp.s (SpaceXs) proposal to conduct landings of the Dragon spacecraft (Dragon) in the Gulf of Mexico, which would require the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation to issue a reentry license. SpaceX has two versions of Dragon: Dragon-1 and Dragon-2. 

Dragon-1 is used for cargo missions to the International Space Station (ISS), and SpaceX intends that Dragon-2 will eventually be used to transport astronauts to the ISS. Under the Proposed Action, the FAA would issue a reentry license to SpaceX, which would authorize SpaceX to conduct up to six Dragon landing operations per year in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Each landing operation would include orbital reentry, splashdown, and recovery.

The Draft EA evaluates potential impacts from the Proposed Action and the No Action on air quality; climate; noise and noise-compatible land use; Department of Transportation Act, Section 4(f); biological resources (including aquatic plants and animals and special status species); coastal resources; water resources; natural resources and energy supply; and hazardous materials, solid waste, and pollution prevention. Potential cumulative impacts are also addressed in this EA.

PUBLIC REVIEW PROCESS: In accordance with the applicable requirements, the FAA is initiating a public review and comment period for the Draft EA. The 30‐day public comment period for the NEPA process begins with the publication of the Draft EA. Comments are due on May 4, 2018 or 30 days from the date of publication of the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register, whichever is later.

CONTACT INFORMATION: To submit comments on the Draft EA or ask questions, please contact Daniel Czelusniak, Environmental Protection Specialist, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW, Suite 325, Washington, DC 20591; 

email: [email protected].

This Environmental Assessment becomes a Federal document when evaluated, signed, and dated by the responsible FAA official.

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by DocM

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Found this video interesting ... 

 

 

[DocM]

That's a converted Space Shuttle transporter SpaceX bought at auction then modified.

[DocM]

Info on a big investment in SpaceX for StarLink deployment.

 

Fund: Fidelity Investments (major player)
Series: I
Amount: $510 million
Estimated share price: $165±
Valuation: $27.4 billion (up ≥25% vs. 2017)

 

In 2015 Fidelity invested $100 million shortly after the StarLink announcement. Google added another $900 million.

[Blue-Vision]

 

They're big-time, and Starlink is gonna add to the bottom line in a big way. Google's already on-board and things are looking shiny.  

[TrevorLahey]

3 minutes ago, Unobscured Vision said:

Google's already on-board and things are looking shiny.  

That's the unfortunate part.... Google is involved.  They are worse than Facebook IMO.

[Blue-Vision]

Google is an investor because they want the venture to succeed. I personally haven't seen anything from Google that leads me to believe they're a problem.

 

Either way it's sliced, SpaceX needs the investors. Semantics can come later.

[DocM]

Larry Page (CEO Alphabet, cofounder Planetary Resources) and Elon Musk are both members of the "PayPal Mafia" and good buddies; partying, staying over etc. 

 

Page said in a 2015 PBS interview he'd prefer to leave his fortune to Musk for his projects, so that $900m may be a down payment.

[DocM]

 

 

[DocM]

 

[DocM]

 

[DocM]

 

[Beittil]

Haha, somebody has been tripping balls again this weekend...

 

Fun thing is though, in a few years we will probably see this crazy talk actually happen

 

Love it!

[DocM]

 

[+John. Subscriber¹]

4 hours ago, DocM said:

 

 

'like Mr Steven', so not Mr Steven retasked, but a new ship! the SpaceX navy gets bigger still!

[DocM]

2 hours ago, John. said:

 

'like Mr Steven', so not Mr Steven retasked, but a new ship! the SpaceX navy gets bigger still!

 

They'll need two catcher ships per launch site for so long as F9/FH fly - one for each fairing half. Once the fairings are caught one could offload its cargo and catch the upper stage a few orbits later.

 

Never a dull moment with Elon and his mad band of engineers! Can you even imagine their hallway campfire meetings?

[Blue-Vision]

4 hours ago, DocM said:

 

They'll need two catcher ships per launch site for so long as F9/FH fly - one for each fairing half. Once the fairings are caught one could offload its cargo and catch the upper stage a few orbits later.

 

Never a dull moment with Elon and his mad band of engineers! Can you even imagine their hallway campfire meetings?

They probably listen to Primus and make smores using bunsen burners.  

And yes, that's code.  

[DocM]

 

[Blue-Vision]

 And so it begins ...

 

Oh, and it'll partially be a solution using composites.

[DocM]