Falcon Surprise, SpaceX Says Something Big is Coming |
Falcon Surprise, SpaceX Says Something Big is Coming |
Apr 5 2011, 04:01 AM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1018 Joined: 29-November 05 From: Seattle, WA, USA Member No.: 590 |
From SpaceX about two hours ago.
QUOTE Something Big is Coming Judging from the video (and the fact that the Falcon 9 Heavy Maiden Launch showed up on their mainifest a month or two ago) I'm guessing this'll be the F9H announcement. But, given the fanfare, it could be anything.ElonMusk Holding Press Conference on Tuesday, April 5th Elon Musk,CEO and Chief Technical Officer of SpaceX, will hold a press conference on Tuesday, April 5th at 11:20am EST to discuss SpaceX's latest venture. Get a sneakpeak of the discussion on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6HQ9RtVCE. The press conference will be webcast live at: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/spacex. The press conference will also be accessible via the home page ofSpaceX.com by clicking the main banner. If you are unable to watch live, the press conference will be archived at http://www.visualwebcaster.com/spacex for future viewing. --Greg This post has been edited by Astro0: Apr 5 2011, 04:31 AM
Reason for edit: Edited to fix formatting problems
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Apr 6 2011, 05:37 AM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1592 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
Beats me.
Because there is a brand new space launch complex there for the Delta IV heavy that probably won't be doing very much? edit: Actually, looks like they'll be using the Titan IV SLC-4 that the air force should've kept around a little longer. Might just allow more multitasking. |
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Apr 6 2011, 01:08 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 813 Joined: 8-February 04 From: Arabia Terra Member No.: 12 |
I wonder what could be done with a little New Horizons size spacecraft + kick stage on a monster launch vehicle like that. Flybys of Eris or Sedna?
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Apr 6 2011, 01:44 PM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 593 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 279 |
~12 tonnes in low Mars orbit would be rather entertaining, too!
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Apr 6 2011, 04:34 PM
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#5
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
~12 tonnes in low Mars orbit would be rather entertaining, too! 12 tons to TMI and 12 tons in Mars orbit are two different things. -------------------- |
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Apr 6 2011, 06:46 PM
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 593 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 279 |
12 tons to TMI and 12 tons in Mars orbit are two different things. Oh, agreed. If the Earth-orbited 52 tonne figure is correct and the back of my envelope is working, ~6.2km/s takes you from LEO to LMO, and that delta V gives you a 12T final mass with a LH/LOX rocket of specific impulse ~450. Andy |
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Apr 6 2011, 07:09 PM
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#7
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
I wouldn't count on Falcon Heavy having anything near those 53 mt in the near future. The current 1st stage tank size simply doesn't support that kind of propellant load. Wer'e talking 1450 tons liftoff mass compared to 310 t of current Falcon 9.
It seems obvious an upgrade path at one point would be to stretch the tank by as much as 40 or 50% to take advantage of the upgraded Merlin engine thrust. The CGI video shows a Falcon Heavy with current tank sizes and I'd wager that one would put in the ballpark of previous Falcon 9 Heavy estimates - about 30 tons to LEO. Tanks stretched by that much would look unnaturally skinny for F9's diameter. -------------------- |
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