Space first stage recovery.

I was really thrilled by the recovery of the Falcon 9 first stage last
week. I thought it was the most exciting launch since the first launch
of the Space Shuttle Columbia. At the time, I believed NASA which was
saying that after an initial development period, the Shuttle program
would launch a space ship about once a week. Lots of things would of
been different if the Shuttle could have been launched affordably once a
week.

Now back to SpaceX. Does anyone know what is SpaceX's game plan with a
recoverable first stage? They can just keep on as is and increase their
profit margin. Or they can try to get more customers by lowering their
price. They can also improve their rocket by tearing down the recovered
first stage and scanning the pieces to figure out which need to be
stronger which could be lighter or what not, that, at least in the short
term, probably increases their costs per flight instead of lowering it.
I suspect they will do a little bit of each of the above. But does
anyone have clues of what they are doing? Is there any sign that they
are offering flights for less than before?


Alain Fournier

On Sunday, December 27, 2015 at 8:26:02 PM UTC-5, Alain Fournier wrote:
I was really thrilled by the recovery of the Falcon 9 first stage last
week. I thought it was the most exciting launch since the first launch
of the Space Shuttle Columbia. At the time, I believed NASA which was
saying that after an initial development period, the Shuttle program
would launch a space ship about once a week. Lots of things would of
been different if the Shuttle could have been launched affordably once a
week.

Now back to SpaceX. Does anyone know what is SpaceX's game plan with a
recoverable first stage? They can just keep on as is and increase their
profit margin. Or they can try to get more customers by lowering their
price. They can also improve their rocket by tearing down the recovered
first stage and scanning the pieces to figure out which need to be
stronger which could be lighter or what not, that, at least in the short
term, probably increases their costs per flight instead of lowering it.
I suspect they will do a little bit of each of the above. But does
anyone have clues of what they are doing? Is there any sign that they
are offering flights for less than before?


Alain Fournier

elon musk has said he not only wants to go to mars, but start a settlement there.

given his big plans, i believe they will try to drive the price down, and whats his current price cut? its a lot

I ant to see what space x does to develop a fast transit to mars system.

cutting travel time from 6 or 7 months, tom 6 weeks will make mars so much more doable

On 28/12/2015 1:10 PM, bob haller wrote:
On Sunday, December 27, 2015 at 8:26:02 PM UTC-5, Alain Fournier wrote:
I was really thrilled by the recovery of the Falcon 9 first stage last
week. I thought it was the most exciting launch since the first launch
of the Space Shuttle Columbia. At the time, I believed NASA which was
saying that after an initial development period, the Shuttle program
would launch a space ship about once a week. Lots of things would of
been different if the Shuttle could have been launched affordably once a
week.

Now back to SpaceX. Does anyone know what is SpaceX's game plan with a
recoverable first stage? They can just keep on as is and increase their
profit margin. Or they can try to get more customers by lowering their
price. They can also improve their rocket by tearing down the recovered
first stage and scanning the pieces to figure out which need to be
stronger which could be lighter or what not, that, at least in the short
term, probably increases their costs per flight instead of lowering it.
I suspect they will do a little bit of each of the above. But does
anyone have clues of what they are doing? Is there any sign that they
are offering flights for less than before?


Alain Fournier

elon musk has said he not only wants to go to mars, but start a settlement there.

given his big plans, i believe they will try to drive the price down, and whats his current price cut? its a lot

I ant to see what space x does to develop a fast transit to mars system.

cutting travel time from 6 or 7 months, tom 6 weeks will make mars so much more doable

Getting there in 6 weeks requires a huge delta-V - twice, and twice more
to get back in the same time. I don't see this coming about through
incremental improvements in existing rocket designs.

Sylvia.

In article ,
ess says...

On 28/12/2015 1:10 PM, bob haller wrote:

elon musk has said he not only wants to go to mars, but start a settlement there.

given his big plans, i believe they will try to drive the price down, and whats his current price cut? its a lot

I ant to see what space x does to develop a fast transit to mars system.

cutting travel time from 6 or 7 months, tom 6 weeks will make mars so much more doable

Getting there in 6 weeks requires a huge delta-V - twice, and twice more
to get back in the same time. I don't see this coming about through
incremental improvements in existing rocket designs.

Do remember this is Bob. He has nothing to back up the above assertions
and hand waving. He just thinks Musk can do better than NASA and
guesses at numbers.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer

On Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at 8:54:05 AM UTC-5, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,
ess says...

On 28/12/2015 1:10 PM, bob haller wrote:

elon musk has said he not only wants to go to mars, but start a settlement there.

given his big plans, i believe they will try to drive the price down, and whats his current price cut? its a lot

I ant to see what space x does to develop a fast transit to mars system.

cutting travel time from 6 or 7 months, tom 6 weeks will make mars so much more doable

Getting there in 6 weeks requires a huge delta-V - twice, and twice more
to get back in the same time. I don't see this coming about through
incremental improvements in existing rocket designs.

Do remember this is Bob. He has nothing to back up the above assertions
and hand waving. He just thinks Musk can do better than NASA and
guesses at numbers.

Jeff
--

well space X has cut the cost of cargo to orbit substantilly. and elon wants to go to mars in his lifetime

and the proposed vasmir engine can cut the cost and flying time to mars.

it would accelerate 12 half way to mars, then turn around and decelerate the other half of the flight.

now lets compare space x with SLS orion, at one3 billion per flight, not including payload....

On 12/27/2015 8:25 PM, Alain Fournier wrote:

I was really thrilled by the recovery of the Falcon 9 first stage last
week. I thought it was the most exciting launch since the first launch
of the Space Shuttle Columbia.


I was AT the Columbia launch and witnessed it first hand. For me, this
was every bit as exciting, perhaps even more so. But the suspense was
not as long, because at the time of Columbia there was a real concern
about the adhesive used for the tiles and whether it was up to the task.
I remember hearing back then a lot of talk about the "zipper effect"
that might doom the shuttle. Quite a contrast from then 1980 to 2003.

Dave

In article , says...

On 12/27/2015 8:25 PM, Alain Fournier wrote:

I was really thrilled by the recovery of the Falcon 9 first stage last
week. I thought it was the most exciting launch since the first launch
of the Space Shuttle Columbia.


I was AT the Columbia launch and witnessed it first hand. For me, this
was every bit as exciting, perhaps even more so. But the suspense was
not as long, because at the time of Columbia there was a real concern
about the adhesive used for the tiles and whether it was up to the task.
I remember hearing back then a lot of talk about the "zipper effect"
that might doom the shuttle. Quite a contrast from then 1980 to 2003.

With the shuttle, NASA designed the thing to only fly with people on
board, so its first test flight was manned by Crippen and Young (if
memory serves). With Orion, it looks like we'll get a couple of
unmanned test flights (including the development flight that was on
Delta IV).

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer

I do wonder how hard it would be for space X to build a falcon equivalent of SLS orion? with at least first stage be fly and reuse?

I wonder how much of the billion bucks a launch for SLS could be saved??

In article ,
says...

I do wonder how hard it would be for space X to build a falcon
equivalent of SLS orion? with at least first stage be fly and reuse?

That would be their next generation launch vehicle (LOX/methane) and
crewed vehicle (Mars Colonial Transport or MCT). No idea how much money
or time will be required. But, Musk thinks long term, so everything
being done with Falcon and Dragon are steps along the path to Mars.

Most importantly, making money in space means money to invest in the
future, just like he's done with Tesla. How else to fund and find
investors for the biggest rechargeable battery factory in the world
(Gigafactory)?

I wonder how much of the billion bucks a launch for SLS could be saved??

Doesn't matter. Congress doesn't care about saving money. In fact,
they really only care about *spending* money in certain districts.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer

Doesn't matter. Congress doesn't care about saving money. In fact,
they really only care about *spending* money in certain districts.


you know this is the problem that is wrecking our country