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Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 10th 10, 03:11 PM posted to sci.space.policy
Nomen Nescio
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Posts: 307
Default Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere

The SpaceX Dragon capsule has landed off the coast of Californiyeeeah!
Congratulations to Elon Musk and NASA! It must be a sad day at Boeing
where the EELV's will probably be replaced by Falcon 9, Falcon 9 Heavy.
I wouldn't be surprised if the GAO and NASA will now seriously consider
asking SpaceX to develop their Falcon X and Falcon XX on the cheap (a
couple billion $). Compared to the dozens of billions Constellation was
gonna cost the Federal government won't be able to resist this price
tag.


  #2  
Old December 10th 10, 03:23 PM posted to sci.space.policy
[email protected]
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Posts: 1,516
Default Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere

On Dec 10, 9:11*am, Nomen Nescio wrote:
The SpaceX Dragon capsule has landed off the coast of Californiyeeeah!
Congratulations to Elon Musk and NASA! It must be a sad day at Boeing
where the EELV's will probably be replaced by Falcon 9, Falcon 9 Heavy.
I wouldn't be surprised if the GAO and NASA will now seriously consider
asking SpaceX to develop their Falcon X and Falcon XX on the cheap (a
couple billion $). Compared to the dozens of billions Constellation was
gonna cost the Federal government won't be able to resist this price
tag.


yep it makes nasa look kinda irrevelant......

dragons next flight may be a resupply flight to ISS according to the
company.

mike griffin by not picking a existing expendable like delta heavy
managed to get nasa out of the manned launch business.. how wierd is
that?

managers of government agencies always want more pork money, in this
case it backfired
  #3  
Old December 10th 10, 05:21 PM posted to sci.space.policy
Jeff Findley
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Posts: 5,012
Default Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere

In article 8c823f32-b495-4066-87b6-1897b9e08435
@v12g2000vbx.googlegroups.com, says...

On Dec 10, 9:11*am, Nomen Nescio wrote:
The SpaceX Dragon capsule has landed off the coast of Californiyeeeah!
Congratulations to Elon Musk and NASA! It must be a sad day at Boeing
where the EELV's will probably be replaced by Falcon 9, Falcon 9 Heavy.
I wouldn't be surprised if the GAO and NASA will now seriously consider
asking SpaceX to develop their Falcon X and Falcon XX on the cheap (a
couple billion $). Compared to the dozens of billions Constellation was
gonna cost the Federal government won't be able to resist this price
tag.


yep it makes nasa look kinda irrevelant......


Without NASA, and its huge part is keeping ISS going, Dragon wouldn't
have a destination. The whole point of Dragon is to deliver supplies to
ISS and return experiments (and other stuff like failed equipment) back
to earth. If this works out, I would hope the manned version of Dragon
is developed and flown.

dragons next flight may be a resupply flight to ISS according to the
company.


Only if NASA agrees. NASA may decide that one more test flight is
needed.

mike griffin by not picking a existing expendable like delta heavy
managed to get nasa out of the manned launch business.. how wierd is
that?


Not weird at all. The whole Ares I/Ares V launch architecture was
stupid from the start. He sold it as a "1.5 launch" architecture, but
it never was that. It was two launches of two different vehicles, which
is more expensive than two launches of an identical vehicle (i.e. sized
in the middle of the two).

managers of government agencies always want more pork money, in this
case it backfired


I think it was more Griffin wanting to build a launch vehicle which was
even bigger than the Saturn V. Ares V certainly would have done that.
Unfortunately, the US couldn't afford Saturn V after Apollo ended, and
it couldn't afford Ares I and Ares V either. Griffin may have thought
he was thinking "long term" because he thought Ares V would be needed
for Mars missions, but he completely "screwed the pooch" on this one.

Jeff
--
42
  #4  
Old December 10th 10, 07:43 PM posted to sci.space.policy
Rick Jones[_3_]
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Posts: 587
Default Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere

Jeff Findley wrote:
In article 8c823f32-b495-4066-87b6-1897b9e08435
@v12g2000vbx.googlegroups.com, says...
dragons next flight may be a resupply flight to ISS according to
the company.


Only if NASA agrees. NASA may decide that one more test flight is
needed.


Did this Dragon even actually have wings? That is, did it have the
solar panels and deploy them, or did it just run on batteries? The
press releases mentioned batteries, but nothing about panels (to my
recollection). The pre-flight press also mentioned the possibility of
three orbits, but only two were made - in a hurry to get the cheese to
the party,didn't want to press their luck, or were they getting close
to draining the batteries?

Still, stick the "wings" on the next Dragon, put some nice but
non-essential or at least easily replaced cargo into it, perform the
planned second mission objectives (iirc, getting "close" to the ISS)
and then if all goes well, go for the extra credit.

I suspect that both NASA and the Russians (and perhaps others) have to
be in on the approval process for docking to the station no?

rick jones
--
a wide gulf separates "what if" from "if only"
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...
  #5  
Old December 10th 10, 10:31 PM posted to sci.space.policy
Rick Jones[_3_]
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Posts: 587
Default Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere


They made contingency plans for both one and three orbits in case
something didn't allow them to land on orbit two, but two orbits is
what they were shooting for.


OK.

Still, stick the "wings" on the next Dragon, put some nice but
non-essential or at least easily replaced cargo into it, perform
the planned second mission objectives (iirc, getting "close" to
the ISS) and then if all goes well, go for the extra credit.


If NASA lets them actually dock to it via the mechanial arm.
Considering the far larger Japanese HTV-1 cargo spacecraft was
allowed to dock to the ISS on its first orbital flight, I don't see
how NASA can say that Dragon can't dock on its second orbital
flight.


I may be playing on stereotypes, and JAXA hasn't been without
failures, and I don't really want to suggest overly "agile
development" processes at SpaceX, but my peanut gallery gut tells me
the Japanese were much more methodical about HTV-1 than SpaceX with
Dragon.

That said, I'd still love to see a docking on flight two.

rick jones
--
The glass is neither half-empty nor half-full. The glass has a leak.
The real question is "Can it be patched?"
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...
  #6  
Old December 11th 10, 12:44 AM posted to sci.space.policy
Brian Thorn[_2_]
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Posts: 2,266
Default Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere

On Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:23:06 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

mike griffin by not picking a existing expendable like delta heavy
managed to get nasa out of the manned launch business.. how wierd is
that


Very weird, since General Bolden is now NASA Administrator.

Brian
  #7  
Old December 11th 10, 12:47 AM posted to sci.space.policy
Pat Flannery
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Posts: 18,465
Default Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere

On 12/10/2010 10:43 AM, Rick Jones wrote:
Jeff wrote:
In article8c823f32-b495-4066-87b6-1897b9e08435
@v12g2000vbx.googlegroups.com, says...
dragons next flight may be a resupply flight to ISS according to
the company.


Only if NASA agrees. NASA may decide that one more test flight is
needed.


Did this Dragon even actually have wings? That is, did it have the
solar panels and deploy them, or did it just run on batteries?


This flight used batteries; next one will have solar arrays.

The press releases mentioned batteries, but nothing about panels (to my
recollection). The pre-flight press also mentioned the possibility of
three orbits, but only two were made - in a hurry to get the cheese to
the party,didn't want to press their luck, or were they getting close
to draining the batteries?


They made contingency plans for both one and three orbits in case
something didn't allow them to land on orbit two, but two orbits is what
they were shooting for.

Still, stick the "wings" on the next Dragon, put some nice but
non-essential or at least easily replaced cargo into it, perform the
planned second mission objectives (iirc, getting "close" to the ISS)
and then if all goes well, go for the extra credit.


If NASA lets them actually dock to it via the mechanial arm.
Considering the far larger Japanese HTV-1 cargo spacecraft was allowed
to dock to the ISS on its first orbital flight, I don't see how NASA can
say that Dragon can't dock on its second orbital flight.

I suspect that both NASA and the Russians (and perhaps others) have to
be in on the approval process for docking to the station no?


I'm not sure how that works. I suspect they have a lot of input to the
process.


Pat
  #8  
Old December 11th 10, 03:31 PM posted to sci.space.policy
[email protected]
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Posts: 1,516
Default Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere

On Dec 10, 6:44*pm, Brian Thorn wrote:
On Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:23:06 -0800 (PST), "

wrote:
mike griffin by not picking a existing expendable like delta heavy
managed to get nasa out of the manned launch business.. how wierd is
that


Very weird, since General Bolden is now NASA Administrator.

Brian


mike griffin head of nasa at the time picked the ARES launcher, the
biggest crackpot idea i ever heard of.

did it have many supporters here?

puuting people on a solid booster?
  #9  
Old December 11th 10, 03:38 PM posted to sci.space.policy
[email protected]
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Posts: 1,516
Default Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere


If a dragon at the moon was on its way back for re entry it would need
a big heavy heat shield.

but what if the capsule inflated a transhap type drag balloon
immediately before rentry?

would that transhab slow the vehicle enough so a heavy heat shield
wouldnt be necessary?
  #10  
Old December 11th 10, 04:47 PM posted to sci.space.policy
Brian Thorn[_2_]
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Posts: 2,266
Default Dragon capsule reenters Earth atmosphere

On Sat, 11 Dec 2010 06:31:08 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

mike griffin head of nasa at the time picked the ARES launcher,


Ah, okay. Misunderstood you.

the
biggest crackpot idea i ever heard of.
did it have many supporters here?


The original design, yes. Standard SRB and SSME for the upper stage
promised low development cost and time, but NASA wimped out on trying
to build that one and Ares I began its death spiral the moment SSME
was canceled. At that point, the whole architecture should have been
dumped, but NASA brass stonewalled the rest of the world that was
saying "this design stinks."

puuting people on a solid booster?


On a proven SRB, though, not the "new and improved" 5-segment ("now
with 20% more chances to fail!")

Brian
 




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