Awesome video of the new Falcon reusable rocket launching and landing

On Monday, April 21, 2014 2:16:36 AM UTC+12, Brad Guth wrote:
On Saturday, April 19, 2014 8:34:35 PM UTC-7, wrote:

"Behold the first test of the Falcon 9 Reusable rocket, launching and then



smoothly landing in another location--an entire rocket going up and landing back



on Earth ready to be refilled and launched again. Unlike the Grasshopper, this

thing is huge!"





See:



http://sploid.gizmodo.com/awesome-vi...284/+jesusdiaz



That's a terrific demonstration, as proof of accomplishing what other space agencies (including our NASA) still can not do.



A truly reusable fly-by-rocket is a serious game changer.



Wondering how much extra fuel was consumed.

http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=u...page&q&f=false


An empty tank slows to subsonic speeds due to large area low mass. The tank also falls to the ground. So, the rocket power is used to bring the system to zero speed at zero altitude and maintain appropriate orientation.

So, at 300 m/sec and 1 gee acceleration (2 gee thrust) you have to turn your rocket on and slow to zero speed at zero altitude at 4590.9 meter altitude. With a 3.8 km/sec exhaust speed you need;

u = 1 - 1/exp(0.3/3.8) = 0.075912

With a structure fraction of 0.1450 this means that you have a total of

0.1450 * 0.75912 = 0.01100

of the take off weight!

That is you add 1.1% to the take off weight.

On Thursday, April 24, 2014 3:19:10 AM UTC-7, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,

says...

Perhaps a brief refueling in LEO before attempting its fly-by-rocket

landing. Of course we'd have to place a sufficient spare amount of

HTP plus a little something else of a hydrocarbon on orbit first.



You just made the problem much harder.

The fuel you need to get the 1st stage into orbit is what you would

use for landing.



And if you get it into orbit, it has a LOT more energy you have to

lose before landing.



Being that the landing mass is greatly reduced (inert mass being the

same), I'd think it would only demand a little over half as much fuel

(possibly 2/3) for the soft landing phase.



You've got to actually do the math, but given the velocity of the

vehicle at staging (and the *squared velocity* term in the kinetic

energy equation), it's quite clear that far less delta-V is needed to

land than would be needed to get to orbit, especially when one considers

that much of the braking needed for landing can come from atmospheric

drag.



If your goal is to get the separated stage to orbit, you've got both

atmospheric drag and gravity losses fighting you all the way to orbit.

That would literally be an uphill battle.



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

Indeed, not to mention what a few small inflated drag parachutes or deployed winglets could aid with an easily controlled spin. There's also the terrific density and its terrific 5+ km/sec impulse of Acetone Peroxide that could retro-thrust on demand.

On Tuesday, April 29, 2014 6:01:26 PM UTC+12, William Mook wrote:
On Monday, April 21, 2014 2:16:36 AM UTC+12, Brad Guth wrote:

On Saturday, April 19, 2014 8:34:35 PM UTC-7, wrote:



"Behold the first test of the Falcon 9 Reusable rocket, launching and then







smoothly landing in another location--an entire rocket going up and landing back







on Earth ready to be refilled and launched again. Unlike the Grasshopper, this



thing is huge!"











See:







http://sploid.gizmodo.com/awesome-vi...284/+jesusdiaz







That's a terrific demonstration, as proof of accomplishing what other space agencies (including our NASA) still can not do.







A truly reusable fly-by-rocket is a serious game changer.







Wondering how much extra fuel was consumed.



http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=u...page&q&f=false





An empty tank slows to subsonic speeds due to large area low mass. The tank also falls to the ground. So, the rocket power is used to bring the system to zero speed at zero altitude and maintain appropriate orientation.



So, at 300 m/sec and 1 gee acceleration (2 gee thrust) you have to turn your rocket on and slow to zero speed at zero altitude at 4590.9 meter altitude. With a 3.8 km/sec exhaust speed you need;



u = 1 - 1/exp(0.3/3.8) = 0.075912



With a structure fraction of 0.1450 this means that you have a total of



0.1450 * 0.75912 = 0.01100



of the take off weight!



That is you add 1.1% to the take off weight.

I'm starting to like magnesium liquid oxygen high density mono propellant. This is a mixture of liquid oxygen with magnesium nanoparticles suspended in it, coated with an inert layer that dissolves at high temperatures rendering the mono propellant hypergolic with heating. This is ideally suited for use in a MEMS based rocket array as well as a MEMS based flow battery that has a patented filtrating electrode that absorbs the Mg and discharges the MgO product. The rockets produce 4.7 km/sec exhaust speed in vacuum, 4.2 km/sec at sea level. The flow batteries produce 3.2 kWh/kg power.

While magnesium is not magnetic, oxygen is! This means that oxygen may be directed and pumped with magnetic fields in solid state pumps and valves, which makes for very reliable systems.

An oblate disk 16 meters (52.5 ft) in diameter and 4 meters (13.12 ft) in height with a 4 meter tall cylinder in the center that is 4.8 m (18.33 ft) in diameter surrounded by 6 wedge shaped elements with its own distorted spheroid tank taking up the bulk of the space of each, each containing 80,277 kg of monopropellant, with the inert vehicle massing 17,622 kg

Atop the central cylinder is a disk 4.8 m in diameter and 0.5 m (1.7 ft) tall. This carries 16,896 kg of propellant and masses 6,250 kg empty.

Atop the central cylinder is a hemisphere 4.8 m in diameter and 2.4 m tall. Inside the hemisphere are six tanks each 1.2 m in diameter equally spaced around the base. Each holds 1,072 kg of monopropellant. The interior of the hemisphere has seating for a dozen persons or may be equipped for cargo..

Four of the seven elements fire at lift off and accelerate the vehicle to 2..48 km/sec. They separate slow to subsonic speed, and deploy inflatable wings to glide back to the launch center, where they execute a powered touch down. Two of the remaining three elements fire adding 2.81 km/sec to the speed of the vehicle, separating at 5.29 km/sec. These separate, slow to subsonic speed and deploy wings as well. The central element then fires adding another 3.91 km/sec to the speed - bringing the total to 9.20 km/sec. It releases the payload atop it, and slows to re-enter slow to subsonic speed and land at the launch center. The disk shaped system raises the speed to 10.85 km/sec - executes a lunar free return trajectory - and is recovered as well. The hemisphere lands on the moon, and returns to Earth and is recovered too.

The hemisphere has a dozen seats in six groups of two facing radially outward, each with its own access door to the outside, creating six cabins around the base of the hemisphere, above the seven tanks. There is a door to the rear of the seats as well, communicating to a central common cabin, making an airlock of each passenger cabin.

Travellers in their own long-duration space-suit and supplies for 12 days, are placed in each of the seats. A small spherical panoramic camera sits above each seat, and is capable of independent flight. Each suit is also equipped with cameras. The UHDTV video of each flight is stored and professionally mixed with other videos of the flight to create a professional record of each person's flight.

Two crew, two attendants and eight passengers comprise the entire twelve person crew. Each passenger pays $20 million per flight for the 10 day journey and 90 days of training. So, each flight earns $160 million.

The vehicle is capable of putting 34,700 kg into Low Earth Orbit. At $160 million per launch this is $4,651.95 per kilogram. The price includes self-insurance to cover re-launch.

The vehicle can also put 11,500 kg into any orbit in the Earth Moon system, with recovery of all stages for the same $175 million price. $15,217.39 per kg including self-insurance and re-launch.


The 10 day journey includes 3.5 days outbound, 3.5 days inbound, and 3 days on the lunar surface after planetfall at Crater Copernicus.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._4121_4126.jpg

During the trip there are several space walks. There's a space walk on attaining orbit. A space walk after trans-lunar injection watching the Earth fall away. A space walk passing L1 watching the moon approach. A space walk after trans-Earth injection watching the moon fall away.

On the moon, the flight crew and attendants, each take one pair of passengers on a 'tour' of the six Apollo sites using each suits rocket belt capabilities.

THE APOLLO LANDING SITES

Mission Site Location Latitude Longitude Date of Landing

11 Mare Tranquillitatis 0°41'15" N 23°26' E July 20, 1969
12 Oceanus Procellarum. 3°11'51" S 23°23'8" W Nov. 19, 1969
14 Fra Mauro........... 3°40'24" S 17°27'55" W Feb. 5, 1971
15 Hadley-Apennines.... 26°06'03" N 03°39'10" E July 30, 1971
16 Descartes........... 8°59'29" S 15°30'52" E April 21, 1972
17 Taurus-Littrow...... 20°9'55" N 30°45'57" E Dec. 11, 1972

Along with fourteen other sites where soft landings took place.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ding_sites.svg

All visit Apollo 11 at the Sea of Tranquility after visiting the Surveyor 2 and Surveyor 4 crash sites at Copernicus crater. Each camp out overnight at Tranquility base and set out in four separate groups to visit their own list of sites.

The nearby visit to the Surveyor 2 and Surveyor 4 sites is a practice run before setting out to the Apollo 11 site 1,671 km from the last Surveyor crash site in Sinus Medii.

All also visit two of the other Apollo sites, along with three of the unmanned landing sites during their three day stay, including the mysterious Surveyor 4 in Sinus Medii where contact was lost 2.5 minutes before touchdown! Surveyor 2 crashed when it tried to land Sinus Medii as well.

Prior to the first paid visit, there was a cargo drop off with sufficient fuel and supplies to carry out this rather lengthy traverse for the team of twelve.

All return to the landing site on the third day to spend the third night aboard ship after stowing their gear in the cargo ship and before blasting off for Earth before breakfast. After course is established for Earth, a fabulous spacewalk is performed a scant 50 km above the lunar surface, after engine out. The view is fantastic as the ship rises 138 km per minute, and at the end of an hour the entire moon becomes visible. Breakfast is then prepared and enjoyed by the team in the common room.

Another space walk is carried out mid-journey after the last major course correction.

Upon re-entry, the team leaves the ship a half hour before hitting atmosphere, and navigates well away from one another, and the ship. The ship is slated for automated landing at the launch centre. Yet, each of the crew and passengers, do their own re-entry in their own suit which is equipped with thermal protection for the 'jump from the moon' and their own MEMS based ACS/Lift rocket arrays, which replace parachutes and provide accurate attitude control during re-entry.

Aboard ship are the memorabilia gathered during their trip, along with any remaining supplies left over from the trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYw4meRWGd4

Each suit is equipped with its own camera array, and each traveller has their own panoramic camera equipped with its own power and propulsion. A rocket propelled version of this

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c05_1377719856

Which also operated on the lunar surface and during all other space walks and EVAs. Review of the video with expert advice from the crew and attendants, is available during the trip so that passengers have an opportunity to improve their capabilities prior to the difficult re-entry maneuver.


On Wednesday, April 30, 2014 9:00:22 AM UTC+12, William Mook wrote:
On Tuesday, April 29, 2014 6:01:26 PM UTC+12, William Mook wrote:

On Monday, April 21, 2014 2:16:36 AM UTC+12, Brad Guth wrote:



On Saturday, April 19, 2014 8:34:35 PM UTC-7, wrote:







"Behold the first test of the Falcon 9 Reusable rocket, launching and then















smoothly landing in another location--an entire rocket going up and landing back















on Earth ready to be refilled and launched again. Unlike the Grasshopper, this







thing is huge!"























See:















http://sploid.gizmodo.com/awesome-vi...284/+jesusdiaz















That's a terrific demonstration, as proof of accomplishing what other space agencies (including our NASA) still can not do.















A truly reusable fly-by-rocket is a serious game changer.















Wondering how much extra fuel was consumed.







http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=u...page&q&f=false











An empty tank slows to subsonic speeds due to large area low mass. The tank also falls to the ground. So, the rocket power is used to bring the system to zero speed at zero altitude and maintain appropriate orientation.







So, at 300 m/sec and 1 gee acceleration (2 gee thrust) you have to turn your rocket on and slow to zero speed at zero altitude at 4590.9 meter altitude. With a 3.8 km/sec exhaust speed you need;







u = 1 - 1/exp(0.3/3.8) = 0.075912







With a structure fraction of 0.1450 this means that you have a total of







0.1450 * 0.75912 = 0.01100







of the take off weight!







That is you add 1.1% to the take off weight.



I'm starting to like magnesium liquid oxygen high density mono propellant.. This is a mixture of liquid oxygen with magnesium nanoparticles suspended in it, coated with an inert layer that dissolves at high temperatures rendering the mono propellant hypergolic with heating. This is ideally suited for use in a MEMS based rocket array as well as a MEMS based flow battery that has a patented filtrating electrode that absorbs the Mg and discharges the MgO product. The rockets produce 4.7 km/sec exhaust speed in vacuum, 4.2 km/sec at sea level. The flow batteries produce 3.2 kWh/kg power.



While magnesium is not magnetic, oxygen is! This means that oxygen may be directed and pumped with magnetic fields in solid state pumps and valves, which makes for very reliable systems.



An oblate disk 16 meters (52.5 ft) in diameter and 4 meters (13.12 ft) in height with a 4 meter tall cylinder in the center that is 4.8 m (18.33 ft) in diameter surrounded by 6 wedge shaped elements with its own distorted spheroid tank taking up the bulk of the space of each, each containing 80,277 kg of monopropellant, with the inert vehicle massing 17,622 kg



Atop the central cylinder is a disk 4.8 m in diameter and 0.5 m (1.7 ft) tall. This carries 16,896 kg of propellant and masses 6,250 kg empty.



Atop the central cylinder is a hemisphere 4.8 m in diameter and 2.4 m tall. Inside the hemisphere are six tanks each 1.2 m in diameter equally spaced around the base. Each holds 1,072 kg of monopropellant. The interior of the hemisphere has seating for a dozen persons or may be equipped for cargo.



Four of the seven elements fire at lift off and accelerate the vehicle to 2.48 km/sec. They separate slow to subsonic speed, and deploy inflatable wings to glide back to the launch center, where they execute a powered touch down. Two of the remaining three elements fire adding 2.81 km/sec to the speed of the vehicle, separating at 5.29 km/sec. These separate, slow to subsonic speed and deploy wings as well. The central element then fires adding another 3.91 km/sec to the speed - bringing the total to 9.20 km/sec. It releases the payload atop it, and slows to re-enter slow to subsonic speed and land at the launch center. The disk shaped system raises the speed to 10.85 km/sec - executes a lunar free return trajectory - and is recovered as well. The hemisphere lands on the moon, and returns to Earth and is recovered too.