Falcon Heavy

[corsechris]

Just watched the launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy. A much overused term, but for once, apt. Awesome. Perfect launch, boosters separated perfectly and the synchronised landing back at the Cape was poetry. Don’t know if the core booster landing was clean or not though, the cameras went dark so maybe that one bombed. The landings from higher altitude seem more difficult.

Seeing Elon Musks red Tesla Roadster with a spacesuited driver sat in it, in orbit and soon on the way to Mars was the final treat.

 

Mr Musk, I salute you Sir.

[Kingster]

Wow, the way those boosters return and land is incredible. Proper science fiction rocket landing!

[Rory's Dad]

Extraordinary - makes me feel optimistic about all sorts of things. 

[djm]

Brilliant also impressive is that SpaceX is a private company competing with NASA who are developing their own heavy launch rocket which will cost a lot more and not due for launch until 2020.

[jeff oakley]

Agreed, he may be a bond villain and this is the start of world domination, but even if he is that was indeed awesome to watch live. It took me back to the Apollo days where the world was excited about technology and what we could do going forward.

I also loved the theatre of it all, the car, the starman, the music and the caption on the screen in the car all just perfect.

I have read on Twitter they lost the core but why make it easy landing on land, do it on a drone ship. The future is here.

[djm]

The landings took me back to Thunderbirds!

[corsechris]

The NASA SLS is quoted at $1bn per launch, Faclon Heavy at a paltry(!) $90m. Hard to see how NASA will sustain support for SLS in the face of that, plus the fact that SLS is an old-school scrap the lot launcher.

Landing the boosters is just amazing isn't it. Reversing a ballistic trajectory like that and landing back in the same place you launched from. Presumably they don't try that with the core stage as it's too high and far away, meaning it would need too much fuel to return to launch point.

I can't decide if Elon Musk is a Bond Villain or Ironman. I'm leaning towards the Ironman end of the scale myself. Or perhaps, more accurately, Reid Malenfant from the Manifold SCi-Fi series by Stephen Baxter.

[Alan France]

So good it will be making a few people on NASA committees worry.

I don’t worry Musk is a Spectre villain, Bond always wins in the end.

[Lyonspride]

1 hour ago, corsechris said:

The NASA SLS is quoted at $1bn per launch, Faclon Heavy at a paltry(!) $90m.

 

NASA SLS will undoubtedly involve thousands of people sat in offices doing nothing, a tonne of bureaucracy and not a lot actually getting done.
This is simply the way the aerospace and defence sectors work, the tax payer pays the bill, nobody cares about the cost and all the suppliers get in on the act by charging 50x the price for a simple item.
I worked for a defence sector supplier and it's endlessly frustrating how they don't care if their processes are massively inefficient or if people have nothing to do, the more people they employed, the more they could charge for their services.

I think this is a major achievement for Space-x, but I don't trust Musk, he talks too much, too much hype, he talks a lot of nonsense and people lap it up, for me he's a salesman not an innovator.

[Rory's Dad]

But he must employ good innovators somehow. Both his cars and his rockets are proof of that. Not sure about some of his other stuff though!

[DonPeffers]

As long as the products are available and work without the company blowing up with debt then all good.

[corsechris]

SpaceX is a privately held company, owned by the man himself, Tesla is a different company entirely but it is easy to get the two merged given the one man runs them both.

Tesla's latest financials are better than predicted and share prices have gone up again apparently, despite the best efforts of the 'short investors' to bring them down and make a profit out of it.

SpaceX should be getting a big boost(!) on the back of the successful test launch as well.

I wish them well.

[Andrew]

 

[Alan France]

On 07/02/2018 at 11:17, Lyonspride said:

... but I don't trust Musk, ... he talks a lot of nonsense and people lap it up, for me he's a salesman not an innovator.

I think that’s a little harsh. No family capital behind him, writing software at 12, degrees in physics and economics. Net worth $20b. Taking on big automotive and winning. Creating a lot of jobs, taking big risks. I think the world needs a few more of these and a lot less politicians

[corsechris]

Taking on big space too. He’s certainly kicking NASAs A*** as far as rocket making goes at the moment.

I’ll admit to being a bit of a fan of the bloke, whilst still acknowledging that he won’t ever accept a negative interpretation of anything. The Falcon Heavy launch was generally spot on and an amazing achievement, but there were a couple of failures, what with the core booster engines failing to fire on landing and the last stage burn lasting too long/too powerful and missing the intended orbit.

Fan, not Fanboy I’d say.