why? no one cares!

I enjoy seeing the thread bumped up! The GOLD **** is cool. Sciieeenncceee

i love this thread. very interesting to read whenever i see an update. i just don't have the background to keep up an intelligent discussion about space travel.

Originally Posted by Goshin

why? no one cares!

i care

are all forms of fusion currently in development viable for powering spaceflight, or are some better than others (if they all pan out)?

oooo, some interesting news
NASA and Commercial industry combine to outline FTD Propellant Depot plan | NASASpaceFlight.com

Such a mission would build on the United Launch Alliance (ULA) exploration master plan, which removes the need for a Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV), instead combining the use of current EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) vehicles ***8211; such as Atlas V or Delta IV ***8211; with an on orbit ability to refuel in space via fuel depots.

***8220;We as a group strongly believe that the use of orbital propellant transfer and storage (Depots) provides a breakthrough in space transportation enabling truly affordable, sustainable and flexible exploration to destinations beyond low Earth orbit (LEO),***8221; noted the executive summary of the presentation ***8211; acquired by L2.

***8220;We also believe that the most successful approach to a 2015 propellant storage and transfer flagship demonstration will build upon the foundation of the decades of cryogenic propellant experience developed and currently being used in our nation***8217;s EELV fleet.***8221;

Outlining a ***8220;simple, robust propellant transfer and storage mission***8221;, the authors claim the architecture supports near term robotic and crewed missions to geostationary orbit (GEO), the Earth-Moon (EM) and Sun-Earth (SE) Lagrange points and the Moon, prior to evolving as technology and demand require, ***8220;efficiently supporting every destination in the Flexible Path including crewed missions to Mars.***8221;

Strategically placed at one or more Lagrange points, such depots would remove the need for vehicles to launch with all the propellant required to complete a mission ***8211; one of the primary reasons for very large launch vehicles, due to the mass of the propellant they have to launch with.

***8220;Propellant depots offer near-term ability to support demanding space missions without the expense of developing very large rockets to support each new mission. They also enable reuse of in-space stages and provide a market large enough to encourage access to orbit innovation,***8221; noted the presentation.

lets hope they follow through with it, as it would really lead to an opening of space for players without huge amounts of money to build gigantic rockets

Originally Posted by Rampancy

i care

are all forms of fusion currently in development viable for powering spaceflight, or are some better than others (if they all pan out)?

ITER is not applicable to power anything other than cities, as its tremendous size and cost (and questionable ability to work) put it squarely on the terrestrial side of things.
focus fusion may work, as will polywell (small enough to power a naval ship, small enough to fit in a rocket)
there would be design modifications for either to be used, but we would have enough power for a single stage to orbit vehicle, and could actually travel like the ships in futurama (more or less)

there's an interesting concept for M2P2, which uses plasma and magnetics, and i'll gather some information today to post up here. Studies were done in the early 2000s on feasibility.

SpaceX recently completed its first Dragon high altitude drop test and it was 100% successful!
View the video here.
The purpose of the test was to validate the Dragon's parachute deployment systems and recovery operations prior to the first flight of an operational Dragon later this year. The drop occurred on August 12, 2010 about nine miles off the coast from the scenic town of Morro Bay, CA-- 45 miles north of Vandenberg Air Force Base.
An Erickson S-64F Air-Crane helicopter dropped a test article of the Dragon spacecraft from a distance of 14,000 feet, directly above the center of a 6 mile diameter Pacific Ocean test zone.

Photo credit: Roger Gilbertson/SpaceX
In a carefully timed sequence of events, dual redundant drogue parachutes deployed first to stabilize and slow the spacecraft. Full deployment of the drogues then triggered the release of the main parachutes, with the drogues detaching from the spacecraft, allowing the main parachutes to deploy.

Left photo: The drogue parachutes stabilize and slow the spacecraft. Right photo: Detached drogue parachutes (top) descend after pulling out the main parachutes, which are shown in the process of deployment. Photo Credit: Roger Gilbertson/SpaceX
While Dragon will initially be used to transport cargo, the spacecraft was designed to transport crew. The parachute system validated during the drop test is the same system that would be used on a crew-carrying Dragon.
The three main parachutes, designed and manufactured by Airborne Systems, are particularly large--each measuring 116 feet in diameter when fully deployed. The oversized parachutes are key in ensuring a comfortable landing for crew members. After the drogues stabilize the spacecraft, the main parachutes further slow the spacecraft's decent to approximately 16-18 ft/sec which makes for a very soft landing.
Even if Dragon were to lose one of its main parachutes, the two remaining chutes would still ensure a pretty soft landing for the crew. Under nominal conditions, astronauts would experience no more than roughly 2-3 g's during this type of decent***8212;less than you'd experience at an amusement park.

Fully deployed, the three main parachutes gently bring the Dragon spacecraft down for a water splashdown. Photo Credit: Chris Thompson/SpaceX

Two released drogue parachutes also visible as the Dragon spacecraft continues its decent. Photo Credit: Chris Thompson/SpaceX
While the test article landed well within the targeted zone, the landing of an operational Dragon will be even more precise. With an operational Dragon, the landing location is controlled by firing the Draco thrusters during reentry, ensuring Dragon splashes down less than a mile from the desired landing site. Even that dispersion is only due to wind drift while Dragon is under the parachutes--if winds are low, Dragon's landing accuracy will be to within a few hundred feet.
For initial crewed flights, Dragon will be recovered by helicopter and airlifted to shore. Our long term goal, however, is to land Dragon on land. Once we have proven our ability to control reentry accurately, we intend to add deployable landing gear and leverage the thrusters in order to land on land in the future.
During this particular drop test operation, Dragon was returned by boat and lifted onto its transport carrier via a bay-side crane as shown in the photographs below.

One of three recovery boats approaches Dragon spacecraft after it has completed its decent. Photo Credit: Chris Thompson/SpaceX


Dragon spacecraft being lifted out the bay and onto its transport carrier for return to SpaceX's Hawthorne headquarters. Photo Credit: Chris Thompson/SpaceX
A drop test is historically a very difficult test to complete successfully, so congratulations to the entire Dragon drop team for achieving 100% success on their first attempt. In addition, SpaceX thanks the numerous individuals who were incredibly helpful in assisting with the execution of this test--a test of this size requires significant coordination between numerous parties and we greatly appreciate their help. In particular, SpaceX thanks the Dynegy Morro Bay Power Plant, Erickson Air-Crane, Angel City Air Aerial Photography, Associated Pacific Constructors of Morro Bay, Castagnola Tug Service, Morro Bay Harbor, Fire and Police Departments, US Coast Guard Morro Bay Station, The Federal Aviation Administration, Morro Bay Planning Division, Protech Express Towing, SloDivers, Centurion Private Security, Coast Diving Service and Woody Wordsworth at Radio Shack Morro Bay.

just reposting a spacex news email thing. Dont feel like cleaning it up.
This is a great milestone for their dragon craft. go go spacex
it uses a much stronger heatshield than the shuttle does, and they hope to develop the capability to have it land on land, which saves tons of money in retrieval costs

Originally Posted by Goshin

just reposting a spacex news email thing. Dont feel like cleaning it up.
This is a great milestone for their dragon craft. go go spacex
it uses a much stronger heatshield than the shuttle does, and they hope to develop the capability to have it land on land, which saves tons of money in retrieval costs

Where is the link?

it was emailed to me.
here's the link thing
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation - Video Gallery

whoa holy **** awesome news, thanks goshin

i'm really excited about spacex and bigelow for near and mid term success. 2010-2020 will be a very interesting decade for space.

d

new epoch actually, according to the maya

cool, one additional shuttle launch that originally though (3 now, instead of 2)

Atlantis has gained one final mission, flying STS-135 to the International Space Station (ISS), with a launch date targeting June 28, 2011. Pending required funding allocation, Atlantis will carry a packed Multi-purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) and a Lightweight Multi-Purpose Carrier (LMC), on a 11+1+2 mission with a four person crew.

NASA managers approve STS-135 mission planning for June 28, 2011 launch | NASASpaceFlight.com
basically it's just a supply carrier and crew changeout event, and they are taking back the ETCS, which kept the temperatures livable on the ISS, to figure out why it failed end of July.
they may bring some more stuff up, they are looking at payloads now to figure out what they need to send.

Yeah, I figured the crap out and subsequent repair of the ETCS would necessitate adding another launch. And there is a good chance there will be yet another launch tacked on even after that. Something about not having a viable and ready plan for a US vehicle going up into space for 4 years.

allegedly
dragon looks pretty good, as does falcon 9
japan and europe and russia have vessels for resupply
we're missing downmass though critically (that dragon can supposedly provide)
dreamchaser is back on the books to be looked at (sweet) and ULB is developed an orion lite type vehicle with Bigelow.

we'll see when this all pans out of course

and new flights of the shuttle require a ton of different considerations, from downtime to retrofit the individual shuttles (all would need this, take like 18 months for each one) which they do every few years ($$), new ETs and making sure the manufacturing tools havent been destroyed yet (many might have been in the past few years with CXP going full steam to nowhere), price per launch always being a factor (hundreds of millions of dollars, some say a billion a launch or more if you amortize the cost of R&D and production over the lifetime of the vehicle), safety of the ships...

blah blah blah

goshin the future is lasers, not missiles or planes. lasers!

Togo we are talking about rockets. Not missiles dumb dumb.

Btw Goshin, please continue posting these updates. I read them everytime I see them and find it very interesting. Space and space exploration has always been of great interest to me.

no problem and thanks
i like re-reading these threads too to come back on old points and such

if you think you missed anything, there are some nifty updates a few pages back

looks like the white knight 2 (Virgin Galactic) had a failure of the landing gear. Nothing really coming out at this time, press release was yesterday and it was vague.
Spaceship2 was not attached at the time so presumed fine