One more day until SpaceX lands a rocket at sea

879 Views | 6 Replies | Last: 9 yr ago by Matmart33
30_Days
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AG
http://news.yahoo.com/spacex-attempt-rocket-landing-sea-082231864.html

quote:
Space Exploration Technologies will attempt to land its Falcon 9 rocket on a sea platform following launch on Friday, company officials said, a vital step to prove its precision landing capabilities needed before it can gain a ground landing license.

I'm so excited for this. I can't wait to see the video and I really hope they pull it off.

A very interesting part of the article, and one I've seen on this story before

quote:
SpaceX put the odds of success at about 50 percent. "Though the probability of success ... is low, we expect to gather critical data to support future landing testing," it said.

50 percent! THIS is why private enterprise will make the next leaps and bounds in this industry. NASA wouldn't do ANYTHING with a 50% chance of failure, not anymore. The government is magnitudes more risk averse than private enterprises, and space exploration involves a LOT of risk. In the 60s we weren't so risk averse, and as a result we put a man on the moon in a breathtakingly short time.
30_Days
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ah son of a *****.

just announced that they're pushing the launch to January

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/18/us-space-spacex-delayed-cargorun-idUSKBN0JW1HF20141218

quote:
- Space Exploration Technologies is delaying the planned launch on Friday of an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket, which will carry a cargo ship to the International Space Station for NASA, to early January, officials said on Thursday.
Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida had been planned for 1:22 p.m. EST, but an undisclosed technical issue with the rocket prompted SpaceX, as the company is known, to postpone the flight until Jan 6.
Predmid
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quote:
50 percent! THIS is why private enterprise will make the next leaps and bounds in this industry. NASA wouldn't do ANYTHING with a 50% chance of failure, not anymore. The government is magnitudes more risk averse than private enterprises, and space exploration involves a LOT of risk. In the 60s we weren't so risk averse, and as a result we put a man on the moon in a breathtakingly short time.





You're kinda backwards.


As has been the way of things for a while, generally it is government and military research that explores the bleeding edge of technology where there are numerous risks and unknowns and unknown unknowns and beyond.

NASA & ESA attempt missions that are leaps and bounds of higher difficulty and risk than private enterprise does. Name a private enterprise that sends things to land on comets or mars or exploring the outer edges of the solar system? They don't because it is the bleeding edge of space.

Private is looking to fill the gaps between the ground and the bleeding edge where the science and technology are widespread and there is an excess of human capital know-how.
double aught
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Then let's go to Mars dammit! NASA could accomplish great things again with more money. Their budget is such a small percentage of the total federal budget.
hph6203
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That's the plan, but you don't just snap your fingers and land on Mars. Lookup the Orion spacecraft, because it seems you aren't aware of what that's ultimately intended for.
Predmid
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We're getting there.

Slowly.

When we're not really competing against anyone, progress is slow.
double aught
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quote:
That's the plan, but you don't just snap your fingers and land on Mars. Lookup the Orion spacecraft, because it seems you aren't aware of what that's ultimately intended for.
I'm aware. I'm also aware that Orion probably won't fly again for four years or more as there's a long way to go before a human rated rocket for it to ride on is ready. Surely more money would facilitate things.
Matmart33
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quote:
Surely more money would facilitate things.

One can hope they get it
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