Yeah, basically to listen for trouble (earthquakes, nukes, etc). Typically co-located I think with seismometers etc.

Can we get Sierra to just pay spacex to launch them already and get moving. Pretty clear Boeing all their own boat with the be-4. Stick it on a flexion and be done..

Sierra is moving forward with a human rated Dreamchaser.

Quote:

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Sierra Space secures $1.4 billion Series A capital raise; represents largest aerospace and defense capital raise globally in 2021, second-largest private capital raise globally in the aerospace and defense sector ever

• Growth capital accelerates the realization of Sierra Space's vision of enabling humanity to build civilizations in space, while enhancing life on Earth
• Sierra Space is building the first commercial business platform in space; investment accelerates development of the company's revolutionary Dream Chaser Spaceplane and expandable LIFE Commercial Space Station
• Dream Chaser Spaceplane, a family of vehicles for cargo, crew and national security applications, is in advanced stage of development and production and is under a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA to perform cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station starting late next year
• Sierra Space is uniquely positioned to drive and capitalize on rapidly expanding low-Earth orbit (LEO) economy via its differentiated and technologically advanced products

"The company will use about two thirds of the funds for work on Dream Chaser, the lifting-body vehicle it is building for to transport cargo for the International Space Station starting in late 2022. That includes development of a crewed version of the vehicle that could make its first flight with people on board as soon as 2025, Vice said." This level of funding suggests roughly $900 Million for DC development, enough to get at least part of the milestones for a crewed version going forward.

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This is/was great news.

Truthfully, if it is able to launch for a competitive price once operational, it will be a better vehicle than dragon 2, especially for cargo missions.

It is really amazing that SN, despite being cut off from commercial crew for the farce Boeing has produced, is on track to be the best of the three. Dragon is a good spacecraft, dreamchaser is just a better station ferry.

No argument with any of that. Plus, of course, the SN can also reboost the ISS.

More space ships is better

SLS wet dress rehearsal pushed back. Looking like May at the earliest for a launch.

That's a month or more after the expiration on the boosters isn't it?

If they lose thos one, there's no way in hell public pressure is going to let them launch a manned one without a reflight.....

I still maintain we're better off with some kind of EOR transfer, even if it's a docking adapter bolted to the front of centaur, and a three launch mission.

Ag_of_08 said:

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Truthfully, if it is able to launch for a competitive price once operational, it will be a better vehicle than dragon 2, especially for cargo missions.

It is really amazing that SN, despite being cut off from commercial crew for the farce Boeing has produced, is on track to be the best of the three. Dragon is a good spacecraft, dreamchaser is just a better station ferry.

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Why is it better than dragon 2?

If I remember the #s right, it has the same or slightly higher base volume and person capacity, then with the add on module can carry 7 people and the same volume of 1 way pressurized cargo as dragon can with 4 seats( maybe even a bit more. It also has station keeping capacity for whatever its docked to. Unless im mistaken, they can also leave the expendable cargo module in place after it leaves, but I could be incorrect on that.

It's not drastically superior, but it should actually be more utilitarian as a ground to station vehicle... which is impressive given their snub during selection.

I hope I get to work the certification of Dream Chaser. That is one sexy ride.

I had convinced myself that the Commercial Crew selection board was going to pick one capsule and Dream Chaser. But apparently Dream Chaser's design wasn't very mature at the time of the award.

lb3 said:

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I hope I get to work the certification of Dream Chaser. That is one sexy ride.

I had convinced myself that the Commercial Crew selection board was going to pick one capsule and Dream Chaser. But apparently Dream Chaser's design wasn't very mature at the time of the award.

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I think it was more Sierra didn't have the advantage spacex had of bringing a booster and capsule to the table, or the bullying and bribery power of Boeing.

I hope you get in on dreamchaser too! Do you have any idea when NASA will start any kind of more serious review?

Ag_of_08 said:

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lb3 said:

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I hope I get to work the certification of Dream Chaser. That is one sexy ride.

I had convinced myself that the Commercial Crew selection board was going to pick one capsule and Dream Chaser. But apparently Dream Chaser's design wasn't very mature at the time of the award.

---

I think it was more Sierra didn't have the advantage spacex had of bringing a booster and capsule to the table, or the bullying and bribery power of Boeing.

I hope you get in on dreamchaser too! Do you have any idea when NASA will start any kind of more serious review?

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NASA had a flight director assigned to work with Sierra on their cargo version at least as far back as 6-8 years ago. I'm not sure how many people are on it now but I hope they bring the rest of us commercial crew folks in soon. I'll start asking around about Sierra again.

At the rate they're going, they really might beat Boeing to a test flight. The grapevine says some of those "stuck valves" are still stuck, and they have no idea when that clap trap might actually fly.

JW update. The secondary mirror swung into place and is now locked in position. If the schedule holds the primary mirror starts swinging in 2 days.

Targeting January 6 at 4:49 p.m. EST for Falcon 9’s launch of 49 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from LC-39A in Florida

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 6, 2022

When's the first Starship launch?

double aught said:

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When's the first Starship launch?

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Dates keep pushing but right now I think we're tentative for March on the orbital and reentry test.

Realistically I'm thinking Summer. They are waiting for FAA stuff, environmental stuff, booster testing, and they're not done building the launchpad.

double aught said:

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When's the first Starship launch?

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Shortly after the government gets around to approving the environmental BS.

Falcon 9 about to launch with 49 starlinks on board

Hopefully, I can get internet soon with this one.

SpaceX broadcast is live

https://www.spacex.com/launches/index.html

YellowPot_97 said:

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Falcon 9 about to launch with 49 starlinks on board

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Why 49 and not a full 60? different orbit?

lb3 said:

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YellowPot_97 said:

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Falcon 9 about to launch with 49 starlinks on board

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Why 49 and not a full 60? different orbit?

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IDK...but when we saw a starlink launch last month from Kennedy, they said it was launching a number of other satellites at the same time. Can't remember exactly what kind those were.

Yeah I think for group 4-5 (@ 53 and 97 degrees inclination), they can't fully load/fill it without expending the booster, from Florida. This is only the 4th launch for this shell, and they need 30 to fill it out. They only launched 48 earlier in December too. Not sure on the previous two.

lb3 said:

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YellowPot_97 said:

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Falcon 9 about to launch with 49 starlinks on board

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Why 49 and not a full 60? different orbit?

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Seems like finding a way to get 69 on board would be an Elon thing to do.

I'm hoping this gets gets my order fulfilled sooner too

lb3 said:

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YellowPot_97 said:

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Falcon 9 about to launch with 49 starlinks on board

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Why 49 and not a full 60? different orbit?

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Nasaspaceflight.com article details this; I forgot the newer starlinks are heavier.

Quote:

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This mission will defy decades of precedent, with SpaceX reaching the 53.22-degree orbit not via the northeast launch corridor up the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada, but rather via a southeast corridor hugging the coast of the Bahamas as it performs a dogleg maneuver.

This dogleg is the reason why SpaceX is launching fewer Starlink satellites on this mission from the East coast compared to other launches from Florida, such as Starlink Group 4-1 which launched 53 Starlink satellites.

Additionally, Starlink v1.5 satellites are approximately 10% more massive than the v1.0 Starlink satellites, which is why Starlink Group 4-1 already saw a decreased number of lofted satellites compared to the Starlink v1.0 missions.

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As an aside, it does turn out that the F9 uses propellant cooled differently vs. other keralox rockets (we had a discussion about this a few pages back);

Quote:

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Unlike every other operational rocket, the Falcon 9 uses RP-1 that is cooled to -7 degrees C, and LOX that is cooled to -205 degrees C. This further chilling increases the density of the propellants, enabling SpaceX to get more performance out of the Falcon 9 something that is crucial for reuse.

This also comes with a trade-off: SpaceX is unable to hold the countdown once fuel loading has started though there are post-fueling start recycle points to enable further attempts should a daily launch window permit.

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Quote:

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SpaceX currently has four additional launches scheduled for January 2022: Transporter-3, which is launching from Space Launch Complex 40 on January 14; CSG-2 in late January; and up to two more Starlink missions.

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It’s what we’ve all been waiting for: The James Webb Space Telescope will soon spread its primary mirror wings!

Today we begin with the mirror wing on the port (left) side of the observatory. This process should take a few hours: https://t.co/FWSpxIB03L #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com/FEC5eF2Xfz

— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) January 7, 2022

Big day. Important stuff to go but most of the mechanical deployments are basically done nice this is completed.

I think I read somewhere that now the secondary is locked in place, even if the wings don't fold properly they'll be able to get data and images, so we're no longer looking at a total bust if something goes bananas.

The James Webb Space Telescope is now fully deployed. This is a remarkable engineering achievement that 99 percent of the world will not appreciate. But those of us who know, know. And we are in awe.

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) January 8, 2022

Okay so we're down to only 100 things that could go wrong... Right?

The origami mechanical/launch complexities are basically done, which represented probably 90 percent or so of the risk of failure/single points. Yes, it still has to maneuver into the lagrange point and turn on/cool off all of the electronics/fine tune the focusing (down to a few microns) for all of the mirrors for it to be 'perfect'.

JWST (2/2): But completing Webb's structural deployments, long considered the riskiest, most complex set of steps ever attempted to essentially unfold the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched, is an extraordinary achievement

— William Harwood (@cbs_spacenews) January 8, 2022

"we are on step 4 of 20" of the latching operation. All is well. #JWST

— Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) January 8, 2022

Cool thread from...of all places, the Canadians.

Let’s take a look at just a few of the many milestones of #Webb since its launch on December 25 at 7:20 am ET! 🚀

Credit: NASA pic.twitter.com/WzWpfk749o

— Canadian Space Agency (@csa_asc) January 7, 2022

Reminds me of Tom Hanks in Apollo 13:

There's a thousand things that have to happen
in order. We are on number 8; you're talking about number 692.

Just a reminder for everyone in this thread that Apollo 13 holds up and everyone needs to watch it at least once a year thank you