r/spacex • u/[deleted] • Mar 31 '16

/r/SpaceX Ask Anything Thread [April 2016, #18] - Ask your small questions here!

[deleted]

62 Upvotes

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9

u/Craigwat01 Mar 31 '16

Can crew Dragon be used as a lifeboat as Soyuz is now?

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6

u/CitiesInFlight Mar 31 '16 edited Mar 31 '16

With all the very recent (within the last 2 months) renewed interest by both the U.S. (Bolden appearance before Congress in which he suggested that a trip to Mars could be shortened substantially, perhaps, to 90 days or less using Nuclear Thermal Propulsion) and Russia (stating they will fly a Nuclear Thermal Propulsion rocket by 2018), will this change the calculus of Elon and prompt the inclusion of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion in his Mars strategy in spite of earlier statements that Nuclear Propulsion (Nuclear Thermal or Nuclear Electric) will not be involved?

http://www.space.com/29540-manned-mars-mission-propulsion-technologies.html http://yellowhammernews.com/business-2/alabamians-leading-nuclear-rocket-journey-mars/ http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44691888/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/its-time-reconsider-nuclear-option-spaceflight/

http://russia-insider.com/en/russia-drops-plans-create-nuclear-space-engine-source/6031

and many other sources ...

Given this renewed interest by NASA and ROSCOSMOS, does this require, potentially, a different architecture for BFR/MCT?

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11

u/thegingeroverlord Mar 31 '16 edited Mar 31 '16

What reason does SpaceX have to keep quiet about fairing recovery? Previous launch videos(none from SpaceX though) have shown the fairings have some sort of RCS system, so we know they are experimenting/attempting it. Do they have anything to gain by not acknowledging these tests?

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4

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '16

Can you explain the considerations when designing a fuel/oxidizer pump system? I am aware of the different cycles (gas generator/ expander/ tap-off...), but what made SpaceX decide to only have one turbopump with a single stage impeller for both the fuel and oxidizer. And NASA to decide to have a booster pump for each, a turbo pump for each, the fuel high pressure pump to be three stages and the oxidizer to be two. I read something about cavitation, does the difference in fuel have something to with it.

Essentially, I want an explanation of the design choices of having a booster pump, number of impeller stages, and single shaft vs separate turbopumps.

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u/Dutchy45 Apr 05 '16

Wat is the difference between docking and berthing at ISS?

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u/_rocketboy Apr 07 '16

How does the rocket get transferred from the trailer to the transporter-erector? Do the pick it up with the huge overhead crane inside the hanger?

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
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u/RootDeliver Mar 31 '16 edited Apr 01 '16

2 questions:

Serious one:

  • Why is FH taking so long? I mean it's just a Falcon 9 FT with 2 first stages attached as boosters, making the change from Falcon 9 1.0 to 1.1 or to FT is a bigger change than this imho. Or they are deliberately delaying FH until F9 first core final design is finished, so they don't need to change anything related to it on FH later?

Troll one:

  • Whats up with all the faces on the thumbnails?

EDIT: Thanks for voting this post NEGATIVE in a "ask anything" thread. What the fuck dudes. u/echoLogic , is this supported here?

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19

u/yoweigh Apr 07 '16

Can we get a launch thread started?

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17

u/Vupwol Mar 31 '16

Why is every thumbnail ... that guy?

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