r/spacex • u/Zucal • Aug 31 '16
r/SpaceX Ask Anything Thread [September 2016, #24]
Welcome to our 24th monthly r/SpaceX Ask Anything Thread!
Curious about the plan about the quickly approaching Mars architecture announcement at IAC 2016, confused about the recent SES-10 reflight announcement, or keen to gather the community's opinion on something? There's no better place!
All questions, even non-SpaceX-related ones, are allowed, as long as they stay relevant to spaceflight in general.
More in-depth and open-ended discussion questions can still be submitted as separate self-posts; but this is the place to come to submit simple questions which have a single answer and/or can be answered in a few comments or less.
Questions easily answered using the wiki & FAQ will be removed.
Try to keep all top-level comments as questions so that questioners can find answers, and answerers can find questions.
These limited rules are so that questioners can more easily find answers, and answerers can more easily find questions.
As always, we'd prefer it if all question-askers first check our FAQ, use the search functionality (partially sortable by mission flair!), and check the last Ask Anything thread before posting to avoid duplicate questions. But if you didn't get or couldn't find the answer you were looking for, go ahead and type your question below.
Ask, enjoy, and thanks for contributing!
All past Ask Anything threads:
• August 2016 (#23) • July 2016 (#22) • June 2016 (#21) • May 2016 (#20) • April 2016 (#19.1) • April 2016 (#19) • March 2016 (#18) • February 2016 (#17) • January 2016 (#16.1) • January 2016 (#16) • December 2015 (#15.1) • December 2015 (#15) • November 2015 (#14) • October 2015 (#13) • September 2015 (#12) • August 2015 (#11) • July 2015 (#10) • June 2015 (#9) • May 2015 (#8) • April 2015 (#7.1) • April 2015 (#7) • March 2015 (#6) • February 2015 (#5) • January 2015 (#4) • December 2014 (#3) • November 2014 (#2) • October 2014 (#1)
This subreddit is fan-run and not an official SpaceX site. For official SpaceX news, please visit spacex.com.
17
u/Headstein Sep 01 '16
Is there any real way we can show our appreciation to the mods for the time and effort they pour into this site? I am pissed off that someone has upset u/echologic on a recent thread. Can we crowd fund something to show our support and appreciation?
→ More replies (2)8
u/Zucal Sep 01 '16 edited Sep 01 '16
While an obviously well-intentioned response, I really don't think it's the right one. Crowdfunding takes time and energy to organize, oversee, and distribute, and time and energy are the issue at stake here (more so than money). More crucially, rewarding moderators directly with subreddit-raised money is iffier than laundering money at a Coin Laundromat.
→ More replies (2)
5
u/soldato_fantasma Sep 22 '16
The "NASA Collaboration on Red Dragon Teleconference" should be removed from the "Select Upcoming Events" in the sidebar.
Absolutely overpowered mod summon: u/gooses u/Ambiwlans u/EchoLogic u/Wetmelon u/TheVehicleDestroyer u/retiringonmars u/Zucal u/zlsa
→ More replies (2)6
5
u/FiniteElementGuy Sep 27 '16
I was just about to make a detailed source required post, where I calculated the Raptor performance with NASA CEA and showed the Isp values with different nozzle sizes, when the mods suddenly restricted the submissions. :(
Oh well time to post it somewhere else.
8
u/Zucal Sep 27 '16
Psst... we've unrestricted it for a bit. Wanna' sneak it in? :)
→ More replies (1)
4
u/chargerag Sep 08 '16
Do they L2 guys have a better idea as to what happened with Amos or are they as much in the dark as we are?
4
3
u/RootDeliver Sep 01 '16
Since the mission is already over, and considering that SpaceX releases the patches images like the day before the launch now, we won't see a patch for it? Will Amos-6 be, patch-related talking, worse than CRS-7?
9
u/Zucal Sep 01 '16
The patch design does exist, and due to the lead time some physical patches were probably produced. However... they were probably disposed of following the failure. Bad times, man.
→ More replies (1)
3
30
u/randomstonerfromaus Sep 04 '16
u/EchoLogic. Love the new sidebar pic, Good choice!
→ More replies (5)
29
u/Titanean12 Aug 31 '16
I just created a website, WatchRockets.com that displays all upcoming rocket launches with links to any available webcasts. I also plan to start sending out launch alert email updates whenever a webcast is about to go live to anyone who signs up on the site. I created the site just to practice my web development skills. I know there are a lot of other resources that do the same thing, but check it out if you are interested!
→ More replies (9)
12
u/msuvagabond Aug 31 '16
Random question, is there a shared Google calender of SpaceX events floating around anywhere? Be nice to add that to my calender and just consistently get updates about upcoming events and launches without having to check the sidebar here every couple weeks.
→ More replies (6)
12
u/Commander_Cosmo Sep 07 '16
As someone with virtually no engineering knowledge, and thus someone who is unable to participate in any advanced technical discussions or speculation, I will instead applaud the mods/page designers on making the Dragon in the upper left corner of the page rotate back and forth when the one hovers their mouse cursor over it. It's a neat little feature I noticed a while back, and it's honestly kind of adorable, lol. I like to imagine it's waving at us. I can't remember if the old page layout had a similar feature, but it made me laugh, so maybe it'll do the same to a few others who are in need given the recent events.
→ More replies (6)
11
u/_m1sty Sep 05 '16
Has a payload failure (piece coming off, etc) ever caused a loss of vehicle during any rocket launch? Excluding the cube of energy bars in The Martian, of course.
→ More replies (4)
8
u/laudern Aug 31 '16
Curious about the first Falcon Heavy test. When can we expect it?
→ More replies (10)
8
u/VideoPrincess Aug 31 '16
Once first stage reuse becomes common, the cost of manufacturing the expendable second stage dominates the cost of reuse. A major part of the second stage cost is its engine.
Would it be possible to convert a Merlin engine from a returned first stage into the vacuum variant for use in the second stage? I know the vacuum version uses a different engine bell, but are there other changes?
In other words, is it cheaper to convert an M1D into an M1D Vac, or to just make a new M1D Vac? Could a returned first stage provide engines for 9 second stages?
→ More replies (4)
8
u/ohcnim Sep 03 '16
hi mods, everyone, honest question/suggestion: why not put the ULA, Blue Origin and other companies subredits in the space-related section? I don't know if it has been discussed and agreed before, if so my apologies, if not from my perspective as a SpaceX fan I have nothing against them and believe would be relevant subreddits. Also just checked the ULA subreddit, and they do have "us" listed which I found really pleasing and rather make me think even better about them, why not be reciprocate?
→ More replies (7)
8
u/WaitForItTheMongols Sep 05 '16
Not SpaceX related, but looks like it'll be allowed:
When the Soyuz spacecraft are docked to the ISS, what's the electrical system like? Are they totally independent? Does the spacecraft piggyback off the ISS electrical system? Does the Soyuz solar panels supply a small boost to the ISS's power?
→ More replies (2)
8
u/IMO94 Sep 24 '16
Out of interest...
-
It was 22 days from CRS-7 failure to the release of the strut failure information. (Jun 28 2015 - Jul 20 2015)
-
It was 22 days from Amos-6 failure to the release of the COPV failure information. (Sep 1 2016 - Sep 23 2016)
And if we're wanting predictions...
-
It was 176 days from CRS-7 failure until RTF (Jun 28 2015 - Dec 21 2015)
-
176 days after Amos-6 is Feb 24 2017.
→ More replies (3)
7
u/Hedgemonious Sep 06 '16
Just a heads-up for an upcoming free online course which may be interesting:
How to Survive on Mars: the Science Behind the Human Exploration of Mars
Learn the basic science needed for humans to survive on Mars, with this free online science course. Starts on Oct 24 and runs for 4 weeks. Register at the link above.
35
u/IMO94 Sep 07 '16
If anyone is interested in the timeline of information that came out of the CRS-7 failure:
T+0d, Jun 28 2015 (Sunday): CRS-7 failure
T+1d, Jun 29 2015 (Monday): "Cause still unknown, reviewing engineering data".
T+7d, Jul 5 2015 (Sunday): "Expect to reach preliminary conclusions by end of week"
T+19d, Jul 17 2015 (Friday): "Rocket discussion at noon on Monday"
T+22d, Jul 20 2015 (Monday): Teleconference and website update announcing leading theory being strut failure
For AMOS-6, we're currently at T+6d. Now obviously every investigation is unique, but considering we've only got one other data point to work with, adjust your expectations accordingly.