[Sixstrings]

Some bad news about SpaceX, for once, or one of their goofy millennial former employees anyhow:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')ormer SpaceX employee faces life in prison for running Silk Road 2.0


http://rt.com/usa/202935-silk-road-busted-benthall/

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'R')ocketdyne F-1 is big dog

[Subjectivist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'A')ll kidding aside we are never going to agree on the AJ26 unless you see the light and come around to my way of thinking

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'S')imple really. Instead of leaping to conclusions completely investigate what caused the accident. Then determine how expensive it would be to fix whatever the actual problem is. Then using logic determine the cost benefit analisys of fixing the problem compared to completely scrapping a stage that has had four successful flights before this one.

[Subjectivist]

Orbital Sciences is effectively ending up a subsidiary of ATK so they are not really making these decisions any longer. The SEC could still quash the takeover, but that is not very likely.

[Subjectivist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dissident', 'T')he Six$ drone just had to post something about the N1. You see, in his little mind if you have a deficient design in anything, then you have deficient designs in everything.

In the real world, which is infinitely larger and more complex than the binary random stream generator in the head of Six$, you have the Atlas V using RD-180 engines. Has it been blowing up all the time?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_V

Not a single failure pertaining to the RD-180 engines.

Naturally we have hate and vitriol aimed at Russia and none at Ukraine. Things have been slipping in Ukraine for a long time and the most likely failure point is the Ukrainian first stage. The N1 rocket engines are what they are. I am quite sure that they have been subjected to testing with X-rays and ultrasound for fractures and other defects. There are quite a few potential failure points in the first stage.

http://en.ria.ru/science/20130226/17970 ... ilure.html

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'H')ow many miles of bullet-train track could be installed for $250 million?

[Subjectivist]

A detailed review of the antares telemetry moment by moment shows that oxygen flow to one engine was cut off, then to the second engine. Most likely cause if this data holds up is an LOX pipe failure in the Ukrain built first stage tank, not in the engine itself of the engine turbo pump.

[dissident]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'A') detailed review of the antares telemetry moment by moment shows that oxygen flow to one engine was cut off, then to the second engine. Most likely cause if this data holds up is an LOX pipe failure in the Ukrain built first stage tank, not in the engine itself of the engine turbo pump.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dissident', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'A') detailed review of the antares telemetry moment by moment shows that oxygen flow to one engine was cut off, then to the second engine. Most likely cause if this data holds up is an LOX pipe failure in the Ukrain built first stage tank, not in the engine itself of the engine turbo pump.

[Sixstrings]

Dissident -- look -- nobody is saying Russia makes bad space stuff. That's ludicrous, Russia is #2 in space always has been, sometimes #1.

The soyuz is good.. all that stuff is good solid stuff and works.. I will just say that the Proton had a massive explosion off the pad months ago, nobody paid attention to that, then one tiny little cargo rocket in the US blows up and it's somehow huge news.

Having said that, despite blowing up, the Proton is a good rocket. The best that has ever been achieved with ANY launch system is like 98% success. Nobody has ever done better. As long as its within that range, then there's not an out-of-ordinary problem.

So that means for every 100 launches, 2 are going to blow up, no matter how good the system is.

So I get upset about this Orbital Sciences because I had a sense *the whole time* this thing was sketchy and not ready for prime time.

I never thought it would work out. I honestly didn't, and I just hate being right like that, because it makes me wonder why the people spending all the money and in charge can't see what's so obvious.

Orbital Sci is more of a satellite company. They've tried some rocket stuff before, but they never got far with it, for so many years now we're talking back into the 90s.

Then look at Musk.. in just 10 years he teaches himself the rocket business and takes over the industry, with a superior engine and stage.

So how did that happen? Orbital's a sizable company, with a track record, wtf have they been doing for the last 25 years?

And so, they go the cheap route, the outsourcing route, and they bought these old engines out of a warehouse in Russia. And put it on a Ukrainian stage. And whoever's fault it is, it blew up.

If I recall, Congress has already passed a law that no more rocket engines can be bought from Russia, or China for that matter -- I'd be even more pissed off if there was a Chinese engine on US rockets.

These rockets are a national symbol. You just can't have Russian engines on them, you can't.

But, we were doing it, it was globalism. Reset buttons. Russia was a "friend." But then all this stuff started, and everything Putin's done, and suddenly folks on congressional committes realize "wtf how are we dependent on Russian engines, how did this happen." It's not that the engines are bad, they're not they're very good (if new, not 40 years old) -- the issue is national security, if Russia and China are adversaries then you can't be dependent on them for something crucial like a rocket engine.

That makes your dependence a weapon for the other side to use. The other side can just stop the supply, or threaten to, and cause chaos and disruption.

[Subjectivist]

New press release from Orbital Sciences about the future of the launch site and the Antares launcher.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '(')Dulles, VA 9 December 2014) – Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced new details in its plans to resume cargo flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and to accelerate the introduction of an upgraded Antares launch vehicle. In formulating its go-forward plans, the company’s primary objective is to fulfill its commitment to NASA for ISS cargo deliveries with high levels of safety and reliability and minimum disruption to schedules. As previously announced, these plans are expected to allow Orbital to accomplish all remaining cargo deliveries under its current Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA by the end of 2016 and with no cost increase to the space agency.

The company’s go-forward plans for the CRS program and Antares launch vehicle include these major elements:

• Atlas V Launch: Orbital has contracted with United Launch Alliance for an Atlas V launch of a Cygnus cargo spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the fourth quarter of 2015, with an option for a second Atlas V launch in 2016 if needed. The Atlas rocket’s greater lift capacity will allow Cygnus to carry nearly 35% more cargo to the ISS than previously planned for CRS missions in 2015.
• Antares Propulsion Upgrade: The company has confirmed its ability to accelerate the introduction of a new main propulsion system for the Antares rocket and has scheduled three additional CRS launches in the first, second and fourth quarters of 2016 using the upgraded vehicle. The greater payload performance of the upgraded Antares will permit Cygnus spacecraft on each of these missions to deliver over 20% more cargo than in prior plans. With necessary supplier contracts now in place, the first new propulsion systems are expected to arrive at the Antares final assembly facility at Wallops Island, Virginia in mid-2015 to begin vehicle integration and testing.
• Wallops Launch Site Repairs: The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) has assessed the clean-up, repair and reconstruction work necessary to return the Wallops launch complex to operational status. Current plans call for repairs to be substantially completed by the fall of 2015, with recertification taking place before year end.
The flexibility of Orbital’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft to accommodate heavier cargo loads, together with the greater lift capacity of the Atlas V and upgraded Antares vehicles, will allow the company to complete all currently contracted ISS deliveries in four missions instead of the five previously planned flights over the next two years. In addition, the company’s revised approach is not expected to create any material adverse financial impacts in 2015 or future years as Orbital carries out the CRS cargo delivery and Antares propulsion upgrade programs.

[jedrider]

SpaceX has competition now:

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2014/12/09/Club-launches-rocket-powered-porta-potty/1151418141068/?r=8951394637575

LatrineX (you can skip the first minute, though, as rocket launches at 1:10)

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'W')hat is the point of all this? We are not really going to make ball-bearings in space. Or live on the moon. Or mine asteroids. It's all about selfies and satellites. Selfies and satellites.

[Subjectivist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he ban on Russian rocket engines is part of a massive bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, that authorizes $580 billion in Pentagon spending over the next year. Among its scores of provisions are cuts to military health benefits, continued funding of the Air Force's A-10 Warthog aircraft — marked for retirement — and the authorization of a stepped-up campaign against Islamic State militants.

The measure has already passed the House and is now headed for the expected signature of President Obama.

The defense bill was one of the few in which congressional members of both parties came together.

And they made it clear in the bill's language that they wanted the Air Force to stop relying on space technology built by Russia — a country that became a renewed military threat with its annexation of Crimea and its support of separatists in the Ukraine.

[dissident]

Big bad Congress, full of qualified professionals, is huffing and puffing. Let them. These retards think that such devices can be produced in few months with a "bit of gumption and good old American knowhow".