Trololzilla wrote:Speculation seems to be increasing that SpaceX and Tesla may merge in the future.
Will they have a road-legal Falcon 9 anytime in the future? Or what is the synergy effect?
David
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Trololzilla wrote:Speculation seems to be increasing that SpaceX and Tesla may merge in the future.
flyingturtle wrote:Trololzilla wrote:Speculation seems to be increasing that SpaceX and Tesla may merge in the future.
Will they have a road-legal Falcon 9 anytime in the future? Or what is the synergy effect?
David
Trololzilla wrote:flyingturtle wrote:Trololzilla wrote:Speculation seems to be increasing that SpaceX and Tesla may merge in the future.
Will they have a road-legal Falcon 9 anytime in the future? Or what is the synergy effect?
David
It mainly just allows for greater integration, IMO. If they were to merge, then Elon wouldn't have to dedicate his time between two different companies (and The Boring Company); he'd only have to spend it at 'one'. A rather large, complicated one at that, but a single entity nonetheless.
Since Tesla owns SolarCity as well, it'd essentially be merging three companies that together could do a lot of the things necessary for interplanetary colonization: one part covers the space transportation/infrastructure aspect (SpaceX), one part covers vehicular transportation and energy storage (Tesla, who could spin off a division that focuses on extraplanetary vehicles i.e. manned/unmanned rovers and their ilk, and Powerpack/Powerwall), and one part covers renewable energy production (SolarCity).
Expanding upon this idea, Elon could even merge this "supercompany" with The Boring Company to help build underground infrastructure, vital to initial colonization efforts. Expanding on this concept even further, Elon could either start his own Hyperloop company or absorb one of the leading companies in that field, gaining a foothold in "mass transportation" (however contentious that designation may be for the Hyperloop concept). Finally, for the actual structures, he could either set up a division of this supercompany that focuses on building planetary habitats, etc., or even purchase an existing company (i.e. Bigelow Aerospace) and expand their purview.
I highly doubt all this would happen (or even some of it), but it honestly does make a whole lot of sense from one point of view (maybe not from an antitrust or realism POV, however).
Trololzilla wrote:
We also have the inklings of a new space race between SpaceX and Boeing (via ULA):
https://www.space.com/39014-will-boeing ... -mars.html
That is precisely what Musk has wanted all along. Good to see that he's really upped the ante in the space industry and is starting to force his competitors to respond in earnest.
Leslieville wrote:Beautiful CRS-13 landing at LZ-1 today. What a time to be alive.
flyingturtle wrote:zanl188 wrote:Forum member HeloDriver mentioned it on nasaspaceflight.com in September 2012. Is Musk lurking on spaceflight forums? HeloDriver has asked Musk for a tour of the payload on twitter.
Well, I've read the suggestion that the first FH payload could be a Tesla months before. In a comment on youtube. It's not that ill-logical.
David
tommy1808 wrote:A Tea Cattle
tommy1808 wrote:
JetBuddy wrote:Congrats SpaceX on another successful mission! Launch, landing and payload delivery went 100% as planned. The video feed was really great on this launch as well, was spectacular to watch the stage seperation and boostback from the ground camera.. and then the landing of the first stage. Just amazing.
Tugger wrote:JetBuddy wrote:Congrats SpaceX on another successful mission! Launch, landing and payload delivery went 100% as planned. The video feed was really great on this launch as well, was spectacular to watch the stage seperation and boostback from the ground camera.. and then the landing of the first stage. Just amazing.
I had a beautiful view of the ISS with the Dragon capsule chasing last night as they passed overhead in the late evening. I am hoping now to see the same with the Soyuz carrying the additional crew tomorrow!
Tugg
KarelXWB wrote:Here it is: the first Falcon Heavy.
KarelXWB wrote:Here it is: the first Falcon Heavy.
ZaphodHarkonnen wrote:3 fewer engines than the Soviet N-1. All of which failed. :p
This is going to be a beast to see launch.
“I hope it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage,” said Musk in July. “I would consider even that a win, to be honest.”
parapente wrote:What is the 'bar' that goes across all 3 boosters just above the grid fins.The right hand one has a vertices part running down the length of the booster the other 2 seem to have smaller versions.It this fuelling or relief valves?
meecrob wrote:Does anyone have any insight as to why the outer ring of 8 engines on the boosters seems to be rotated a few degrees clockwise?
parapente wrote:What is the 'bar' that goes across all 3 boosters just above the grid fins.The right hand one has a vertices part running down the length of the booster the other 2 seem to have smaller versions.It this fuelling or relief valves?
Oroka wrote:parapente wrote:What is the 'bar' that goes across all 3 boosters just above the grid fins.The right hand one has a vertices part running down the length of the booster the other 2 seem to have smaller versions.It this fuelling or relief valves?
Cross feed from the outer boosters? All 3 cores burn the fuel in the outer 2 boosters first, jettison the outer boosters, then you have a fully fueled falcon 9 way up high.
KarelXWB wrote:What are the benefits of cross fueling?
moo wrote:Now, you could throttle back the boosters as well, and separate at a higher altitude, but thats not always possible within the parameters of a mission - meanwhile, having a fully fuelled core stage at altitude would open up a lot more missions than a partially fuelled one.
parapente wrote:60-70% is still a huge amount of power from what is a large rocket.Clearly it can push a dragon capsule to a moon orbit and back and it was pencilled in for a mars orbit at one time (red dragon).
I wonder whether it could be used to take a craft into Moon orbit (ie a back burn for lunar orbit).That would leave the second stage for a return to earth and reentry.Sadly not enough for a lander as well -need a Saturn for that sort of work.
moo wrote:What is possible is getting a larger second stage into orbit - which would then be used for the trans lunar injection.
KarelXWB wrote:moo wrote:Now, you could throttle back the boosters as well, and separate at a higher altitude, but thats not always possible within the parameters of a mission - meanwhile, having a fully fuelled core stage at altitude would open up a lot more missions than a partially fuelled one.
That's the part I'm not fully understanding. If the boosters have enough fuel left to feed the center core, why not burning the booster a little bit longer to reach higher heights?
ZaphodHarkonnen wrote:Given how routine in orbit rendezvous is these days two launches makes total sense for capsule and lander.
zanl188 wrote:Tesla Roadster and launch adapter for upcoming Falcon Heavy launch:
KarelXWB wrote:What are the benefits of cross fueling?
KarelXWB wrote:moo wrote:Now, you could throttle back the boosters as well, and separate at a higher altitude, but thats not always possible within the parameters of a mission - meanwhile, having a fully fuelled core stage at altitude would open up a lot more missions than a partially fuelled one.
That's the part I'm not fully understanding. If the boosters have enough fuel left to feed the center core, why not burning the booster a little bit longer to reach higher heights?
QuarkFly wrote:KarelXWB wrote:What are the benefits of cross fueling?
I'm sure cross-feed will never happen...The 1st stage and boosters are highly pressurized and would require heavy pumps to move fuel and LOX between cores in feed lines -- having both weight and aerodynamic penalties Or the engine turbo-pumps could be used to move some of the fuel between cores but that would be complicated.