SpaceX’s Cowboy-Carrying Rocket Flies to 131 Feet, Hovers and Lands

It is sort of like NASA's DC-X spacecraft that was cancelled a couple of years ago after a crash and lack of funding.

Jerry Pournelle was a staunch supporter of this program.



www.astronautix.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by LucidFusionPretty interesting approach for satellite launch, though I imagine it would take some serious tweaking to increase the payload to include passengers/crew. Would definately make for a hell of a launch to anyone on board.

Or destroy/crush/shatter the sensitive components within the satellite/humans?

Maneuvering without RCS thrusters in space will be a pain.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by smurfy

 

Well the solid rocket boosters used on the shuttle were used for years without the outside being changed. They only rebuilt the inside portions of them.

You just answered a question (without my asking) that had always been on my mind.

On a separate note... The young boy in me (yes, it still resides in here somewhere), always wondered why rocket-ships in real life couldn't perform like all those cheesy Sci-Fi 50's & 60's "B-Movies" we were subjected to. Now here it is some 60 odd years later and it looks like we might actually see a working ship in our life-time.

Johnny

Can someone tell me why SpaceX can get things done well on a tight budget where all the other big hitters seem to suck the NASA funds dry and not even present a fully functional product most of the time, not even mentioning the amount of failures that NASA has internally (not all NASA's fault)

I guess SpaceX has pulled expertise from Boeing and Lockheed, I'm just amazed at what they can get done and what they're charging NASA.

All you people saying they need to think outside the box are crazy,,
this is an enormous innovative leap on what is currently the only viable method of heavy lifting into space (rockets)
Good luck to them, I hope it continues to pan out.


As for other possibilities, hopefully someone is at least in the planning stages of a space elevator, because thats the only other option we have at the moment, and it should be acheivable.

Great thread OP.
Some people have so much fun.
Makes me want to fly my xmas toy rc helicopter I bought for the wife

Impressive. I don't know why, but while I was watching the video, I was thinking about the Eagles from Space 1999. It would be great to use several of these rockets attached to a larger payload unit.

reply to post by hp1229


Like I said it would take a lot of work, but could you imagine the rush? First you're shot out of a large artillery gun, then have a second stage booster kick in at the apex. I would think the g force from the initial shot would make the rocket boost less noticeable, and it would seem it would increase fuel efficiency, brig that the projectile is already moving at high vilocity when they fire up. When you consider the kind of speeds modern fighter jets can reach, it's not too far fetched an idea. Was a time when people thought traveling more than 40 miles an hour would crush the human body. The defining characteristic of mankind is in our innate ability to adapt and overcome.

Mark my words, spacex is going to achieve wondrous feats in a short time frame.
It's team of the falcon 9 and heavy has already given them numerous contracts in worth of 4 billion dollars.
They have 50 launches on they'r manifest, more than anyone in the world.
I believe that they are going to have a joined mission with Nasa to Mars in 2025 utilising spacex's raptor engines with liquid oxygen and methane that would along with they'r resuable rocket cut prices drastically.
And after that, somewhere around the 50s, they'r going to have a colony of a few hundred, maybe even thousand people.

It's time to start thinking about exopolitics!

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

SpaceX - Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon

I thought this was relevant:



As soon as I get enough spare money, it's probably going to be invested in SpaceX, Tesla, or a related company.

reply to post by C0bzz


"It has the zombie apocalypse warranty"



The American dream incarnate, rags to riches to rags and back!

Black121
Mark my words, spacex is going to achieve wondrous feats in a short time frame.
It's team of the falcon 9 and heavy has already given them numerous contracts in worth of 4 billion dollars.
They have 50 launches on they'r manifest, more than anyone in the world.
I believe that they are going to have a joined mission with Nasa to Mars in 2025 utilising spacex's raptor engines with liquid oxygen and methane that would along with they'r resuable rocket cut prices drastically.
And after that, somewhere around the 50s, they'r going to have a colony of a few hundred, maybe even thousand people.

You know, I am frankly astounded that no one seems to care about SpaceX and keeps talking about national space programs as if they are the bee's knees.

Shame on the ATS crowd who claim to have an interest in space and the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge.

Very disappointed.