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SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

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Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#231

Post by Animats »

splitrocket wrote: post #215
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if not, was it worth the risk? yes

The reason you have a computer that fits in your pocket, much less requires its own room with a reinforced floor is due to the NASA space program. On edit: meant for the parent comment, but its parent instead

The reason you have a computer that fits in your pocket, much less requires its own room with a reinforced floor is due to the NASA space program.

No. That's a common misconception. ICs were a commercial development, and microprocessors came from the calculator industry.

Pre-IC electronics miniaturization was pushed hard by the USAF; NASA just used it. The USAF had a flyable transistorized computer in 1954, before NASA existed. The Minuteman I missile (1962) carried a transistorized guidance computer.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#232

Post by dperfect »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #161

Wow. This sends so many thoughts cascading through my head that I'm dizzy. Some things to consider, China has been working up to getting a space capability to send people to the Moon with the full backing of the government funding, by 2035[1]. They started in 2003. SpaceX was founded in 2002 and they are saying they will fly someone around the moon next year? Dragon has the deltaV to land on the moon (not sure if it…

> China has been working up to getting a space capability to send people to the Moon with the full backing of the government funding, by 2035[1]. They started in 2003. SpaceX was founded in 2002 and they are saying they will fly someone around the moon next year?

I don't want to downplay SpaceX at all because I'm a huge fan, but isn't flying someone to the moon (and presumably back) more complicated than just flying around the moon and back? As I understand, apart from the challenge of achieving orbital velocity (no small feat), flying around the moon might require ~41% more velocity (assuming escape velocity to orbital velocity being a ratio of something like sqrt(2):1) and you can use the moon's gravity to redirect you back to earth, whereas landing on the moon and returning requires even more energy (slowing down to land + escaping the moon and returning), not to mention the various other technical requirements involved with the landing itself.

"Beyond the moon" makes this sound like it'll be a greater achievement than the Apollo moon landings, but I'm not sure that's really true. Don't get me wrong, the fact that it's a private (ish) company doing this is incredible, just not quite "moon landing" incredible... yet.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#233

Post by Gravityloss »

I find this schedule very very unlikely. No humans have flown in the Dragon at all yet. Also none on any of SpaceX:s rockets. There have been lots of launch and pad failures.

I'm cheering for SpaceX for doing more towards spacefaring, but I'm very skeptical and think this will, at least, end up being negative PR to them, and, at worst, a lot more.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#234

Post by grouplinkdave »

About 20 years ago as a young engineer I was given the opportunity to propose some solutions to NASA, and was invited to the Kennedy Space Center’s LCC for the presentation. Prior to meeting with the exec team at the LCC they took me on a tour of the VAB, where I saw all the operations and was allowed to take digital images of some of the vehicle assembly and maintenance operations to demonstrate possible improvements. Such great energy at the whole KSC. What an honor to be there to feel that passion and gratitude!

Last month I was again at the KSC and LCC as a tourist, and the energy was just a minute fraction of what I'd seen 20 years before. We need this kind of vision [from SpaceX and others, e.g., like this other NASA-based article today with the young engineer comments, who did the hydroponics in microgravity at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13743196 ] to push science and technology beyond the video game and entertainment markets. Congratulations to SpaceX, the microgravity hydroponics engineer, and the others with vision who are once-again elevating the bright eyes of brilliant youth, scientists and engineers.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#236

Post by lisper »

dperfect wrote: post #232
ChuckMcM wrote: post #161

Wow. This sends so many thoughts cascading through my head that I'm dizzy. Some things to consider, China has been working up to getting a space capability to send people to the Moon with the full backing of the government funding, by 2035[1]. They started in 2003. SpaceX was founded in 2002 and they are saying they will fly someone around the moon next year? Dragon has the deltaV to land on the moon (not sure if it…

> China has been working up to getting a space capability to send people to the Moon with the full backing of the government funding, by 2035[1]. They started in 2003. SpaceX was founded in 2002 and they are saying they will fly someone around the moon next year? I don't want to downplay SpaceX at all because I'm a huge fan, but isn't flying someone to the moon (and presumably back) more complicated than just flying…

Yes, that is exactly right. They are not going to land, for exactly the reasons you say.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#237

Post by [deleted] »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #161

Wow. This sends so many thoughts cascading through my head that I'm dizzy. Some things to consider, China has been working up to getting a space capability to send people to the Moon with the full backing of the government funding, by 2035[1]. They started in 2003. SpaceX was founded in 2002 and they are saying they will fly someone around the moon next year? Dragon has the deltaV to land on the moon (not sure if it…

[deleted]

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#238

Post by archon810 »

mmaunder wrote: post #212
runesoerensen wrote: post #5

> We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. Can't wait to hear who booked this trip! Definitely one of the coolest ways to spend a lot of superfluous money :)

It could be Elon.

Nah, if Elon is going somewhere, it's deeper underground with his giant bore.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#239

Post by xcode_ »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #161

Wow. This sends so many thoughts cascading through my head that I'm dizzy. Some things to consider, China has been working up to getting a space capability to send people to the Moon with the full backing of the government funding, by 2035[1]. They started in 2003. SpaceX was founded in 2002 and they are saying they will fly someone around the moon next year? Dragon has the deltaV to land on the moon (not sure if it…

As far as I understand, the press release doesn't mention anything about landing. Quoting from the article: "SpaceX will launch the private mission on a journey to circumnavigate the moon and return to Earth"

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#240

Post by Cerium »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #192
hackuser wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The next person to take a picture of the Earth from moon may not be on a government funded mission. Note that the press release says: Most importantly, we would like to thank NASA, without whom this would not be possible. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which provided most of the funding for Dragon 2 development, is a key enabler for this mission. Your tax dollars, if you are American, helped pay for this. Thank yo…

As a taxpayer (who was just reminded this past weekend of how much that is :-) I'm really glad that NASA had enough budget to spend on the Commercial Crew program. Given that the NASA budget of $18.5B[1] is a rounding error on the overall budget $3,540B[2], seriously it's a half a percent. And commercial crew was only $1.2B [ibid] of that NASA budget. So less than .05%. Again rounding error. And with that money they…

If instead of increasing military spending 54 billion, we gave it all to NASA, we could be quadrupling NASA's budget.
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