Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

spacex.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 513 posts

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

#381

Post by robszumski »

CydeWeys wrote: post #279
jessriedel wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. SpaceX doesn't have a craft capable of lunar orbit rendezvous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_orbit_rendezvous so they would need to return to the Earth directly from the surface of the moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_ascent Direct ascent requires a much larger initial launch mass, i.e., a larger rocket than has ever been built. Since it took the massive Saturn V to complete the Apollo missions u…

> Right. SpaceX doesn't have a craft capable of lunar orbit rendezvous Why not? Their Dragon capsules can dock with the ISS; why wouldn't they be able to dock with each, possibly with some kind of adapter? You can imagine one Dragon and a trunk docking with another upper stage that's all fuel tank, heading to the Moon, undocking in orbit, landing, ascending, and rendezvousing in orbit to return home. The total dv req…

A lot of the devil here is in the details. You need long term life support that Dragon hasn't proven yet. Deep space communications on the transmit and receive side. Abort scenarios for most or all phases of flight. All of this is untested and requires a huge amount of engineering and manufacturing work. Since this will likely share the same design as the NASA-contracted capsules, these systems will need to pass muster with them. And they don't cut corners.

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

#382

Post by gozur88 »

peteretep wrote: post #371
gozur88 wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is relevant how?

> I doubt it's any more difficult to > get absurdly wealthy than to become > an astronaut Not very many people are born as astronauts, but some people are born very wealthy.

Yes, but the point was if you're not born wealthy you probably have a better chance of becoming wealthy than becoming a NASA astronaut.

Also, why do some people think being born with money is somehow bad, but being born with intelligence and drive is good? Aren't they both down to luck?

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

#383

Post by troymc »

ironchief wrote: post #290

It is very likely Steve Jurveston. 1. In a comment about the announcement alluded to it as a "recurring dream"[1] 2. 5 years ago, described a moon orbit as "when I plan to fly in space. I have two specific missions in mind"[2] 3. SpaceX Board Member and investor 4. Has the money 5. Knows Elon "Mr Musk declined to reveal their identities, only saying that they knew each other"[3] 6. Is "nobody from Hollywood" 7. Liked…

In this photo from 2012, he's inside the Shuttle White Room at the end of the Swing Arm on Pad 39A: https://flic.kr/p/bzh1Ju

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

#384

Post by achamayou »

vibrolax wrote: post #300
achamayou wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they haven't got a lander for one thing. The Apollo LM had its design finalised in '63, and only flew in '65. SpaceX would surely do it quicker now, with the benefit of experience, but from scratch to operations in a year for such a unique vehicle is quite unrealistic.

The Apollo LM first flew in earth orbit on the Apollo 9 mission in March 1969. Its first test flight was only 4 months before the Apollo 11 mission landed one on the moon! And the first all-up Saturn V flew unmanned in November 1967. The incentives and funding were there very rapid development.

Its first complete test flight, but there were years of development and testing of mockups and subsystems before.

A quick check also reveals that the LM carried in excess of 10 tons of fuel, when Dragon carries less than 1.5.

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

#385

Post by vans »

saganus wrote: post #320
dperfect wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Well, it says in the article: "Once operational Crew Dragon missions are underway for NASA, SpaceX will launch the private mission on a journey to circumnavigate the moon and return to Earth." I don't know why people are arguing over whether they are landing or not...

because no one read the article :)

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

#386

Post by aoeu345 »

aerovistae wrote: post #315
misnome wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad to see somebody questioning the timescale. There is definitely a huge blind spot around Musk around here.

I'm the biggest fan of Elon there is, I'm pretty sure, but this still makes me nervous. The timescale is bullshit-- the past two failures have both pushed things back a ways, and at this point I'm not optimistic there won't be more failures soon (although I strongly believe they'll succeed completely in the long term regardless). Things would have to go perfectly for this timescale to actually happen. But what really…

"What if it's late," "What if someone dies", "It has to go perfectly or else." Mate there's no reason to slow down or criticize science and engineering for being late, having a death, or riding the razor's edge. Just get shit done. That's all that matters, this kind of internet fear-mongering is absolutely detrimental, even if there are huge risks involved in the process. We're not going to mess up the planet, but nay-sayers will absolutely slow us down.

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

#388

Post by ascorbic »

pinewurst wrote: post #257
Animats wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 NA…

Also Polaris, a little bit earlier (deployed 1960) had a very small transistorized guidance computer which was the design root of the Apollo Guidance Computer. Polaris was much more of a DDA (digital differential analyzer) than real computer though.

ICBM development is basically a space program with a different budget code though, right?

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

#389

Post by enra »

jacquesm wrote: post #127
Nokinside wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zuck going around the moon would make sense. He clearly has political ambitions, but he must acquire personality. Being an space-tourist would help.

How on Earth (pun intended) would that help?

Same way politician candidates often acquire some military background. It builds their profile and they have something to tell stories about. It doesn't really matter what they actually did there.

In modern times, most people at least in the US doesn't have military experience and they tend to give it a somewhat mythical status. Those who do, can feel that the candidate relates to them.

So it can be an rhetoric for anything "you know, the time was I went around moon, this happened, which made me realize that x is more important than y". No-one can really discount that experience easily or politely since they haven't done that, and somewhat more admirable and mythical than creating a social networking website.

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

#390

Post by MichaelMoser123 »

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…

How will Elon get us to the moon if Tesla is burning up all of his money? [1]

Also a private entity can't assert jurisdiction over anything, you have to be a state to do just that.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-27/tesla-slu...

Downvotes? Ah, i forgot that around here one is not supposed to question anything that Elon does.

Post reply on HN