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SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

universetoday.com

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Re: SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

#181

Post by luke_s »

nkoren wrote: post #67
chromaton wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NewSpaceWatch focuses specifically on commercial companies trying to innovate in space travel: Armadillo, SpaceX, Bigelow, etc. http://www.newspacewatch.com/

I second that recommendation. This is the successor to a site called "Hobbyspace" which was the best clearinghouse for all commercial space news since the mid-1990s. Although it was just a hobbyist's website, I have reason to believe that its comprehensive reporting and very clear-headed analysis actually bears some of the credit for catalysing the entire Newspace movement (eg., Elon Musk was a following and commenti…

Oh wow - is there any way to find his old posts. It would be really interesting to see some of his comments and thoughts given everything that has happened since.

Re: SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

#182

Post by cdash »

FrojoS wrote: post #180
InclinedPlane wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also complicate the range safety situation and make on-pad aborts after they've been lit impossible. Once they've been lit you're going wherever they're going, whether you like it or not.

Yet, NASA plans to use them on the new Space Launch System (SLS). Lobbyism?

Pretty much, yes. They want to keep the people making those engines employed. I think there might be some talk about eventually going to a renewed F-1 engine with a much reduced complexity and greater thrust than the original. There is a reason why the SLS is also known as the Senate Launch System.

Re: SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

#183

Post by luke_s »

slackpad wrote: post #128
droz wrote: post #78

Anyone have experience working at, or with, SpaceX that can shed some light on what it's like to work there?

I've been on the Flight Software team at SpaceX for a little over three years. It feels a lot like a startup. The team is still relatively small and people are pretty passionate about what they are working on. The project variety is wide as well. Personally, I've gotten to work on low-level drivers and OS stuff, application code that runs on the vehicles and ground systems, Dragon's fault-tolerant platform, internal…

Would you guys consider remote work? I would love to work for SpaceX but I can't really justify uprooting my family and moving to the other side of the world for it :-\

Re: SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

#184

Post by luke_s »

_mulder_ wrote: post #109

So what's the big water tower for in the background?

Probably stores water for their deluge system for rocket engine testing. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_engine_test_facility

"The rocket exhaust is directed into a flame bucket or trench. The flame trench is designed to redirect the hot exhaust to a safe direction and is protected by a water deluge system that both cools the exhaust and also reduces the sound pressure level (loudness). The sound pressure level of large rocket engines has been measured at greater than 200 decibels — one of the loudest man-made sounds on earth."

Re: SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

#185

Post by qu4z-2 »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #169
MartinMcGirk wrote: post #10

I can't even begin to describe how psyched I get when I see demos like this. The advances that SpaceX and their competitors are making in terms of making access to space cheaper are what will eventually lead to the human species settling on other planets. It also reminds me that when it comes to science, and who knows, maybe other things as well, it's not just public sector vs private sector. SpaceX wouldn't be drivi…

It's like the Internet. First, you need a massive government program to get the technology from the pie in the sky stage to something usable - a multi-decade, arduous process that produces no short-term profits, if any. Once that's done, it's time for the private sector to step in.

Something something Eternal September of Rocketry.

Re: SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

#186

Post by 747facts »

wiredfool wrote: post #98
mikeash wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To put it in perspective, the fuel used to launch a Space Shuttle cost in the neighborhood of $1 million, while the cost of the entire launch was somewhere around $500 million to $1 billion.

Another perspective is that the Falcon9 carries about as much kerosene as a 747.

I decided to fact check you. 57,285 U.S. gallons in a fully loaded 747. Jet-A is 6.84 lb/US gal. That's about 196 tons. Looks like stage 1 of the Falcon 9 is estimated to use 239 tons of RP-1 and stage 2 49 tons.

http://www.boeing.com/boeing/commercial/747family/pf/pf_400_...

http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/falcon9.html

Re: SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

#187

Post by NamTaf »

luke_s wrote: post #183
slackpad wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been on the Flight Software team at SpaceX for a little over three years. It feels a lot like a startup. The team is still relatively small and people are pretty passionate about what they are working on. The project variety is wide as well. Personally, I've gotten to work on low-level drivers and OS stuff, application code that runs on the vehicles and ground systems, Dragon's fault-tolerant platform, internal…

Would you guys consider remote work? I would love to work for SpaceX but I can't really justify uprooting my family and moving to the other side of the world for it :-\

Get in line, buster :( Woe betide Australia's near-nonexistent aerospace engineering field. It's why I play with trains instead.

Re: SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

#188

Post by lutorm »

This is probably a good place to point out: The SpaceX flight software team is looking for skilled software engineers! There are openings from anything from front-end RoR stuff to flight software and simulations infrastructure. If you want to help making stuff like this video run, check out some of these:

https://jobs.github.com/positions/bd54ba2a-a930-11e2-9c0e-5c...

http://www.spacex.com/careers.php?jvi=oarEWfwV,Job

http://www.spacex.com/careers.php?jvi=odfMWfwU,Job

Re: SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

#189

Post by Game_Ender »

lutorm wrote: post #188

This is probably a good place to point out: The SpaceX flight software team is looking for skilled software engineers! There are openings from anything from front-end RoR stuff to flight software and simulations infrastructure. If you want to help making stuff like this video run, check out some of these: https://jobs.github.com/positions/bd54ba2a-a930-11e2-9c0e-5c... http://www.spacex.com/careers.php?jvi=oarEWfwV,Jo…

What are the upsides to living in LA?

Re: SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High

#190

Post by Game_Ender »

elteto wrote: post #139
slackpad wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been on the Flight Software team at SpaceX for a little over three years. It feels a lot like a startup. The team is still relatively small and people are pretty passionate about what they are working on. The project variety is wide as well. Personally, I've gotten to work on low-level drivers and OS stuff, application code that runs on the vehicles and ground systems, Dragon's fault-tolerant platform, internal…

Hey! Can you spare some career advice for an aspiring aero engineer that wants to work on the software side of the rocket? If you could share what you would consider is a good path to follow to get to where you are right now, I would really appreciate it. I am a programmer at heart but even that could not pull me away from my love of space ;) so I decided to study aerospace engineering first.

My recommendation would be to consider adding CS as minor or double major. Then try and get some internship and/or on campus lab experience doing software or robotics work (robotics software is pretty close to flight software). Another great way to get experience is to get involved with extra-curricular group doing some kind of robotic or aerospace challenge. Think DARPA grand challenge, NASA Sample Return Robot challenge, or one of AUVSI's robotics competitions.
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