Is there a THE space thread, or a THE us space program thread?
I'll stick this here, but anyhow I was reading and I didn't know this but the upcoming Spacex test launch is actually a full orbit then deorbit and then land test.
Or maybe it goes suborbital, I don't even know, but the point is this is a bigger test than they've done thus far on the reusable rocket idea.
They'll land it on a barge in the ocean, for safety.
I THINK this launch is this month, November, but the below article doesn't say. If anyone knows go ahead and chime in. I know for sure that Boeing-Lockheed has their deep space vehicle test launch on Dec 4.
SpaceX to land its next Falcon 9 rocket on a huge ocean platform
SpaceX certainly doesn’t rest on its laurels. It’s got corporate contracts ongoing, government contracts in the works, new technologies in the pipe, and big press conferences in the distance — and still it’s moving forward. Having just broken ground on a new Texas spaceport last month, the company just announced another upcoming milestone: as part of its ongoing quest to create reusable orbital rockets that can land back on their own launch pads, Space X will land its next incoming Falcon 9 rocket on a platform roughly the size of a football field, floating in the Atlantic Ocean.
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At that point, the main hurdle will be convincing government authorities that the tests have been definitive enough to warrant the next phase of tests on dry land. Once those have become routine, then the company can realize the true potential of reusable rockets, and clean up as a result.
The main advantage of reusable rockets, leaving aside the basic perversity of destroying so much advanced equipment, is cost. Launch to orbit costs a lot of money per kilogram right now, and much of that comes from the incredible number of parts that have to be replaced with every launch.
http://www.geek.com/science/spacex-to-land-its-next-falcon-9-rocket-on-a-huge-ocean-platform-1608051/
What's interesting is that spacx is ALREADY the cheapest in the world for satellite launches. They don't even need reusable rockets, they could just ramp up what they already do and dominate the market.
Resusable rockets will dramatically lower those costs, further. If they actually accomplish this, and this is years out still, but if they get this done -- and then Musk actually lowers prices even more to a fraction of already being the cheapest in the world -- then that's pretty amazing. That's vision, and a dreamer. That puts space into the reach of more private groups, it will be so cheap, even private Mars missions.
Or, we will see, maybe SpaceX will go the sensible business route and just make sure they are the lowest in cost. And then that means double profits for them; all they really have to be is the cheapest, after all, they needn't compete with themselves.
The latter would make more sense for them as a company. They need to grow and build up cash reserves.
Maybe if they don't lower prices across the board they could give the cool independent bids a discount and charge governments more. OTOH Musk wants to be "the walmart of space" and right now he charges everyone the same regardless of who they are, and it's lower cost than the Russians or anyone.
That's going to be an interesting dilemma, they have a right to start profiting if they come up with a revolutionary cost-cutting idea, OTOH Musk's vision is right too that you want prices even lower to GROW the market. Would he keep that one price for all policy, and slash prices, and charge NASA and the air force and the nations of the world mere peanuts to launch their stuff? How could the Russians or Chinese or anyone ever compete? They'd need their own reusable systems, too.
China will just steal his tech with espionage.