Space In My Brain

Avocation 1, paramedic. Avocation 2, Darwin semi-scholar. Lifelong interest - rockets and space exploration. New interest - the new crewed space exploration.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@manticore116 @SpaceKoala Thank you for the exact answer. The pics help a lot.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@MeTheAngryCat @otherside_X42 That Starship figure is an old one, before they moved both header tanks up there. No one ever calculated a new one and the old one is all over the internet so of course simply grok accepted that.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@otherside_X42 Something lightweight and "hollow" like a space station module, perhaps. Even Falcon 9 is frequently limited by the mass rather than the size of the payload. Todays large satellites like Viasats and NRO ones usually carry a lot of propellant.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

Dave Limp said they wouldn't need an erector at the launch pad, which reduces the rebuild time. They're going with the vertical solution instead. So, I assume SPMTs will be rolling from this building to the BO pad. No need to get country permission to shut down and use this road every time.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@Astro_Jessica That might inspire even me to exercise. :)

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

It would take at least a year to do the overall design, build the interstage, and modify Pad 39A to supply hydrogen to the Mk1. Plus cost a lot of money - who will pay? I could elaborate but the bottom line is FH is tempting but a hard look pretty much kills the idea. Despite my love of FH.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@HusbandOfAyn @SciGuySpace Or did he switch employers? Who profits most from the setback to New Glenn and BO's lander program? ;)
Also, ULA would have been blowing up the engine it uses on Vulcan.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@SciGuySpace A good mix of realistic expectations and a positive attitude.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

SpaceX is terrible at naming. The flaps should have been called something unique like brakerons, they're not like flap or any other aerodynamic surfaces. Massey's should have been given a name years ago. Whether Pad A and Pad B are officially used by SpaceX never seems clear. (Suborbital Pad A & B are distant history and should be the only ones that need the modifier.) And someone's been calling the new pad the North Pad?

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@reghunnicutt @business @vast Vast's Haven-1 station is designed to rely on the Dragon spacecraft for part of its life support. Also, it uses the IDSS port; Soyuz uses an old incompatible port. China's new Mengzhao spacecraft, afaik, will use an IDSS port but there are concerns it's not truly compatible.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@eager_space @SciGuySpace Is "we hope to" even needed for an end of the year NET now that Berger's Law is established. :)

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@eager_space AI - a reason to be glad I'm old. An excuse to spend a lot of money now and not save it for an old age in a post-societal collapse.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@DJSnM The lens makes it look like you're sitting in a glass pod in a high orbit.

Nice steady loop.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@InfographicTony I like it!
This will also illustrate what might maybe possibly perhaps be a cislunar version for an Orion ride-along. And other possibilities.
Ignore that distraction, though, your idea is sound as given.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

They've just barely broken ground at their second location, also at Cape Canaveral. Even with all the damage there's still more infrastructure at the present site that the second one, people expect that to be rebuilt first. But who knows, if everything was already lined up in the pipeline for the new pad BO may concentrate on that one.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@planet4589 Don't forget to put the u in humour lest people look down on you. :)

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@CamoDiver @canraptor_ @MorlockP What real estate mogul? I forget who's backing the suborbital space plane - anyway, that's useless for the US space program. There is another billionaire backer of a launch company but he's younger - is it Relativity Space?

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

All true - and many will hate you for pointing that out. SpaceX's competence was especially important when the Russia-Ukraine war broke out. If we didn't have Dragon to deliver supplies and astronauts to the ISS the Russians would have had us by the balls. What a bargaining chip that would have been when they were fighting sanctions. Break out the trampolines.

Cygnus depended on Antares, which had a body built in Ukraine and engines built in Russia. It has launched on F9 since then, and on Atlas V. The latter is in limited supply, of course, as you say due to using Russian engines. (Cut off years before the war, after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Congress forbid using Russian engines after a certain date.)

Vulcan could carry Cygnus but that was long overdue - F9 has carried that and ULA's NSSL payloads.

SpaceX also saved Europe's commercial satellite market when Ariane 6 was way overdue. Ditto for some UK and European government payloads.

[Space In My Brain @SpaceInMiBrain]

@CatboyRocketry @SpaceForceCSO @SLDelta45 @blueorigin Was it Space Flight News? No way. They don't have the budget for that. Anyways, the airspace over the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base is restricted. That had to have been a Space Force helo, or possibly an USAF one.