The Astronomy Thread

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Tuco

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haha yeah SpaceX actually managed to get the Air Force to force ULA to give them access to their rooftop since it had good range and LOS to the launch site. They didn't find anything tho.

Although the real tinfoil is why SpaceX managed to win two Air Force contracts shortly after that!

Maybe they found something and instead of going public and destroying ULA (which is a consortium of publicly traded companies like Lockheed, Boeing, Raytheon etc) Musk cannily horse-traded his way into the ultra-lucrative DOD launch contracting scene. Something that ULA has been cockblocking for years.
Seems like the cock-blocking wasn't very effective. It didn't take long to go from proving it could be done to getting a contract.
 
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Tuco

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So, I don't know all the details but from what I recall spacex rockets land on the pad, and something/someone comes out and literally welds it to the platform to keep it from falling over.

So they invented this thing they call "Optimus Prime":
2fu2yvdpanmy.jpg


That rolls under the rocket instead and clamps down on the rocket.

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/60k0qw/i_took_a_helicopter_ride_over_ocisly_today_and/

I don't really understand how it rolls under the rocket, but I look forward to seeing it in action.
 
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khorum

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LOL someone was on that thing when during all those rapid unscheduled disassemblies?
 
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Tuco

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http://www.popsci.com/this-is-how-spacex-unloads-15-story-rocket-booster-off-drone-ship#page-5
After the drone ship touchdown, workers welded steel shoes over the rocket's landing legs to make sure it wouldn't tip over on the way to port. Here, those shoes have been removed, but workers appear to be inspecting the base of the rocket. Later, when it comes time to load the rocket onto a truck, the landing legs will either be folded up or removed for horizontal transport.

I'd be hiding in the water
 
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pharmakos

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wouldn't surprise me of Elon Musk paid some plebs to risk their life just for that tho.
 
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khorum

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That sounds like something that would be at the top of the priority stack for the next iteration of the drone ships. Some kind of a contracting belt on telescoping arms or some such.

The autonomous drone ships are a big piece of SpaceX's plans, and it would be pretty awkward to keep them manned once they start trying trying to land the falcon9's second stage and dragon capsules too.
 
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Aaron

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SES actually tweeted about using the first reused rocket launch when the first Falcon-9 landed successfully a couple years ago. They've been in price negotiations since then.

After all the refurbishment and testing the SES-10 launch is only at a 10% discount off the normal cost of a falcon9 launch. Presumably that'll go down as soon as their pipeline for refurbishing the rockets gets better.

Even bigger news is the fact that SpaceX has now taken A SECOND USAF contract from ULA. Previously ULA managed to twist enough arms in the pentagon to keep SpaceX out of the lucrative DOD contracts but this year ULA is having some trouble getting new engines for their Atlas boosters. The engines are russian lol

This is part of why I really wish the West and Russia would quit this endless pointless squabble and become BFFs! Russian rocket tech is among the best in the world, especially engines. Imagine if the US and Russia teamed up to explore space together? Shit would get done and it would be awesome!
 
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khorum

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This is part of why I really wish the West and Russia would quit this endless pointless squabble and become BFFs! Russian rocket tech is among the best in the world, especially engines. Imagine if the US and Russia teamed up to explore space together? Shit would get done and it would be awesome!
Really the biggest flaw in those sanctions was one glaring flaw: it didn't affect sales of the RD180 in ANY meaningful fashion. They're the market leader and just about everyone who wants to put stuff into space either licenses or buys their stuff direct.

All it really hurt was ULA---a consortium of American aerospace firms.
 
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Oldbased

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Didn't realize that thing was 150 feet tall. No wonder if saves money if they can reuse most of it.
 
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khorum

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As in spacex's payload for foreign clients? Yeah prolly most of them at this point. I think the only US missions they've done are the CRS supply missions for the ISS. They're supposed to bring astronauts to the ISS next year tho.

As for the rest of their launches they've done Canadian, Japanese, Brazilian and wherever SES comes from. Lichtenstein?

edit: that falcon that blew up was a facebook satellite so thats US too.
 
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Oldbased

> Than U
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As in spacex's payload for foreign clients? Yeah prolly most of them at this point. I think the only US missions they've done are the CRS supply missions for the ISS. They're supposed to bring astronauts to the ISS next year tho.

As for the rest of their launches they've done Canadian, Japanese, Brazilian and wherever SES comes from. Lichtenstein?

edit: that falcon that blew up was a facebook satellite so thats US too.
Facebook's satellite is the only time in my life I cheered a failure.
 
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Dandain

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This is the first reused first stage. The second one they ever landed. It lands again at 39 minutes.

Elon speaks at 41 minutes.
 
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