or better this one
It's a treat to watch BlueOrigin and SpaceX above
Also chew this
https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/30/15117096/spacex-launch-reusable-rocket-success-falcon-9-landing
Makes me assume that technological innovation for the first stage of either the New Shepherd or Falcon 9 to be reused is entirely driven by the cost to lift the real payload or space-craft beyond around 100 kms from sea-level.
If you allow me to quote spacenewsOnThis SpaceX says it could result in 30% reduction in overall costs. The popularity provided for this kind of tech specially by SpaceX is really admirable, since the animated demonstration videos and then the real videos are so well documented that a non-physics layman too feels he understands it and how it's going to help us clone the rest of planets :) You may see crowd trading in space company stocks soon. The fact that the real profitability or environment friendliness due to such reusable tech for First Stage is far from being established, if I get the spacenews article right.
Join me to explore possibilities to make the First Stage of Space Rockets redundant; redundant from rocket engineers :
Join me to explore possibilities to make the First Stage of Space Rockets redundant; redundant from rocket engineers :
(1) 100 km high launch site
(2) Sling shot (bechki)
100 km high launch site
Riding on a superfast elevator to the 124th floor of Burj, wondered if there is anything impossible for Civil Engineers to achieve. Can a massive hollow column running to a length of 60 kms be built near a shore inside water. Remember Everest is just 8+kms above sea-level.
Sling shot
(this one is my favorite)
I see 3 steps :
(a) Build a large sling which can deliver Stage-2 and above (along with payload) to a height of 100 kms. Can it be feasible? what material?
(b) Find a place to deploy this sling, so the vibrations generated don't affect at-least the human population
(c) Explore energies that can stretch the sling
We will start from the bottom. Can we use a rocket upside-down(let's call it "Stage minus") and push the sling to it's farthest? By this the only advantage is the "Stage minus" can be reused, doesn't need complex automation/precision-guidance to come back like being done by the ones discussed above. Still you have all the burn, pollution, and ya rocket engineers coming into picture.
Space Exploration in context is not a war situation to be ever ready. Instead for Space Explorations we can choose the slogan 'When the sling's ready, let's GO'. Stretching the string to its threshold can be say a fortnight job for Ocean waves. So let's place our BIG sling in the high seas. A mechanism which directs every bit of Sea/Ocean water pressure to stretch the Sling. A flag turns Green every time it is ready for its next launch.
Five Striking Concepts for Harnessing the Sea's Power http://on.natgeo.com/1hkleBF via @NatGeo
Nice read on large rocket comparison via @elakdawalla @lorengrush
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/10/14886570/nasa-space-launch-system-rocket-ula-blue-origin-spacex?utm_campaign=lorengrush&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
For more reading... Understand Rocket Equation
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition30/tryanny.html#backtoTop
via
http://www.spacetechasia.com/why-spaceplanes-are-not-flying/
via Tweets from @NewSpaceIndia