I could watch this all day, rediculous the power they produce, as well as sipping a couple thousand gallons of fuel, very ,very fast.Check this out, old job still is fascinating. :bang: I worked in propulsion and helped build all combustion chambers and regenerative cooled nozzles. Each engine produced 110,000 lb thrust, equivalent to holding 110,000 lb stationary in air without moving. http://www.spacex.com/multimedia/videos.php?id=16&cat=recent
Yeah, when I think of the $, it seems absurd, til I hang out with a few astronomer friends. The day we have to deflect an asteroid from centerpunching the earth, we'll all be glad someone went against the grain and spent a days war budget on the space program.
As far as I'm concerned they could spend 3X as much as they do and it still not be enough. The technologies and progress made in the Space program are the future of our small primitive species. IMHO....:beer:
I think SpaceX is mostly a commercial house. They probably have some NASA work, but they want the commercial business. You can launch you MTB into Low Earth orbit for only $44M!
"Starting in 2002, SpaceX sprinted into the lead of companies planning to deliver commercial payloads to orbit, and was recently awarded a $100 million contract by the U.S. Air Force/Space and Missile Systems Center for Responsive Small Spacelift (RSS) launch services."
I have family that works at SpaceX... The CEO [Elon Musk] is the same dude that heads up Tesla Motors. This guy has had his hands in a lot of things.
The design studio is inside Space X for the model S coming soon. I saw it, and touched it, it is cool as hell for 70+K.And trust me, NASA was there every month, so yes our tax dollars are going to him, he was one of two companies in the world offered a 1.5billion dollar deal for resupply to the Space Station.DOD was there, as well as the Airforce on a regular basis. The technology we had there was top of the line, full security, constantly looking for no badge IDs , if you didnt have one you were walked out, no question.#-o A couple thousand gallons per minute, I worked on flow and tesing such. Was crazy watching it drain our deioninized water tank in no time flat.:clap:
I love the sound they make. Hisssssss BOOM AODJFHWEUHFSADJFHOEWUFSDALSDJH!!!!!!!! So drake tell me the inside info, how far are you from developing the first ever warp drive? :lol:
The Saturn V and programs are probably the greatest technological feat in human history. That NASA allowed all the plans to be destroyed at the end of the program, is an absolute travesty. Especially since we're soon to be without a transport & replacement program. To go from Saturn V & Apollo to "Hey Russia, can we bum a ride?" Embarrassing.
I was up close to some rocket motors like the ones on the Saturn V at Albuquerque New Mexico at an air/space museum. All the small lines you see inside the cone of the motor are fuel lines. They would pass the fuel through the lines while the motor was burning to keep everything from melting. Any chance thats still how its run? Or is there a better/safer system in place.
Looks flexy. It's amazing the scale of things like those, I have enough to do just maintaining my bike...couldn't imagine having to break down and regrease something like that.
The fuel oxidizer is liquid oxygen, while the fuel is kerosene. Yes melting temps for high end stainless around 1800 degrees, some alot higher. What you do is cool all lines and warm the fuel in regeneration, fuel runs through the uppermanifold, down the fuel lines( we had 378 1/8 lines all hand fabricated) then through the lower aft manifold then back through the turbo and injected through the pintle tip at crazy pressure. Regen cooling and nozzles are so simple compared to ther less durable designs.
I work at SpaceX and I'm Glad to see that some folks appreciate the effort that goes into a launch vehicle. Soon we will launch Falcon9 which will be quit historic, considering that we're a private company and will fund, develop and launch a rocket that most countries couldn't do.
The hiss sound is from the Helium gas generator starter. Called a GIGI valve, that is how you spin start a turbo fast.The explosion is well you know,combustion but alot of it.:lol:
