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SpaceX Loses the Center Core of its Falcon Heavy Rocket due to Choppy Seas

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday April 16 2019, @07:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the caution-deck-is-slippery dept.

martyb writes:

SpaceX had a successful launch, orbit insertion, and recovery of all 3 rocket boosters last Thursday. Unfortunately, they were unable to fasten down the central core on the ASDS (Autonomous spaceport drone ship) "Of Course I Still Love You:

Shifting seas and high winds brought it down.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday April 16 2019, @05:00PM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday April 16 2019, @05:00PM (#830475) Journal

    The volume is laughably huge, but the payload capacity is still uncertain.

    100+ tons to LEO, formerly 150. Could increase. But we do know that initial versions will not use vacuum-optimized Raptor engines.

    The number for TLI will be less, unless the BFR is refueled in orbit, in which case you could use the same LEO number presumably.

    Gateway segments should be in the range of 8-12 tons. I would be surprised if BFR can't launch two or three at once instead of just one.

    Now about that campground... if the crewed version of BFR is ready by 2022-2023, why not send some to Gateway and let the astronauts sleep/roam in there? It should be designed to last much longer than 180 days in space (compare to Soyuz, Crew Dragon, Starliner).

    The limiting factor could be the length and number of docks on the Gateway. Maybe additional segments should be added in the middle and ends so you can park 2-4 BFRs at Gateway, giving it a massive volume multiple times that of ISS. You could also park the BFRs perpendicular to the station, so it looks like 4 prongs are coming out of it. Make the damn thing a BFR parking lot.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16 2019, @08:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16 2019, @08:22PM (#830581)

    Add a mode where BFR docks to another BFR.