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Link #21 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Stratolaunch's Massive Mothership Rolls Out Of Its
Nest For The First Time: "After the better part of a decade of development, we are getting our first glimpse of Stratolaunch's massive mothership outside her low-slung hangar at Mojave Air and Space Port. As expected, the size and design of the huge and exotic aircraft is impressive to say the least. At 385 feet wide, it has the longest wingspan of any aircraft in the world—even longer than the record-setting Hughes H-4 Flying Boat, aka the "Spruce Goose." Loaded fully, it will tip the scales at a whopping 1,300,000 pounds, and is powered by six Pratt & Whitney PW4056 turbofan engines—the same engine that powers many 747-400s —putting out a combined 340,500 pounds of thrust. There is no doubt about it, Stratolaunch has given birth to a truly technologically wondrous machine." See: http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...the-first-time ![]() |
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Link #22 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Moon Express Aims for Multiple Lunar Landings,
Sample Return Mission By 2020: "Last month, Popular Mechanics covered the exciting prospect of the first ever commercial moon landing, which could launch by December 2017 if everything goes according to plan. That mission involves Moon Express, a company that hopes to build a number of commercial lunar landers, and Rocket Lab, a launch vehicle company that recently conducted its first flight test of the Electron rocket. Yesterday, Moon Express unveiled design details for its lunar spacecraft at a hearing held by the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. The company is planning three missions to the moon by the end of 2020, with the ultimate goal of establishing a permanent station near the moon's south pole and returning lunar samples to Earth. Moon Express has revealed a number of spacecraft designs to help it achieve its various goals. The first up is the MX-1E, which is the small craft designed to launch on the Electron rocket and land on the moon later this year." See: http://www.popularmechanics.com/spac...sample-return/ |
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Link #23 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Spacex Big Rocket will go down in history like DC-3 and
Caravel sailing ships: "The 150 ton payload fully reusable Spacex Big F*ing Rocket (BFR) will make it easy to begin a true space age. Each Spacex BFR launch would enable the placement of 2 to 4 times larger space stations than the International Space Station which took dozens of Shuttle launches. The BFR will be able refuel in orbit and go to the moon, land and launch from the moon and return to earth without refueling. The BFR establishing new commercial space age like DC-3 boosting commercial aviation before WW2" See: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/0...ing-ships.html |
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Link #24 |
The Comet has Come
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 40
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A full on space economy needs a good start followed by more places to go up there. First you have the explores, then the markets start looking for something to exploit, than the people start to move it to make a profit off something, than they stay and live because its theirs.
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Link #25 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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China wants to catch up to US rockets in 2020
and then get nuclear spaceships in 2045: "China plans a fleet of nuclear carrier rockets and reusable hybrid-power carriers by the mid-2040s. They will be ready for regular, large scale interplanetary flights, and carrying out commercial exploration and exploitation of natural resources by the mid-2040s. China plans to catch up with the United States on conventional rocket technology by 2020. If Spacex and Elon Musk achieve fully reusable rockets with the Falcon 9 or the BFR in the 2020-2022 timeframe then China would be 13-15 years behind if they hit their target for reusable rockets in 2035. By 2030, China will put astronauts on the moon and bring samples back from Mars." See: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/1...s-in-2045.html |
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Link #26 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Spaceplane meant to resupply the space station pulled off
a successful glide flight this weekend: "On Saturday, private spaceflight company Sierra Nevada announced that its Dream Chaser spaceplane had successfully glided and landed on a runway after being released from a helicopter. The stunt, done at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California, is known as a free-flight test and is meant to test out the vehicle’s landing capabilities. It’s an important milestone in the Dream Chaser’s development, as Sierra Nevada readies the plane for spaceflight." See: https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/13/...am-free-flight |
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Link #27 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Elon Musk’s ‘Big F**king Rocket’ Is a Big F**ing Deal:
"Elon Musk, the maestro of SpaceX, has figured out a new way to fly into deep space. In doing so he seems to have disrupted all previous proposals for returning to the moon and reaching beyond to Mars. Musk is gambling on the success of a project that is a radical departure from anything seen before—and far simpler than any competing space program. It is centered on a 157-foot long spaceship named BFR (Big Fucking Rocket). No kidding: That’s longer than the longest version of the Boeing 737 and, with a width of 29 feet it’s eight feet wider than the Airbus A380 super jumbo’s fuselage. It will be designed to be used in three ways: to carry three kinds of payloads—people, cargo, or fuel (playing the role of a tanker to refuel other vehicles in space)." See: https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-m...-deal?ref=home |
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