Showing posts with label spacex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spacex. Show all posts
February 15, 2018

AirSpaceX's autonomous, electric air taxi lands in Detroit

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Mobi-One is designed to ease traffic congestion and speed up urban commutes(Credit:AirSpaceX)
Airspace Experience Technologies, LLC (AirSpaceX) has given a preview of its vision for the future of air taxi services at this year's North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. The company unveiled a sub-scale model of its vertical take off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, Mobi-One, an autonomous, tilt-wing electric aircraft designed to carry both passengers and cargo at speeds of up to 250 mph (400 km/h). 



According to AirSpaceX, US$300 billion dollars in fuel and productivity costs a year are wasted in traffic jams and other delays in the United States alone. Additionally, urban drivers spend 42 hours stuck in traffic each year, while pumping 38 billion pounds (17 billion kg) of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Designed and built by AirSpaceX parent compant Detroit Aircraft Corporation (DAC) at Detroit City Airport, Mobi-One is targeted at the point-to-point commuter market as a clean, quiet alternative to road transport that relies on "lean automotive design and mass production techniques" to be affordable to produce.
Mobi-One uses four wing-mounted electric motors that the maker claims makes the aircraft quieter than a helicopter. It's designed to carry two to four passengers or payloads of over 200 kg (440 lb) at a cruising speed of 150 mph (241 km/h) over a range of 65 mi (104 km).
A scale version of Mobi-One
Along with its pilot assisted/autonomous flight avionics, it also has broadband connectivity for high speed internet access, V2X collision avoidance, and safety messaging. Aside from passenger and cargo services, it can also be used for medical and casualty evacuation; tactical Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR); and research flights.
The Mobi-One was developed in cooperation with Camilo Pardo, who was the chief designer of the 2005 and 2006 Ford GT. Completion of the aircraft's engineering packages are still the primary focus, but the hope is that a full-scale version of the craft will soon be available for US FAA certification.
"Our goal is to deploy 2,500 aircraft at the nation's 50 largest cities by 2026, targeting existing infrastructure at first," says JP Yorro, Chief Commercial Officer at AirSpaceX. "The MOBi development program will be capital intensive, but air Mobility as a Service could generate billions for the economy. We are considering a broad array of financing options, including potential fractional ownership interest and profit sharing models."
February 08, 2018

SpaceX posts images of historic launch as Starman heads for the Asteroid Belt

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 Falcon Heavy powering into space(Credit: SpaceX)


A day after SpaceX's Falcon Heavy blasted into space, the private spacefaring company has posted some spectacular images of the launch as well as updating the status of the Tesla Roadster that acted as ballast payload. In a Twitter post, CEO and Founder Elon Musk confirmed that the second stage of what is now the world's most powerful rocket fired successfully, sending the car and its dummy driver into an orbit that will take it well into the Asteroid Belt. 
On February 6 at 3:45 pm EST, the first Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida on a demonstration mission. Due to the tremendous complexity of the new booster and the 50/50 chance that the mission might end in failure, no active satellite was carried in the nose cone of the vehicle. Instead, Mr Musk's own Tesla Roadster was used as ballast in a gesture that he characterized at a post-launch press conference as a ridiculous bit of fun.
At the conference, Musk confirmed that the core rocket that made up the center of the three-part first stage of the Heavy did not have enough propellant aboard to make a soft landing, and hit the water at about 300 mph (480 km/h). He went on to say that, if the onboard cameras survived, "There could be some pretty fun footage." 
Musk went on to say that neither of the recovered side boosters that successfully landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida will be reused because they were not built for commercial missions. They are Block Four versions of the Falcon 9, and SpaceX will be using only Block Five versions from now on.
Also, during yesterday's conference, Musk expressed concern about the second stage of the rocket, which spent five hours parked in the Van Allen Belt before it restarted its Merlin engine for the third time to escape Earth's gravity. The Van Allen Belts are regions of intense radiation created by cosmic ray particles captured by the Earth's magnetic field. They act as a protective shield for the planet, but they can be a hazard for spacecraft that do not make a quick transition of the belts.
In this case, the second stage was not adversely affected, and fired as scheduled. It expended its propellant entirely, causing it to not only reach escape velocity, but also to reach an orbit that will circle the Sun at a distance between 91 million mi (150 million km) and 240 million mi (390 million km) – well into the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, and almost as far out as the orbit of the dwarf planet Ceres. 




The Tesla Roadster atop the stage was the focus of media attention, especially after SapceX livestreamed video from the cameras mounted around it. The car has a spacesuited mannequin called Starman at the wheel and even includes a tiny Roadster with a tiny Starman.
"That will really confuse them" said Musk, referring to any future space travelers that might come across the Roadster.
Musk said that the spacesuit worn by Starman is a fully functional production model that took three years to design. He went on to say that the problem was to make a suit that works and looks good.
According to Musk, the battery aboard the Roadster was good for only 12 hours after launch, which is confirmed by the YouTube video that has switched from live feed to a four hour, 40 minute recording.
When asked about the price of the Falcon Heavy project, Musk said that it had estimated development costs of over US$500 million. The company is now transitioning from the Falcon 9 and Heavy as it concentrates more on developing the BFR, which he estimates will fly in three or four years.
Source: SpaceX, NewAtlas
February 07, 2018

Falcon Heavy takes off on its maiden mission

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Falcon Heavy lifting off
Commercial space travel took a quantum leap forward today as SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket made its maiden flight. At 3:45 pm EST, the world's most powerful operational booster lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida on a demonstration mission intended to gather information about the reusable launch system before it goes into service. Today's launch came after a two-hour and 15 minute delay due to high-altitude shear winds that were outside the rocket's safety parameters. During liftoff, the 27 Merlin 1D engines of the Falcon Heavy's three Falcon 9 core boosters generated 5,548,500 lb of thrust as they gulped down supercooled liquid oxygen and kerosene. Two minutes and 29 seconds into the flight, the two outboard boosters shut down and then separated from the central core four seconds later. The latter shutdown at the three minute and four second mark, then the second stage separated three seconds after.The second stage then fired for five minutes and 16 seconds, followed by a second burn for 30 seconds. Once the orbital maneuver was executed, it marked a first for SpaceX as its unique payload separated and was set on an elliptical interplanetary trajectory around the Sun that will send it as far as the orbit of Mars.

Because the Falcon Heavy was only given a 50/50 chance of success, SpaceX decided not to risk a functioning spacecraft. In such a situation, it's usual to swap out the satellite with ballast made of blocks of steel or concrete, but in a whimsical move, the company used SpaceX CEO and Lead Designer Elon Musk's midnight-cherry Tesla Roadster. This marks either the first time that a motor car was sent into space or the fourth, if you count the three Lunar Rovers carried on the last three Apollo lunar landing missions in the early 1970s.
In the driver's seat of the Roadster is a mannequin, named "Starman" after the 1972 David Bowie song, who is dressed in one of the spacesuits that will be worn by the passengers and crew on SpaceX's manned dragon missions. In addition, Bowie's hit "Space Oddity" was playing on the car's soundtrack, though in the vacuum of space, there won't be anyone to hear it. However, in a nod to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the words "Don't Panic" were displayed on the dashboard screen in large, friendly letters.No details were given about the Roadster itself, but it's likely that it was modified to make it suitable for space travel by removing the lithium ion battery banks or replacing them with dummies. Though the Roadster is headed out toward Mars, its trajectory is such that it has no chance of colliding with the Red Planet.


In keeping with SpaceX's policy of developing a fully reusable launch system, the two side boosters, which had already flown before, executed a reentry and landing maneuver to bring them down on SpaceX's Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida to the cheers of the crowd outside of Mission Control. Meanwhile, the center core attempted a sea landing on the company's "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.Update: Musk has confirmed in a press conference following the launch the landing of the middle core was unsuccessful, as two of the three engines failed to fire and the booster slammed into the ocean at 300 mph (482 km/h).
Source: SpaceX, NewAtlas
December 18, 2017

SpaceX resupplies the ISS with recycled rocket and spacecraft for the first time

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SpaceX's CRS-13 mission lifts off
SpaceX's CRS-13 mission lifts off(Credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX has been carrying supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) for more than five years, but the company achieved something special with its latest visit, completing the mission using a refurbished Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft together for the first time. 
Since landing its Falcon 9 booster back on Earth for the first time in December 2015, SpaceX has largely made good on its promise to refurbish and relaunch these rockets. While private companies had previously launched satellites on these recycled boosters, the CRS-13 mission to the ISS on December 15 was the first time NASA had given them a go.
Since landing its Falcon 9 booster back on Earth for the first time in December 2015, SpaceX has largely made good on its promise to refurbish and relaunch these rockets. While private companies had previously launched satellites on these recycled boosters, the CRS-13 mission to the ISS on December 15 was the first time NASA had given them a go.
The Dragon spacecraft will return 3,600 lb (1,632 kg) of cargo to Earth when it conducts a de-orbit burn, reenter's the atmosphere and splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.
All going to plan, it will mark another milestone on SpaceX's march toward regular re-flight of its rockets and spacecraft, a key pillar in its strategy to reduce the cost of spacefaring and ultimately get humans to Mars.

Source: SpaceX, NewAtlas.