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Edited by Y SO REACH BETA:
7/7/2013 9:44:12 PM
11
Space Exploration and Aerospace Thread!
This is a thread where you can share videos and information about future missions and general information about the future of space exploration and aerospace. SpaceX Aims to achieve a single stage to orbit and return craft. A fully re-usable craft will reduce the cost of space flight dramatically. Spacecraft fuel usually accounts for less than 4% of a craft's cost, often even less. This video of the grasshopper is the landing stage of their fully reusable rocket. Their test is using the Falcon 9 fuselage. I expect that SpaceX will be fully capable of taking on the responsibility of delivering crew and payload to the ISS.
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4fjPLDDCL4[/url]
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3 RepliesThe shuttles in the STS were fully re-usable, yet they consumed an average of US$1.5B per flight... I was heartbroken to see the end of the STS program - but I do admit that privatisation was a smart move all around, even if the primary motivation due to Uncle Sam's tightrope budget. NASA can focus on flights beyond LEO, especially on the golden grail of a manned mission to Mars, and flights to the ISS will have reduced operating costs due to private competition. However, it must be pretty galling for Americans to watch the Russians and Chinese expand outward while NASA's sitting there engaged in R&D.
