SpaceX Tries Out Its New SuperDraco Rocket Engine

cylonlover writes "SpaceX, the California company that is developing the reusable Dragon spacecraft, recently test-fired its new SuperDraco engine. Presently, the Dragon capsule is equipped with less-advanced Draco engines, which are designed for maneuvering the spacecraft while in orbit and during reentry. The SuperDraco, however, is intended to allow the astronauts to escape if an emergency occurs during the launch."

Re:Close to home

[Moheeheeko]

Specificly this launch pad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandenberg_AFB_Space_Launch_Complex_4 [wikipedia.org]

Re:Impressive

[taiwanjohn]

Actually their first ISS rendezvous mission was scheduled for this month, but it recently got postponed to March. On this first mission they will only "berth" with ISS, rather than docking. (They'll fly up close enough so that the ISS manipulator arm can grapple the Dragon capsule and haul it in.) If that goes well, they'll be allowed to actually dock with ISS on the next flight.

And you're right, they are already underselling every other vendor on the launch market. Even the Chinese say they can't possibly beat SpaceX's price-per-pound to orbit.

Re:Impressive

[Mercano]

No, berthing is to be standard operating procedure for cargo flights; Common Berthing Mechanism [wikipedia.org] connectors, such as the one found on the nose of the Dragon, don't have any of the shock absorbers required for docking. As it also requires the Canada arm to unberth, CBM isn't well suited for manned flights, as in an evacuation scenario, there'd be no one left on the station to operate the arm, so crewed version of the Dragon will probably feature either APAS [wikipedia.org] or NDS/LIDS [wikipedia.org] docking connectors. CBM is preferred for cargo transfer, however, because it has a larger hatch, big enough to move fully assembled equipment racks through them. Japan's HTV cargo vehicles are also berthed via Canada Arm.

Re:Impressive

[hackertourist]

That would be Skylon, they've been at it for years on minuscule amounts of funding, trying to develop a revolutionary engine that can use atmospheric oxygen for the first part of the ascent. They can trace their roots back to HOTOL. What they need is a billionaire investor.

Re:Propulsive landings...

[ColdWetDog]

Likely.

Recall that the Soyuz [russianspaceweb.com] capsules use essentially the same approach although the 'soft landing engines' are quite a bit less sophisticated than the Super Dracos.

An interesting aside, the Falcon / SuperDraco system could be repurposed to a general non manned lander for Mars, Venus and the other smaller planets. Might make for some 'economies of scale' to have a basic platform that worked.

Re:Real life and renders collide

[ColdWetDog]

The physics of shock diamonds [vt.edu] is well understood. If you can model the physics, you can show it on a computer screen. Turns out it's fairly easy and doesn't require a lot of computer horsepower.

Re:Impressive

[DerekLyons]

Seems like several times a year now we are hearing about SpaceX successes - and few if any failures.

That's because most of things you hear about are things like this engine test that would simply be swept under the rug if they didn't go right. I.E. minor 'successes' spun for PR value. When it comes to real successes, like their launch record, the situation isn't nearly so pretty.

It will be able to launch cargo to the space station at about 1/10th the cost (around $50 million as opposed to nearly $500 million) as the space shuttle.

It'll also only lift a little under a quarter of the mass the Shuttle can. It also cannot deliver external cargo (I.E. cargo for the station exterior) any larger than a small suitcase. It can't reboost the station like the Shuttle can. It can't provide free water to the station like Shuttle can. It can't deliver modules. It can't deliver crew at the same time as it delivers cargo, which increases your total program risk because now you need five Dragon launches to (incompletely) replace one Shuttle flight. etc... etc...
 
Or, to put it in the terms of Slashdot's favorite form of analogy - the Dragon is a subcompact. The Shuttle is a full sized pickup truck. Nobody sober and in full possession of their senses would confuse a subcompact and a pickup truck.
 
Lose the goddamn Wal-Mart mentality, there's more to consider than just cost.

Re:Impressive

[manoweb]

Only two words: Falcon Heavy. It's being assembled and will hopefully launch by the end of the year. Twice the payload of the Shuttle.