SpaceX Unveiling New Dragon Spacecraft

[Rukentuts]

I feel like mechanical switches would be more reliable than a touchscreen.

They can short out too.

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If my car has to be environmentally friendly, I don't see why SpaceX gets a free pass.

Your car isn't even close.

[Reeve]

I bet you drive a manual.

Also, no; mechanical switches are more likely to be disrupted by particulate matter getting into the seams.

Possibly, but a failure to one mechanical switch may cause you to lose one control, which would be bad, but a failure of a touchscreen system could cause you to lose ALL your controls, which would be REALLY bad.

I used to drive a manual. Loved it. I drive an automatic now. Manuals are less fun when you don't have mountain roads.

[Tierbook]

Well considering that Musk has colonizing Mars as his long term goal I think it's a safe bet we will be there in the next 20-30 years.

[Yvaelle]

And the ones who aren't stupid are really just communists. Watermelons, y'know? Green on the outside, red on the inside.

We prefer the term "Canadians"/"Europeans"

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Possibly, but a failure to one mechanical switch may cause you to lose one control, which would be bad, but a failure of a touchscreen system could cause you to lose ALL your controls, which would be REALLY bad.

Not really because they have 4 visible touchscreens - I'm sure they can set up any of those panels to do the task of any of the others.

[Reeve]

We prefer the term "Canadians"/"Europeans"

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Not really because they have 4 visible touchscreens - I'm sure they can set up any of those panels to do the task of any of the others.

Eh, I'm just going to sit here and claim to be smarter than all the folks at SpaceX. Clearly after looking at a photo for 5 seconds, I've come up with a design flaw they haven't considered, mitigated/eliminated, tested, and determined to be acceptable over the course of the years working directly on the project.

[Vivapin8]

Eh, I'm just going to sit here and claim to be smarter than all the folks at SpaceX. Clearly after looking at a photo for 5 seconds, I've come up with a design flaw they haven't considered, mitigated/eliminated, tested, and determined to be acceptable over the course of the years working directly on the project.

Hahaha damn man because of u i spit out my coffee at my screen!!!

[Deleted]

On the first picture of Skro`s posts in this thread,whats that small exposed panel?

[Yvaelle]

Doesn't look the slightest bit like a dragon. Doesn't even have wings. I feel like they're not really trying anymore at this point.

Right? False advertising. Sure he can be build an innovative new space vehicle, but why can't he make it look cooler?

*cracks the Elon whip* "Oh sure, we're very impressed Elon - but the next model better have Warp Drive!"

[proxikal]

Ty! This was very interesting to watch!!

[Vivapin8]

Ahh btw did any1 notice they call this Ship V2 and that you can read Hydra on the concept art

It`s like a RL Avenger movie

[Kujako]

Ahh btw did any1 notice they call this Ship V2 and that you can read Hydra on the concept art

It`s like a RL Avenger movie

"What? Are you implying we're up to something sinister? That's ridiculous. Now if you'll excuse me, something sinister isn't going to build itself."

- Sincerely, Elon Musk.

[Masark]

Doesn't look the slightest bit like a dragon. Doesn't even have wings.

Yes it does. They're just folded right now.

[Osmeric]

I only see one problem with this: the service module and the upper stage.

Falcon 9 has two stages: a first stage and a second stage. The first stage is the thing in the other thread with the landing legs. It's on the pathway to being fully reusable by the end of the year.

A reusable second stage though... unless it (and the service module, which is in-space power, life support and propulsion) are somehow both integrated into the Dragon Capsule - and they aren't in this case - It's not a fully reusable stack. There will still be cost in the upper stage and the service module. This is probably why Elon Musk said that future Dragon vehicles won't look like these two capsule designs (Dragon 1 and 2).

They have plans to make the second stage recoverable and reusable. It's a much more difficult problem than the first stage, of course, due to the tighter mass budget and much higher entry speed.

[Skroe]

Human beings will never exit their own solar system let alone colonize a new planet even within the Milky Way. Never. I am willing to bet anything on it.

I think we'll colonize the crap out of Mars. Maybe Callisto. Maybe other moons in the out solar system. I think a south-pole style research station on the Moon is probable.

But that's as far as it goes. But that being said, that's enough. Mars has plenty. That's why I want the US to get to Mars first and far earlier. I want us to claim the entire damn planet, lay the ground work for Colonies and plan for States there one day. I'm totally not joking about it. Most moons in the solar system have the surface area of Medium sized European countries, or smaller. The Solar system isn't big enough to share unless we're going to start putting colonies on the truly uninhabitable places like Europa, where you'll get radiation poisioning in about 10 minutes and be dead in about an hour.

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Is it environmentally friendly?

The Falcon 9 launch system utilizes a Liquid Oxygen / RP-1 (Kerosene) mix. RP-1 is similar to JP-8 (it is NOT the same however).

Because Kerosene is a hydrocarbon you're igniting, there is nothing green about it. It is putting carbon into the atmosphere.

But then again, every other option is worse, either through toxicity or specific impulse.

Space Launch intrinsically has a high carbon foot print, but we're talking like infinitesimal compared to everything else.

[mvaliz]

If my car has to be environmentally friendly, I don't see why SpaceX gets a free pass.

There's 1 of these spacecraft vs how many billions of cars?

Which one makes the bigger impact? :P

[Deleted]

Eh, I'm just going to sit here and claim to be smarter than all the folks at SpaceX. Clearly after looking at a photo for 5 seconds, I've come up with a design flaw they haven't considered, mitigated/eliminated, tested, and determined to be acceptable over the course of the years working directly on the project.

If you are interested on it, at least for electronics non-manned missions usually require one failure free designs (considering that one failure shall not propagate to other functions, so you will need two non related failures for some function to be lost). Doesn't matter what component fails everything is designed to just keep working. Manned missions are two failure free, so until the third non related failure nothing should be wrong.

[Eviscero]

Looks like a mock-up you'd find in a space museum for little kids to pretend to fly in. Sorry, not impressed.

[Kujako]

If my car has to be environmentally friendly, I don't see why SpaceX gets a free pass.

There's no such thing as an "environmentally friendly" car. There are just "less environmentally rapey" cars. As for SpaceX, there really is no clean way to get to space that we currently know of and/or have the capability to achieve. However, space exploration offers the possibility of solutions to environmental issues through technological and research advancement. So it's a bit of a conundrum.

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Looks like a mock-up you'd find in a space museum for little kids to pretend to fly in. Sorry, not impressed.

I'm sure your manned space capsule is way cooler.

[Skroe]

Yes it does. They're just folded right now.

The trunk section of the Dragon 2 has solar panels integrated into the structure. No moving panels!


It's also worth noting, and it's a small bug significant thing - Dragon 2 will dock with space stations utilizing what appears to be the Androgynous Peripheral Attach System (APAS-95) (or possibly the newer NASA Docking System), like the space shuttle, instead of the Common Berthing Mechanism used by Dragon 1. The APAS system is designed for visiting vehicles while the CBM is really supposed to be used for modules to be attached to the space station.

Why the difference? If a vehicle uses APAS, it can dock with the space station on it's own, under its own. The CBM using systems such as Dragon, Cyngus and the Japanese HTV all need to to be "grabbed" by the space station arm and moved into position. The benefit of the CBM is that is has a wider aperture.

To me, this makes me think that SpaceX is planning beyond the ISS. There is no requirement for commercial crew to use APAS... many expected Dragon 2 to use the CBM like Dragon 1. However a station without a robotic arm to "grab" something will need APAS or something like it.

Dragon 1 will take the NASA Docking System to the ISS (as an adapter to APAS-95) next year for use by commercial crew in early 2015.

[Yarathir]

I gotta chuckle at all the pessimists who truly believe we won't make it outside of our solar system.




Perhaps they were right. If we went extinct before we got out of our solar system, that is.