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Video: SpaceX Dragon V2 | Flight Animation
The seats in the capsule reminded me slightly of Roadster seats.
I suspect those are not the seats that will actually be used, I think they are just for show. The real seats will be molded to the bodies of the passengers and much beefier.
Also, the interior of the capsule is not going to be so spacious, I believe. There will be lots of equipment and support systems packed in there.
The seats in the capsule reminded me slightly of Roadster seats.
I suspect those are not the seats that will actually be used, I think they are just for show. The real seats will be molded to the bodies of the passengers and much beefier.
Also, the interior of the capsule is not going to be so spacious, I believe. There will be lots of equipment and support systems packed in there.
tonybelding
Active Member
Dragon can't land on Mars either. Landing a large vehicle on Mars is actually a notoriously difficult engineering problem. However... I must admit, if you were going to design a Mars lander, experience with something like Dragon would be a more useful starting point.
Maybe it's more accurate to say, the Dragon design can accommodate with further design modifications, landing on any body in the solar system- planet, moon, asteroid;
Dream Chaser is earthbound and runway forever. Anything outside that realm is a start-from-scratch (leading to a Dragon-like design). I'd like to see both make it, and think that is likely. But they are designed with different end objectives in mind per ecarfan's point- One as a subset of the other
gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
Beautiful!
Still not enough thought put into providing cupholders though
In case of a propulsion failure, will the emergency parachutes provide a soft enough landing on land?
Still not enough thought put into providing cupholders though
In case of a propulsion failure, will the emergency parachutes provide a soft enough landing on land?
Once the Dragon V2 has proven the first couple safe controlled pinpoint landings, I don't see why landing on Mars would be that different. There's not much of an atmosphere on Mars to brake the craft down, but gravity is only around 38% of Earth's gravity. When the technology exists, there is no reason whatsoever to assume that Mars landings would pose a special challenge.
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Beautiful!
Still not enough thought put into providing cupholders though
In case of a propulsion failure, will the emergency parachutes provide a soft enough landing on land?
I think that's what the specially made landing legs are for. Let's just assume that Space X engineers and Elon know what they're doing, for now
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Mars landing will be harder because you can't get much atmospheric braking. Twice the gravity of the moon. Shouldn't be all that hard considering moon landings are kinda old technology.
Has anyone though of what being on Mars would be like? It would be kinda like being 6 miles under the ocean, with no way to get back to the surface for a year. All your technology HAS to work, or else you die. Very few people are going to be able to be the early pioneers....
Has anyone though of what being on Mars would be like? It would be kinda like being 6 miles under the ocean, with no way to get back to the surface for a year. All your technology HAS to work, or else you die. Very few people are going to be able to be the early pioneers....
In my understanding, it becomes exponentially easier to land on bodies, the less gravitational potential a planet has. So, if SpaceX manages to land that thing on Earth, then Mars should be a piece of cake. For the rest, let me paraphrase it like that: You better get your s**t together, if you want to go to outer space
. I don't know about you guys, but I'm thrilled.
In the history of humanity there has never been a shortage of people willing to undertake high risk exploration, whether it is deep under the ocean, atop the world's highest mountains, to the poles of the earth and beyond to the moon. There are plenty of people who would make a one way trip to Mars right now if they could. If I was younger and unattached I would count myself among them.
So you'd think. However, there has already been over 100,000 applicants for a one way trip to Mars. More than 100,000 want to go to Mars and not return, project says - CNN.com
In my eyes, that's the whole point of the effort: Space travel has to become so reliable and easy, so that average Joe would be capable of doing it. How many people would drive a car if you had to train for 5 years just to not explode the car when you switch it on ;D .
I certainly agree that the first settlers on Mars will face serious psychological challenges and some of them may crack. But humans never cease to surprise me with their often extraordinary resilience in the face of adversity.
The challenge of settling Mars will not be in finding willing, qualified people to go there. It will be developing the technology to make it a success and finding the resources to do it. Personally, my money is on Elon and SpaceX and not on NASA or the Chinese (the Russians and the ESA aren't even in the running). But it will be a decade or two before it happens.
The challenge of settling Mars will not be in finding willing, qualified people to go there. It will be developing the technology to make it a success and finding the resources to do it. Personally, my money is on Elon and SpaceX and not on NASA or the Chinese (the Russians and the ESA aren't even in the running). But it will be a decade or two before it happens.
gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
Celebrity astronaut Chris Hadfield's take:
Astronaut: Musk's capsule no substitute for Soyuz (QA) - CNET
Astronaut: Musk's capsule no substitute for Soyuz (QA) - CNET
Thanks for the link.
Although Mr. Hadfield says a couple commonsense things, he thoroughly struck me as being part of the old "spaceflight". I guess it's natural, if one has devoted one's whole life to an existing system and was fond of it. But how does the saying go: You can't teach an old dog new tricks. SpaceX is going to be first-to-market in an insanely high future growth industry. Elon Musk couldn't care less about Russians or anyone else. He does industry, not politics. I guess Mr. Hadfield will still want to shake hands and socialize with russian cosmonauts on a rotting ISS, when Elon Musk et al. are already enjoying their first drinks on a martian beach.
For the better or worse, depending on which side one stands, we can already catch a glimpse of a future in which people don't need 10 years of mental and physical training and multiple academic degrees, just to be able to go visit a now decaying space station somewhere in LEO (as great a project as it was at its time). If Mr. Hadfield wants to work as an advisor to SpaceX, he should send his CV and job application .
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Despite the title of the article there is nothing in that article that is negative towards the Dragon V2.
And his 'working with Space X" isn't trying to get a development job. It is working with the team so he fully understands the capsule, before he would be willing to test pilot it. It isn't speaking to normal use, or him thinking Space X did anything poorly.
And his 'working with Space X" isn't trying to get a development job. It is working with the team so he fully understands the capsule, before he would be willing to test pilot it. It isn't speaking to normal use, or him thinking Space X did anything poorly.
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