SpaceX makes successful return to earth

[techs]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8190460/SpaceX-makes-successful-return-to-earth.html

SpaceX makes successful return to earth
A space capsule has been successfully launched into orbit and returned to earth by a private company for the first time.

The Dragon spacecraft, which has been developed by SpaceX, an American firm, blasted off atop the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Wednesday afternoon.

It circled the earth twice before landing west of the Mexican coast in the Pacific Ocean this evening. The company announced over Twitter: "Splashdown on target. Mission is a success!"

The capsule is expected to one day carry passengers to the International Space Station (ISS), including US astronauts as they begin to depend on commercially-run space travel after their shuttles are retired.



The Dragon's heat shield contains a material known as PICA-X (phenolic impregnated carbon ablator) that is designed to withstand the heat of atmospheric re-entry:
Wiki:
Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) was developed by NASA Ames Research Center and was the primary TPS material for the Stardust aeroshell.[15] The Stardust sample-return capsule was the fastest man-made object ever to reenter Earth's atmosphere (12.4 km/s or 28,000 mph at 135 km altitude) This was faster than the Apollo mission capsules and 70% faster than the Shuttle.[16] PICA was critical for the viability of the Stardust mission. A PICA heat shield will also be used for the Mars Science Laboratory entry into the Martian atmosphere



Noticed no one mentioned this.

 

[Nintendesert]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8190460/SpaceX-makes-successful-return-to-earth.html

SpaceX makes successful return to earth
A space capsule has been successfully launched into orbit and returned to earth by a private company for the first time.

The Dragon spacecraft, which has been developed by SpaceX, an American firm, blasted off atop the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Wednesday afternoon.

It circled the earth twice before landing west of the Mexican coast in the Pacific Ocean this evening. The company announced over Twitter: "Splashdown on target. Mission is a success!"

The capsule is expected to one day carry passengers to the International Space Station (ISS), including US astronauts as they begin to depend on commercially-run space travel after their shuttles are retired.



The Dragon's heat shield contains a material known as PICA-X (phenolic impregnated carbon ablator) that is designed to withstand the heat of atmospheric re-entry:
Wiki:
Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) was developed by NASA Ames Research Center and was the primary TPS material for the Stardust aeroshell.[15] The Stardust sample-return capsule was the fastest man-made object ever to reenter Earth's atmosphere (12.4 km/s or 28,000 mph at 135 km altitude) This was faster than the Apollo mission capsules and 70% faster than the Shuttle.[16] PICA was critical for the viability of the Stardust mission. A PICA heat shield will also be used for the Mars Science Laboratory entry into the Martian atmosphere



Noticed no one mentioned this.

USA! USA! USA!


On a more serious note, it's good to see the private space sector making progress. Hopefully it will push us where NASA is failing to.

 

[tontod]

I have a friend who works on the Dragon capsule, need to call him, bet he is pretty psyched and excited. After their last successful launch, Elon took them all out to an open bar. Must be nice to work in that kind of atmosphere, intense, but get to reap good rewards.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Sweet! I am glad this industry is... taking off!

 

[MikeMike]

Sweet! I am glad this industry is... taking off!

it's taking off, but also able to return!

 

[techs]

it's taking off, but also able to return!

♫ Once the rockets go up, who cares where the come down? ♫
♫ That's not my department, says Werner Von Braun ♫

 

[coxmaster]

On a more serious note, it's good to see the private space sector making progress. Hopefully it will push us where NASA is failing to.

Couldn't agree more. Progress is good no matter where it comes from.

Also, most of the projects at SpaceX are funded by NASA

 

[RavenSEAL]

Gay, obama needs to re-fund NASA, next thing you know google is gonna own half the solar system and canada if private companies start getting billions from the gov't for shit they should've been funding in the first place.

 

[thepd7]

USA! USA! USA!


On a more serious note, it's good to see the private space sector making progress. Hopefully it will push us where NASA is failing to.

is it really completely private? I don't know much, just that they are spending massive amounts of money.

I have a friend who works on the Dragon capsule, need to call him, bet he is pretty psyched and excited. After their last successful launch, Elon took them all out to an open bar. Must be nice to work in that kind of atmosphere, intense, but get to reap good rewards.

Join a start up, that sounds exactly like my roommates job.

Couldn't agree more. Progress is good no matter where it comes from.

Also, most of the projects at SpaceX are funded by NASA

that makes more sense than them being completely private.

 

[Nintendesert]

Couldn't agree more. Progress is good no matter where it comes from.

Also, most of the projects at SpaceX are funded by NASA

It's a good use of their funding too. Putting money out there and goals and letting people compete and work their way up to them is far preferable to the government bureaucracy that NASA had become. We'll eventually get much better results this way.

 

[preslove]

Gay, obama needs to re-fund NASA, next thing you know google is gonna own half the solar system and canada if private companies start getting billions from the gov't for shit they should've been funding in the first place.

Obama did not "defund" NASA. He took the money going to the Constellation program and redirected to other NASA projects. Then he got MORE money for investing in private firms, like Space X.

The Constellation program was just one more Bush failure that needed to be ended.

 

[coxmaster]

It's a good use of their funding too. Putting money out there and goals and letting people compete and work their way up to them is far preferable to the government bureaucracy that NASA had become. We'll eventually get much better results this way.

Cant agree more. Anything that will make the number of space oriented companies grow is good in my book.. More jobs available for me in a few years :thumbsup:

 

[Sea Moose]

I kinda see space travel as... well....

How do i explain it.

Its like the tall ships of old that set off to explore the planet, America was discovered by christopher columbus and Australia was discovered by Captain Cook.

We are at the point with space travel, where once the ships improve we can set off exploring. It may not happen in our life time, but soon i think.

it is great to see commercial enterprises getting invloved, cause there are all sorts of benefits for them. They could build mines on asteroids and bring resources back to Earth