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Space Discussion Thread

China will launch a new LongMarch12 rocket this year ( 2024 ) with 6 liquid oxygen/kerosene engines able to lift 11 tons into orbit.

www.reuters.com

China's latest Long March rocket to debut in year of record missions

China's Long March 12, capable of sending bigger satellites with more functionalities into the Earth's orbit, is expected to make its debut flight in 2024, in a year of record launch missions for the country, state media reported on Monday.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 





Cute lil' thing. Wonder how the cost of throwing one of those away compares with reusable rockets from spaceX.
 
Unown (WILD) said:
I miss the space shuttle
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Why? It was the most expensive ride to orbit ever. What was the maximum # of launches/year? It started out as a pretty decent design, then the military stuck their thumbs in the pie and cut it's capabilities in half.
 
Yea, a space shuttle or a reusable space-plane is a neat idea, but ours were space-plane shaped bricks with solid fuel rockets strapped on to get em off the ground, because our space shuttle couldn't take off like an airplane and it couldn't really land like one either, landing was a controlled plummet controlled by a computer with an oh-shit pull up at the last minute, so yea, you could say they kinda flew at the last minute in order to land, but even when carried piggy back on it's 747 and separated in mid air for testing, the shuttle pilots control inputs were handled by a computer that kept the shuttles in a controlled decent because they didn't really fly like a normal airplane/glider.

It's just more cost efficient to use rockets to get into space because the reconditioning after every space shuttle flight was expensive, but if we could build a space airplane today that could take off horizontally and fly to the edge of space, then use booster rockets, that could be really cool and possibly more cost effective.
 
I know it had issues and the loss of those that were in it but I still liked it. I dunno maybe I'm being moronic.
 
Nah, for all its flaws, it was still an impressive thing to have a vehicle that could be re-used that many times. And I still believe had NASA gotten to build their original vision of the shuttle it would have been far more successful and cost effective, but the Air Force got involved and the Shuttle became a victim of design by committee.

I'm hopeful that projects like Dreamchaser will fulfill the role of an inexpensive, reusable people and light cargo carrier for spaceflight. Especially with the better materials, material science, and engineering tools we have now compared to when the original shuttle was designed and built.
 
It was many many years ago, but I remember seeing the shuttle rocket through the sky from a few miles away, it was very impressive as it's something we don't normally see.
 
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