Researchers are finally getting close to solving “one of the most important problems in physics.”
NASA awarded SpaceX a contract for $843 million to make a giant version of the Dragon Spacecraft to de-orbit the Space Station. It will use 47 Draco engines instead of the 16 on the Crew dragon. It will four times the thrust and six times the propellant. If there was ever a mission to move something as heavy as the space station to a higher orbit from low earth orbit then even more propellant would be needed. Three times the engines for four times the thrust indicates a 33% improvement in thrust for each engine.
SpaceX and NASA could choose to make larger crew Dragons. The Crew Dragon can hold up to seven people but it currently has only moved up to four astronauts. An orbital or Cis-lunar tug with more engines could be built to transport many dozens of people.
The architecture and systems used in Crew Dragon have been designed and tested for higher levels of safety.
Follow FLORIDA TODAY Space Team live updates of today’s upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of NG-21 from SLC-40.
SpaceX has unveiled the Raptor 3 engine, marking significant advancements in thrust, specific impulse, and mass efficiency compared to previous versions. The Raptor 3 boasts a thrust of 280 tf, a specific impulse of 350s, and an engine mass of 1,525 kg. The SpaceX Raptor 3 engine has potential to exceed 300 tons of thrust in future iterations, emphasizing ongoing efforts to improve efficiency.
Raptor 3 is 36% lighter than Raptor 1. It has 51% more thrust at sea level versus raptor 1. Raptor 3 is 7% lighter than Raptor 2. It has 21% more thrust at sea level versus raptor 2. Elon Musk indicates that Raptor could get another 8–10% more thrust.
Raptor 3 has 2.75 million newtons of thrust versus 2.26 million newtons for the Raptor 2. 33 Raptor 3 engines would provide 90.75 million newtons of thrust for a 33 engine super heavy booster. 35 Raptor 3 engines would provide 96.3 million newtons of thrust for a 35 engine super heavy booster.
Chevron Corp. announced on Friday that it will also move its headquarters from California to Texas, just weeks after Elon Musk announced that SpaceX and X were fleeing for the Lone Star State.
The news came as the company reported its second-quarter earnings on Friday, which fell far short of profit expectations.
According to the company, Chevron’s headquarters will move from San Ramon, California, to Houston, Texas.
It looks like NASA officials might be seeing the writing on the wall for the very troubled Boeing Starliner, which has marooned two astronauts up in space for almost two months due to technical issues.
An unnamed “informed” source told Ars Technica that there’s a greater than 50 percent probability that the stranded astronauts will end up leaving the International Space Station on a SpaceX Dragon capsule, with another unnamed person telling the news outlet that the scenario is highly likely.
NASA officials are more cagey about what’s happening on the record, a marked contrast from previous weeks when they expressed confidence in the Starliner’s ability to safely bring back the astronauts.
This morning, SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.
It looks like Elon is about to rescue two people Boeing left stranded in outer space. Crew Dragon’s capacity will likely be increased from 4 to 6 people as the solution to this problem.
SpaceX is actively working on a plan to fly Starliner’s crew home.
NASA’s Crew Flight Test astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, docked at the ISS since June 6.
