[Nottingham] [Off Topic] Thunderbird 3 Is Go! - SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket flies

[Martin]

Folks,

>From earlier this week:

For *REAL* and only a few decades later and without the fusion reactors,
but still *FABULOUS* ... Elon Musk has his own Thunderbird 3!



SpaceX flies 'lessons learned' rocket
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44088032

#####
The California rocket company SpaceX has conducted what is arguably its
most important launch to date.

Flying out of Florida, the firm’s Falcon-9 vehicle lifted a standard
telecommunications satellite for Bangladesh into orbit.

But the booster incorporated everything SpaceX has so far learnt about
reusability. This "Block 5" version of the Falcon is designed to
*launch* and *land* *at least 10 times without any servicing* (!).

Earlier iterations of the rocket have not flown more than twice and
required some level of refurbishment between missions.

"It's taken us 16 years of extreme effort, many iterations and thousands
of small but important development changes to get to where we think this
is even possible. Crazy hard," said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in a pre-flight
briefing with reporters.

... What is more, the vehicle has been built to the "over-engineered"
and fault-tolerant standards demanded for human use.
#####


There's further fun detail and discussion over at The Register:

First SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket lobs comms sat into orbit
One small step for Musk, one giant leap for Bangladesh

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/11/spacex_falcon_9_block_5_rocket/

#####
SpaceX claims the new design means a rocket can be checked and ready to
*fly again within 24 hours* if necessary, and a new rocket can be built
from scratch in 14 days.
#####


The biggies there, are the reusablilty and the no-servicing for a rapid
turnaround.

Indeed, we have Thunderbirds Are Go! :-)


One minor fun fact that has dictated part of the SpaceX design:

2 horse's arses is the legacy metric

https://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2018/05/11/spacex_falcon_9_block_5_rocket/#c_3512449


Who would believe it! :-P


Fantastic stuff :-)

But does it run Linux?!


Cheers,
Martin



For those unawares non-cultish types:

Thunderbird 3

    Astronaut: Alan Tracy
    Co-Pilot: Scott Tracy
    Co-Pilot: Tin-Tin Kyrano

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbirds_machines#Thunderbird_3