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3D-printed rocket engines: The technology driving the private sector space race

The volatile nature of space rocket engines means that many early prototypes end up embedded in dirt banks or decorating the tops of any trees that are unfortunate enough to neighbor testing sites. Unintended explosions are in fact so common that rocket scientists have come up with a euphemism for when it happens: rapid unscheduled disassembly, or RUD for short.

Every time a rocket engine blows up, the source of the failure needs to be found so that it can be fixed. A new and improved engine is then designed, manufactured, shipped to the test site and fired, and the cycle begins again — until the only disassembly taking place is of the slow, scheduled kind. Perfecting rocket engines in this way is one of the main sources of developmental delays in what is a rapidly expanding space industry.

Today, 3D printing technology, using heat-resistant metal alloys, is revolutionizing trial-and-error rocket development. Whole structures that would have previously required hundreds of distinct components can now be printed in a matter of days. This means you can expect to see many more rockets blowing into tiny pieces in the coming years, but the parts they’re actually made of are set to become larger and fewer as the private sector space race intensifies.

Did Japan Just Invent How We Will Travel Into Deep Space? | Unveiled

Japan may have just changed the future of space technology! Join us… to find out more!

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What does space travel look like in the future? A recent breakthrough in Japan might’ve changed the direction that science is taking, and in a BIG way! In this video, Unveiled takes a closer look at rotating detonation engines, a new and efficient way to zoom spaceships through the void!

This is Unveiled, giving you incredible answers to extraordinary questions!

Find more amazing videos for your curiosity here:
What If NASA Explored Antarctica Instead? — https://youtu.be/oBPs7lyaHD8
Are We the Creation of a Type V Civilization? — https://youtu.be/T_u4lGDs3dM

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SpaceX and NASA ready for CRS-23 Dragon return

Following a launch in late August and a month-long stay in orbit, SpaceX and NASA are preparing to return the CRS-23 (Commercial Resupply Services 23) mission from the International Space Station (ISS). Cargo Dragon undocked from the station on Thursday, September 30 at 13:12 UTC, with a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean planned for Friday, October 1 at 03:00 UTC.

CRS-23 uses Cargo Dragon C208-2, a Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft from SpaceX. The spacecraft will conclude its second flight to space when it splashes down on Friday, previously launching on the CRS-21 mission in December 2020.

Unlike Crew Dragon missions, Cargo Dragon spacecraft are not named and instead are referred to by their serial number. Crew Dragon spacecraft are given their names by the first crew that flies in them.

Elon Musk fires shot at Jeff Bezos, ‘you can’t sue your way to orbit’

I agree with Elon.


Elon Musk repeated prior criticisms of fellow billionaire space mogul Jeff Bezos, as their respective companies continue to battle in federal court and in front of regulators.

“I think I’ve expressed my thoughts on that front — I think he should put more of his energy into getting to orbit, [rather] than lawsuits,” Musk said Tuesday at the CodeCon 2021 conference in Beverly Hills, California. “You cannot sue your way to the moon, no matter how good your lawyers are,” Musk added. Bezos’ Blue Origin is suing SpaceX, by way of NASA, in the U.S. Federal Court of Claims over a $2.9 billion astronaut lunar lander contract the agency awarded Musk’s company earlier this year.

Blue Origin went on a public relations offensive in August after the Government Accountability Office shot down the company’s protest, with Bezos’ venture calling SpaceX’s Starship rocket an “immensely complex & high risk” way to deliver NASA astronauts to the moon. In April, NASA chose SpaceX and its Starship concept to provide the vehicle that’ll carry Artemis astronauts to the surface of the moon as soon as 2024.

Can China really be on Mars before SpaceX or NASA?

What do you think Chris Smedley.


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SpaceX to launch world’s first geostationary propellant depot around the Moon

As part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch that will send a commercial Moon lander on its way to Earth’s nearest neighbor, rideshare organizer Spaceflight Inc and propellant depot startup OrbitFab have revealed plans for the first high Earth orbit propellant depot.

Known as “Tanker-002,” the co-developed spacecraft will technically be the first propellant depot – essentially a gas station in space – to reach a geostationary orbit ~36,000 km (~22,300 mi) above the Earth’s surface. Based around a variant of Spaceflight’s brand new Sherpa OTV space tug vehicles, OrbitFab hasn’t disclosed the planned capacity of its unique GEO depot but the public specifications of Sherpa suggest that the company will be able to deliver a few hundred kilograms (300−800 lb) of hydrazine accessible via several tiny docking ports.

However, Tanker-002 isn’t interesting solely for its unique position as a tanker in GEO. How Spaceflight and OrbitFab plan to get the small spacecraft into position will be a feat of engineering and trajectory design in its own right.