WOW!!! Falcon + video
Dragon will not be used, and Falcon Heavy will explode at the start: Elon Musk told new details about the mission to Mars
On Wednesday, during a speech at the International Space Station R & D conference, SpaceX founder Elon Musk told some details about future manned missions to Mars. Previously, his company had planned to use the Dragon spacecraft for landing.
The idea was to use his ability with the help of jet engines (and not just using parachutes) to land on any surface during the mission. Such an opportunity was to appear in the future generation of Dragon - Dragon 2 or Crew Dragon. It was assumed that the spacecraft would hang over the surface with the help of shunting engines (as shown below in the video), and then make a vertical landing (jet landing).
At the conference, Mask noted that although this was a difficult decision, this plan had to be abandoned because of its complexity. "The reason we decided not to follow this plan was that it would take an incredible amount of effort to ensure the carriage of the crew," he said. - There was a time when I thought that an approach using Dragon would be the right way to land on Mars. But now I am sure that this is not so, "ArsTechnica quotes him as saying. This means that the Dragon capsules will be engaged so far that they are already doing well: deliver cargo to the ISS and land on parachutes.
The company has formed a better approach to this, says Musk. More details about this he promises to tell at the International Astronautical Congress in September. It is known that these plans include a simplified design of the spacecraft.
Later, after the conference, Mask in the tweet mentioned that the company still had not abandoned plans for reactive landing, but using much larger ships.
Elon Musk also spoke about the launch vehicle, which was planned to be used during the mission - modifications Falcon Heavy. Previously, it was about the fact that SpaceX is going to test the rocket this summer. According to Mask, there are chances that during the first flight the missile can explode almost immediately after the launch.
"There are good chances that it will not reach the orbit. I hope that it will fly far enough from the pad, so as not to damage it - it will already seem to me a victory, "he said. Max admitted that the development of Falcon Heavy proved to be much harder than originally thought in the company and that the team was "pleased with the naive" in their assessments.
Post created by @hrytsenko