58
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SpaceX and propulsive landing on Mars -- what just happened? (and why?)
Red Dragon was intended to piggyback on the effort to develop and qualify Dragon for propulsive landings on Earth.
The qualification hit a snag: NASA requirements for human-rating the propulsive ...
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13
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SpaceX and propulsive landing on Mars -- what just happened? (and why?)
Red Dragon was an attempt to get an early mission to Mars using off the shelf hardware. That is, assuming Dragon V2 was developed and off the shelf. Sure needed modifications but the core ...
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12
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Will the 2018 Mars Dragon Lander be the largest lander on Mars to date?
Yes, by quite a bit. Right now the heaviest object soft landed on Mars is Curiosity, as you noted. The mass of it is 900 kg. The Red Dragon is 6400 kg, plus payload of up to 2000 kg (Maybe more for ...
- 121k
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Why cannot supersonic retropropulsion, for use in the Red Dragon lander be tested on Earth?
They have been testing supersonic retropropulsion on Earth: the Falcon 9 landings do their reentry burn in circumstances not too different from Mars' atmosphere.
I've seen no announcement of a ...
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10
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How will astronauts live in Spacex's red dragon?
They won't. Red Dragon is an unmanned concept demonstrator and experiment transport. SpaceX wants to use it to test Mars EDL (entry-descent-landing) technology and algorithms they develop for their ...
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What payload was expected for the 2018 Mars Dragon flight ("Red Dragon")
Aviation Week seems to be the best source right now. A few interesting bits:
NASA is spending up to $30 million in support, mostly to help gain information for EDL on Mars.
A photo might be taken ...
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7
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Is it probable the Red Dragon will successfully land on Mars on the first try?
If the question is really "Is it reasonably likely the Red Dragon will successfully land on Mars on the first try?" I'd say 'probably yes' because they wouldn't accept that level of exposure and cost ...
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What payload was expected for the 2018 Mars Dragon flight ("Red Dragon")
In 2018 Red Dragon flight primary mission would be to prove a soft landing for a human rated vehicle, but this mission is also an opportunity to conclude even some others objectives. SpaceX ...
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6
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What payload was expected for the 2018 Mars Dragon flight ("Red Dragon")
The article you linked makes it pretty clear that the goal is to test powered landing of Dragon spacecraft. Hence, I expect little to no payload at all. Of course there might be some token experiment, ...
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Why not land Red Dragon on the Moon?
No, not really. SpaceX has been focused on Mars for a long time. It would gain nothing by landing on the Moon towards that objective. The only advantage as compared to Mars is the timeline is ...
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4
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Will Red Dragon experience a "Communications Blackout" during SRP?
Not much is known about Red Dragon yet. There will be a brief communications blackout. For Mars the blackout period is around 30 seconds.
Detailed study of comms blackout for Mars. Blackout is ...
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4
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Can Red Dragon generate electrical power after a Mars landing, or will it rely only on battery power?
Solar panels for both Dragon versions are on the trunk of the craft, the unpressurized external (relative to the capsule) component that separates the capsule from the upper stage of the rocket that ...
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4
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How much modification would Dragon 2 or Red Dragon require to serve as a lunar lander?
tl;dr: If you use (nearly) all your cargo capacity for additional propellant and get rid of heatshield etc. you might barely be able to land the Dragon II from Lunar orbit (back-of-the-envelope result)...
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4
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Why not land Red Dragon on the Moon?
For a mission to Mars test should be done in Mars and for a Moon mission test should be done at Moon, because we have here different situation. Concentration for manned space exploration now is to ...
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4
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Why cannot supersonic retropropulsion, for use in the Red Dragon lander be tested on Earth?
The Martian atmosphere is very much thinner than Earths. So SRL on Mars needs to happen in the equivalent of the density of Mars's atmosphere.
Thus when the Falcon 9 first stage is coming back for a ...
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3
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What exactly makes Red Dragon costly
The first difference is the Red Dragon will use a Falcon Heavy, which runs between \$30-\$80 million more than the Falcon 9. Note that the higher end of this is more likely reality, the Falcon Heavy ...
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3
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Accepted
What would Red Dragon's realistic payload mass be?
I wasn't planning on answering my own question, but I've been obsessing about the problem.
This paper https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/marsconcepts2012/pdf/4216.pdf describes a landing with an entry ...
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Is it probable the Red Dragon will successfully land on Mars on the first try?
SpaceX has been taking a very methodical approach to development. They started with a single engine vehicle (Falcon-1) and before they even had a successful first launch upgraded the engine. (Merlin-...
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2
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Why not land Red Dragon on the Moon?
From LEO to a lunar soft landing takes about 6 km/s.
Unlike a moon lander, a Mars lander can use aerobraking to shed velocity on arrival. I'm not sure how much aerobraking the Red Dragon would do but ...
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How much modification would Dragon 2 or Red Dragon require to serve as a lunar lander?
From this question, we know the delta v is about 1700 m/s with the stock configuration of the Dragon 2. The heat shield will be replaced with some extra propellant for a Lunar lander. It's really hard ...
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Red Dragon sample return
At this early stage, it is unclear what SpaceX is really planning. They have passed up on the 2018 window, and now planning for the 2020 transfer window. This means they will have two more years to ...
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1
vote
Red Dragon sample return
Everything about Red Dragon is in flux, including whether it's doing a sample return at all, as the main purpose is to demonstrate landing. Chances are sample return depends heavily on how SpaceX does ...
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What exactly makes Red Dragon costly
Launch vehicle and lander are estimated to be between 150 and 190 million.
The cost of operation will be minimal because once the spacecraft is on it's way to Mars very little intervention is ...
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Is it probable the Red Dragon will successfully land on Mars on the first try?
First of all, let's take a look at what SpaceX should have done prior to this point in time with the Dragon 2. The first uncrewed test is expected for May 2017. Before that, the Max Q abort test will ...
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