![]() Musk generally overpromises how many satellites SpaceX launches each year. I could see any delay in this version pushing back Falcon Heavy. That is expected to fly by the end of the year. Let's investigate the 2 main competing priorities: ![]() Seeing as how much the Falcon Heavy test flight has been pushed back already, I'm not sure Musk can meet that. A test flight in March of next year followed by a human flight in 2018 is way too tight. It's far more likely to happen in 2020 or 2021. I am also going to voice my skepticism that a circumlunar flight is going to happen in 2019. (Terms and conditions: prediction invalid in event of nuclear war, global environmental or economic collapse, Trump and Pence both being impeached, or a Dragon 2 capsule exploding in flight, because any of these things might impact the launch schedule.) So I'm betting that this is how Musk will fund development of his lunar-orbit capability. ![]() Trump is of an age to have young-adult memories of Apollo and I can't see the idea not appealing to him if he can take credit for it. Trump is nothing if not an egomaniac, and offering him the opportunity to make a historic phone call to lunar orbit in front of the TV cameras is a guaranteed ego-stroke. July 2019 lies within the term in office of Donald Trump (or Mike Pence, depending whether impeachment/removal has happened first then). I'm making this a prediction, however, because the POTUS factor. However, a circumlunar flag-waving flight (sans lander) over the anniversary of Apollo 11 is entirely possible, using a mission profile SpaceX is apparently already developing for private customers with a target flight in late 2018. It'd also require at least two Falcon Heavy launches to put the stack in Lunar orbit-Falcon Heavy, even in non-reusable form, has a significantly smaller payload than Saturn V-at which point you're talking at least half a billion for the launchers with the R&D cost of the lander on top. This is almost certainly impossible, not only for today's sclerotic NASA but also for SpaceX - agile management will only get you so far. It'd require the development of a new lunar module, space suits, and a new mission profile and training in only two years. Now, I don't expect to see a human lunar landing in 2019. The combination of Dragon 2 and Falcon Heavy will be a vehicle roughly intermediate in payload between the Saturn IB and Saturn V-the cost of a Falcon Heavy launch with a flight profile that doesn't permit recovery of the stack is estimated at somewhere around $200-250M. The same goes for the Dragon 2 crewed capsule it's due for a first uncrewed orbital flight test in March 2018, and a crewed orbital test flight later in 2018. It's rather hard to describe it as vaporware at this point. I expect Falcon Heavy to be delayed a few months, minimum, because no new launch vehicle ever flies on time, especially a crew-rated one, but it's currently due to fly around December this year for the first time, with a vehicle currently undergoing integration at Cape Canaveral and commercial orders for subsequent flights. It's also 6-12 months on from the projected date of Musk's translunar tourist trip on a Falcon Heavy. It is used to more easily deliver personnel and cargo to and from the moon, as spacecraft do not have to enter and escape the moon's gravitational field.Ī Helium-3 Power Reactor, located in the Tombaugh Reactor Facility, produces power from Helium-3, which is also mined on the moon.Ī portable laser cutter is attached to the player's arm during the game, to quickly cut through supposedly metal locks around the stations.That's the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11. ![]() ASE's can project holograms, including audio, of past events at the locations that these events happened.Ī space elevator connects the Copernicus Moonhub on the moon's surface with Pearson Spacestation above. It can be remotely controlled and flown freely within signal range. It can interact with certain door locks and fly through spaces the player does not fit through. The power is generated in the Tombaugh Reactor Facility from Helium-3, an isotope found in abundance on the moon.Ī flying robot drone that helps the player navigate the environment. It uses one sending satellite dish located at the top of Pearson Spacestation above the moon, and likely multiple receiver dishes on Earth to wirelessly transmit power. The Microwave-Power-Transmission Network was developed by Isaac Johanson to transmit energy from the moon to Earth.
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