Space Exploration Technologies chief executive Elon Musk spoke at the UK's Royal Aeronautical Society in London on the evening of the 3 July
The approximately 10min speech was entitled "What is Needed to Extend Life Permanently Beyond Earth?" Musk also reviewed SpaceX's progress. There were no pictures or video
There then followed about a 60min question and answer session. The audio recording of both the speech and Q&A can be found in the extended entry of this blog post
Unfortunately I missed the first minute or so of Musk's speech and my digital audio device ran out of memory just before it ended
But the hour plus of audio in the four MP3 files linked to below has Musk talking about Falcon 9 and Dragon developments, the second stage problem that ended Falcon 1's second flight, his view on why Rocketplane Kistler failed, why he doesn't like space based solar power and a range of other topics
Elon's speech
Part one of the Q&A
Part two of the Q&A
Part three of the Q&A
You will need to raise your computer's volume level to maximum probably as it is not that high on the recording, I should have placed the recording device nearer to Musk. A few of the questions might be inaudible (they were even to us sitting in the room) but you should be able to hear Musk over the inevitable background noise from the aircon
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develop, build and launch a rocket never was/is/will be an "easy job" then some failures are inevitable in the early launches of a new vehicle, but, what I don't understand, is WHY did they put one/more TRUE satellites atop every (clearly "experimental") Falcon-1 launch BEFORE that rocket will be proven reliable for commercial and military purposes (after a good launch rate, of course) just to destroj them?
another thing unclear to me, is the confidence (the SpaceX guys still have) about their ability to SAFELY launch cargo (and, maybe, also MANNED) capsules "within 2010, max 2011" especially if we consider that, launch a bigger and multiengines rocket, is an "one order of magnitude greater" job (while, launch MANNED vehicles, is "two orders of magnitude" more complex and risky)
however, the real BIG BIG BIG problem for SpaceX isn't just the third failed launch on three launch attempts, but (most important) the (already LOST at start) COMPETITION with the second COTS contractor: Orbital Sciences Corporation
while SpaceX is a true "new.space" company born a few years ago with Musk's funds and a small team of engineers, Orbital is a 26 years old company with (nearly) one billion annual revenue, an army of very expert engineers, dozens rockets already developed and launched (including the very complex, air launched, four stages, Pegasus) LOTS of successful launches of commercial, military and scientific satellites and probes accomplished for 11 countries: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Sciences_Corporation[/url]
in other words, Orbital is 100% SURE to develop its COTS rocket, have a successful launch at its FIRST attempt, man-rate it, develop a perfectly working cargo vehicle for the ISS and (maybe) develop, build and launch a small (two astronauts) MANNED capsule BEFORE (both) the NASA Orion and the SpaceX Dragon!
personally, I think that SpaceX should completely CHANGE its industrial strategy
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