Orion Launch Video

Not posted until now because... Um... I was lazy.

Comments

[Shpoople96]

I'm patiently waiting for the 16th, myself...

[p0nypanda]

You lucky son of a bitch.

[RanmaChaos]

Very Cool

[Izintar the Odd]

Epic

[nemryn]

Still super jelly

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

*Salutes* Time to go back to the final frontier.

[Themaskedferret]

Absolutely stunning. Thanks dude.

[The Synn Lofsvard]

Pretty awesome dude.

I actually have a friend and an old teacher I used to have in high school, who got into the private observation of the take off. Dude actually used to WORK for NASA. Not kidding. And then he became a physics teacher. One of the coolest guys I know. Loved to tell stories about the stuff he saw, the things he did and the people he met in his time.

[Octavia Harmony]

I saw this on the news and I though "Talon's out there somewhere."

[Slaaneth]

About damn time that they start testing again.
I wonder what type of propulsion they will use in space.
Will they go with an ion-thruster, or will they pick more reliable Hall-effect thruster?
Both have an extremely high fuel efficiency, with the ion-thruster being more efficient, while the Hall-effect thruster is known to never have failed, which may be because it was invented in russia.
Seriously, what is it with the russians and their ultra-reliable,
easy-to-use, if-it-fucks-up-it's-because-it's-supposed-to technology?

[Andrew Joshua Talon]

2643009 My vote would be a nuclear powered VASIMIR engine, or this University of Washington lithium-fueled fusion plasma drive: http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/04/04/rocket-powered-by-nuclear-fusion-could-send-humans-to-mars/

There's a lot of work to do. Most people forget the only reason we got to the moon in ten years was political imperative. It's a sad but true fact that most politicians are not willing to truly invest in space unless it gets them something instantly usable. But advancing our technology and developing everything means when we finally get out there, we'll have much better tools to use.

[Slaaneth]

2643192
Yes, I already considered that, but it is essencially a new version of project orion (propelling a spacecraft with nuclear reactions)
which would put the spacecraft through the stress of a sudden acceleration, which would require it to be heavier,
with 'heavier' being the stuff of NASA's nightmares, since it costs a lot to put anything to anywhere beyond LEO.
While I see it as actually feasable, and potentially very useful because of its apparent effectiveness,
it still needs to be tested.
Ion-thrusters are an established technology, and Hall-effect thrusters have yet to fail.
While this method is unlikely to be used on the first human mission to Mars, it might be the future method of urgent transportation.
Usually, they could just put more xenon fuel into the tank for the ion-thruster or the Hall-effect engine, and could lift that cost-efficiently into orbit, and go to mars and back, all the while using solar panels to use a billion-year-old fusion plant,
with relatively low cost, and complexity.

That proposal of yours may make the impossible possible, but not necessarily practical, especially with the current lauching systems

[Inucroft1]

America can (not) into space

[SingABrightSong]

Holy crap they're actually going ahead with the Orion drive?