Elon Musk Introduces The Dragon II Spaceship

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SpaceX founder Elon Musk, showed off his company's new spacecraft in a live webcast. The Dragon V2 marks a major milestone as SpaceX's first spacecraft capable of bringing humans to the International Space Station then back to Earth.

Yesterday SpaceX's Elon Musk unveiled the company's first manned commercial spacecraft and it looks like the spacecraft of our imagination.

The Dragon V2 is an upgrade from the first commercial spacecraft to bring cargo to the International Space Station. In addition to manned flight, it has a few big aims.

"It can carry seven astronauts for several days. It has an improved heat shield. It’s a big leap forward in technology. It takes things to next level."

First of all, the Dragon V2 is a lot cheaper to operate than what is in use now, and the past Space Shuttle program. The capsule is designed to touch down “anywhere in the world.” Musk says it is not necessary to discard the craft after each use. “If aircraft were thrown out after each flight, no one would be able to fly”.

Using the technology that is currently being tested for the SpaceX Grasshopper rocket system, the Dragon V2 will be able to land "with the accuracy of a helicopter," using retrorocket systems.

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DragonV2 is designed to carry up to seven astronauts to space. Musk calls the ship "a true 21st-century spacecraft."

The Dragon V2 will use Super Draco engines, which will be produced via 3D printing.  Each one produces 16,000 pounds of thrust. The engine is designed with built in redundancy and protective shells for safety.

The design looks like something out of the movie Contact or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Musk says the cockpit designers went for “something very clean, something very simple”. Musk flipped down the control touch screen panels like a car visor.

The DragonV2 flight could achieve its first unmanned flight as soon as late 2015, and its first crewed flight as soon as mid-2016.

SOURCE  SpaceX

By 33rd Square

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