
First Private Moon Landing Gears Up for Launch by Year's End - CarolineW
http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a26702/moon-express-lunar-landing-launch-years-end/
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adventured
Gee, this guy is slightly over-selling:

> "It will be the space equivalent of the four-minute mile. I think we're
> going to redefine the possible," MoonEx co-founder and CEO Bob Richards
> tells Popular Mechanics. "We've seen this throughout history—everybody
> thinks something is impossible until they see it done."

I'm skeptical there are many people left in the space industry that think a
private moon landing is impossible. It's expensive and difficult. It's also a
question of time at this point; as whether it's a company like SpaceX or Blue
Origin that does it, it's going to happen relatively soon.

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wccrawford
I read it as him saying that it's considered too expensive and difficult for a
private company at this point. In other words, "impossible".

Likewise, people thought the 4-minute mile was impossible until it was done,
even though there were probably some people who knew it would eventually be
possible as our diets change and people grow up stronger and healthier.

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paulsutter
Didn't realize the Rocket Labs Electron had its first launch about a week ago:

[https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/05/rocket-labs-
electron...](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/05/rocket-labs-electron-
inaugural-flight-new-zealand/)

"It was a great flight. We had a great first stage burn, stage separation,
second stage ignition and fairing separation. We didn’t quite reach orbit and
we’ll be investigating why..” said CEO Peter Beck.

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zaroth
It's apparently a fully 3D printed engine with an electric turbopump;

    
    
      "Use of this kind of electric motor system produces a 95%
      efficiency as compared to the 50% efficiency achieved
      through standard gas-generator cycle engines."
    

I can't imagine that statement means what I think it means...?

~~~
bluehawk
My understanding is that it's just talking about the pumps. 95% of the energy
from the battery is turned into rotational energy by a motor in the pumps.
This pushes the fuel into the reaction chamber of the rocket engine. Contrast
this to a gas-generator cycle that uses some of the fuel/oxidizer to run the
pumps. It's not perfect combustion (you don't want it to get too hot) turbines
aren't perfectly efficient, etc. so you only get 50% of the energy out of the
fuel that you use in the turbo pumps.

However, batteries are heavy. I'm hesitant to believe that electric pumps will
scale well to larger rockets, but I would love to be proven wrong.

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csours
One of my bucket list items is to watch a space launch. Is there a calendar of
space launches somewhere that I could plan to go see? Or would I have to
research individual launches?

~~~
jcwayne
This is generally the most detailed and reliable:
[https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-
schedule/](https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/)

