Reminds me of the actions of President Clark (just before his suicide) in Babylon 5.

The track record of the secret state is not the greatest. Some type of monitoring device to keep us safe. LOL

Gotcha. So the car is a cover? [shakes head] So typical. Wonder how we find out what it actually was. (Do we want to know?)

Starting at 2:50 of the video I linked is what I was referring to. Clearly at 4:15 after explaining the space X deletion of some footage the original video reveals a deployment of an unmentioned satellite or piece of equipment.

I must have missed what you were getting at. Maybe spell it out for me?

I am not to sure about that Blair.
Watch this https://youtu.be/GFdVZyGUwI8

Best comment yet ;^)

Cool rocket. Stupid payload.

Apparent Independent videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhhPs...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIDf1...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWBGB...

Musky is a marketeer, not a technologist.

You are probably on to something. Maybe a water proof container to carry the pellets for starting a warm fire in the wilderness for survival might be another use.

Good point!

Sometimes in looking to invent something new, we seem to go off on various different tangents, and many times overlook some of the basic technologies we already have that could be improved and/or modified..

I'm not a chemical engineer or anything close to it. I remember as a kid we had a small but real cannon. We got these carbide pellets that we dropped in some water in the tube. Then just hold fire to the little hole in the back and BANG, it launched the projectile or whatever was put in the tube. I never understood why I never heard much more about that energy source, controlling it seems like it could work for many things. Just now I'm wondering if there is some connection as to why that when I applied for OCS I got the artillery branch. I would think the object of a good fuel is to pack as much punch in to the smallest space and be able to transport it safely. Hydrogen seems like a great idea but also needs so much infrastructure today. You could carry carbide pellets in your pocket and get water almost anyplace in the world.

Thanks for pointing that out, Thor.
Maybe this is the most powerful rocket with a chance of being cheap enough to encourage profitable space operations. Remains to be seen since they aren't yet doing running a business that is supported without taxpayer assistance.
imo, it's more of Musk's marketing bull5hi7.
Did anyone else think the duo landing looked like it was computer generated? Is there any independent video from thousands of phones?

CaC2 added to H20 evolves acetylene directly. It used to be used in miner's headlamps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium...

My father used to put it in mud puddles and wait for a smoker to come by. "Whooosh", unconstrained acetylene burns fast, and will shock an unsuspecting person(s).

Probably, like the word "production" added to fastest, most powerful, etc. With the right adjectives anything can be superlative.

My little brother works at NASA. On one hand he applauds Sapce-X for doing things fast and efficiently (unlike NASA). On the other, he wonders why they are relearning everything.

This is from Spacex web site. Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb)---a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, .
Maybe they can make the claim because of the word operational...

Not so. Saturn V is much, much more powerful.
https://newatlas.com/falcon-heavy-sat...

Nope it is never too late. I have different passions today than at age 16 . I still have a lot of curiosity.
I selfishly follow where that path leads me.
I look forward to your FIT post.
Regards,
DOB

Hi NealS,
I can only imagine the sound those rocket engines
Resonated.
I am curious about the Acetylene fuel . It is usually
Used for its high temps it generates to weld and cut. Would you use it to heat the water for a steam engine type of application?

Ten nine eight seven ........it always gets me .This was super cool to see.
I was 4 1/2 , Dad woke me up early on a cold February morning to watch John Glenn blast off and orbit the Earth. I can remember being frustrated with the reporters . I wanted them to talk about the rocket and how it worked and the
Newsmen kept babbling on about the Soviet Sputnik and a space race. I am like , what are you waiting for? If we are in a race.
Blast off already , you idiots.

I guess I was partially right Lol.

It is never too late to learn. In the next month or so, expect to see a video highlighting some of FIT's accomplishments and future improvements.

Hi Prof jbrenner,
Jolly good show ! Nice product get cash for trading knowledge for a potential engineering career building rockets . If I was 45 years younger I would enjoy being your student. It is an amazing sight to watch this event.

Thanks preimert1 ,
More control is better. With the computer aided designs and the lessons from past efforts the evolution to reusable heavy lifters is here and a long time coming. The pin point landing of the fuel modules is tremendous. Right out of sci-fi .

The video of the launch and recovery is provided below. You can jump ahead to around 26 mins and see the landing.