While the tour was going on, I got a briefing from SpaceX propulsion chief Tom Mueller for my book. After the tour I also caught up with CEO Elon Musk at his desk. Musk told me that all of SpaceX's activities are pointed in one direction--building the infrastructure to land people on Mars.
After we talked, Musk turned me loose on SpaceX's main shop floor to take photographs. Enjoy these as a visual complement to Boyle's article.
Merlin 1C, the nextgen SpaceX engine coming together on the bench.
Falcon 9 components under construction
Dragon crew capsule mockup. Musk tells me it's been a fairly low-key side project ongoing in parallel with Falcon development. Musk plans to fund Dragon development with revenue from Falcon launches, then pursue Robert Bigelow's America's Space Prize and NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contracts.
Falcon 9 fuel tank caps.
Machinist Quang Dang at work.
Shop floor.
3 comments:
it's interesting that SpaceX claims they can fund the dragon capsule with revenue from Falcon Launches.
Elon had earlier stated that he didn't intend to recover
his investment in Falcon 1, that it was really a
big learning excercise for Falcon 5 which would
make money. Now he appears to hold forth
the claim that Falcon 1 will provide positive cash flow
sufficient to build the Dragon.
Michael,
Out of curiousity, that Merlin-1C looks from the picture as though it might be a regen version of the Merlin? It looks like copper from the picture, possibly a bundled tube-wall type design, but it could also just be the lighting. Are you free/able to comment?
~Jon
Very observant, Jon, yes, the Merlin 1C is a regeneratively cooled design made of copper. I wasn't allowed to get closeups, but this picture was cleared for publication.
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