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asleep: We're probably both remembering the prices correctly. I wanted to go in the early-mid 80s, right after the first shuttle launches, so there was way too much demand.
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I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891 -
probably right. by the time I went, it was a well oiled machine, operating year round.Comment
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All you computer nerds will love this...
Regarding flight computers, take a look at this PCB, which is the flight computer for the Falcon I. Looks to me like a 4 inch x 4 inch board.
This flight computer has much more power than the Saturn V flight computer, which was as big as a house!
Falcon I's flight computer contains a Xilinx FPGA -- a generic programmable chip (the biggest chip on the board) -- so that they can make changes on the fly with no chance of a blue screen of death.
Dual PowerPC CPUs are embedded on the FPGA.
The total hardware cost on this was probably about $500 dollars, including fabrication of the PCB and assembly with all of the chips and other parts. I can only imagine how many tens of millions of dollars the flight computer for Saturn V cost and they used one up on each launch.
Communication and control in the Falcon I are through standard ethernet.Attached FilesLast edited by DanS; April 7, 2004, 00:24.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Wow. That's expensive. The field programmable gate array (FPGA) doesn't cost that much.Originally posted by DanS
The total hardware cost on this was probably about $500 dollars, including fabrication of the PCB and assembly with all of the chips and other parts.(\__/) 07/07/1937 - Never forget
(='.'=) "Claims demand evidence; extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." -- Carl Sagan
(")_(") "Starting the fire from within."Comment
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Let's see. That looks like a Virtex II Pro 2VP family. Avnet has it at $334.40 apiece for the cheapest in the family with 2 CPUs at low quantities.
I'll raise my estimate to $650 for the printed and assembled board.
I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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DanS what's the Falcon 1?We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. - Abraham LincolnComment
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You know, I always thought that the giant, tracked vehicle that carried the rockets was far cooler than the rockets themselves.
Seems that giant crawler must have some military application. I bet it could support armor plating ten or twenty feet thick, which would allow it to survive anything short of direct hit by a nuclear weapon. Slow but unstoppable.
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Ted: The Falcon I is the first (very small) rocket in SpaceX's line of cheap boosters that use the Saturn V as inspiration (kerosene and liquid oxygen engines, etc.).
SpaceX is a small start-up in El Segundo that was created by the founder of Paypal and will be launching its first rocket as early as May from Vandenburg Air Force Base.
More info earlier in the thread.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Awesome.
Glad to see another player in the game. Hopefully they will apply some pressure to lower costs and improve quality.
We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. - Abraham LincolnComment
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Actually it doesn't.Originally posted by DanS
Let's see. That looks like a Virtex II Pro 2VP family. Avnet has it at $334.40 apiece for the cheapest in the family with 2 CPUs at low quantities.(\__/) 07/07/1937 - Never forget
(='.'=) "Claims demand evidence; extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." -- Carl Sagan
(")_(") "Starting the fire from within."Comment
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It doesn't what?
Glad to see another player in the game. Hopefully they will apply some pressure to lower costs and improve quality.
I'm tired of the US space industry being undercut by the Russians.
USA! USA! USA!
I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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For those to whom SIZE does matter ...Attached FilesComment
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FYI, that thing has a max cruising speed of 1 mile per hour.
I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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You all can have your rockets. Give me something BIG with TRACKS.
Attached FilesComment
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It may not be swift, but hey, it's payload and power that count. If you want to race, don't drive anything with tracks.Originally posted by DanS
FYI, that thing goes 1 mile per hour.
And while it might take a while to get somewhere, but there's absolutely no mistaking when you arrive.
Last edited by mindseye; April 7, 2004, 01:54.Comment
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