42 Is the Answer?

"f86sabre" (f86sabre) 09/28/2016 at 15:20 • Filed to: Spacelopnik, 42

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I listened to Musk’s talk about his fleet of Mars rockets. One thing he mentioned was the booster would have a cluster of 42 engines. 42 engines, on a booster that sounds like it will fly a few times a week. 42 engines worth of plumbing, 42 engines to inspect, 42 engines to keep healthy. I’m not sure if 42 is the right answer here.

Jayhawk Jake > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 15:25

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Are they the same engines on the Falcon 9? That would maybe explain why

The N1 had 30. It went really well for them

Echo51 > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 15:27

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More engines, more redundancy/immunity to single or N number of engine failures however

TheHondaBro > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 15:28

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Dude, there’s like a whole series of books that expl- you know, nevermind.

HammerheadFistpunch > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 15:30

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Well...yeah.

Takuro Spirit > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2016 at 15:30

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Mmm, pie.

Jcarr > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 15:31

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I thought 46 & 2 was the answer...

The Lurktastic Opponaught > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 15:33

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I am certain that 42 is the answer.

What was the question again?

DynamicWeight > Echo51 09/28/2016 at 15:34

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This was going to be my reply. Sounds like 41 back ups.

For Sweden > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 15:36

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Elon’s rocket under construction

MonkeePuzzle > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 15:42

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42 smaller ones seems easier than a few large ones, when it comes to inspections

MonkeePuzzle > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2016 at 15:43

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but wats the question?

HammerheadFistpunch > MonkeePuzzle 09/28/2016 at 15:44

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Its generally understood that if we knew why the whale said “not again” we would know an awful lot more about the universe

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > For Sweden 09/28/2016 at 15:45

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I feel like this won’t end well. I see this ending in flaming tears of RP-1 raining down on the launch pad.

MonkeePuzzle > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2016 at 15:47

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do you ever think about how we all basically carry around a hitchhiker’s guide type device in our hands everyday now!???!!!!

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Echo51 09/28/2016 at 15:49

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More engines, more chances for failure, greater likelihood a single failure will result in a cascade of failures and/or instabilities. The Soviets tried this once, it didn’t end well. Their attempt to launch the N1 rocket ended in spectacular failure all four times.

HammerheadFistpunch > MonkeePuzzle 09/28/2016 at 15:49

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yes, but I’ve still yet to find a decent pan-galactic gargleblaster .

wafflesnfalafel > For Sweden 09/28/2016 at 15:52

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that’s what first came to mind for me too...

MonkeePuzzle > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2016 at 15:57

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you’ll never find the drink, perhaps just try to replicate the effect?

Its effects are similar to “having your brains smashed in by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick”

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 16:00

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TL;DR - I should watch the presentation before shooting my mouth off, but this seems like disaster incarnate.

I’m sure rocket science has advanced since the 1960's, I’m just not sure that the basic laws of mechanics and fluid dynamics have changed that much. Frankly I’m not confident that there is enough computing power to truly understand the fluid dynamics of that kind of engine arrangement. Surely there are people with a much better understanding of rocket science than I have, but that just doesn’t compute.

To get the alignment of the outer 35 engines so precise and solid that you can control the rocket with only gimballing the inner seven engines seems risky at best under ideal conditions. Throw in some engine thrust fluctuations on the outer rings due to fuel / oxidizer flow issues and aerodynamic effects on the stack. Between pogo and lateral vibrations in the stack and this looks like a recipe for disaster. I guess you could use differential throttle on the outer rings to help control things.

Musk has made a habit of accomplishing the things people have told him are impossible, so best of luck to him.

f86sabre > The Lurktastic Opponaught 09/28/2016 at 16:10

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How to get to Mars.

Echo51 > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much 09/28/2016 at 16:19

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But that was also inferior soviet workmanship and design, this is ‘murican workmanship and quality materials.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 16:20

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The ultimate answer to the ultimate question of thrust, the universe, and everything.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > MonkeePuzzle 09/28/2016 at 16:21

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I need an iPhone case that says “Don’t Panic” in large, friendly letters.

MonkeePuzzle > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 09/28/2016 at 16:23

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to the internets https://www.google.com/search?q=don%27t+panic+phone+case&biw=1530&bih=665&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiU1IWL8rLPAhVS3mMKHRPkBgoQ_AUIBigB

Brian, The Life of > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2016 at 16:29

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That was the bowl of petunias

HammerheadFistpunch > Brian, The Life of 09/28/2016 at 16:30

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yes to both.

WilliamsSW > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 16:34

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What do you get when you multiply 6 by 9?

wiffleballtony > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 16:55

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I watched a lot of it, because I find the idea fascinating. I find Elon to be overly optimistic and his designs to be overly complicated.

f86sabre > wiffleballtony 09/28/2016 at 18:07

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There are a lot of design choices that they made that I don’t understand. I assume they have done the math, but the following puzzle me:

- for something of this scope, why would you not use separate vehicles for obtaining earth orbit, earth / mars transfer and mars landing. Each could be optimized for their role and reused.

- the spacecraft they showed was big, but 100 people for months big? I don’t think so. I could be wrong

- he told one person that you might need a few days training. That is pretty bold. I’m guessing you could get away with much less than NASA level training, but a couple of days seems pretty crazy. You could use the transit time to train. It can’t be months and months of space sex on SpaceX

dented > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 18:18

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Didn’t he say recently that he plans to name the first Martian colony ship ‘The Heart of Gold’? Coincidence? Or maybe he knows he’ll need an infinite improbability drive...  http://www.space.com/34220-spacex-first-mars-ship-hitchhikers-guide-galaxy.html

simon-on-the-river3 > MonkeePuzzle 09/28/2016 at 18:19

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Amazing what you can look up .

MonkeePuzzle > simon-on-the-river3 09/28/2016 at 19:01

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what is this? i am no hitchhiker! i resent your assertations!

Laserface1242 > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 19:13

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On a slightly unrelated not, I always believed in the idea that The Doctors real name was 42. The idea goes since in Douglas Adams’ HG2G, the question to The Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything is sometimes referred to as the Ultimate Question and that both said Ultimate Question and the Ultimate Answer cannot exist in the same universe as the other and if the two universes ever figured it out they’d both be destroyed and be replaced by something even weirder. Now since in Series 6 it’s revealed that there Ultimate Question is “Doctor Who?” and Douglas Adams was involved in the Classic Series, it makes sense that the Doctor’s real name is either 42 or something related to 42.

Laserface1242 > The Lurktastic Opponaught 09/28/2016 at 19:13

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Doctor Who?

Laserface1242 > MonkeePuzzle 09/28/2016 at 19:18

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Doctor Who?

simon-on-the-river3 > MonkeePuzzle 09/28/2016 at 19:21

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Don’t panic!

Shum > f86sabre 09/28/2016 at 20:07

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I imagine the discussion about building this rocket went something like this:

Musk: Wow this thing looks great! How many engines and nozzle things does it have on it?

Engineers: We put 40 on here to maximize the thrust and keep things balanced.

Musk: Hmmm. Forty doesn’t seem like enough. Make it 42.

Engineers: But....

Musk: Forty-two.

f86sabre > dented 09/28/2016 at 21:30

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I think it just shows he has a sense of humor. Or he has developed an engine system that he isn’t talking about yet.

Agrajag > HammerheadFistpunch 09/28/2016 at 23:23

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It was the bowl of petunia’s that said that. I should know. I was there .

Agrajag > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 09/28/2016 at 23:24

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I put a sticker of that on my first iPod.

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > HammerheadFistpunch 09/29/2016 at 00:22

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Wrong. The petunias said it. There is question as to whether or not they are different Incarnations of the same being

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > Echo51 09/29/2016 at 00:25

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That and it’s NOT a government project.

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > WilliamsSW 09/29/2016 at 00:27

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At least 40?!

lightninglouie > dented 09/29/2016 at 00:37

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Not Golgafrincham Ark Fleet Ship B?

a_blackpanther > f86sabre 09/29/2016 at 01:15

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Well, you probably only need a couple of people to be fully trained astronauts. And yeah, using transit time to learn would be a good choice, though perhaps limited by space/weight on the ship.

FrankN.Stein > f86sabre 09/29/2016 at 08:11

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It is the answer. It’s an infinitely improbable ship.