Laguerre - Slashdot User

On Fourth Launch Attempt, SpaceX Falcon 1 Reaches Orbit 518

Posted by timothy on Sunday September 28, 2008 @07:49PM from the pure-congratulations dept.

xp65 writes with the just-announced success of Elon Musk's SpaceX's long efforts to reach orbit with a privately-developed launching craft: "T+0:08:21 Falcon 1 reached orbital velocity, 5200 m/s Nominal Second stage cut off (SECO) — Falcon 1 has made history as the first privately developed liquid fueled launch vehicle to achieve earth orbit!" dbullard adds "This was a completely new vehicle — it's not using any previously developed hardware. All developed from scratch. No government supplied hardware, Russian engines, or old ICBM motors. My hat's off to the employees of Space X — all 550 of them. (Note — no 'cast of thousands,' just 550). They've got video of the entire launch."

Comment Re:Not the end of the world... (Score 5, Informative) 293

by Laguerre on Thursday September 18, 2008 @10:27PM (#25065631) Attached to: LHC Shut Down By Transformer Malfunction

Can one of you physicists tell me how 4.5 Kelvin is different from 2 Kelvin, operationally?

The magnets they use to shape and steer the beam require about 12,000 amps, so they use superconductors. Between 2K and 4.5K, the superconductor undergoes a phase change and becomes non-superconducting, and the resistance goes from zero to not zero all of a sudden. The 12,000 amps suddenly produces an incredible amount of heat (P=I^2R) which drastically increases the pressure from the liquid He. That much pressure means the He needs to escape (violently), causing all sorts of trouble. It's called a 'quench.'

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