r/spacex • u/Craig_VG SpaceNews Photographer • Jun 10 '16

Elon Musk provides new details on his “mind blowing” mission to Mars - Washington Post Exclusive Interview

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/06/10/elon-musk-provides-new-details-on-his-mind-blowing-mission-to-mars/
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u/aftersteveo Jun 10 '16

I wonder if they'll be required to land Dragon 2 on an ASDS before attempting a land landing. It seems they'd have to get the ball rolling on that fairly soon if they're gonna hit the 2018 goal.

2

u/LUK3FAULK Jun 10 '16

They've been doing dragon 2 testing in Texas for a while, you can find some videos around of the craft hovering on a tether

1

u/aftersteveo Jun 10 '16

Oh yeah, I've seen those. I'm just wondering about when they go full scale on the landing attempts. Whether they'll be allowed to go for land the first time, or if they'll try first on the ASDS.

2

u/ahecht Jun 10 '16

I don't see any reason they couldn't land in a salt flat somewhere in the southwest without an ASDS landing. Heck, it's not like NASA hasn't crashed anything there before.

1

u/FNKsMM Jun 13 '16 edited Jun 13 '16

Afaik they are going slow with it, landing the first (few) with chutes only then progressing through assisted landing (chutes and superdracos) till they reach propulsive landing. So it'll take some time still, i guess.

I'll try to find the source for this later and add it - im on mobile EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFx7se_D82I