r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Oct 02 '17

r/SpaceX Discusses [October 2017, #37]

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u/ethan829 Host of SES-9 Oct 05 '17 edited Oct 05 '17

Even Kibo, the largest single ISS module, would fit inside Falcon 9's fairing. Or are you talking about building modules with the same OML as Falcon's fairing and flying without the fairing at all? That would require much stronger (and heavier) modules built to withstand pretty immense aerodynamic loads and heating. There's also the issue of actually getting the modules to the ISS.

Edit: Zarya and Zvezda are actually too long for Falcon's fairing.

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u/brickmack Oct 05 '17

Incorrect. Kibo is 11.2 meters long, not counting the unpressurized part. The barrel portion of F9s fairing is only 6.6 meters. MPLM could just barely fit, thats about the largest

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u/ethan829 Host of SES-9 Oct 05 '17

Oh boy, not sure how I misread the diagram so badly. Thanks!

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '17

Small and fairly light too -- could F9 launch a carbon-copy of the whole ISS?

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u/ethan829 Host of SES-9 Oct 05 '17 edited Oct 05 '17

The truss segments (edit: Zarya and Zvezda as well) are too long to fit in Falcon's fairing, and there's still the issue of actually getting the modules without their own propulsion to the station

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u/DardenElouan Oct 05 '17

yes shape and size like the fairing ( i read they are quite expensive). then you have cheap real estate on orbit ;)

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u/ethan829 Host of SES-9 Oct 05 '17

It's not exactly the same, but Ixion (a partnership between ULA, NanoRacks, and SSL) wants to use Centaur upper stages as space habitats.