DocM Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 Elon Musk ?@elonmusk Orbit insertion and Dragon deploy all good. Falcon reentry burn also good. Waiting for landing data from tracking plane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 Post-launch presser at 5PM / 1700 EDT (11 min) http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 Elon Musk @elonmusk Last known state for rocket boost stage is 360 m/s, Mach 1.1, 8.5 km altitude and roll rate close to zero Very important! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 From presser and elsewhere, They totally re-did the Dragon avionics to reduce power use (MAJOR upgrades), 4x power for experiments in Dragon, power to the Trunk, improved waterproofing in Dragon's service bay. F9 got more powerful Nitrogen thruster packs and a larger tank for increased roll control, upgraded software, legs (duh) and a camera over at least one leg. They think they've solved their stage production constraint, a single injection casting. Now production is "unlocked." Waves at the touchdown site were up to 20 feet so recovery is unlikely. Next flight (ORBCOMM) is in 4-6 weeks and another try then. They expect a ground landing this year and a reuse next year. NASA's P3 Orion couldn't monitor the first stage retro-propulsion burn due to icing conditions, but SpaceX's plane was there gathering telemetry, broadcast video and, if visibility permitted, shooting video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinggus Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 What is the point of Space X? Do they plan on doing manned missions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImUtrecht Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 F9 First Stage Landing Data upload from tracking plane shows first stage landing in Atlantic was good! Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water. Stopped when booster went horizontal. Several boats enroute through heavy seas... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleNeutrino Veteran Posted April 19, 2014 Veteran Share Posted April 19, 2014 What is the point of Space X? Do they plan on doing manned missions? yes they have plans to becoming one of the Civilian companies providing manned craft for getting Americans to the ISS without needing Russian help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinggus Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 yes they have plans to becoming one of the Civilian companies providing manned craft for getting Americans to the ISS without needing Russian help. That's definitely good to know. How far along are they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImUtrecht Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 @ Dinggus They are quite far along. Probably 2015/16 they will make a testflight with the manned version of the dragon capsule named dragonrider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malenfant Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Nice way to start a Saturday morning. F9R vid, CRS-3 launch, a soft-water landing and some technical tidbits. They think they've solved their stage production constraint, a single injection casting. Now production is "unlocked."What are you referring to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 Their first stage production rate was bottlenecked a bit, reducing the flight rate. Fixed. FIRST STAGE LANDING!! Entire Twitter sequence, Elon Musk ?@elonmusk @MarinaSBlinova Rocket boost stage reaching 0 m/s in one piece :) Will know soon. Odds not high. Elon Musk ?@elonmusk Data upload from tracking plane shows landing in Atlantic was good! Several boats enroute through heavy seas. Elon Musk ?@elonmusk Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water. Stopped when booster went horizontal. Lars Blackmore ?@larsblackmore (Guidance, Navigation and Control team leader for SpaceX's Grasshopper rocket) We landed the rocket softly in the ocean! One (small) step toward reusable rockets! From the Livestream comments SpaceX F9 First Stage Landing Data upload from tracking plane shows first stage landing in Atlantic was good! Flight computers continued transmitting for 8 seconds after reaching the water. Stopped when booster went horizontal. Several boats enroute through heavy seas... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malenfant Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Sure. Bulkheads? Manifolds? I'm going to have to join the L2 forum one of these days. There are probably a good number of boats that wouldn't survive long in ~20ft seas. Still here's hoping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 L2 ain't the only great source, but yeah :) The reference to an injection casting indicates a non-ferrous part. I'm bettting on the Octopus, a complex manifold at the bottom of the first stage tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malenfant Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 No disrespect intended. It's your fault I haven't joined :-) Yes the first stage manifold looked like a nightmare to fabricate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 yes they have plans to becoming one of the Civilian companies providing manned craft for getting Americans to the ISS without needing Russian help.Not to mention actively developing the huge Raptor methane engne and its monster super-heavy launchers. Raptor tests start this year.Target: manned Mars missions & a colony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 Waco Tribune (Waco TX is near the McGregor test center).... http://m.wacotrib.com/blogs/joe_science/spacex-dragon-launches-st-stage-splashes-down/article_b26fa16e-c726-11e3-bccd-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=jqm SpaceX Dragon launches; 1st stage splashes down UPDATE, 7:10 PM: Holy. Freaking. Crap. They did it. They actually did it. The Falcon 9 first stage splashed down into the Atlantic in one piece. Actual recovery is still an issue given heavy seas, but... > Followed by tweets from several SpaceX team members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatingFatMan Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 An awesome launch! Congrats to the guys at SpaceX, and hopefully many more to come! Question. If they didn't have all the damned red tape to deal with, how quick do you think they could actually get their bigger rockets in the air? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 Depends on sector. The longest pure "red tape" delay has been the environmental impact statements for the Brownsville TX spaceport. For Commercial Crew it hasn't been so much NASA red tape as Congress foolishly not fully funding the program. Penny wise, Pound foolish and all. For SpaceX engines and launcher developments, not so much. Engines take how long they take, usually 2 years from public announcement. Stages another 2+ years. Much faster than govt. programs. Look at the history of Constellation, SLS, James Webb Space Telescope, and especially Orion. We may see that Raptor based super-heavy launch sooner than anyone thinks. Depends on how those Raptor tests go at Stennis starting this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatingFatMan Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Cool. I tend to get pretty frustrated when the pace of development on these things is artificially slowed because some brainless twonk stuck behind an office desk doesn't have the IQ of a mouse and is more interested in the rule book and kickbacks than progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 The planning conference reports all Dragon burns went as planned and everthing is on track for ISS arrival and berthing tomorrow. Entire SpaceX webcast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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