SpaceX Updates (Thread 6)

[DocM]

[DocM]

Hello LC-39A

Reid Wiseman
‏@astro_reid
Walked around Shuttle pad 39A today with @AstroBehnken. It is being completely reworked by @SpaceX to #launchamerica

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Now we're talking...That's the scenery I want for my lawn chair........heck,.....I wonder if we can rent a personal custom patch of grass for the viewing?  or "space box" seating on the roof.....

Edit...as a side note...don't know reliability of the tweet...appears ILS has gotten permission from manufacturer, to reduce Proton prices by 30% approx $65 million, to almost compete with SpaceX. I don't know much about twitter posting, this hopefully, is the link...

ooops...something worked........ 

[DocM]

If only they would stop gyros from being installed inverted and Briz-M upper stages from having a mind of their own. 10-11% failure rate.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

If only they would stop gyros from being installed inverted and Briz-M upper stages from having a mind of their own. 10-11% failure rate.

Honestly, I can't see the Proton being any more than a good backup to take care of international backlog, in the short term. Sat vendors need choice, nothing wrong with that, and hopefully Angara can replace Proton, and create reliability for launchers. Long term, in my opinion, Space\X will do fine and the rest will try to stay competitive.....will be good for all interests.....

[DocM]

Vandenberg SLC-4E Falcon Heavy transporter-erector.

[DocM]

ASDS MARMAC 303 (not yet named) being outfitted in Port of LA for Vandenberg AFB Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches,

Slideshow: http://m.imgur.com/a/Er8bF

Sample

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Nice Marina from the aerial shots....one of the photo's shows the starboard winglet and faded painting showing parts of "JRTI"

On a lighter scifi note, the Martian movie has an Aries 3 mission guide posted (2035 to 2036)....inside, one paragraph has..... 

Featuring dozens of technological advancements, the Hermes is the direct result of a decades-long collaboration between NASA, ROSCOSMOS, ESA, JAXA, ISRO, and the global private sector.The Hermes was assembled in low Earth orbit with the new SpaceX Station serving as an assembly platform.  Individual parts were transported to the station piece by piece. The process was tedious, but the results established a new era of space travel.

 http://www.docdroid.net/Zxk9zKw/the-martian-ares-3-mission-guide.pdf.html

One never knows....lots of time for toys....

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Vogue article for 21 September

Elon Musk Wants to Change How (and Where) Humans Live

Making spaceships and electric supercars isn’t enough for Elon Musk. Meghan Daum meets the entrepreneur who wants to save the world.

 http://www.vogue.com/13349221/elon-musk-profile-entrepreneur-spacex-tesla-motors/

Long article, but a few photo's of interest...

 

Elon Musk, in a SpaceX prototype helmet, believes his company will be able to send passengers to Mars in approximately ten years.

Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Vogue, October 2015

 

The entrepreneur, photographed in the engineering model of the SpaceX Crew Dragon, the company’s first manned craft, due for launch in 2017.

Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Vogue, October 2015

Later...........

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Normally, this article would be out of place here...except for 1 paragraph of interest

NASA Tests Lunar Rover Prototype with Eye Toward Flying Real Thing 

WASHINGTON — The prototype of a rover designed to search for water ice at the poles of the moon passed a series of tests on Earth in August as project officials seek to line up funding and potential partnerships for the mission.

A NASA team put the prototype version of the Resource Prospector rover, dubbed RP15, through its paces on a test site dubbed the “rock yard” at the Johnson Space Center, testing some of the technologies needed to operate on the lunar surface.

“We wanted to take what we had learned so far and actually attempt to do an entire terrestrial mission, with as high a fidelity we could afford with the budget we’re given,” Dan Andrews, Resource Prospector project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center, said in an Aug. 31 presentation at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Space 2015 conference in Pasadena, California.

 

 The RP15 rover prototype at Johnson Space Center. Credit: NASA

Current plans for Resource Prospector call for launching the mission on a medium-class rocket, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9, in 2020. The spacecraft would land on the lunar surface, near one of the poles, using a “crushable pad” landing system that eliminates the need for landing legs and makes it easier for the rover to roll off the lander and onto the lunar surface.

 http://spacenews.com/nasa-tests-lunar-rover-prototype-with-eye-toward-flying-real-thing/

Nasa is beginning to see launch values with existing equipment, more so every day....nice.....

[Blue-Vision]

Whaaaa?? Falcon 9 can get gear to a Lunar dropoff point?  I was not aware of that!

Niiiiiiiiice.

And get a load of the prototype SpaceSuitX! What a looker. Wonder what the features are? With the technologies SpaceX can pull off, would it surprise anyone if it's got a reflective heads-up display inside that glass?

You guys and your blowing of the mind with all of the new hotness ... thank you.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

We will have to investigate for the final suit design. HUD's (heads up display) has been around since at least the mid 80's for aircraft. This year, a smart motorcycle helmet, the Skully AR1 has one and Rockwell Collins has a great one for the F-35. If the suit does not have one yet, it certainly can be incorporated at a later date...the technology is definitely available...

Skully AR1
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/skully-the-smart-helmet-that-can-save-your-life/

Rockwell Collins
https://www.rockwellcollins.com/Products_and_Systems/Displays/Head_up_Displays.aspx

We also have a plethora of wearable tech now...just need to make it space proof or enclosed in an environment....the sky is not the limit anymore....

PS: you're having way too much fun like us...we could be breaking a law somewhere.......

[DocM]

 

F9 without the Full Thrust package put DSCOVR almost 1 million miles out, and the Moon is 25% that.

And imagine what some of us can't tell you without getting in trouble

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Yes...you don't mess with non disclosure agreements/contracts...they are there for a reason. Some times, I will have the "cranial flag" pop up and I have to research if a valid source has made certain data public knowledge....even then...uneasy times...better to be nondescript and helpful.

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On a side note....anyone heard anything about "Moonspike".......data to be released on October 1st for signups.....
http://moonspike.com/
http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/29/1725243/kristian-von-bengstons-new-goal-the-moon

Elon Musk is privately meeting Kristian VonBengtson (Copenhagen Suborbitals) on Wednesday in Denmark. Lots of chatter on blogs anf forums.......

From online sources of miscellaneous blog translations .....Looking forward to meeting Elon Musk on Wednesday in Denmark in Rydhave. Suppose DK in place. And maybe there is an internship in my rocket project for you.The second sentence is really more like "Now put Denmark in it's place". Presumably referring to his lobbying efforts towards keeping EVs free from registration tax. 

Maybe some kind of prototype moon orbital probe......interesting that Elon is meeting with him...must be some merit here..... 

[DocM]

I think it's a lunar impactor.

http://m.imgur.com/a/yXnap

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Misc bits....

Arabsat orders launch with SpaceX

September 22, 2015

Arabsat’s 6A satellite will be launched by SpaceX in 2018. The contract was signed in Paris last week during the Euroconsult Space Business Week conference.

Arabsat 6A is a heavyweight satellite which will be located at 30.5 degrees East, and when in position will take Arabsat’s fleet to 10 operational satellites.

Lockheed Martin is building the satellite under a twin-satellite contract that also includes the HellasSat-4 craft. Importantly, this Arabsat satellite will have the fleet’s first “flexible” digital processing on board and which includes the option to reconfigure a payload and change frequencies should a signal be jammed.

The launch will be on a SpaceX Falcon-9 ‘heavy’ rocket

http://advanced-television.com/2015/09/22/arabsat-orders-launch-with-spacex/

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Later.....

 

[DocM]

Musk speaking in Germany: return to flight in 6-8 weeks.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Musk speaking in Germany: return to flight in 6-8 weeks.

Yes...yes....yes...."happy dance"..............

[TrevorLahey]

Edit - Somebody can delete this.  I beat DocM to it, but I didn't know how to embed the video.  Figured it out pretty quick though. haha

Edited September 25, 2015 by bguy_1986

[DocM]

Yeah Baby!!  (edited to embed)

HOTFIRE!!

[DocM]

SpaceX

This week we static fired the upgraded Falcon 9’s first stage for a planned 15 second test. This was the first test of the upgraded first stage with densified propellant, and we’ve now static fired both stages of the upgraded Falcon 9.

This was also the first time we utilized our new Falcon Booster Test Stand at our facilities in McGregor, TX.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Now that was exciting.....if I put it in a loop, can watch it for a long time....

This video will be a snoozer, compared to that, but it is the meeting in Germany, public questions, where he states the time frame and the try for the landing next.....

Elon Musk talks energy with German Minister of Economy & Energy (2015)
video is 51:51 min, statement at the beginning few minutes

(this editor is buggy today)

Later...

 

[DocM]

Ever since the "upgrade" this sites editor has been SERIOUSLY buggy on a mobile device. It hogs memory and does weird things without provocation. 

I literally HATE it. 

[Beittil]

Yeah, newer isn't always better. This template proves it :(

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Recap article with above test fire video...(will leave video out)...

First static fire completed on upgraded Falcon 9

 

SpaceX’s upgraded Falcon 9 booster powered up to full throttle in a brief ignition at the company’s Central Texas test site this week as engineers prepare for the rocket’s return to flight as soon as mid-November with a European communications satellite.

The November launch from Cape Canaveral, which will haul up the SES 9 television broadcasting platform, will also be the debut mission for the latest version of the Falcon 9 rocket with higher throttle settings, condensed fuel and structural modifications.

SpaceX posted a video of the Sept. 21 static fire test late Thursday, showing an aerial view of the more than 15-second firing on a new ground-level test stand with a dug-out flame trench in McGregor, Texas.

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and chief executive, said Thursday the next Falcon 9 launch is coming soon.

“We hope to launch again in a couple of months — I guess maybe six to eight weeks or so from now — and if things go well, we’ll be able to land the rocket, although I’ll be happy if it just gets to orbit, of course,” Musk said in remarks at a forum in Berlin hosted by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy. “But hopefully, it will come back to land as well, and that will be an important milestone for space exploration.”

Industry officials have said the next Falcon 9 flight — the first since a June 28 launch failure — is expected in mid-November, with some sources saying the mission could launch no earlier than Nov. 17.

SpaceX officials have not disclosed a specific target launch date.

 

Engineers are completing inspections on brackets inside already-built Falcon 9 upper stages to ensure the components are not susceptible to the same deficiency SpaceX blames for the June 28 launch failure, which destroyed a commercial supply ship bound for the International Space Station.

The structural braces were provided to SpaceX by a supplier, and data reviews from the June flight indicated one of the brackets holding a helium pressurant tank failed, causing the high-pressure gas tank to break free inside the second stage liquid oxygen tank, leading to the stage’s rupture.

SpaceX officials said they would inspect and test such parts in the future, and not trust design specifications provided by subcontractors.

The company was already shifting to a new version of the Falcon 9 rocket later this year, featuring engines rated for higher thrust levels, chilled kerosene fuel, and several other changes aimed at increasing the booster’s performance.

The rocket’s nine Merlin 1D engines will generate more power on the upgraded Falcon 9, topping out at more than 1.5 million pounds of thrust at sea level. Each of the first stage engines will provide 170,000 pounds of sea level thrust.

That is up from 147,000 pounds of sea level thrust per first stage engine on previous Falcon 9 flights.

A space-rated Merlin engine on the upper stage will have a maximum 210,000 pounds of thrust in vacuum, and it features a lengthened nozzle and extended tanks. The interstage connecting the Falcon 9’s first and second stages is also changed to accommodate the new Merlin vacuum nozzle, which has a center pusher to aid stage separation, according to space industry officials.

The design modifications increase the Falcon 9’s performance by about 30 percent, officials said.

The upgrades allow the Falcon 9 to lift heavier communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit, and still have enough reserve propellant to attempt recovery on an ocean-going landing platform in the Atlantic Ocean. Earlier missions with payloads going to such orbits flew in expendable mode and did not try for barge landings.

SpaceX hopes to demonstrate reusability on the Falcon 9 first stage, an achievement Musk says will drastically lower the costs of space launches. The company has not nailed a landing yet, but several of the vertical descents have come close.

The last landing attempt after an April liftoff hit its target, but a command lag to an engine throttle valve caused the 14-story booster to land with lateral velocity, and the rocket tipped over and exploded on the barge.

SpaceX is expected to follow the SES 9 launch in November with a Falcon 9 launch in December from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It will be the last flight of the previous Falcon 9 v1.1 configuration with throttled-back engines, carrying up the joint U.S.-French Jason 3 oceanography satellite, which was delivered from France to the California launch base in June for a planned liftoff in August.

Engineers with Thales Alenia Space, Jason 3’s manufacturer, suspended launch preparations after the June 28 launch failure.

A NASA spokesperson said the mission is expected to launch in December, but a target launch date is not confirmed yet on the Air Force-run range calendar.

SpaceX’s next cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station is tentatively set for Jan. 3, according to a NASA source. A logistics launch with Orbital ATK’s Cygnus cargo craft is scheduled for Dec. 3 on an Atlas 5 rocket, and is expected to take priority in the space station’s busy visiting vehicle manifest.

Also on tap after the Falcon 9’s return to flight is the launch of 11 Orbcomm data relay satellites — the second of a pair of SpaceX launches to deploy Orbcomm’s second-generation network in low Earth orbit. Orbcomm chief executive Marc Eisenberg said Wednesday he expects his company’s satellites to be third in line for launch on the upgraded full-thrust Falcon 9.

 http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/09/25/first-static-fire-completed-on-upgraded-falcon-9/