SpaceX Updates (Thread 9)

[DocM]

The statistics guys are having kittens over if this should count as a "landing attempt" when calculating the landing success rate. 

 

If they get this bird to port it deserves a welcome reception; big crowd, hot dogs & beer, balloons, fire boats.... 

[+John. Subscriber¹]

I would say it does. They're still attempting a booster landing, just 3 of them in one go. 

[Blue-Vision]

This one has to count. Not only was it a landing, it was one that wasn't supposed to be successful.

 

The S1 wanted to return. It's got more work to do. Let's give it more work after it gets a refit (water damage -- I doubt the Merlins are too happy after the seawater and all ...)

 

I've got a new name idea for it: Driftwood.  

[adam7288]

Going to be at the launch tomorrow. But my ticket to the kennedy space center requires me to pick up a placcard today. Anyone want to make a few dollars by picking it up for me if you are in the Orlando area? PM Me thanks

[Blue-Vision]

16 hours ago, adam7288 said:

Going to be at the launch tomorrow. But my ticket to the kennedy space center requires me to pick up a placcard today. Anyone want to make a few dollars by picking it up for me if you are in the Orlando area? PM Me thanks

Not allowed, technically ... and they're fairly touchy about that sort of thing. Consider doing that yourself while you have time. Gonna be super busy, so I suggest doing that ASAP.

[Blue-Vision]

Alrighty, a great day yesterday and into the late evening.  Here's what SpaceX has cooking for the rest of the year:

 

- Commercial Crew Program: Dragon 2 debut late this year. Shakedown & Qualification Flight 1, then the Manned flight next year.

- Another Falcon Heavy launch this year, possibly an additional one too. I personally think SpaceX will have far more orders for FH than they're anticipating.

- BFS development is going to be SpaceX's focus this year. BFR, while critical, is going to get sorted after this. BFS is where the future lies, and where the bread-and-butter for BFR comes from. By the time BFR hits the scene, BFS will likely have its' own "Full Thrust" upgrades applied or even 1.3+ as the platform is matured and evolves.

- Continued work on the Raptor engine. I don't think SpaceX are happy with the performance yet ... while good it's not as good as they want.

- Continue the busy launch manifest. Iridium's got a half-dozen launches this year, CRS, lots of Commercial payloads to get up, and there's a few more US/DOD missions to go too.

- We'll be seeing Block-5 Falcons, finally.  

 

By the numbers, folks.

[DocM]

Guess business is good. With a half or more of launches being Flight Proven™ cores, this leaves a bunch for R&D funding.

 

 

[+John. Subscriber¹]

 

 

[Blue-Vision]

Yeah. Unfortunate but accurate. The stuff they would have had to go through to make it safe really wouldn't have been worth it. The booster showed just how robust the Falcon 9's are, though.

 

We'll remember this one fondly.

[DocM]

The Verge has a 2.5 min interview with Musk. A circumlunar Crew Dragon mission may still be on the table.

 

Please: July, 2019 

 

 

[DocM]

Some people were trying to use the NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle online mission planner to say Falcon Heavy could be out performed by Atlas V etc. etc..  Turned into quite a food fight.

 

Problem: that calculator used Falcon Heavy performance data from 2015. The proponent also made some bad assumptions, and ignores Delta IV Heavy  price increases after Delta IV Medium retires in November 2018.  Now being corrected

 

 

Edited February 12, 2018 by DocM

[DocM]

New info!!

 

 

[+John. Subscriber¹]

This is why I respect Elon so much. He can instantly switch between "I was trippin' balls during the launch" to providing concise information about future dev.

[DocM]

 

 

 

[Beittil]

Holy meep, that is so awesome. Port Canaveral totally is making the right call upgrading their facilities in the next couple of years to support the space industry at the cape! 

 

Two ASDS', SpaceX support fleet, soon that behemoth Blue Origin ship, frequently visiting ULA Mariner... That port is going to be mighty busy in the coming years. 

[DocM]

Not to mention whatever happens from the BFR factory at KSC. SpaceX, Space Florida, NASA and the USAF are in talks.

[Blue-Vision]

^^^  ^^^

 

And they'll need a third ASDS operating out of Port Canaveral further downrange for FH Cores (for a total of four in the fleet) sometime soon.

 

I still think that they should implement a Stacker vessel to unload boosters onto so that they don't have to come into Port every time they do a launch ... it'd save them a ton of hassle and time.

[DocM]

All good reasons for BFR/BFS which should be able to do RTLS from any launch; the Booster always, and the BFS satellite deployer variant could land when its orbital track again intersects the launch site.

[Blue-Vision]

Agreed, there should never be a case scenario that sees BFR used in expendable mode. And it seems to me that the BFR could do a "once-around" landing itself if the need arose. Once relieved of its' bulk (BFS), it could boost into enough of an orbit just out of sheer power ... 

[DocM]

The BFR Booster (BRB) is being designed to stage low n slow, so RTLS is a snap. Most of the ∆V comes from the reusable upper stage, which is beastly and carries a separate set of header tanks for landing propellants.

[Blue-Vision]

Yeah, true.

[DocM]

Just to clarify for those not steeped in BFR/BFS design, these are the header tanks.

 

After the mains are emptied during launch or Earth departure they're allowed to go vacuum. This creates a giant Dewar vessel for keeping the landing and thruster propellants in the header tanks cold.

 

Note the 6' (1.8m) guy near the fin for scale.

 

[Blue-Vision]

And they're out of the sunlight, so they don't get exposed to the direct heating effects of solar radiation. Indirectly it's possible (thermodynamic transmission effects), but once the outer propellant tanks are vented and the pressure is ~0 the chances of any indirect heating effects are essentially zero.

 

It's a novel design approach, and solves many problems simultaneously without needing to use (much less scale up) the tank design philosophy used on Falcon 9.  

[Blue-Vision]

Hah .. is it bad that I still have the David Bowie song in my head? 

[Blue-Vision]

Oh goodness ...  /danceparty