DocM Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 The C2 (COTS-2) Dragon mission is a dress rehersal for the C3 mission where Dragon will make its first docking at the International Space Station. IF all goes well with the C2 mission, and if fuel permits, the two missions could be blended. If that happens the Dragon program will start operational cargo flights to ISS as soon as possible, and work on a crew version will accelerate dramatically. A successful 10 second test fire of the COTS-2/(possible 3) Falcon 9s Merlin-1C engines was performed today, with a 90 second test within a few days. As usual, McGregor Texas residents got advance warning lest area babies get bounced out of cribs & poorly placed china get rattled into oblivion; Wonder what it'll be like when Merlin 2 tests start? That pup will be bigger than the Saturn V's F-1 engines. Launch: NET July 15, 2011 (NET = no earlier than) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windows7even Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 you mean july 15 2011? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 Fixed. Could be delayed a bit of course. Note Falcon 9s nine engines vs the usual 2-3. The Falcon Heavy variant will have 27 engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoadorable Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 why are they waiting till July? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 You don't just erect the gantry, top it off and fire up the engines.. They're getting Dragon ready in California- including a big pair of solar wings and their deployment hardware on their first flight, testing the engines on F9 in Texas (1 test fire down, another later this week), finishing training for the ISS Exploration crew in case it docks this flight instead of C3, etc. This is a high stakes flight foe not only SpaceX but for NASA and the other commercial cargo/crew companoes so everyone's taking their time to get it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 Interesting Tweet from Soichi Noguchi - JAXA (Japan Space Agency) astronaut. Sounds like the blended COTS-2/3 mission is game on :) March 3rd - Soichi too! RT @Astro_Soichi: SpaceX tweeps Will be there tomorrow!!! // getting Dragon ready to go to the Space Station Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 KCEN News in Waco, Texas just tweeted; 'Space X' in McGregor might run 90 second rocket test today- no earlier than 6:00pm. (Texas time) A full power test of the Falcon 9/Dragon C2 first stage engines - roughly equal to a Saturn I booster but able to orbit a 10% larger payload to low Earth orbit. Tie the babies down in their cribs & put away the dishes ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoadorable Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 does it really create that much vibration/shock? i've been around powerful jets and rockets before, very impressive, but i don't think enough to rattle an entire town! of course, this guy is bigger than the machines i've been around. i also understand they want to be careful with the launch but chop chop, waiting till July? i want my exciting news NOW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 Falcon 9 is rated at 1,110,000 lbf of thrust, several times more than the Delta II rocket that's launched so many space probes (10x more than some versions) When Flight-1's engine cluster was put through a full mission length test of ~180 seconds it broke windows up to 20 miles away and rattled wallls further than that. McGregor is 3.1 miles from the test center, and there is a big berm - but still :p Falcon Heavy will run 3,400 000 lbf of thrust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoadorable Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 man that's a lot more thrust than my 5.7 liter Caprice...thanks for putting things in perspective Doc! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Here's more perspective from an interview Elon Musk gave Discovery News after Falcon 9 booked its first moon mission (they now have 2); Falcon 9 could have launched the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers on a single flight," wrote Musk. It took 2 launches of the Delta II Heavy to launch those missions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoadorable Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 what about the environment? think of the the children :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 Just imagine if they build the Falcon XX Super-Heavy booster - - 360 feet tall & 35 feet wide - 10,200,000 lbf of thrust (>10 Falcon 9's) - 140 metric tons to orbit - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoadorable Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 that's a lot of rocket. if we can build that, we can build the Valkyrie shuttle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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