SpaceX Falcon Heavy

[SpudmanWP]

Might have found my next screen saver.

Go to the live feed, switch to 1080, and scroll back till you find the best shot to take a screen cap from.

 

[martinbayer]

I'm currently reading Musk's biography by Ashlee Vance. Across his ventures, Musk is notorious for setting unrealistic schedules.

Martin

If you set, "well, we might get something done. . .sometime" schedules, like NASA, you don't get much done.

There *IS* a middle ground in the form of realistic planning with contingencies between leaving the timing conveniently open and setting ridiculous deadlines, you know...

 

[sferrin]

I'm currently reading Musk's biography by Ashlee Vance. Across his ventures, Musk is notorious for setting unrealistic schedules.

Martin

If you set, "well, we might get something done. . .sometime" schedules, like NASA, you don't get much done.

There *IS* a middle ground in the form of realistic planning with contingencies between leaving the timing conveniently open and setting ridiculous deadlines, you know...

Sure, if you're doing something relatively known. How many rocket companies are flying back boosters? Exactly. If you look at history, typically the projects pushing boundaries the hardest are the ones perpetually missing deadlines. Hell, NASA can't even hit deadlines at they're not doing anything new. Besides, unlike with NASA, if SpaceX blows a deadline it isn't the taxpayer who gets to foot the bill. They're pushing things almost as hard as they can.

 

[TomS]

So they've revealed the proximate cause of the center core loss. It seems only one of the three engines relit for the final burn, so the stage plowed in at 300 knots and did some serious damage to the droneship.

 

[Orionblamblam]

So they've revealed the proximate cause of the center core loss. It seems only one of the three engines relit for the final burn, so the stage plowed in at 300 knots and did some serious damage to the droneship.

If you're gonna fail, fail in *style.*

 

[Michel Van]

According some rumors on Social media:

Only the Center engine re-ignite and not the two other
interesting is that the posts mention there wasn't enough TEA/TEB to ignite three the engines.

TEA/TEB is short for triethylaluminum and triethylboron
it use for ignite the kerosene-fueled Merlin 1D engines

 

[mrmalaya]

Well after last night's display I am a confirmed Musk fan (that doesn't sound right).

TEA or no, the synchronised booster landing and roadster heading out into the Solar System said it all for us!

 

[fredymac]

Lots of tourist/spectator videos starting to show up. I wonder if Blue Origin has any plans for a return-to-launch site landing. The sonic boom from a New Glenn landing should be impressive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hjKpcKtPs4

 

[Flyaway]

This may be the moment SpaceX opened the cosmos to the masses

“It gives me confidence that BFR is really quite workable.”

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/this-may-be-the-moment-spacex-opened-the-cosmos-to-the-masses/

 

[Archibald]

Dang, Elon sure know how to spin an event, and stir people enthusiasm. One must recognize that entire flight is just beyond the limits of weird, when you think about it.

I had some fun trying to summarize the entire thing on my facebook page.

It went something like this

"ok ok ok, let me try to summarize today major event.

So Elon Musk, the rich man that created paypal a while back, latched together three of its rockets. On top of that, he placed his own car, a Tesla roadster. At the wheel, there is a dummy in an astronaut suit. The car's radio is playing David Bowie space Oddity. And of course the car dashcam is sending views of Earth, and ISS, and space.

So the three rocket light together, the two on the sides hauling the third into space on their shoulders, then these two rockets detached and returned to Earth and IMPECCABLY landed side by side like helicopters.

Meanwhile the third rocket send Musk car to the Planet Mars, before turning back and returning Earth, for a landing on a boat that awaited the rocket off the coast of Florida. Bad luck the rocket crashed on the boat.

So just think about it: currently floating above your heads is a dummy in an astronaut suit having one hell of a very good time, driving a roadster on the road to Mars and beyond"

When you think about it this way (let's say, the way of a layman or even a redneck) the entire thing looks completely insane.

we are really living through strange times.

 

[Archibald]

Does anybody remember Murph teacher in Christopher Nolan movie Interstellar ? you know, the blond girl that felt that Apollo had been a typical 20th century total waste of money.
good lord, if we are headed into the Interstellar timeline, that future Murph teacher surely is already born, and maybe she watched that launch.
Well, my opinion is that the experience probably shaped her in the way we see it in the movie. "Not only Apollo was a waste, but the Musk story was obscene, you know, when he send his own car to Mars just to impress people".

Or maybe she just blew an aneurysm thinking about all the money wasted on that Musk stunt, then survived, and turned her hate of rockets against Apollo.

 

[sferrin]

So they've revealed the proximate cause of the center core loss. It seems only one of the three engines relit for the final burn, so the stage plowed in at 300 knots and did some serious damage to the droneship.

I thought only one engine was supposed to fire on a typical landing. Did they need to do one of those more "exciting" landings that they tested on the last launch?

P.S. I hope they release the video as it's gotta be a sight to behold.

 

[sferrin]

Lots of tourist/spectator videos starting to show up. I wonder if Blue Origin has any plans for a return-to-launch site landing. The sonic boom from a New Glenn landing should be impressive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hjKpcKtPs4

Damn, that's definitely something never seen before. That dual landing is awesome.

 

[Michel Van]

Question

Have they recover the FH Payload Fairing ?

 

[TomS]

So they've revealed the proximate cause of the center core loss. It seems only one of the three engines relit for the final burn, so the stage plowed in at 300 knots and did some serious damage to the droneship.

I thought only one engine was supposed to fire on a typical landing. Did they need to do one of those more "exciting" landings that they tested on the last launch?

P.S. I hope they release the video as it's gotta be a sight to behold.

I think it was a case of maximizing delta-v to orbit. The less fuel they use on landing, the more they can use for payload. Since Falcon Heavy is all about maximizing launch capacity, going to a high-thrust landing burn makes sense.

PS: I understand that the stage didn't actually hit the droneship, just went into the water ~100 m away. But that still threw frag all over the droneship.

 

[Archibald]

You know, everytime I see The Starman, I can't help thinking about Space Cowboys ending

got it !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWZgrCcMbyg

I can imagine either The Starman passing in the sky with its Tesla, and Hawkin waving his hand at him or telling him on the radio "good luck to Mars, dummy !"

or better, The Starman lands, and shake hands with Hawkins, and the two drive the Tesla across the lunar plains, discussing the meaning of life and other matters...

: Fly me to the moon / Let me play among the stars / Let me see what spring is like / On a, Jupiter and Mars

 

[sferrin]

ISS in the Windshield

I wonder if ISS got a picture of the car. ;D

 

[Flyaway]

Comprehensive article on the Falcon Heavy launch, and the Falcon Heavy itself.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/07/spacex-debuts-worlds-most-powerful-rocket-sends-tesla-toward-the-asteroid-belt/

By the way did many of you spot The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy ‘Easter Egg’ on the Tesla?

 

[sferrin]

By the way did many of you spot The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy ‘Easter Egg’ on the Tesla?

Post #178 in this thread.

 

[Hobbes]

Question

Have they recover the FH Payload Fairing ?

No. Fairing recovery ship is in LA at the moment.

 

[Hobbes]

So they've revealed the proximate cause of the center core loss. It seems only one of the three engines relit for the final burn, so the stage plowed in at 300 knots and did some serious damage to the droneship.

I thought only one engine was supposed to fire on a typical landing. Did they need to do one of those more "exciting" landings that they tested on the last launch?

P.S. I hope they release the video as it's gotta be a sight to behold.

It's now SOP to have the landing burn start with 1 engine, then 3 engines, then back to 1 for the last few seconds. Landing burn length is ~12 seconds.

 

[sferrin]

So they've revealed the proximate cause of the center core loss. It seems only one of the three engines relit for the final burn, so the stage plowed in at 300 knots and did some serious damage to the droneship.

I thought only one engine was supposed to fire on a typical landing. Did they need to do one of those more "exciting" landings that they tested on the last launch?

P.S. I hope they release the video as it's gotta be a sight to behold.

It's now SOP to have the landing burn start with 1 engine, then 3 engines, then back to 1 for the last few seconds. Landing burn length is ~12 seconds.

How was the landing they tested on the last launch different (where they soft-landed on the water)? 3 all the way? ???

 

[Michel Van]

How was the landing they tested on the last launch different (where they soft-landed on the water)? 3 all the way? ???

The Launch GovSat-1 with Booster ocean landing, was rehearsal for landing procedure of FH Core
it use 3 Engine instead of one Engine, with surprise that Stage survived the ordeal and swims in Ocean
now FH Core had to same landing procedure but got only one engine running
and since it came down at higher speed as normal booster its impacted with 555 km/h or 345 mph.


and now to something completely different

I love this irony

 

[merriman]

Insanity and genius are close bed-fellows. Tame it and you get Edison. Lose control and you get a Stalin.

David

 

[Orionblamblam]

Insanity and genius are close bed-fellows. Tame it and you get Edison. Lose control and you get a Stalin.

Ironically enough, lose control and you get a Tesla. At the end the man was a loon. Worse, nowadays you get people who think that because he was a genius on many things, he was a genius on *all* things, including things that were invented about him... so his genius has led to madness in *others.*

Which of course necessarily leads us to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXuIKgjFAag

 

[Triton]

I know you thought of the movie Heavy Metal (1981)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_KXgFpguE0

 

[sferrin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_kfM-BmVzQ

 

[Flyaway]

Here is the last picture of Starman on his way to Mars & the asteroid belt.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Be6VZEzgAEk/

 

[Archibald]

I suppose the thing has no high gain antenna, so once it is out of TDRSS range, contact is lost ?

 

[TomS]

I suppose the thing has no high gain antenna, so once it is out of TDRSS range, contact is lost ?

It also had only 12 hours of battery (at most).

 

[Flyaway]

I suppose the thing has no high gain antenna, so once it is out of TDRSS range, contact is lost ?

According to Jim on NASAspaceflighft it didn’t use that system.

Military certification the next big test for Falcon Heavy

http://spacenews.com/military-certification-the-next-big-test-for-falcon-heavy/

 

[Tuna]

Some interesting discussion going on on twitter: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/963094533830426624

Probably most immediately relevant part:

Side boosters landing on droneships & center expended is only ~10% performance penalty vs fully expended. Cost is only slightly higher than an expended F9, so around $95M.

Also interesting: ULA CEO stopped by to promise that Vulcan would fly before 2020, to which Elon answered by promising to eat his hat with a side order of mustard if "that rocket flies national security payload before 2023".

 

[sferrin]

Some interesting discussion going on on twitter: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/963094533830426624

Probably most immediately relevant part:

Side boosters landing on droneships & center expended is only ~10% performance penalty vs fully expended. Cost is only slightly higher than an expended F9, so around $95M.

Also interesting: ULA CEO stopped by to promise that Vulcan would fly before 2020, to which Elon answered by promising to eat his hat with a side order of mustard if "that rocket flies national security payload before 2023".

That's the part to remember. A test flight with ballast or a flight with a commercial payload doesn't cut it. (Though we all know 99% of those who even remember the claim will forget that part.)

 

[Archibald]

Also interesting: ULA CEO stopped by to promise that Vulcan would fly before 2020, to which Elon answered by promising to eat his hat with a side order of mustard if "that rocket flies national security payload before 2023".

ROTFLMAO

Oh boy, a childhood dream come true: a millionaire eating his hat, just like Scrooge McDuck rivals, either Glomgold or Rockerduck.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/nonciclopedia/images/5/5c/Rockerduck_si_mangia_la_bombetta.png/revision/latest?cb=20130704164559

Rockerduck_si_mangia_la_bombetta Ah, the beauty of italian language !!!

Elonduck_si_mangia_la_bombetta (I'm laughing so much typing this, I can barely see my computer screen, tears are flowing from my eyes)

 

[bobbymike]

https://www.sciencealert.com/spacex-launched-second-secret-payload-designed-last-millions-years-tesla-arch

For a minute I thought is was the Loc-Nar

 

[Michel Van]

That Arc disk was not secret payload, SpaceX announce it before launch

on Bets
Werner Herzog made promise to eat his shoes
if Errol Morris get his movie "Gates of Heaven" finish and in cinemas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ymyiRXCszc&t=6s

IF ULA manage to get Vulcan operational to 2023
we see something similar from Musk...

...the chances that ULA get that done are nearly zero.

 

[sferrin]

IF ULA manage to get Vulcan operational to 2023
we see something similar from Musk...

...the chances that ULA get that done are nearly zero.

Look at that. In what, FOUR posts it's already been forgotten that "getting operational" isn't the metric.

Some interesting discussion going on on twitter: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/963094533830426624

Probably most immediately relevant part:

Side boosters landing on droneships & center expended is only ~10% performance penalty vs fully expended. Cost is only slightly higher than an expended F9, so around $95M.

Also interesting: ULA CEO stopped by to promise that Vulcan would fly before 2020, to which Elon answered by promising to eat his hat with a side order of mustard if "that rocket flies national security payload before 2023".

That's the part to remember. A test flight with ballast or a flight with a commercial payload doesn't cut it. (Though we all know 99% of those who even remember the claim will forget that part.)

 

[Byeman]

IF ULA manage to get Vulcan operational to 2023
we see something similar from Musk...

...the chances that ULA get that done are nearly zero.

Look at that. In what, FOUR posts it's already been forgotten that "getting operational" isn't the metric.

Some interesting discussion going on on twitter: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/963094533830426624

Probably most immediately relevant part:

Side boosters landing on droneships & center expended is only ~10% performance penalty vs fully expended. Cost is only slightly higher than an expended F9, so around $95M.

Also interesting: ULA CEO stopped by to promise that Vulcan would fly before 2020, to which Elon answered by promising to eat his hat with a side order of mustard if "that rocket flies national security payload before 2023".

That's the part to remember. A test flight with ballast or a flight with a commercial payload doesn't cut it. (Though we all know 99% of those who even remember the claim will forget that part.)

A Space Test Program payload qualifies as a national security payload. It actually won't be that hard. ULA knows how to fly national security payloads and to get certification of their vehicles.

 

[Byeman]

I suppose the thing has no high gain antenna, so once it is out of TDRSS range, contact is lost ?

Also, TDRSS is for looking down. Need ground stations once the vehicle goes above 10k miles or so.

 

[GTX]

Elon Musk Explains Why SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Core Booster Crashed