SpaceX (general discussion)

[TomcatViP]

deleted

 

[Flyaway]

These delays are verging on the silly now.

NASA program to launch astronauts to space station facing delays but 2019 still on target

WASHINGTON – NASA Administrator James Bridenstine said he still expects astronauts will fly from U.S. soil to the International Space Station by the end of next year even though an uncrewed test flight scheduled for Jan. 7 now could slip into the spring.

Bridenstine's acknowledgment that January is a "very low probability" window is the first time the agency has publicly cast doubt on the timing of the scheduled launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test flight of the SpaceX rocket and capsule is a key step in NASA's efforts to resume U.S. transport to Earth's orbit nearly a decade after the space shuttle was mothballed.

The administrator attributed the delay to challenges with several components, including landing parachutes. Some of those systems could be tested without flying them on the initial flight.

 

[FighterJock]

These delays are verging on the silly now.

NASA program to launch astronauts to space station facing delays but 2019 still on target

WASHINGTON – NASA Administrator James Bridenstine said he still expects astronauts will fly from U.S. soil to the International Space Station by the end of next year even though an uncrewed test flight scheduled for Jan. 7 now could slip into the spring.

Bridenstine's acknowledgment that January is a "very low probability" window is the first time the agency has publicly cast doubt on the timing of the scheduled launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test flight of the SpaceX rocket and capsule is a key step in NASA's efforts to resume U.S. transport to Earth's orbit nearly a decade after the space shuttle was mothballed.

The administrator attributed the delay to challenges with several components, including landing parachutes. Some of those systems could be tested without flying them on the initial flight.

So when will we see the first SpaceX launch to the international space station? Spring or Summer next year? Place your bets now.

 

[fredymac]

First 3rd launch of a used booster successfully completed along with return landing. Fairing recovery is also being attempted.

 

[sferrin]

First 3rd launch of a used booster successfully completed along with return landing. Fairing recovery is also being attempted.

Sweet! Forgot they were doing that today. IIRC they should have another later in the week.

 

[fredymac]

From Musk Twitter:

Falcon fairing halves missed the net, but touched down softly in the water. Mr Steven is picking them up. Plan is to dry them out & launch again. Nothing wrong with a little swim.

 

[Grey Havoc]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/12/05/spacex_rodentnosh_delivery/

 

[Grey Havoc]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-maneuvers-to-snag-top-secret-boeing-satellite-technology-1543943490 (Registration may be required)

Inside Boeing’s Los Angeles plant, the satellite is taking shape, with testing set to begin soon. Global IP’s Mr. Pourmand said it could be launched as soon as spring.

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has been contracted to handle the satellite’s launch, which would also require an export license. SpaceX said it is committed to complying with U.S. laws, and declined to elaborate.

If Global IP proceeds to launch the satellite, a concern of some officials and others close to the project is whether China will try to repurpose it after it is in orbit. “Once it’s up there, whoever is the owner can choose whichever customers and whichever uses he wants,” said one person familiar with the project.

This could get very messy indeed.

 

[sferrin]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-maneuvers-to-snag-top-secret-boeing-satellite-technology-1543943490 (Registration may be required)

Inside Boeing’s Los Angeles plant, the satellite is taking shape, with testing set to begin soon. Global IP’s Mr. Pourmand said it could be launched as soon as spring.

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has been contracted to handle the satellite’s launch, which would also require an export license. SpaceX said it is committed to complying with U.S. laws, and declined to elaborate.

If Global IP proceeds to launch the satellite, a concern of some officials and others close to the project is whether China will try to repurpose it after it is in orbit. “Once it’s up there, whoever is the owner can choose whichever customers and whichever uses he wants,” said one person familiar with the project.

This could get very messy indeed.

Would seem to be a pretty clear violation in which case couldn't they be prevented from launching the thing?

 

[Grey Havoc]

One would think so. On the other hand, lawyers and politicians don't always live in the same world as the rest of us...

 

[merriman]

Water should be shallow enough to permit salvage of the grid-fins.

David

 

[Michel Van]

Water should be shallow enough to permit salvage of the grid-fins.

David

the First Stage had somme issue after Entry Burn
starting rolling around long axe and drift of course and landed in ocean...
(sadly some idiot at SpaceX cut scene to second stage...)

and surprise

Grid fin hydraulic pump stalled, so Falcon landed just out to sea. Appears to be undamaged & is transmitting data. Recovery ship dispatched. spaceX twitter

 

[fredymac]

There was a good video on Everyday Astronaut showing hand held camera imagery of the booster spinning and bobbing. One of the grid fins was apparently stuck at 45 degrees and causing the roll. The flight controls was able to get down to the landing burn and then the booster settled slowly behind some trees and presumably into the water.

 

[sferrin]

There was a good video on Everyday Astronaut showing hand held camera imagery of the booster spinning and bobbing. One of the grid fins was apparently stuck at 45 degrees and causing the roll. The flight controls was able to get down to the landing burn and then the booster settled slowly behind some trees and presumably into the water.

Any chance of a link? There doesn't appear to be anything there on it now. ???

 

[sferrin]

Water should be shallow enough to permit salvage of the grid-fins.

David

Say, aside from the dunk in salt water, it was undamaged. Any chance of getting it clean enough to reuse?

 

[Michel Van]

There was a good video on Everyday Astronaut showing hand held camera imagery of the booster spinning and bobbing. One of the grid fins was apparently stuck at 45 degrees and causing the roll. The flight controls was able to get down to the landing burn and then the booster settled slowly behind some trees and presumably into the water.

Any chance of a link? There doesn't appear to be anything there on it now. ???

Coming soon on Youtube...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEKtJf9nx3U

 

[sferrin]

Whoops. I was under the impression that it was still upright. Guess that answers the reuse question. Was it a Block V?

 

[Michel Van]

Block 5 - Unit B1050.1

not first time
F9 FT - Unit B1032.2 made a ocean landing intact, on January 31, 2018

Let's hope B1050.1 is in same conditions

 

[Michel Van]

musk just publish the landing footage on Twitter follow on youtube
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1070399755526656000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMIc4tZPBaA

i think that's goes into History as "The Day SpaceX went Kerbal..."

 

[Moose]

Pretty impressive how close it came to a passable landing despite the fins being jammed and resulting in a pretty significant rotation.

 

[TomcatViP]

It would be also interesting to see how one deficiency in a single yaw ctrl surface could result in an unbalanced attitude despite the aerodynamic balance prior the reduction in speed and then during the boosted recovery phase. It might be that a greater level of redundancy could be suitable (bigger paddle, more powerful yaw thruster).

But at the end it's still mission accomplished for SpaceX.


Regarding then the Dragon vehicle, it seems that they found an outgassing problem during the docking phase on the ISS:

When the next three Dragons docked at the Space Station, over the following months, SAGE experienced unexplained spikes in contamination. Something on these Dragons was outgassing—releasing molecules beyond the expected, and perhaps the acceptable, levels. And those molecules were sticking to SAGE.
Outgassing, in earthly terms, is what makes a new car smell like a new car. “There are volatile chemicals in those new materials that migrate through the material to the surface," says Alan Tribble, author of Fundamentals of Contamination Control. You’re smelling escaped seat ingredients, in other words.

Source:
https://www.wired.com/story/a-spacex-delivery-capsule-may-be-contaminating-the-iss/

 

[Flyaway]

SpaceX Falcon 9 boosts Dragon cargo ship to orbit, first stage misses landing target

But the landing system is designed with the safety of personnel and ground facilities in mind. The rocket’s guidance system initially targets an off-shore “impact point” and only moves the target on shore to the landing pad during a final rocket firing and only after verifying all systems are operating properly.

During Wednesday’s landing, the flight computer recognized the grid fin problem and never moved the impact point ashore during the final engine firing.

“The important point here is we have a safety function on board that makes sure the vehicle does not go on land until everything is OK, and that worked perfectly,” Hans Koenisgman, SpacerX vice president of build and flight reliability, told reporters. “The vehicle kept well away from anything where it could pose even the slightest risk to population or property.

“Public safety was well protected here,” he added. “As much as we are disappointed in this landing, or landing in the water, it shows the system overall knows how to recover from certain malfunctions.”

 

[Flyaway]

https://twitter.com/julia_bergeron/status/1070702026814877697

Hawk and our wayward booster. The line is currrently attached around the leg and anchored to a hold down point. #SpaceX #SpaceXFleet @elonmusk

 

[Michel Van]

current state of salvage operation

Warning Bad audio best watch silent
https://youtu.be/kSjfBmkl5-I

 

[Flyaway]

NASA and SpaceX still aiming for January commercial crew test flight

While a SpaceX commercial crew test flight might not launch on a date in early January previously announced NASA, both agency and company officials are optimistic the mission will still fly later in the month.

 

[Michel Van]

https://youtu.be/aVXJhrUyuTA

in the mean time Unit B1050.1 is pulled into Harbor of Cap
Biggest problem the Interstage section and Holder is to damage
but Space X manage to pull stage out water

Source Youtube and NasaSpaceFlightForum

 

[TomcatViP]

Did they remove one of the leg to lift it on the cradle or was that broken during the landing?

 

[Tuna]

their new Starship and Super Heavy will be all carbon composite (mostly)

The new design is metal
Fairly heavy metal, but extremely strong

Wouldn't have guessed that one. Shiny stainless steel retrofuture is go?

 

[totoro]

Watched the live launch today. Seemed like the first stage made a water landing. First it started to spin a lot (don't know if that's normal) and then they just stopped broadcasting the feed from that camera. Then someone mentioned the water landing.

would that be the second water landing in a row now?

 

[sferrin]

Watched the live launch today. Seemed like the first stage made a water landing. First it started to spin a lot (don't know if that's normal) and then they just stopped broadcasting the feed from that camera. Then someone mentioned the water landing.

would that be the second water landing in a row now?

You didn't see a "live" launch. Their next launch isn't until the 18th (at the soonest).

 

[totoro]

Whaaaaa??? Darn YouTube. How dare they label something as live and promote it that way, alongside a (recorded?) chat and everything, when it's in fact an old video?

 

[Tuna]

Whaaaaa??? Darn YouTube. How dare they label something as live and promote it that way, alongside a (recorded?) chat and everything, when it's in fact an old video?

The way that works is that some asshole downloads the existing video, chats and all, and then restreams it "live" on their own channel. The reason they do this is to get advertising dollars out of you. Since SpaceX isn't putting their stuff in ContentID (for good reason, that would also kill a lot of real, useful content and commentary by the community), there's nothing preventing this.

There is a good listing of upcoming launches at: https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

 

[Flyaway]

SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy two-thirds done as side booster #2 leaves factory

First posted to a SpaceX-focused Facebook group by member Eric Schmidt, Falcon Heavy Flight 2’s second side booster (of two) was spotted eastbound in Arizona on December 3rd, partway through a journey from SpaceX’s Hawthorne, CA factory to its McGregor, TX testing facilities.

This is the second (known) Falcon Heavy-related booster spotted in less than a month and an incontrovertible sign that the company’s second-ever Falcon Heavy launch is perhaps just a handful of months away, with both side boosters now likely to be present in Florida by January 2019 barring unforeseen developments.

 

[TomcatViP]

Falcon 9 launched GPS III sat successfully. No stage recovery.

https://youtu.be/ftAlL8sAnh4

 

[Flyaway]

Elon has been tweeting up a storm about Starship & Super Heavy.

Start with this article for a summary.

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-ceo-elon-musk-starship-bfs-hop-tests-early-2019/

This one caught my eye for a start.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1076618886932353024

You def don’t want electric pumps on a rocket engine! Raptor turbopumps alone need 100,000 horsepower per engine. That’s not a typo.

More.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1076684059827302400

SpaceX metallurgy team developed SX500 superalloy for 12000 psi, hot oxygen-rich gas. It was hard. Almost any metal turns into a flare in those conditions.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1076686201061404672

Our superalloy foundry is now almost fully operational. This allows rapid iteration on Raptor.

Malcolm Head @Malcolmmarsman
Replying to @elonmusk and 4 others
Is Super Heavy in development at all, or just starship right now?
|
Elon Musk@elonmusk
Both, but demo Starship is being built now, whereas Super Heavy hardware will start getting built in spring

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1071610949432356864

 

[TomcatViP]

Let's say that hey want to test Startship re-entry capability returning from Mars. Speed is higher when incoming from Mars and re-entry will be hotter. But then if you just shot a model into space and use it to model the re-entry, since speed is lower you'll need to use a close-by material in term of thermal expansion/cracking/yield strain behavior but at a lesser temperature etc... Hence the 300 stainless alloy usage and the cheap Starship model (balloon tanks/monocoque metallic structure etc...).

This hypo is the one to me that see all Elon's clues converging

 

[Flyaway]

More updates from Mr Musk. Shows you power of the Raptor engines that it only needs three of them even at its size.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1077106553189093376

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1077111607564464129

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1077115129055956994

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1077115813516066816

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1077124199636856832

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1077112458714566656

 

[Orionblamblam]

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/10771065531890933766

WTH is that? It looks quite literally like a piece of junk.

 

[Dragon029]

Looks better in the light:

Edit:

Also Elon just tweeted again:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1077353613997920257

Leeward side needs nothing, windward side will be activity cooled with residual (cryo) liquid methane, so will appear liquid silver even on hot side

So no PICA-X then?

 

[Orionblamblam]

Looks better in the light:

Still looks like junk. Specifically, it looks like some kids nailed some sheets of shiny sheet metal to a wooden frame to create a fake UFO for a roadside attraction in rural Iowa. Pay a few bucks, go in, come out with an alien parasite hooked into your central nervous system.