Falcon 9 Launch & Recovery Operations Options

[Greg Hullender]

SpaceX just sent a press release with an update on the Falcon 9. They successfully did a 5-engine test. They also mentioned the next Falcon 1 attempt will be late June "or July," presumably meaning "late June or early July," but you never know. :-)

Here's the full text. This isn't on their web page yet, the last I looked:

McGregor TX – Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) conducted the first five-engine firing of its Falcon 9 medium to heavy lift rocket at its Texas Test Facility outside McGregor on Thursday, May 29. At full power the engines generated almost half a million pounds of force, and consumed 1,750 lbs of fuel and liquid oxygen per second. This five engine test again sets the record as the most powerful test yet on the towering 235-foot tall test stand.
The test of the five Merlin 1C engines, arranged in a cross pattern like the Saturn V moon rocket, is the last step before firing the full complement of nine engines, scheduled for this summer. With all engines operating, the Falcon 9 generates over one million pounds of thrust in vacuum - four times the maximum thrust of a 747 aircraft.
“This is the first time that we’ve added more than one engine at a time, and all phases of integration and testing went smoothly,” said Tom Mueller, Vice President of Propulsion for SpaceX. “As with previous tests, we saw no unexpected interactions between the engines, and are on schedule for adding four more engines.”
The first Falcon 9 will arrive at the SpaceX launch site at Cape Canaveral by the end of 2008. The next flight of SpaceX’s smaller Falcon 1 rocket is scheduled for late June or July of 2008.

[Greg Hullender]

Key info from the article is that the launch will be no sooner than March 22, and Elon, citing the uncertainties that accompany new-vehicle development, is saying "March to May" with perhaps most probability around late April.

They're doing a dress rehersal next week, though, where they'll fuel up the rocket and fire the engines for about four seconds.

--Greg

[ugordan]

They're doing a dress rehersal next week, though, where they'll fuel up the rocket and fire the engines for about four seconds.

Based on previous timelines, I'm skeptical they'll manage to do a wet dress rehearsal and a static test by the end of the week. I'd be surprised if even the wet dress rehearsal happened during that timeframe.

A static firing is the last crucial test of the pad, rocket, the team and countdown sequence before the launch, and actual launch could happen as soon as a week after that. Elon saying he doesn't expect launch happening that soon suggests he also realizes there'll be many bugs to work out and things figured out before getting to that static firing.

EDIT: New images at spaceflightnow.com.

[Littlebit]

Based on previous timelines, I'm skeptical they'll manage to do a wet dress rehearsal and a static test by the end of the week. I'd be surprised if even the wet dress rehearsal happened during that timeframe. ...

Doing anything at Canaveral the first time is quite a culture shock. It can take days to complete even simple tasks. (Did you remember to include water bottles in the itemized tool list for technicians at the assembly site? Plan on three days to get the revised planning approved...and don't forget the safety data sheets for the bottles and the water.)

[Jim from NSF.com]

Doing anything at Canaveral the first time is quite a culture shock. It can take days to complete even simple tasks. (Did you remember to include water bottles in the itemized tool list for technicians at the assembly site? Plan on three days to get the revised planning approved...and don't forget the safety data sheets for the bottles and the water.)

Huh? Not true. You are propagating a myth. Spacex is the only one that has to approved Spacex's planning and Spacex can work at its own speed. The range has little influence/effect on the day to day ops. The only ops that the range is interested in are the hazardous ones.