Falcon 1, The World's Lowest Cost Rocket to Orbit Options

[ugordan]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but here goes:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18353

http://www.spacex.com/

Looking forward to launch videos...

[ljk4-1]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but here goes:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18353

http://www.spacex.com/

Looking forward to launch videos... 

A Falcon One rocket will be sending James Doohan's ashes into the Final Frontier next February:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=1692

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

From the December 8, 2005, issue of Nature:

Internet star shoots for a rocket revolution
Tony Reichhardt
Nature 438, 736-737 (2005)
doi:10.1038/438736a
Full Text

Excerpt:

"For the past 20 years, most start-up rocket companies have followed the same sad trajectory. They produce an artist's concept of an innovative vehicle while promising to cut launch costs by a factor of ten. Scrounge for money, mostly without success. Badmouth NASA and established rocket manufacturers such as Boeing. Fail, usually before reaching the launch pad. And disappear.

"The names may be different — AMROC, Conestoga, Rotary Rocket, Beal Aerospace — but the stories are essentially the same. And their combined impact on the economics of spaceflight has been zero. It still costs tens of millions of dollars to place even a modest satellite in orbit.

"Enter Elon Musk, the latest comer with long-shot dreams of revolutionizing the launch business..."

[Comga]

From the SpaceX website Updates page:

Posted December 7, 2005: The new launch date is approximately December 20, depending on when the Missile Defense Agency testing is complete. As soon as we have a firm time, it will be posted on the SpaceX website.

Liquid Oxygen

Regarding liquid oxygen (LOX) supplies, we expect to have enough on hand this time to fill the rocket four or five times over. This should account for almost any issue with a particular storage tank as well as an extended hold on the pad. There is an engineering term known as a s*load. I have asked that we have at least two s*loads on hand in case one s*load is not enough.

We chartered a C-17 to fly two of our empty high quality LOX containers to Hawaii, sourced another high quality LOX container on Hawaii and put all three on the barge to Kwajalein. In addition, our LOX plant on Kwajalein has been repaired and is producing LOX on island again.

Some might be wondering why we were so dumb as to run out of LOX on a remote tropical island on the last launch attempt. Believe me, we tried hard to avoid it, but several issues conspired to create the problem:

* The additional month of Merlin testing resulted in additional LOX boil-off on island. Even though it is stored in vacuum jacketed containers, LOX at -300F degrees does not like being on a tropical island at 85F.
* The SpaceX LOX plant on island broke down a few weeks prior to launch, which meant we could not top up.
* We ordered replacement LOX from Hawaii, but the container quality was poor, so only 20% of what we ordered actually arrived.
* Ground winds were unusually high on launch day, which amplifies the boil-off rate significantly, since the Falcon's first stage LOX tank is uninsulated.
* All of the above would not have mattered if our final storage tank did not have a small, manual vent valve incorrectly in the open position. Somewhat agonizingly, we were only a few percent away from being full. We just needed a little sip from the last tank.
* After a while, we were able to close the vent and fill the vehicle's LOX tanks. However, we use LOX to chill our onboard helium and the absence of ground LOX to do so resulted in the helium heating up and venting back to storage. In the end, we did not have enough LOX to stay filled on the rocket and chill & pressurize the helium.

Engine Computer

The engine computer reboot anomaly was definitively traced to a ground power problem. Importantly, this would have had no effect on flight, since we switch to vehicle power before the autosequence begins. The reason it cropped up at Kwajalein was that the higher load on the longer umbilical (three times longer than in prior tests) coupled with high temperatures in Kwajalein resulted in increased resistance in the ground umbilical. This was just enough to lower the voltage below minimums and cause an engine computer reset when drawing maximum power. The same max power test was repeated on internal vehicle batteries with no problem at all.

This problem has been solved by slightly increasing voltage on the ground umbilical.

--Elon-

[argv]

anyone know of live information from the launch on the web other than spaceflightnow.com or spacex.com ?

[edstrick]

Not offhand. From spaceflightnow:

http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon/f1/status.html

"1900 GMT (2:00 p.m. EST)
Today's launch window is now open. However, the countdown has been stopped due to the strong winds at the launch site. Officials are waiting for the winds to ease before proceeding with the launch attempt of the first Falcon 1 rocket. "

[lyford]

SCRUBBED!

Falcon 1 Maiden Flight Update: Posted December 18, 2005

The SpaceX launch is scrubbed until early next year, as there is a structural issue with the 1st stage fuel tank that will require repair.  SpaceX will provide further comment as soon as this has been carefully analyzed. 

Consistent with our policy, we must be 100% green for launch with no outstanding concerns whatsoever.  It is not just a matter of repairing the damage, but also understanding at a fundamental level how to ensure it never happens again.  SpaceX will also do another full review of all the vehicle systems, including propulsion, structures, avionics, software and ground support systems.  Therefore, we expect that the earliest that launch would occur is late January.

www.spacex.com

[Comga]

anyone know of live information from the launch on the web other than spaceflightnow.com or spacex.com ?

Elon Musk's brother Kimbal is posting at

http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/

He has put up a lot of pictures and links, and was posting some information before the online relays from the press briefing. He does have a disclaimer not to trust a thing he posts, and that he could be posting from his "basement somewhere in Boulder", but he was the first one to announce the launch scrub. The attached image is from his blog.



There are also postings at

http://www.outofthecradle.net/

It is much the same as SpaceflightNow, with some minor differences.

[Toma B]

I thought this rocket is supposed to be reliable and cheap...how much these scrubs cost?

[edstrick]

....how much these scrubs cost?

a LOT less than one Space Shuttle Toilet!

[djellison]

It's the first one - it's going to be troublesome. Give them a chance to work it all out and THEN see how they do.

Doug

[jaredGalen]

I thought this rocket is supposed to be reliable and cheap...how much these scrubs cost?

Well in fairness it sounds like the scrub was caused by bad weather and the result of obeying their own launch criteria.
The fuel tank failure was not a problem with the rocket it seems but with the equipment for unloading the fuel.

The reliability and cheapness claims are still their to be...well...claimed, I think.

Rotten luck though. Bothersome Vacuums....

[ljk4-1]

I like those images of the rocket by the sea at sunset, but does anyone else think that all rockets should be launched from somewhere in the deserts of the Southwestern US, like they used to be depicted?

[lyford]

Either that is really bad video compression or they are using a palm tree as a service tower.

Does anyone have the link to that live webcam feed? For next time...

[crabbsaline]

From Spacex.com:

Falcon 1 Maiden Flight Update: Posted February 5, 2006

The new expected launch time is February 9 at 1:00 p.m. California time with Feb. 10 as a backup day.

Anybody see new info from external sources?

[ljk4-1]

From Spacex.com:
Anybody see new info from external sources?

This is from the February 1 edition of Brian Webb's Launch Alert:

APR-JUN 10:00-13:00? Falcon I SLC-3W

Payload is the Naval Research Laboratory's TacSat-1 satellite. The
vehicle will carry the ashes of U.S. astronaut Gordon Cooper, Star
Trek actor James "Scotty" Doohan and several other people into space.
The launch window is fixed and does not change if the launch date
changes.

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...indpost&p=39790

[crabbsaline]

New update from Feb 6:

As an additional reliability measure, SpaceX will conduct a full test of vehicle systems, including initiating the flight countdown autosequence and briefly firing the main engine on the launch stand.  This test will take place Thursday, February 9 (California time).  If no flight critical anomalies are detected, launch will take place on Friday, February 10.

[ljk4-1]

* SpaceX Delays Inaugural Falcon 1 Launch at Least One Day

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/06020...con1_delay.html

Space Exploration (SpaceX) Technologies' third attempt to launch the Falcon 1
rocket on its maiden flight has been pushed back roughly 24 hours to Friday,
Feb. 10 to allow for more tests.


* ASTRONOTES: Private Spaceflight Firm Partners With Japanese Researchers

http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html

Rocketplane Limited Inc. has entered into an agreement with a Japanese research
group to take experiment specimens into space.

[jabe]

Anyone know how the test fire went....or if the test fire has happened yet?
looking forward to the launch..hope it is broadcast somewhere tomorrow...

[crabbsaline]

Anyone know how the test fire went....or if the test fire has happened yet?
looking forward to the launch..hope it is broadcast somewhere tomorrow...

Comga, in Post #8, made reference to:

kwajrockets.blogspot.com

Looks like some updates happening there.

[crabbsaline]

Looks like it'll be awhile before launch:

SpaceX Update

[Comga]

Looks like it'll be awhile before launch:

SpaceX Update

There is more step-by-step information at

http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/

but not much more on their plans. Note that this is not an official SpaceX website and comes with a disclaimer that it could all be fiction from a stateside basement, but if it is, he has great graphics generating capability.

[crabbsaline]

Static Fire Video up on SpaceX Update Page

[ljk4-1]

Companies Prepare to Launch Remains into Space

http://www.space.com/news/ap_060221_space_ashes.html

Scotty will be blasted into space – not beamed up – and Gordo is returning for
his third flight. The craft also will hold the ashes of 185 others, including a
telephone technician, a nurse and a college student.

[Bob Shaw]

Companies Prepare to Launch Remains into Space

http://www.space.com/news/ap_060221_space_ashes.html

Scotty will be blasted into space – not beamed up – and Gordo is returning for
his third flight. The craft also will hold the ashes of 185 others, including a
telephone technician, a nurse and a college student.

Hmmm. Any marketing consultants, hairdressers or telephone sanitisers aboard, too? Is this the 'A' payload or the 'B' payload, anyway?

Bob Shaw

[lyford]

Hmmm. Any marketing consultants, hairdressers or telephone sanitisers aboard, too? Is this the 'A' payload or the 'B' payload, anyway?

LOL - you just made me do a spit take with my jynnan tonnyx....

This is prolly old news to most of you, but I just stumbled across a Sci Fri panel discussion featuring Elon himself.
MP3 File of show

Still no updates on the SpaceX updates page.

[crabbsaline]

Update on Feb 24:

Tentative Launch Window

[Bob Shaw]

Article on the Space-X 'Dragon' manned/cargo vehicle:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1095

Bob Shaw

[Bob Shaw]

Some Dragon illustrations.

Bob Shaw

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Bob Shaw]

Another one, based on a Space.Com illustration.

Bob Shaw

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Guest_Myran_*]

Its not one exact carbon copy, but I cant help thinking its like a rebirth of the Gemini program.

[Bob Shaw]

Its not one exact carbon copy, but I cant help thinking its like a rebirth of the Gemini program.

In capability, more like 'Big G' perhaps - and nowt wrong with that! Only a few illustrations, and no technical details, have leaked out so far, so it may actually be quite unlike Gemini. The forebody shape is much like the Discoverer re-entry vehicle, so it may come into the atmosphere pointy-end first. The 'Service Module' might not be jettisoned, but could serve as the storage for parachutes or whatever it might take to bring the thing down - remember, these guys are stressing the reuseable aspect above much else.

Bob Shaw

[edstrick]

A case could be made for a design with a "service module" equivalent compartment inside the re-entry body behind the pressurized crew compartment (which is what I think SpaceX is doing here) ...

AND

with external "ports" that could connect to propellent, fuel-cell supplies, etc. to provide extend-mission capabilities. An "external service" module could be little more than an adaptor with throwaway tanks and almost nothing else. All the high-value reusable stuff and short-duration, low-delta-v mission consumables could be inside the entry-shell

[crabbsaline]

March 15th update available:

Falcon 1 has been removed from its hangar and erected on the launch pad. All systems are currently go for a static fire on March 17 or 18, followed by a launch between March 20 and 25.

[Comga]

March 15th available:

Thanks for the notice. Good pictures.
How did you find out? I did not get an e-mail, and have signed up for their list at least twice.

Hoping for the best....

[crabbsaline]

I just check the site frequently. I signed up, too, but have never received an email from them. It might be a good idea to send them an email to check their mailing list sender.

[Comga]

It is now close to sundown on the 18th on Kwajalein. There was supposed to be a static firing yesterday or today. I can find no news more recent than Musk's 3/15 update. That update implied that they had accumulated enough LOX on the island and said again that the launch would be beteen the 20th and the 25th but....? His brother (http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/) is off-line since 2/10. I do see on Space News that SpaceX has recruited another industry vet:

http://www.space.com/spacenews/ Sea Launch President Joining SpaceX

PARIS —- Sea Launch LLC President Jim Maser is resigning his post at the end of this month and will become a manager at launcher startup company Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX, according to industry officials.

This looks to me like quite an endorsement. A veteran of an incrimental plan to reduce launch costs jumping ship to a radical plan to lower launch costs. However, it is still not the news I was looking for.

[crabbsaline]

...Jim Maser is resigning his post at the end of this month and will become a manager at launcher startup company Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX...

Another site has him as "...President and Chief Operating Officer": Freshnews.com article

[edstrick]

My take on the total lack of news from Kwaj... (no news atoll)... is that they're up to their (anatomical reference deleted) in fiddly stuff and too busy to take a breather and chat at us.

But of course, no news is no news. And that Jim Maser info is most interesting, as is the fact that Kistler's operation has been bought... was it the Rocketplane people, with... was it some French funding... (my brain's going.. I can't remember what I read yesterday)

[odave]

Kwaj... (no news atoll)...

Groaaaaan. Way too early on a Monday morning for that!

[dvandorn]

... (my brain's going.. I can't remember what I read yesterday)

Ah -- you're showing the early signs of a disability known as CRS. I, myself, have suffered from CRS for many years, and unfortunately in my case, it's progressing on to the more serious condition, CRAFT.

There's really no treatment available at present, either.

Oh, BTW -- CRS = Can't Remember S**t. CRAFT = Can't Remember a F***ing Thing.

Isn't it impressive how someone with such a serious condition as mine can actually use such technical, medical terms with such alacrity?



-the other... um, hold on, I'll get it...

[argv]

from nasawatch.com...

"SpaceX Update
Editor's note: According to SpaceX sources, the test firing countdown and static fire went fine except that they had a ground helium supply disconnect prematurely during engine startup. One of their flight video cameras also stop working. Neither event is seen as being a big issue, but these things will take a few days to correct. SpaceX is still working toward a launch in the next few days."

[crabbsaline]

Thanks argv,

I've not used nasawatch as a resource before. Some interesting stuff there.

[edstrick]

Beside NASA Watch, you want to monitor Cowing's companion site, SpaceRef.
http://www.spaceref.com/news/press.html is the link I usually use. From there, also go to the "Mission Status Reports" link near the top of the page.

[crabbsaline]

Thanks Ed,

I found a strangely worded March 21 Space.com article. It mentions "...tests will determine whether the firm shoots for a launch sometime between Monday and March 25. The launch window opens at 4:00 p.m. EST (2100 GMT)...". But later it states, "SpaceX is making its launch service debut with today's Falcon 1 launch." I wonder if the last two sentences were copied from a previous article.

[jabe]

http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/ has the latest update

[Comga]

http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/ has the latest update

If I said anything that sounded paranoid and skeptical, I take it back. Nice update. But why do they have to rely on Elon's brother (now really in Boulder) to do "press releases"?

Thanks for the notice, jabe. Fourth time's the charm?

[crabbsaline]

There was an update at the SpaceX site last night:

March 21 update

A link to a static fire video (streaming) can be found under the March 21 post.

[crabbsaline]

Launch postponed until Friday at 13:00 PST:

March 22 Update

[jabe]

A web cast of launch?? mm..i lets hope its true

web cast??

[RJG]

Webcast looking good -but it looks mighty windy...

[RJG]

Currently 25 mins into an unplanned hold. The Safety boat is apparently in the wrong place!

[RJG]

Count to restart at 21:15 UTC when will be T-1:15. Launch thus at 22:30 UTC.

Can't wait! :-)

[crabbsaline]

Anyone recording this? Would love to have a copy of checks leading up to launch, or transcript.

[djellison]

WMV's are hard to record

Elon just came on the net and said that the weather is green, fuel's nearly ready to go - all just about go for launch.

Doug

[hal_9000]

Anyone recording this? Would love to have a copy of checks leading up to launch, or transcript.

I'm recording it here..

[djellison]

Well - the webfeed seemed to die after launch - but the onboard camera showed a few seconds of what looked like a tumbling vehicle.


Doug

[Bob Shaw]

Well - the webfeed seemed to die after launch - but the onboard camera showed a few seconds of what looked like a tumbling vehicle.


Doug

Oh, bottoms.

Bob Shaw

[crabbsaline]

Are you sure it wasn't just normal rotation, Doug? I think the video feed cut out for all.

Argh!

[jabe]

Are you sure it wasn't just normal rotation, Doug? I think the video feed cut out for all.

Argh!

These guys seem to have inside scoop.. crossing fingers all is well

edit: they just said they lost the vehicle..bummer

[crabbsaline]

Space.com says it "roared skyward", but hasn't given much more yet:

space.com coverage

[djellison]

Are you sure it wasn't just normal rotation, Doug?

TO me - it looked like it was going sideways, like the little onboard videos you see of model rockets, but after apogee.

"We did lose the vehicle," says Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX vice president of business development.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon/f1/status.html

I just hope they find a root cause quickly and have another go - I really want this vehicle to work.

Doug

[Bob Shaw]

These guys seem to have inside scoop.. crossing fingers all is well

edit: they just said they lost the vehicle..bummer

From Spaceflightnow.com:

2239 GMT (5:39 p.m. EST)

FAILURE. The maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 1 has ended in disaster moments after blasting off from Omelek Island in the Central Pacific today. No further details are available at this point.

2238 GMT (5:38 p.m. EST)

"We did lose the vehicle," says Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX vice president of business development.

2236 GMT (5:36 p.m. EST)

Bob Shaw

[RJG]

"We did lose the vehicle," says Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX vice president of business development.

2:42 PM

[crabbsaline]

[RJG]

Gwynne Shotwell seems to indicate (on spaceflightnow.com) that they got a minute or two of flight.

Not exactly to orbit, but a significant step in the right direction...

[jabe]

Gwynne Shotwell seems to indicate (on spaceflightnow.com) that they got a minute or two of flight.

Not exactly to orbit, but a significant step in the right direction...

I'm the same..the more time in the air the better.. Be nice to hear it got over a minute of flight in.. my fingers crossed it wasn't a engine failure but a software failure

[crabbsaline]

Is there any chance that they can recover FalconSat-2 from the wreckage?

[hal_9000]

I did a video... where can i post it?

[Rakhir]

Waiting for the video of hal_9000, here is one of the last image from the onbard camera.

http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon/f1/images/onboard.jpg

[hal_9000]

here

[crabbsaline]

here

Sorry Hal, where is the link? Btw, thanks for recording.

[Rakhir]

Be nice to hear it got over a minute of flight in.. my fingers crossed it wasn't a engine failure but a software failure

From spaceflightnow : A further look at the imagery seen from the onboard camera mounted to the Falcon 1 shows a noticeable change in the color and shape of the flame coming from the Merlin first stage main engine as the vehicle seemed to roll.

BTW, they have now a significant amount of in-flight telemetry data to work with. It could have exploded on the launch pad like many others before.

-- Rakhir

[hal_9000]

Sorry Hal, where is the link? Btw, thanks for recording.

i need a host to post it... i can not post here..

[crabbsaline]

i need a host to post it... i can not post here..

How large is the file?

[djellison]

Things like google video will let you host it.

Doug

[hal_9000]

Things like google video will let you host it.

Doug

Good idea.. uploading

[jabe]

bad news in my mind... from spaceflightnow.com
"The Falcon 1 rocket apparently impacted the Pacific about 40 seconds after liftoff. The vehicle went out of control and fell back to Earth." so it was really only going "up" for less than 20 s..dam..wish it was longer

[hal_9000]

Falcon 1 video (little part)

Attached File(s)

 kk2.wmv ( 972.84K ) Number of downloads: 531

 

[crabbsaline]

I'm not able to load that link, Hal. Do you have the video.google url for it?

Thanks again.

[Comga]

Falcon 1 video (little part)

When I try to download it, an extension of .avi is tacked on the end. It does not play, either with or without it, that is, as kk2.wmv or as kk2.wmv.avi. Is anyone else having this problem?

[RNeuhaus]

When I try to download it, an extension of .avi is tacked on the end. It does not play, either with or without it, that is, as kk2.wmv or as kk2.wmv.avi. Is anyone else having this problem?

I have just tired it and it didn't work. The video player from Microsoft was called but it didn't start to play since the downloaded file seems to be corrupted.

Rodolfo

[nprev]

Severe bummer, and my sincere sympathies for the SpaceX team. However..."The lessons that burn are the lessons you learn". I think Falcon 2 will be better for the experience, nilhilisitically enough because of the pain. Keep your chins up, gang...and congratulations on having the chutzpah to try this at all!!!!

[crabbsaline]

This is a little bit off-topic to today's launch, but is relevant to Comga's Post 35

I received an email from Dianne Molina at SpaceX. I had asked about the lack of email updates sent to SpaceX's mailing list subscribers. She had this to say:

Thanks Brad.

We do post updates at times and do not send to the distribution (so as
not to spam as updates near launch time get frequent.)

Best regards,
Dianne

[mars loon]

Based on the Spaceflightnow.com article it appears that a sticking "thermal coat" may have contributed to the failed launch

here are the relevant portions and I have bolded a few sentences for emphasis:

"To keep the liquid oxygen from warming up and naturally boiling away while the rocket sat on its tropical launch pad before liftoff, a "thermal coat" had been wrapped around the first stage. Problems running out of liquid oxygen on the remote island have bedeviled SpaceX over the past few months.

"A glaring deficiency that we had in the November and December attempts was the fact that we were basically boiling LOX at an unacceptably high rate. It is hard to get LOX on the island. So what we did was put a blanket scheme together to cover the first stage LOX tank," Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX vice president of business development, told reporters during Friday's countdown.

"It is held to the rocket by Velcro and we've got lanyards that hold it down to the ground. So basically the lanyards will pull a zipper as the vehicle lifts up, a Velcro zipper, and that LOX tank insulation will stay on the ground as the vehicle flies through it."

The Falcon 1 had set sail on its maiden voyage, and a video camera mounted on the rocket beamed back live footage of the booster ascending skyward. However, the launch video did not show any signs of the liquid oxygen blanket unzipping and being yanked free from the rocket by ground tethers as planned.

As the vehicle climbed higher, a white blanket presumably the cover Shotwell had mentioned could be seen flapping wildly in the onboard video. Large pieces appeared to rip away at T+plus 20 seconds due to the rocket's increasing speed.

The vehicle had a noticeable rolling motion, rocking back and forth a bit, and then at T+plus 26 seconds rapidly pitched over when its fiery engine plume became greatly distorted.

"This is the RCO, we have an active track with the radar," the Range Safety officer announced.

Just moments later the rocket impacted the ocean, apparently on its side, at about T+plus 41 seconds.

Did the blanket play a role? Was the engine damaged? Did the nozzle fail? Investigators are beginning to sift through the data collected during the brief flight to construct a full picture of the launch.

[djellison]

Did the blanket play a role? Was the engine damaged? Did the nozzle fail?

Tune in next week to find out.....

(sorry - it just sounded like it needed that )

I think getting a better Oxygen farm onto the island will now become a matter of urgency, so they can produce enough to support the boil off during tanking.

Doug

[ugordan]

I think getting a better Oxygen farm onto the island will now become a matter of urgency, so they can produce enough to support the boil off during tanking.

Well, I suppose if you have to choose a failure mode, it might as well be a straightforward one like this that's fairly easy to fix. Certainly better than finding out the engine failed.

I wish them a fast recovery and low LOX boil-off rate on the next launch!

[GravityWaves]

Musk looked good, but those large Falcon payloads are just a fantasy and they still haven't lived up to the claim of 'Lowest Cost Rocket'
- sure the Tito tourist flights on Soyuz cost a few million but now the Russians, Chinese and others are starting to put larger payloads into space for a much cheaper price and they have much better success rates.

[RJG]

Spaceflight Now is now suggesting that it was a fuel leak rather than the thermal blanket that resulted in the failure. Sounds like a fixable problem (well fixable for the next one at least...)

QUOTE>>
Early insights from investigators examining Friday's failed launch of the first SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket suggest a fuel leak triggered a fire that ultimately brought down the booster, the company's founder said today.

"The good news is that all vehicle systems, including the main engine, thrust vector control, structures, avionics, software, guidance algorithm, etc. were picture perfect. Falcon's trajectory was within 0.2 degrees of nominal during powered flight," Elon Musk said in a statement this morning.

"However, at T+25s, a fuel leak of currently unknown origin caused a fire around the top of the main engine that cut into the first stage helium pneumatic system. On high resolution imagery, the fire is clearly visible within seconds after liftoff. Once the pneumatic pressure decayed below a critical value, the spring return safety function of the pre-valves forced them closed, shutting down the main engine at T+29s."
<<UNQUOTE

[jabe]

So..since its a leak.. my solution..
duct tape the crap out of it and give it a go again
to be honest being a leak seems to be "good news" as compared to other possibliities. I'm relieved it wasn't the insulation..be a "DUH" moment (ala homer simpson) if that was the only cause. Lets hope that the definitive cause for leak is found quickly and a easy solution is available and not.."We think this is where it leaked and so lets try again"

[ugordan]

http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/ has an update and a couple of pictures showing the fuel leak that doomed the vehicle.

[hal_9000]

Sorry guys..
but the video is here..

http://rapidshare.de/files/16430092/falconvideo.rm.html

[dvandorn]

Guys... I hate to say it... but this shows once again that getting into orbit is *not* easy. It's actually rather difficult. And when you try to do it cheaply, you tend to fail. Spectacularly.

It's all a matter of the amount of energy required to get into orbit -- and the time frame in which you have to release that energy. A fully fueled 747, for example, carries enough energy to place the entire airplane into orbit. But it cannot release that energy quickly enough to achieve the necessary acceleration.

You not only have to provide enough energy to accelerate you to orbital velocity, you have to have a motor (or motors) that can release that energy fast enough to actually achieve the acceleration you need. If you try to do that with cheaply built or mass-produced parts, or with assemblies that have not been fault-tested to within an inch of their lives, you tend to get the results we just saw Falcon 1 achieve. And the manufacturing standards and fault testing required to assure success -- they just ain't cheap.

-the other Doug

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

The Heretic Jeffrey Bell E-mailed me on just that point last night:

"The problem with all these libertarian alt.space guys is that they grossly underestimate the real cost of developing aerospace hardware. If you try to explain it to them, they claim that all gummint projects are grossly bloated and most of the costs are unnecessary: 'We'll be able to do this for a fraction of what NASA would spend.' Then they actually try it and find out that only massive engineering, massive quality control, massive testing, and massive attention to detail can bring the failure rate down to a tolerable level. [Sounds kind of like Colin Pillinger -- Moomaw.]

"Even SpaceX suffers from a Silicon Valley variation of this delusion: 'We need a Moore's Law of space, similar to that of the semiconductor arena, where the cost per pound cost of access to space is constantly improving,' Musk told SPACE.com. 'Only if that happens, will we become a true spacefaring civilization where ordinary people have the opportunity to travel in space.'

"Musk just doesn't understand the massive differences between the chip industry and space. I had hoped he would have learned by now, but apparently not."
_____________________________

In my own experience, anyone who accuses socialists of being hopeless political/economic romantics has never talked to libertarians, who at a minimum fully equal the socialists in wishful political thinking. I despise P.J. O'Rourke, but he did come up with a good line recently: "Any libertarian anarchists who want to see their ideas in action should visit current-day Albania."

[Holder of the Tw...]

Guys... I hate to say it... but this shows once again that getting into orbit is *not* easy. It's actually rather difficult. And when you try to do it cheaply, you tend to fail. Spectacularly.
If you try to do that with cheaply built or mass-produced parts, or with assemblies that have not been fault-tested to within an inch of their lives, you tend to get the results we just saw Falcon 1 achieve. And the manufacturing standards and fault testing required to assure success -- they just ain't cheap.
-the other Doug

This was only the first launch, and from what I've read most of the systems on the rocket were doing pretty well, and the failure may be due to one single fault. The implication is that if that one failure hadn't occurred, the satellite might well be in orbit now. Granted, they didn't get to staging, second stage ignition, and first stage recovery, so we don't yet know how that will go, but there doesn't seem to be much wrong with the first stage as far as flying.

I'm willing to give them another couple of tries, or even three or four, before writing off their approach.

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Well, that's the problem -- the fact that they didn't get to any of those other flight milestones means that God knows what flaws are lurking in those as well. (Remember how just that happened with the first flights of Ariane 5 and Delta 3 -- after they redesigned them to get past the FIRST disastrous flaw, a second one was lurking further on. Also remember my description of how the same thing happened through four straight Soviet lunar soft-landing attempts in a row in 1965, until they finally managed to get past ALL the bugs on the fifth try.)

[nprev]

All points well taken.

What really is irksome is that modeling & simulation technology is so good now that most of these types of failures should be avoidable during the design phase...provided that all the possible failure modes of all the components (and combinations thereof) can be identified. I am not convinced that doing that is possible in the real world...

To paraphrase a tired old chestnut, chaos theory isn't just a good idea, it seems to be the law!

[edstrick]

"What really is irksome is that modeling & simulation technology is so good now that most of these types of failures should be avoidable during the design phase......."

Uh... that's part of the problem. There are a hell of a lot of engineers out there who have more CAD and simulation experience than shop-floor bending-metal experience.

It's sort of like the recent Geico auto insurence ads with the Geico Gecko. The animated gecko looks pretty realistic, though naturally a bit anthropomorphised.... till you look at the REAL gecko lying near it on the branch.. and see all the infinite level of real-world detail that the simulation just doesn't have.

[djellison]

I look forward to Musk getting it right on the 2nd or 3rd attempt and proving Bell wrong.

Doug

[GravityWaves]

The Heretic Jeffrey Bell E-mailed me on just that point last night:

"The problem with all these libertarian alt.space guys is that they grossly underestimate the real cost of developing aerospace hardware. If you try to explain it to them, they claim that all gummint projects are grossly bloated and most of the costs are unnecessary: 'We'll be able to do this for a fraction of what NASA would spend.' Then they actually try it and find out that only massive engineering, massive quality control, massive testing, and massive attention to detail can bring the failure rate down to a tolerable level. [Sounds kind of like Colin Pillinger -- Moomaw.]

"Even SpaceX suffers from a Silicon Valley variation of this delusion: 'We need a Moore's Law of space, similar to that of the semiconductor arena, where the cost per pound cost of access to space is constantly improving,' Musk told SPACE.com. 'Only if that happens, will we become a true spacefaring civilization where ordinary people have the opportunity to travel in space.'

"Musk just doesn't understand the massive differences between the chip industry and space. I had hoped he would have learned by now, but apparently not."

I normally can't stand the rants of Jeff Bell but he makes a good point here, not enough inspection, not much quality control managers, and they said it would be a success with low cost to Space and some even talked about sample returns from Mars or compared his rockets to the power of Titans or Protons. Its too early to praise or dismiss the whole venture so lets wait for the 2nd or 3rd one, next launch is supposed to be in a few months