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?