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Falcon 9 Launch & Recovery Operations
ugordan
post Sep 27 2009, 06:00 PM
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QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Sep 27 2009, 07:44 PM) *
It's a shame that the stage recovery is so difficult. I'd guess the loss of the engines is the worst part, just in terms of expense.

They're expensive, no doubt, but I believe the majority of the vehicle cost is concentrated not in the first stage, but in the upper stage where all the expensive avionics and air-startable/restartable engines are.

QUOTE
Do you actually think they'll ever be able to recover the second stage?

Don't know; probably nobody knows that yet. They are planning on flying a heat shield on the stage similar to the Dragon one, but that and deorbit propellant comes directly from the vehicle's total payload capacity so it's a tradeoff between getting max payload and getting the stage back.
Reentering a stage which has its center of gravity at the back (the engine section) is dynamically unstable so active control is needed etc. Keep in mind salt water exposure is one of the bigger problems in recovering stages - the thing is corrosive, it harms avionics and engines.


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Greg Hullender
post Oct 21 2009, 09:16 PM
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Another press release: http://spacex.com/press.php?page=20091021

They completed their structural and propulsion acceptance tests for the first stage with two static firings of all nine engines at their Texas test site, and they're shipping it to Cape Canaveral next month.

No word on the static firing for the second stage, but one would guess that'll happen soon. They still seem to be right on target to do vehicle integration in November, with the maiden launch anywhere from December to February.

--Greg
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imipak
post Oct 21 2009, 09:55 PM
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Full nine-engine test firing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=...p;v=BYLtXhCcNWc

(Also on the SpaceX site at http://spacex.com/multimedia/videos.php?id=32 .)


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ugordan
post Oct 21 2009, 10:17 PM
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imipak, that's the last year's test. This is currently the only image from the two recent firings - the 10 second one to be specific (higher res image, courtesy Business Wire). You can see the flight stage is not completely painted white yet.


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imipak
post Oct 22 2009, 11:30 AM
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D'oh! I didn't realise they'd done a previous nine-up test firing. Thanks for the correction smile.gif


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ElkGroveDan
post Oct 22 2009, 01:34 PM
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QUOTE (imipak @ Oct 21 2009, 02:55 PM) *

This is so cool. I am so excited for Elon and his team. Mostly I am excited for the future of commercial spaceflight.


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nprev
post Oct 22 2009, 10:26 PM
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Hopefully not OT, but the second F9 flight is on the tentative launch schedule now.


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Greg Hullender
post Oct 23 2009, 04:11 AM
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No worries. The idea was to create a single thread to hold Falcon 9 discussion up until Launch #1. Around the time they start the countdown, it'll make sense to start a fresh thread and close this one, since (odds are) that thread will accumulate more posts in a couple of days than this one has in months and months.
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ugordan
post Oct 29 2009, 08:50 PM
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Not too surprisingly, the launch is now NET February.

QUOTE
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has requested a Feb. 2 range date for the maiden flight of its Falcon 9 medium-lift rocket, according to a 90-day launch range forecast issued Oct. 28 by the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Space Wing.


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Greg Hullender
post Jan 5 2010, 05:29 PM
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New Update: http://spacex.com/updates.php

Second stage passed its last test and is being shipped to Florida by end of January. Launch should be one to three months later, so call it no sooner than March 1 and no later than May 1 -- assuming all goes well. I think Elon has previously said that this wide uncertainty reflects the fact that this is their first launch from KSC.

--Greg
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climber
post Feb 12 2010, 11:35 AM
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New Update: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=30220
Nice looking rocket BTW, very "clean" d the Dragon looks much bigger than I thought. Edited: using Ugordan link (thanks) I suspect part of what I though was the Dragon could be it's fairing instead.
Trouble here is that we could fall into the Manned spacefligth side is we don't care enought but well, so far so good.
Less than 3 months to "see" the maiden flight of a new rocket, I can't wait to watch this.


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ugordan
post Feb 12 2010, 11:38 AM
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Higher resolution images are available at the Business Wire release.

Climber, the sloped thing at the top is the Dragon capsule (missing the nose cone), the cylindrical thing attached to its bottom is the unpressurized trunk section. Both will be pretty much inert, dummy units for the inaugural flight. Not a working Dragon capsule.


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Greg Hullender
post Feb 12 2010, 10:50 PM
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QUOTE (climber @ Feb 12 2010, 03:35 AM) *
Trouble here is that we could fall into the M****d s*********t side

We ought to be able to safely discuss everything else about the Falcon 9 -- everything we're actually interested in -- with little or no loss. We just can't talk about those kinds of applications for it.

I still maintain that the Falcon 9 is very exciting for UMSF because it promises to eventually make big changes to the cost equation for missions we care about deeply. If Elon finds other uses for it -- hey, that's great. I figure I'll read about them somewhere else.

--Greg (I'll admit I don't want to fly in it if I have to be unmanned first!) :-)
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stevesliva
post Feb 12 2010, 11:34 PM
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So is it me looking at something else, or does the vacuum engine on the second stage have an enormous nozzle? And is that a huge interstage?
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ugordan
post Feb 12 2010, 11:42 PM
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Yes and yes. Trying to squeeze every bit of vacuum specific impulse that's practical.


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