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Falcon 9 Launch & Recovery Operations
Greg Hullender
post Jun 3 2008, 04:20 PM
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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.
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Greg Hullender
post Mar 10 2010, 02:25 AM
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Here's some info taken from Spaceflight now. Executive Summary: They detected an anomoly in the Spin Start system and decided to take the rest of the day to study that, rather than immediately try again. The rocket never fired at all.
QUOTE
SpaceX has provided the following statement after today's static fire attempt:
"Today SpaceX performed our first Static Fire for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. We counted down to T-2 seconds and aborted on Spin Start. Given that this was our first abort event on this pad, we decided to scrub for the day to get a good look at the rocket before trying again. Everything looks great at first glance."

"We completed pad preps on time and with good execution. The integrated countdown with the range included holdfire checks, S-band telemetry, C-band, and FTS simulated checks. We completed helium, liquid oxygen (LOX), and fuel loads to within tenths of a percent of T-zero conditions. Tanks pressed nominally and we passed all Terminal count, flight software, and ground software abort checks right down to T-2 seconds. We encountered a problem with the spin start system and aborted nominally."

"As part of the abort, we close the pre-valves to isolate the engines from the propellant tank and purge the residual propellants. The brief flames seen on the video are burn off of LOX and kerosene on the pad. The engines did not ignite and there was no engine fire."

"We detanked and safed the vehicle and launch pad. Preliminary review shows all other systems required to reach full ignition were within specification. All other pad systems worked nominally. Inspections will be complete tonight. Tomorrow will consist of data review and procedure updates. Commodities will be replenished tomorrow including TEA-TEB load, LOX and helium deliveries."

"We'll look to do the next static fire attempt in three or four days."

Since they got all the way to spin-start, one must assume the wash cycle ran without problems. :-)

--Greg
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ugordan
post Mar 10 2010, 10:57 AM
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QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Mar 10 2010, 03:25 AM) *
They detected an anomoly

Honest question: is anomoly a valid alternative spelling of anomaly? I've seen it spelled that way countless times, yet it doesn't appear to show up in (online) dictionaries. unsure.gif


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Greg Hullender
post Mar 10 2010, 06:06 PM
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QUOTE (ugordan @ Mar 10 2010, 02:57 AM) *
Honest question: is anomoly a valid alternative spelling of anomaly? I've seen it spelled that way countless times, yet it doesn't appear to show up in (online) dictionaries. unsure.gif

Just a typo -- mine, not SpaceX's or Spaceflight Now's. Even native speakers sometimes have trouble with the spelling associated with reduced vowels. It varies all over the map from one word to another, even though the sound is just "uh". In this case, though, "anomoly" actually looks wrong to me -- no clue why I typed it. Getting old perhaps. :-)

--Greg
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Posts in this topic
- Greg Hullender   Falcon 9 Launch & Recovery Operations   Jun 3 2008, 04:20 PM
- - jekbradbury   Wikipedia quotes June 23, 23:00 GMT for the next F...   Jun 14 2008, 04:02 PM
- - Greg Hullender   In all the excitement around the Falcon 1 launch e...   Aug 21 2008, 04:13 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Another Falcon 9 update. They claim they're s...   Sep 10 2008, 02:46 AM
- - dvandorn   So Falcon 9 will be using the old Titan III pad, e...   Sep 10 2008, 04:10 AM
|- - MahFL   So we can expect a huge explosion there then when ...   Sep 10 2008, 04:44 PM
||- - ugordan   I'm hoping that the launch is successful even ...   Sep 10 2008, 06:02 PM
|- - mchan   QUOTE (dvandorn @ Sep 9 2008, 09:10 PM) S...   Sep 14 2008, 09:54 AM
- - GravityWaves   I heard range safety or ground safety and personne...   Sep 18 2008, 03:28 AM
- - Greg Hullender   I just noticed that SpaceX has added a document di...   Sep 24 2008, 07:18 PM
|- - mcaplinger   QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Sep 24 2008, 12:1...   Sep 26 2008, 10:55 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Elon apparently did an online interview with the W...   Sep 26 2008, 08:46 PM
- - nprev   A little birdie just told me to check spacex.com o...   Sep 27 2008, 12:01 AM
|- - ugordan   A major milestone in Falcon 9 development was comp...   Nov 23 2008, 04:49 PM
|- - MahFL   Wow, that sounds powerful.   Nov 23 2008, 10:06 PM
|- - ugordan   Just a heads-up for those of you who are intereste...   Dec 22 2008, 11:30 PM
- - jekbradbury   Apparently SpaceX has won 1.6 billion dollars in f...   Dec 24 2008, 01:47 AM
|- - Del Palmer   QUOTE (jekbradbury @ Dec 24 2008, 01:47 A...   Dec 24 2008, 02:39 AM
- - Rakhir   It's impressive to see for the first time a Fa...   Dec 31 2008, 10:14 AM
|- - ugordan   A couple of images via Flickr: http://flickr.com/...   Jan 6 2009, 03:26 PM
- - OKB001   That is one nice looking rocket, for sure. I just ...   Jan 6 2009, 04:00 PM
|- - ugordan   Another Falcon 1 is slated to be launched before t...   Jan 6 2009, 04:13 PM
- - dvandorn   Now, my understanding is that this particular Falc...   Jan 6 2009, 05:58 PM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (dvandorn @ Jan 6 2009, 06:58 PM) N...   Jan 6 2009, 07:12 PM
|- - Vultur   QUOTE (ugordan @ Jan 6 2009, 07:12 PM) As...   Jan 15 2009, 04:55 AM
|- - ugordan   I'm not personally betting on it. I can imagin...   Jan 15 2009, 09:41 AM
- - Zvezdichko   SpaceX announces, that Falcon 9 is now vertical: ...   Jan 11 2009, 10:34 AM
- - DarthVader   That is pretty neat indeed. That's one good lo...   Jan 11 2009, 10:04 PM
- - dvandorn   I dunno -- from some angles, it looks a lot like m...   Jan 11 2009, 10:09 PM
|- - ElkGroveDan   QUOTE (dvandorn @ Jan 11 2009, 02:09 PM) ...   Jan 12 2009, 01:54 AM
|- - ugordan   Several new nice looking pictures are now posted a...   Jan 12 2009, 08:51 AM
- - Pavel   I'm worried that there have been no news from ...   Mar 8 2009, 04:47 AM
- - imipak   Nothing to worry about; see post #23 and #24, abov...   Mar 8 2009, 12:52 PM
- - stevesliva   37-page presentation to the Augustine Comission. (...   Jun 19 2009, 01:23 PM
- - Greg Hullender   New press release from SpaceX about Falcon 9. Not...   Jul 29 2009, 08:08 PM
|- - ugordan   It's a slow news month from SpaceX so in the m...   Aug 21 2009, 04:20 PM
- - djellison   That video is from quite...err...close. Wow. Wo...   Aug 21 2009, 10:17 PM
- - climber   From Spacefightnow: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/...   Aug 24 2009, 08:21 PM
|- - MahFL   That page appears empty to my IE browser.   Aug 26 2009, 02:52 PM
- - djellison   Still fine here ( Chrome, Firefox, Safari )   Aug 26 2009, 03:08 PM
- - Greg Hullender   SpaceX e-mailed an update this morning -- it's...   Sep 24 2009, 05:19 PM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Sep 24 2009, 07:1...   Sep 24 2009, 05:26 PM
- - Greg Hullender   I just noticed a Spaceflight Now article was poste...   Sep 27 2009, 04:50 PM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Sep 27 2009, 06:5...   Sep 27 2009, 05:16 PM
|- - Greg Hullender   QUOTE (ugordan @ Sep 27 2009, 10:16 AM) B...   Sep 27 2009, 05:44 PM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Sep 27 2009, 07:4...   Sep 27 2009, 06:00 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Another press release: http://spacex.com/press.php...   Oct 21 2009, 09:16 PM
- - imipak   Full nine-engine test firing: http://www.youtube....   Oct 21 2009, 09:55 PM
|- - ugordan   imipak, that's the last year's test. This ...   Oct 21 2009, 10:17 PM
|- - ElkGroveDan   QUOTE (imipak @ Oct 21 2009, 02:55 PM) Fu...   Oct 22 2009, 01:34 PM
- - imipak   D'oh! I didn't realise they'd done...   Oct 22 2009, 11:30 AM
- - nprev   Hopefully not OT, but the second F9 flight is on t...   Oct 22 2009, 10:26 PM
- - Greg Hullender   No worries. The idea was to create a single thread...   Oct 23 2009, 04:11 AM
|- - ugordan   Not too surprisingly, the launch is now NET Februa...   Oct 29 2009, 08:50 PM
- - Greg Hullender   New Update: http://spacex.com/updates.php Second ...   Jan 5 2010, 05:29 PM
- - climber   New Update: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.ht...   Feb 12 2010, 11:35 AM
|- - ugordan   Higher resolution images are available at the Busi...   Feb 12 2010, 11:38 AM
|- - Greg Hullender   QUOTE (climber @ Feb 12 2010, 03:35 AM) T...   Feb 12 2010, 10:50 PM
- - stevesliva   So is it me looking at something else, or does the...   Feb 12 2010, 11:34 PM
|- - ugordan   Yes and yes. Trying to squeeze every bit of vacuum...   Feb 12 2010, 11:42 PM
- - djellison   Ever seen the nozzle for the upper stage of a Delt...   Feb 13 2010, 12:18 AM
|- - ugordan   Here's an image of the (uncoated ?) 2nd stage ...   Feb 13 2010, 05:20 PM
|- - lyford   QUOTE (ugordan @ Feb 13 2010, 09:20 AM) H...   Feb 13 2010, 09:09 PM
|- - Adzel   *   Feb 14 2010, 04:44 PM
|- - djellison   QUOTE (Adzel @ Feb 14 2010, 04:44 PM) Doe...   Feb 14 2010, 06:09 PM
- - Adzel   *   Feb 13 2010, 12:37 AM
- - djellison   OCO is a long term monitoring spacecraft (for whic...   Feb 13 2010, 12:45 AM
- - nprev   IIRC, an OCO 2 is specifically called out in the F...   Feb 13 2010, 01:04 AM
- - nprev   Well, if they're lucky the (postulated) recove...   Feb 13 2010, 06:28 PM
|- - ugordan   They have undoubtedly learned some hard lessons wi...   Feb 13 2010, 06:52 PM
- - nprev   We're clearly in violent agreement, G. Gonna ...   Feb 13 2010, 07:10 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Iin 2004 Musk told the US Senate he thought ...   Feb 14 2010, 05:48 PM
|- - Adzel   Greg: Thank you for the information. I was just cu...   Feb 14 2010, 08:15 PM
- - nprev   It's all reasonable. You gotta recoup developm...   Feb 14 2010, 07:50 PM
- - ugordan   It's on the pad now: http://www.spaceflightnow...   Feb 21 2010, 06:56 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Key info from the article is that the launch will ...   Feb 21 2010, 07:17 PM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Feb 21 2010, 08:1...   Feb 21 2010, 07:31 PM
|- - Littlebit   QUOTE (ugordan @ Feb 21 2010, 12:31 PM) B...   Feb 21 2010, 09:30 PM
|- - Den   Full inline quote removed. - ADMIN I sure hope Mu...   Feb 22 2010, 09:45 AM
|- - Jim from NSF.com   QUOTE (Littlebit @ Feb 21 2010, 04:30 PM)...   Feb 22 2010, 08:48 PM
|- - ElkGroveDan   QUOTE (Jim from NSF.com @ Feb 22 2010, 12...   Feb 23 2010, 01:48 AM
- - Greg Hullender   Well, the wet dress rehersal did in fact happen on...   Feb 28 2010, 03:17 PM
|- - ugordan   More details on the countdown dress rehearsal: htt...   Feb 28 2010, 06:34 PM
|- - Greg Hullender   QUOTE (ugordan @ Feb 28 2010, 10:34 AM) ....   Mar 2 2010, 12:17 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Firing test was rescheduled for Monday. http://ww...   Mar 6 2010, 05:38 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Make that Tuesday. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/...   Mar 8 2010, 06:54 PM
- - Greg Hullender   According to Spaceflight Now, the test-fire is sch...   Mar 9 2010, 03:05 PM
- - ElkGroveDan   Thanks Greg. Almost missed it.   Mar 9 2010, 05:51 PM
|- - ugordan   Abort post ignition, looked pretty scary. Scrub fo...   Mar 9 2010, 07:15 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Here's some info taken from Spaceflight now. E...   Mar 10 2010, 02:25 AM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Mar 10 2010, 03:2...   Mar 10 2010, 10:57 AM
|- - Greg Hullender   QUOTE (ugordan @ Mar 10 2010, 02:57 AM) H...   Mar 10 2010, 06:06 PM
|- - ugordan   Got it, thanks. I thought maybe it's one of th...   Mar 10 2010, 08:32 PM
- - nprev   Don't think so, G. Anomaly is the only correct...   Mar 10 2010, 12:53 PM
- - nprev   Yes, spelling in English is a constant joy for us ...   Mar 10 2010, 11:51 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Those sneaky SpaceX guys! After implying they ...   Mar 11 2010, 10:40 PM
- - Greg Hullender   We should be about one hour from the live fire at ...   Mar 13 2010, 04:32 PM
|- - ugordan   Ignition happened on time at 12:30 PM local, waiti...   Mar 13 2010, 05:40 PM
- - Hungry4info   Successful. QUOTE Today, SpaceX successfully compl...   Mar 13 2010, 10:04 PM
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