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

[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: 529

 

[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"