SpaceX Falcon 9 historic landing thread (1st landing attempt & most recent missions)

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shreadvector said:
Maybe your assumption is incorrect?
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Oh, absolutely. Probably the most likely answer is that I misunderstand :drool:

I'm assuming the core's return is hotter because it's farther downrange and going faster before it tries to come back. But it's an assumption.
 
Given that the central core is likely to be run at a lower throttle than the boosters, then throttled up after losing the boosters, and likely a relatively low payload mass, the core will probably have lots of spare fuel. They could run a different burn profile to keep the aerodynamic heating on the Al fins down a bit. Or not. It probably is of little consequence either way, but it does generate another set of data points.
 
Your assumption is based upon "coming back".


It will not be coming back to the launch pad.


It will land far out at sea. No need for severe boost-back , yada-yada...

Just slow down and land way out at sea.

Other missions may boost-back and land near the launch site (they show this online in animation).



cvanc said:
Oh, absolutely. Probably the most likely answer is that I misunderstand :drool:

I'm assuming the core's return is hotter because it's farther downrange and going faster before it tries to come back. But it's an assumption.
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RocketGeekInFL said:
It is snowing in Titusville today, so I imagine cold plays a factor.
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Nope. They rolled the Falcon booster (without payload) out to the pad to do a fuel tanking test. Some thought there might also be a static test firing but all they did was the loading test. Of course last fall when it was supposed to launch from 39A, they did the static test firing then. This tanking test was a bit surprising, as 39A and LC-40 interfaces for the single-core F9's are supposed to be identical. Nobody outside of SpaceX knows if this was a late decision to add the test, and thus delay the launch a day, or when/why they decided to do it.

NSF updated an earlier article abut the Zuma launch:

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/01/spacex-falcon-9-launch-clandestine-zuma-satellite/

NSF_20180103_181404-299x350.jpg


For the foreseeable future, I expect SpaceX to keep doing webcasts of their launches. If they get to the point where they can't justify having workers take time out from their regular duties to "host", they can do a hostless "technical webcast" using the video/audio that they always have going for their own needs (and, uh, customers sorta like being able to see what's happening with their payloads being launched, too).

SpaceX does not post new links to the webcast very far in advance, sometimes less than 24 hours recently. The link below is where to find it when they have it updated, right now it still lists the Iridium launch

https://www.spacex.com/webcast

As to what FH will do when it flies..... let's get Zuma out of the way and the first static test firing of FH, at least. But as a short review..... the center core will be thottled back after the early part of launch, using less fuel than the side boosters. Side boosters will separate and boost back for RTLS landings at the Cape (2nd landing pad is complete). Core will throttle up and boost for 20-30 seconds more or so, then shut down and 2nd stage will take over. That center core will end up doing an ASDS landing on OCISLY. Second stage, probably into a brief parking orbit, then the big escape burn to orbit the Sun, hopefully as far away from the sun as Mars is from the sun (not Mars' orbit).

More info on what the 2nd stage will be doing won't be out for some time yet. Perhaps not until the "presskit" PDF comes out, and those presskit PDF's also have not been posted far in advance lately (day before launch date) - though maybe for FH they will do it sooner.
 
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georgegassaway said:
SpaceX does not post new links to the webcast very far in advance, sometimes less than 24 hours recently.
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I have had the "space Launch Schedule" app installed for a while on my android. I originally liked it because it tracks all (or most) launches from what looks like all countries, but it does not do notifications and there is no purchase option to get rid of the pesky adds. It does provide some information, including links to any live video, so it is somewhat useful but not as a notifier/reminder.

I also installed "Launch Tracker" which had good potential as a reminder, however it stopped updating for me and a lot of others going by the feedback, so it is pretty much useless now.

This evening I installed "SpaceXNow", but I cannot speak to it's usefulness or reliability. It is limited to just SpaceX launches and has a notification section in the settings, however I have no idea when the notifications will go off or even what they sound like.
 
And even though yesterday's tanking test and "wet" dress rehearsal was said to have gone well, they're doing another one today which will almost certainly push the launch later than Friday.

01/04/2018 08:55
Spaceflight Now

A second countdown rehearsal for the Falcon 9 rocket was underway at launch complex 40 this morning. The SpaceX launch team had performed a similar 'wet dress rehearsal' yesterday.

The vehicle is on the pad and without the fairing containing its mysterious Zuma payload. This will almost certainly preclude a launch Friday evening.
Click to expand...
 
Will we get a video feed from the 2nd stage of the FH launch? It would be awesome to see the Earth shrink from view to a dot as well as the roadster in space.

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but are they going to "deploy" the roadster, so that it's floating out there by itself? What will happen to the 2nd stage, stay out there as well?
 
Cabernut said:
Will we get a video feed from the 2nd stage of the FH launch? It would be awesome to see the Earth shrink from view to a dot as well as the roadster in space.

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but are they going to "deploy" the roadster, so that it's floating out there by itself? What will happen to the 2nd stage, stay out there as well?
Click to expand...

Second stage will likely go the way of the Sat5 3rd stage. Still pretty cool, that's a rather exclusive club of space junk.
 
They ought to have audio tapped into the feed when they do, Musk promised that the car's stereo would be playing Space Oddity. Though they might need to dub it in, due to the no sound in space thing... :rolleyes:
 
Cabernut said:
Maybe I missed it somewhere, but are they going to "deploy" the roadster, so that it's floating out there by itself? What will happen to the 2nd stage, stay out there as well?
Click to expand...

The pictures I've seen show the Roadster mounted to the top of the rocket, but only under the fairings. I assumed that when the fairings drop away there will be nothing but Roadster on the top, being pushed into it's solar orbit. I really hope I'm right about this, and there's a camera mounted somewhere that we get to see it sitting out in space as the final thrusters are burning, similar to the views of the satellites right before they're launched.
 
Was there any closure on whether deployment of a purposeless item into the solar system was considered space littering?
 
I hope they put a dashcam behind the windshield which looks over the hood.

The image of the car 'seeming' to be driving along would be cool. :cool:
 
Zuma launch has indeed slipped to Saturday the 6th.

And may slip to Sunday the 7th. Today they apparently did a second Wet Dress Rehearsal. And it was still at the pad as of 4:30 PM. Time is tight to lower it, roll it back , add the payload, roll it back, and prepare for launch. So that adds to the speculation it may slip to Sunday.

Apparenttly the same beginning of launch window regardless, 8:00 PM EST.

Keep all this in mind when it comes to when FH launches. Rocket-wise, this is a simple routine launch, other than no info about the payload. And that speculated FH Static Firing on the 6th, just got blown out of the water, the 6th was soonest likely, after Zuma launching on the 4th. So a Zuma launch on the 7th, would likely put FH first static firing to the 9th/10th at the earliest. Theoretical FH launch on the 15th, likely pushed to at least the 18th/19th (and if that the static firing goes well, which apparently did not even go well with Zuma's booster for a simple WDR. Or that they'd only do one Static Firing, which would be surprising for FH's 27 engines, being stagger ignited two-at-a-time).

Some of those "apps" are nice but please don't post a launch date based on them, some suffer from GIGO syndrome. Go to SpaceflightNow or NasaSpaceFlight, or some highly reliable up-to-date source. Besides, having any idea of when FH will finally launch is more an exercise in reading Tea Leaves than anything else.

Here is NSF's thread on updating news on Falcon Heavy's first launch:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=44376.40

And the discussion thread for the vehicle, not the payload:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42705.0

And the thread for the payload (Tesla Roadster)

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=44375.0
 
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Per Twitter...
Team at the Cape completed additional propellant loading tests today. Extreme weather slowed operations but Falcon 9 and the Zuma spacecraft are healthy and go for launch—now targeting January 7 from Pad 40 in Florida.
 
When I heard about this idea (Tesla roadster on Falcon rocket), I thought, "That's been done before...".

heavymetalvette.jpg

But I guess that the vette was actually re-entering, not lifting off.
 
Zuma Launch still set for Sunday the 7th, at 8:00 PM EST.

Booster should RTLS at LZ-1 back at the Cape.

presskit PDF file: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/i...ach;topic=44175.0;attach=146 8523;sess=13478

Webcast link:

[video=youtube;0PWu3BRxn60]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PWu3BRxn60[/video]


And a newly released video of FH going vertical last week:

[video=youtube;5ZeDQAFwW7I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZeDQAFwW7I[/video]
 
timbucktoo said:
My skyline at T+6 seconds
View attachment 335741
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Cocoa Beach, love it I was just there with my kids in July. I have been there twice now, the first time was when there was a Shuttle mission, that got postponed due to some hail damage to the external tank while on the pad. My kids loved it so much that we are likely to return next summer. This time I will try to coordinate it with a SpaceX launch, which is somewhat difficult unless you want to pay a big premium in airfare and do it last min.
 
Wow. SpaceX put on quite a show! :)

The Zuma launch looked really cool from here just north of Orlando. The rocket had a bright red flame on the way up. When the second stage ignited, it looked almost like fireworks. Then we could see both the second stage and the first stage as two bright stars dancing around each other for a little while. Shortly after the second stage winked out, and we began to hear the sound of the launch, the first stage put on a show with its re-entry burn. It looked like a huge meteor for a few seconds.

-- Roger
 

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