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

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Uh, guys...

So they replaced the barge deck plates (presumably with stronger ones)

And they made this rocket-holder-Roomba thingy (presumably to hold the rocket firmly)

And no one really knows what they intend to do. Here's my guess:

They're gonna grab it with the Roomba, swing the Falcons' own legs back up into flight position, re-center on the new deck plates as/if needed, re-fuel it and fly it back to Florida.

sort of like. Put a new reload in it and change the 9 volt batteries?

Tony
 
Uh, guys...

So they replaced the barge deck plates (presumably with stronger ones)

And they made this rocket-holder-Roomba thingy (presumably to hold the rocket firmly)

And no one really knows what they intend to do. Here's my guess:

They're gonna grab it with the Roomba, swing the Falcons' own legs back up into flight position, re-center on the new deck plates as/if needed, re-fuel it and fly it back to Florida.

He said in the post mission news conference that it's a remote controlled robot so they can secure the rocket if it's sliding around on the deck. Obviously you cannot put people on the barge if the rocket is moving around.
 
Flying back to Florida makes no sense, energy-wise.

Not energy wise, but it sure would save time. And since he said in the press conference that they'd like to eventually get the turnaround time down to *hours*...
 
“SpaceX has revealed how they plan to catch fairing halves in mid-air. Their new blimps will be able to fly the fairings slowly back to the Cape, unlike helicopters which would not have the range to fly back slowly enough from so far out without refueling.”

Confirmation here: https://tinyurl.com/SpaceXBlimpRevealed

IPOSvKj.jpg



Again, confirmation here: https://tinyurl.com/SpaceXBlimpRevealed

Also, here: https://tinyurl.com/o3eq6w7
 
But Shirley they would have to have two of them - to stretch a net between them... No! Four of them; a pair to catch each of the fairing halves.
 
This blimp plan gives me an April 1st kind of feeling, but it isn't crazier than landing boosters vertically on a boat in the ocean, and reusing them...not that has to be an April 1st prank.
 
This blimp plan gives me an April 1st kind of feeling, but it isn't crazier than landing boosters vertically on a boat in the ocean, and reusing them...not that has to be an April 1st prank.
Hmm, sounds like someone didn't click on any of the links:

[video=youtube;SSR6ZzjDZ94]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSR6ZzjDZ94[/video]


Tony
 
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Musk tweeted this afternoon that they're playing with the idea of landing the second stage, along with all three first stages, when they test Falcon Heavy later this year. FOUR landings at once? April Fool's joke? It's hard to tell.
 
Musk tweeted this afternoon that they're playing with the idea of landing the second stage, along with all three first stages, when they test Falcon Heavy later this year. FOUR landings at once? April Fool's joke? It's hard to tell.

I wasn't at my computer earlier. Here's the tweet:

Elon Musk (‏Verified account @elonmusk)

Considering trying to bring upper stage back on Falcon Heavy demo flight for full reusability. Odds of success low, but maybe worth a shot.

2:44 PM - 31 Mar 2017
 
Well, they DID recover the fairing half after all!

Go Searcher arrived in port with tarps covering it, or perhaps pieces of it.

No info at all on its condition. Or if it is badly damaged or broken, why that would be
Photo by Scott M:

I0RCUu1.jpg


Photos by Steve Marr:

OB7Sq4W.jpg


xCrRG41.jpg


The black stuff, some think those are fairing pieces out in the open, but seem more to me like black tarps over something. The fairings are white on the outside (Fairing portion that washed up on a beach still had the white paint). And while black (Carbon Fiber) on the inside, any broken pieces that look black would have a concave surface.

CLARIFICATION - the photo below is a fairing that washed up on a beach a few years ago, not the one from SES-10.

W97VJ2C.jpg
 
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+1. I'm still waiting for this too.

No onboard landing or post-landing photos either. Someone on the deck crew goes to the various cameras (many of which are GoPros) and obtain the file data (SD cards, maybe even some cameras). Then the files are later transmitted to SpaceX. This usually happens on the day of a landing, and by 1-2 days later they release landing photos on their Flickr account:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/

But the latest photos are from the launch, not the landing.

I ran across a message on NSF where someone made a comment implying landing video to be posted in a few hours from now. They had no source, just said it as if everyone knows. So, maybe tonight, but don't count on it.

BTW - the tug Elsbeth III, towing the ASDS barge OCISLY with the re-used SES-10 booster #1021, is due in sometime tomorrow morning (Tuesday).

And..... here is an Amos-6 mission patch that someone designed and posted on Saturday....

4jycGOk.jpg
 
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Pretty sure they are going to want to put up a bit more polished video hence the delay.

That fairing looks to have taken quite a bit of damage, obvious more work to do there. The important part will be the telemetry they collected. Also there should be some video.
 
I don't believe hat fairing on the beach is from this recovery attempt but is one from a different launch for comparison.
 
Right, I added the washed-up-on-beach pic to show what a fairing half looks like on the inside, though that one was pretty beat up for various reasons. Later added a clarification notice.

Meanwhile, Elsbeth-III with OCISLY and re-used Falcon booster #1021 were photographed about 10 miles out. Possibly waiting for the tide before coming into Port Canaveral.

zAZebz2.jpg


Hopefully some nice pics dockside after sunrise tomorrow morning.
 
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My son has quite a few mission patches and I'm pretty sure he and other SpaceX'ers would not care for the Amos-6 patch design. They all work super hard and many hours to make the missions happen and no one is more disappointed when things don't go right than the folks making and testing the rockets. I know it's meant in good fun but they don't see anything funny about it when things don't go as planned. It is unbelievable how how seriously they take their mission. They aren't doing space tourism, they really want to change the way humans move in the solar system.

Per aspera ad astra


Tony
 
The patch was posted as an April Fool's joke. That does not mean of course that everyone would like it, ManixFan's comments are valid. Though you never know, I could see a scenario where it might even be displayed at an employees-only area in Hawthorne as a reminder to be careful.....

It was a looming problem that eventually was going to happen with that COPV design/fabrication and the way they were loading subcooled Lox. Better it happen with a satellite than with a Dragon-2 with human crew aboard (never assume an escape system is 100% reliable, and even if they survived that would be a massive blow to SpaceX)

On to better things.... Next launch may be in under 2 weeks. NROL satellite, current NET date is April 16th. More info later as launch date gets closer and more solid.

I came across this great SES-10 liftoff photo showing the engine exhaust so well. I cropped it, as it is quite big.

Original photo here: https://i.imgur.com/UpSUZWs.jpg

by Mary Ellen Jelen / We Report Space

uvZ1FMd.jpg
 
Lots of goodies today.

Some landing photos posted on the SpaceX flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/

This one is 33% of the original size. There's one with it just about at the moment of touchdown, but I like this one being pretty high up and the detail of the deck, somewhat more unique

EIAAMAz.jpg



And OCISLY with the first re-flown booster, back in port, again.

Mike Killian Photo
g7pAPLh.jpg


John Kraus photos:
7y5eHoe.jpg


HCF6O8O.jpg


And, a photo of a Falcon-9 fairing half. The man in the picture helps give an idea of size. It is said that a bus can fit inside of the complete fairing.

z2mbVMd.jpg


This image is a crude photoshop someone made, modifying a parafoil photo and a drawing of a fairing half, showing the basic configuration that it is likely what SpaceX used (probably a lot more lines, bigger wider chute, etc. But the basic idea).

VwZFFCV.jpg
 
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Steve Marr has posted several great photos from above ground, showing OCISLY and the booster at the dock.

"Aerial photos of SpaceX B1021 recovery" https://imgur.com/a/wke7n

The one below is a cropped image of the huge original, after the booster was secured to the dockside pedestals (or during).

sP5N7Ri.jpg


Several more to see, particularly OCISLY's deck got pretty toasted and a bit off-center. Of course they are not exactly using paint that is intended to hold up to rocket exhaust.

Rh9mBk7.jpg
 
George, the first 2 pics have awesome colors.
Space X should make puzzles out of some of their pics.
That main stage sure looks like it got quite hot, or chard on reentry.
Was anything said about if they can re-use this again?
And thanks for the flicker pics, I don't do flicker.
 
That main stage sure looks like it got quite hot, or chard on reentry.
Was anything said about if they can re-use this again?

Yeah, so did the two other GTO profile flights that successfully landed the boosters while also doing those risky 3-engine "suicide burns" for landing. Those did not have enough fuel to do a normal re-entry burn so they had very hot re-entries. Those may never fly again. So when I realized this mission was going to be the same kind of thing, I figured it would be retired if it survived. Musk said he is donating it to KSC. So, officially that was its last flight.

So, here's a pic of the upper section grid fins and interstage, by Scott Murray:

QfNcs6v.jpg


The grid fins are aluminum, with an ablative coating. But some of the hot re-entries like this, the aluminum itself started to burn. For the next Falcon 9 version, "Block 5", it will use titanium forged grid fins. The hypersonic airflow past and above the grid fins sure caused some extreme heating charred splotches on the interstage. It is made of carbon fiber and aluminum, and certainly the RESIN that bonds carbon fiber to itself and the CF to the aluminum is probably the weakest link, potentially de-bonding or bubbling (not sure of how much heat CF itself can take, it varies widely depending on how it was fabricated). I do not know if that charring is simply ablative paint, or if the carbon fiber/aluminum structure was damaged (or weakened in any way) by that heat. I also do not know that if it were structurally damaged, if it would be practical to replace damaged/weakened interstages with new ones while being able to re-use most of the rest of a booster.

They have said that Block-5 should be able to make more flights, and need less refurbishment work. So perhaps they will also be protecting the interstage better, or make it more practical to replace them. Since the area affected upstream is not too big, and if the current method is allowing heat damage, I could see them adding either extra-thick ablative coatings in those key areas, or some other sacrificial coverings, to protect the CF/Aluminum structure (leftover charred ablative could be "sandblasted" clean using fine abrasive that would not hurt the structure. They are probably doing that anyway with anything covered with ablative).

I did notice during re-entry, when the grid fins started to glow orange, just before the camera got obscured, that the "paint" was bubbling on the interstage below the camera. But that may have been a thin ablative coating.
 
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George, the first 2 pics have awesome colors.
Space X should make puzzles out of some of their pics.

SpaceX has made their Flickr feed public domain, so you can download the high-resolution picture and go to a custom puzzle website and have it made.
 
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