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

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The technique is used to capture photos of building while there are people walking by, but people don't show up in the photo. They're out of the frame too quickly to make a noticeable imprint on the photo
For example, in Photoshop using a bunch of layers created from a video clip you can do a variety statistical analysis tricks, one of which can remove unwanted content.

I used a similar technique to make the image below using the video posted by SpaceX - I sampled every 15 frames. (I like how you can see the flame moving as the motor gimbals.) My guess is the image posted by George was created the same way and is not a time lapse in the traditional sense but is created from video frames. If I sampled every frame of the video I would end up with an image very similar to that one.


Tony

Not-a-timelapse.jpg
 
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manixFan, I like the picture you posted. The angle of the flame is very obvious in the picture. It shows how extraordinary it is to land a rocket the way SpaceX does. Not only does the vertical velocity have to be zero when the rocket reaches the pad, but the horizontal velocities must also be zero and the rocket must be vertical and the rotational velocity must be zero as well. In the final few seconds this is all done by controlling the angle and thrust of the engine. Truly amazing.
 
manixFan, I like the picture you posted. The angle of the flame is very obvious in the picture. It shows how extraordinary it is to land a rocket the way SpaceX does. Not only does the vertical velocity have to be zero when the rocket reaches the pad, but the horizontal velocities must also be zero and the rocket must be vertical and the rotational velocity must be zero as well. In the final few seconds this is all done by controlling the angle and thrust of the engine. Truly amazing.

It is truly amazing. According to Musk, the ITS rockets will have additional thrusters that will be able to guide the rocket so precisely that they will be able to land them directly on the launch pad in the proper position and orientation to be refueled and reflown immediately. And THAT will be even MORE truly amazing!
 
Launch still scheduled for Monday the 19th, at 2:10 PM EDT.

Update - Postponed to at least Friday, see next message.

Weather is an issue, though, 40% GO:

Launch day probability of violating launch weather constraints: 60%
Primary concern(s): Thick Cloud Layer Rule, Cumulus Cloud Rule, Attached Anvil Cloud Rule

Delay day probability of violating launch weather constraints: 60%
Primary concern(s): Thick Cloud Layer Rule, Cumulus Cloud Rule, Attached Anvil Cloud Rule


Mission Press kit, including timelines: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=42913.0;attach=1433805;sess=13478

Mission Patch:
51C8gA5.png



Webcast:

[video=youtube;Y8mLi-rRTh8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8mLi-rRTh8[/video]
 
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https://www.instagram.com/p/BVarZZSgfIP/?hl=en

Instagram post by Elon Musk:

"Flying thru the Falcon Factory"

Instagram link to video only, cannot get it to preview/display on this forum:

https://scontent-ams3-1.cdninstagra...898_463253554035950_4513399815027032064_n.mp4


Same video posted by someone else, on Youtube, which does preview/display:

[video=youtube;_5bTDpNcETk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5bTDpNcETk[/video]


One of the Falcons shown was previously flown. Do not know which one it was, but it is easily distinguished from the rest. Possibly the same one being reflown for Bulgariasat-1, no idea when the video was shot.

And yes, the footage was shot by some sort of multicopter. Probably a smallish one like the DJI Mavic or even the newest one, the "Spark", since they would pose a lot less potential damage if something went wrong. Also the Mavic has excellent obstacle avoidance sensors (As do the more recent Phantoms).
 
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Another video during the wait for the end of the week.

Tim Dodd, the "Everyday Astronaut", posted this basic explanation of how the Falcon booster is steered for landing.

[video=youtube;Qf5xElWwyQc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf5xElWwyQc[/video]
 
Considering the tropical disturbance in the Gulf, I wouldn't be surprised if the mission gets scrubbed.
 
Considering the tropical disturbance in the Gulf, I wouldn't be surprised if the mission gets scrubbed.

Remember that one half of the "double header" is launching from Vandenburg, so Gulf weather won't have much of an effect.
 
Weather forecast for Bulgariasat-1 Friday the 23rd is 90% GO, and 80% GO for Saturday.

Apparently the same launch time as planned before, 2:10 PM EDT (I've seen nothing to indicate a different time)

NSF article on Static Firing planned today (May have happened by now) at Vandenberg, for the Iridium NEXT #2 Satellite mission. Also includes other into about schedule changes and Bulgariasat.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/06/spacex-vandy-falcon-9-schedule-realignment/

Iridium NEXT launch set for Sunday the 25th. Launch time about 1:25 PM PDT, 4:25PM EDT.

Image posted by Bill Carton on the SpaceX Facebook group (but he got the TIME wrong for Iridium, he lists EDT, when 1:25 PM is PDT):

19225907_10209304765202914_2533728073272166046_n.jpg


SpaceX has two launch crews. Not just for each launch site of course, but for mission controllers. So if Bulgariasat was delayed to Sunday, SpaceX could handle the launch of two Falcons on the same day.

Iridium NEXT mission patch:

2017-06-20-123435-350x348.jpg
 
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Bulgariasat-1 Launch still scheduled for FRIDAY the 23rd, at 2:10 PM EDT.

The booster is a previously flown one, which is set to land on the ASDS Barge Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY)

Webcast link from before the postponement still seems to be good:

[video=youtube;Y8mLi-rRTh8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8mLi-rRTh8[/video]
 
Launch coming up in a few minutes, 10 minutes after the hour (2:10 PM EDT).

Webcast should be running soon (see above)

UPDATE - there is a delay, countdown hold. They have a 2 hour launch window. I'm trying to get more info on the expected launch time, if they are out of the hold.

OK, it SEEMS like the launch was delayed one hour, to 3:10 PM EDT, a bit over an hour from now as I edit this.
 
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WEBCAST IS LIVE NOW. Launch at 3:10 PM EDT (about 10 minutes as I post this) , counting down.

Good launch and staging.

As the booster is coasting along, there are some white chunks drifting away from the tail, probably ice.

Re-entry burn begun, and done. Landing soon!

LANDED SAFE! Whew, a bit close to the edge of the deck.

Can't get my browser to re-run it, keeps displaying live. Anyway, soot on the right side of the deck indicates that it may have been over the water and come in from right to left, just making it to the deck (do not recall there being any soot/scorching like that on that part of the deck). Hope they release video of this landing later. Also wonder what the wind conditions were.

Musk did hint that this landing might be risky, but had not indicated why.
 
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This twitter update:

Elon Musk‏Verified account @elonmusk
Rocket is extra toasty and hit the deck hard (used almost all of the emergency crush core), but otherwise good
.

That was a VERY hot reentry, and apparently a 3 engine landing (ignite center first, then outer two, then before landing (at 100-200 feet) shutdown the outer two and lad on center only). Rather than bing over water, it has been speculated it came in a bit towards the other side (left), overshot the center a bit, and in tilting to stop the horizontal motion left to right, the exhaust may have caused all that soot on the right side without the rocket itself being so close to the railings.

Satellite in super Synchronous orbit.

And separated from the second stage.

Oh, wasn't by intent, but..... 2000th post!
 
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Ah, with the "live" feed ended, I am able to go back.

Just before landing, very briefly aboard OCISLY, there was a frame showing some white spray beyond the left side of the deck. That apparently was the tip of the Falcon exhaust. So it seems it did come in over the water, the other side, had a lot of horizontal momentum, tilted to stop itself, and that is apparently why the right side of the deck is sooted/scorched (as well as the left side)

I made two screenshots, will post them shortly.

Iq2JVtD.jpg


uXO31eY.jpg
 
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I missed the part about why they were using 3 engines for the re-entry this time?

Mass of payload and type of orbit left VERY LITTLE fuel to try to land. They did have a reentry burn, always use 3 engines for that (1-3-1 sequence). For landing, they normally land using one engine. And it takes about 30 seconds to slow down on that one engine, to near zero velocity at landing. All that time, there are gravity losses:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_drag

So with remaining fuel too low to make a normal 1 engine landing, to reduce the gravity losses, they ignite three engines for most of the landing, so rather than fight gravity for 30 seconds, they fight it for.... around 15 seconds (? Maybe 10 seconds with 3 burning, 1 and then later 4 seconds with center only). Let's say 15 seconds, so half the gravity losses.

So, imagine if the Falcon booster could hove in place, which is 1G. The fuel that it would take to hover for 15 seconds, they saved that much fuel with the 3-engine landing (If the landing burn was shortened from 30 seconds to 15). But it is also riskier, which may be a factor in why it was more over the water than over the ASDS deck when the exhaust blast started to touch the surface.

This is perhaps the 5th time they have done this. One time, it ran out of Lox before touchdown and hit hard enough to damage the Falcon to cause it to leak RP-1 and catch fire, then fell over from fire damage. The other times the booster landed safely, but IIRC none of those have been slated for a re-flight, as they had a lot of heat damage. Unknown publicly whether the heat damage was severe enough to make them unflyable, or just extra-expensive and needing more time to repair/refurbish. Also unknown if the engines themselves suffered from heat damage, or if those are OK to swap to another booster for re-use (the engines cost a LOT).

Block 5 Falcon, to start flying near the end of the year, is going to have some upgrades to make refurbishment easier, as well as better heat protection. And bigger grid fins which can allow for a more lifting body-type glide re-entry, at a shallower angle (more horizontal than vertical), which would cause less peak heating than the current re-entries do. As it is, the existing grid fins make it "glide" a bit, but only enough to alter the descent path some, not big enough to do the kind of shallow lifting re-entry they need.

BTW - there were rumors that "Roomba" might be used after landing. But no onfo yet on whether it's being used. Roomba is the nickname of the big wide robot to be used to help secure the Falcon on deck rather than human crew needing to attach the Falcon to the deck by installing jackstands, welding steel anchors to the deck plate, and attaching/securing chains to the Falcon to hold it for the trip back to port.
 
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They should get some of those cameras used on race car's i.e. self cleaning :)

john
 
They're doing some pretty amazing things, but I have one minor gripe. The people doing the callouts during the countdown don't have that "we've got this all under control" smooth confidence in their voices that you hear in the Apollo launch tapes (or the shuttle launch tapes or even air traffic control/pilot conversation tapes). They sound rushed, forced, and a bit stressed. And young. I keep waiting for one of their voices to crack. I'm sure there are huge levels of stress at each launch, and the people are rushed. Apollo launches had all that too, but they made it sound like it was all good.

Elon should invest in a little announcement voice training. Maybe just have the kids listen to the old launch tapes. Or have Sully come in and do a seminar on how to sound calm when all hell is breaking loose.

Darn kids.
 
Reminder, that the Iridium Next launch is tomorrow (Sunday the 25th), at 1:25 PM PDT (4:25 PM EDT), from Vandenberg.

Booster will go for an ASDS landing on "Just Read The Instructions" (JRTI).

I'll post a link to the webcast when I find one, it's not listed yet.

Here's a really nice launch photo from Friday's launch:

rtcKWN2.jpg


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

No photos or video from the landing. Usually release those a few days later, such as after returning to port.
 
On the pad at Vandenberg:

hbLLb1E.jpg


The grid fins look black. They are changing the grid fins from aluminum with an ablative coating, to Titanium. So these may be the new Titanium ones. But they are supposed to be bigger (to allow for a shallower semi-lifting reentry to reduce heating), hard to tell from this if they are bigger.

Weather is 100% "Go".

Iridium-2 Patch:

index.php
 
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