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

I had not mentioned that. IIRC, it is highly refurbished.

Same inner pressure vessel, flown for CRS-4. But everything else outside the pressure vessel is new, IIRC. Outer shell, heat shield, hatch (?), RCS fuel tanks, RCS thrusters, perhaps new chutes, etc. And of course a new "Trunk" which not only carries cargo inside but has the deployable solar panels, jetttisoned shortly after re-entry burn.

Here's a pic of a pressure vessel, mounted to a stand:



Article on Space Flight Insider: https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/...cience-reused-dragon-capsule-featured-crs-11/

Pic of the LV being raised to vertical at 39A:




close-up of the Dragon spacecraft.

Lightning delay looks like a recycle to Saturday

Yep, scrub for today.

Lightning strike at Merritt Island. Requires half hour to clear. Setting up 48 turnaround for Saturday, 5:07 pm EST.

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That strike was within 10 miles of the pad at about T - 25 minutes. And these CRS launches to ISS do not have a launch window allowing them to wait for the five extra minutes they would have needed to (And that would assume no other lightning strikes in the interim).

60% chance of favorable weather for Saturday.

They don't launch when there may be lightning. Last time that did happen at 1987 when an Atlas Centuar rocket was hit, screwing up the fight computer which swing the engines hard over, and it broke up.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/0...ed-after-launch-in-a-rainstorm/5402545544000/

Flight rules were broken in that one.

Also happened to Apollo-12, last time a manned mission was flown in lighting conditions. At least the Saturn-V's guidance system was not affected (mounted on top of the 3rd stage). But the CM's electrical system was all screwed up. Fortunately a ground controller, John Aaaron, recognized what may have happened and knew what might fix it, and his info was relayed to the crew. Alan Bean flipped a switch, "SCE to AUX", which solved the problem.

CRS-11 launch set for 5:07 PM EDT Saturday, June 3rd.

Weather 60% GO, 40% No-Go.

If that is scrubbed, no clear info on whether a 24 hour or 48 hour turnaround. But weather is 50-50 on Sunday and for other reasons if they do not go Saturday then most likely it'll be reset for Monday.

Reminder that this will be an RTLS landing back at the Cape.

Do not see a link for the Webcast yet.

Hosted webcast:

[video=youtube;URh-oPqjlM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URh-oPqjlM[/video]

Technical Webcast:

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


And of course, I recommend NASA TV at the same time as one of the webcasts.

I may not be back from a launch in time to follow it live today.

Due to a flight cancellation I will be driving I to Orlando today about 3, and the better half has approved a detour to space view park in Titusville before checking in at the hotel. This almost makes driving 17 hours through the night worth it...please don't scrub.

The cruel realities of driving in rain, traveling with young bladders, and time zones are going to leave me 20 min late to the party.

Another great SpaceX launch and landing of 1st stage back at LZ1!

Chris, did you make to watch the launch?

Cl(VII) said:

Due to a flight cancellation I will be driving I to Orlando today about 3, and the better half has approved a detour to space view park in Titusville before checking in at the hotel. This almost makes driving 17 hours through the night worth it...please don't scrub.

The cruel realities of driving in rain, traveling with young bladders, and time zones are going to leave me 20 min late to the party.

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Hope you made it in time and go to watch another smooth landing!
Hopefully it becomes commonplace (even BLah Origin getting involved will be good for the industry)

NASA feed also very nice, showed more ground footage. Amazing how you can see the first stage boost back burn from the 2nd stage onboard footage!

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/06/03/watch-a-replay-of-the-falcon-9-launch-with-dragon/

Can't wait for heavy. Glad to hear they are preparing the second landing zone!

Photos from SpaceX’s Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/



I THINK this is a moment after the ignition of the center engine, for the landing burn. First clue was the darker smoke a few hundred feet above. Biggest clue once I noticed it is the greenish flame at the very end at the bottom of the exhaust. The TEA and TEB hypergolic liquids that are briefly spurted inside the engine to ignite it, has a green flame. Edit correction: Pyrophoric (not hypergolic) when TEA & TEB contact Oxygen.

In good view angles of engines being ignited on the pad, there is usually a green flame seen first (especially at night). And sometimes seen after landing (at night), as they now dump whatever is left (IIRC the first successful landing or two they did not dump it and it was a hassle to safely remove all of it at the dock, a risky Hazmat procedure for which the crew had to wear protective gear and breathing apparatus).









Man, I would LOVE to see the video that this photo is based on. Must have had the booster in view for most if not all of the landing burn. Some sort of computer image trickery to extract just the bright landing flame into a continuous streak plus static shot after landing and the smoke cleared.



BTW , the Landing Pad was given a new coat of paint, said to be radar-reflective. The Falcon uses radar to determine its altitude above ground for the last few hundred feet of landing.


At the end, link to Youtube video of NASA coverage.

Staging at 3 minutes. A great long range camera view of the booster pitch-around and ignition to begin the boost back.



At 6:45, the re-entry burn begins. First with the center engine, then two outer engines, then the outer two shut down then center shuts down.



Landing burn starts at 7:50. After a few seconds of onboard, a NASA camera has a side view all the way down to landing.

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

The USAF Space Plane X-37B will fly next time in August on a Space-X Falcon 9.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/06/...acex-to-launch-next-x-37b-spaceplane-mission/

Yeah, that was surprising news. Knew that SpaceX would be launching other DOD payloads, but hadn't considered the X-37B to be one of them. And in August! Well, the launch was already long scheduled but the payload was not mentioned until now.

Next launch is set for June 17th, 9 days away if it does not slip. BulgariaSat 1. To be launched on a reused booster which will land on the ASDS barge OCISLY.

Meanwhile, CRS-11 docked with ISS Monday. Well, was grappled by the robotic arm and "Berthed".

Time-lapse sequence:

[video=youtube;UrVW9e0k1AY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrVW9e0k1AY[/video]

Hey George, maybe you know the answer to a question I haven't seen the answer to. I know that most of the resupply flights are grappled and "berthed" with the Canadarm, but also that some, if not all of the Soyuz flights dock directly. Will the SpaceX resupply flights ever be allowed to dock by themselves? Is that a division between human piloted ships and "robot" ships or just a level of trust that SpaceX will eventually work toward? Any thoughts or knowledge on the rationale for all of that? Safety, obviously, is a part of that, but it seems like safety isn't the only thing.

John, I think I can take a swing at that question. George may be able to cite references.

The Soyuz and the ESA ATVs are both robot ships with automated docking systems. And may be remote piloted. I recall a series of articles on Spaceflight Now a few years ago when the ATVs went through a series of tests proving out the radar, lidar and software systems. It sounded extremely involved and thorough. Especially the software side - proving its behavior in all conceivable situations. There were stories about how the lidar builds up 3D models of the station during approach, and they had to figure out how to deal with interference with sun glint and glare.

Presumably the Russians did the same testing and development with Soyuz - perhaps with Mir?

IIRC, the other resupply craft, including the Dragon, have much simpler guidance and control systems. GPS on the approach to the berthing box. Simpler radar? Simple command from the station system - proceed, hold, retreat, abort. I think they simply don't have the hardware and control complexity that the station managers require for totally automated docking.

For that matter. I think some of the Soyuz approach equipment is built into (or around) the Soyuz docking rings. I bet the Western Alliance side ports simply don't have that equipment. Maybe the ATVs had extra hardware and smarts to compensate?

Charles gave a great answer, with more info than I knew of.

For SpaceX it may be an issue of cost tradeoffs. Many millions to make a highly reliable fully automated system. While the method they ended up using is simpler and cheaper, and meets NASA's needs.

Russia has been doing automated "Progress" resupply flights for nearly 40 years. I looked it up, first Progress flew in 1978 to the Salyut-6 Space Station (Russia had a series of small Space Stations launched by Proton rockets, which lasted for 2-3 years then were replaced. They alternated between "civilian" and military missions, at least for awhile).

They have a deployable radar system that derives the distance and position between the spacecraft and station, and a TV camera that the cosmonauts inside the station can see on a TV monitor for steering the Progress remotely.

Progress wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_(spacecraft)

They have an automated system named KURS which can do the final approach and docking totally automatically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurs_(docking_navigation_system)

There was an incident in 1997 when a Progress collided with MIR. However it was not an automation failure. It had already docked safely, and was ready to end its mission. It was undocked, then a test was done to re-dock it using manual remote control. The Cosmonaut messed up the approach though and it hit Mir, causing some damage. The Progress was still able to "fly", so it was maneuvered away and de-orbited as usual (to burn up over the ocean, not deigned to return anything, only as a one-way freighter)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_M-34#Collision


So, below is an example of one of the advantages of having a remote robotic arm to grab the spacecraft and berth it. What that same arm can do AFTER berthing.

First, this screengrab that a poster (centaurinasa) on NSF made and labeled, taken from the launch video shortly after the Dragon separated from the second stage. That is a great view inside of the "Trunk" which carries "external" cargo (as opposed to cargo inside of the pressured capsule).



After berthing, the arm grabbing onto NICER



And moving it elsewhere.

Thanks for that both of you. For some reason I had thought that I had heard that SpaceX capsule was *capable* of automated docking but wasn't *allowed* by NASA to do so. I must've been mistaken or heard something incorrectly.

Again, thanks.

Peartree said:

Thanks for that both of you. For some reason I had thought that I had heard that SpaceX capsule was *capable* of automated docking but wasn't *allowed* by NASA to do so. I must've been mistaken or heard something incorrectly.

Again, thanks.

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Well, I looked into this further. Found a thread on NSF with the following exchange:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36560.0

Forgive me if this has been discussed somewhere else, but if it has I can't seem to find it.

Now that SpaceX have a few 'nominal' Dragon CRS flights under their collective belts, what are the reasons they're not trying to implement an automated docking sequence like we saw in the Dragon v2/DragonRider promo video at this time? Is there a design issue with Dragon v1.x that specifically prevents them doing this??

Thanks,
Cameron

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It already is automatic. There is noone in there steering it. Or are you asking about docking vs berthing (grabbed by the station arm)? The hatches are different.

The cargo contract (COTS then CRS) was for vehicle to berth at the station. Could they do automated docking in the future? Yes, that is the plan for Dragon 2, and we will have to see what kind of services that SpaceX bids in the followup to CRS-2 (the followup to the current CRS contract)

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Dragon 2 is the crew version of the spacecraft.

I'm doing this on my cell phone so I'm not sure how well this will work. Earlier today Elon Musk tweeted this. So we should expect the FH launch in "about 3 months"? Haha.




Elon Musk
@elonmusk

Replying to @JohnnyZenith
All Falcon Heavy cores should be at the Cape in two to three months, so launch should happen a month after that



... So that's 6 months?????

People could become rich betting against the timeframes Elon Musk tweets as becoming true (if anyone would take such sucker bets).

"two to three months" = at least 3 months.

A month after that = at least 4 months.

October.

There is a placeholder in the Cape launch schedule for it to Launch around the end of October.

Could slip for all sorts of reasons.

The 2nd landing pad work is finally underway.

But one of the big tent pole items left is finally getting LC-40 repaired so they can swap Falcon-9 back launches to LC-40, and then finally do the work to Pad 39A to configure it for Falcon Heavy launches. That work is expected to take about 6 weeks, IIRC (Correction - two months at least). So for a mid to late October launch of FH, LC-40 has to be back to being able to launch F9's around mid to late August. )

But it does seems like finally progress moving forward. The perpetual "6 months away" announcements that always kicked the can down the road another 6 months when they gave a schedule update, has finally officially become shorter......

I'm pretty familure with construction schedules.
When an engineer sits in an office and makes up a schedule, there is a straight forward approach put on paper.
It is assumed everything is on site and all man power and everything thing moves forward without a hitch.
The do not even include bad weather days.
Such things as special order items needs to have submitals submitted to the engineer, approved, returned, (and redone until approved) then a purchase order can be made to order the item(s). High Tech specialist in some areas has a schedule reaching out a year or more, so that particular person, or group of person's will get there when your project is put in line. Depending upon when your submittal process is completed and they get a contract for their contribution to the project.
I've seen a projects go up for bids in the fall with a Spring start date and a fall turn over. It doesn't get started until the Fall, and doesn't finish until the Summer. Mostly because of short work days during the Winter, and Winter weather itself. This is an example of a small project. Larger ones can run over a year behind in the start date just due to zoning or other city or county problems.
So when a schedule is posted, take it for granted it is attentive.

My brother (a project manager for a well known company) used to joke that in order to do a project estimate you should...
a) make your best estimate of the number of labor-hours required.
b) multiply by two
c) change to the next higher system of units (ie. days become weeks, weeks become months, months become years, etc.)

So if your best estimate was the famous SpaceX "six months" then your final answer would be.. 12 years.

That might be a tad high :eyeroll: But in the words of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (aka "Scotty"), "How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?"

Mushtang said:

I'm doing this on my cell phone so I'm not sure how well this will work. Earlier today Elon Musk tweeted this. So we should expect the FH launch in "about 3 months"? Haha.




Elon Musk
@elonmusk

Replying to @JohnnyZenith
All Falcon Heavy cores should be at the Cape in two to three months, so launch should happen a month after that



... So that's 6 months?????

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Ya had to go and say it....

Charles_McG said:

. Maybe the ATVs had extra hardware and smarts to compensate?

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The ATV's all docked on the Russian side. I think they also used the Russian guidance system for approach and docking.

BTW, when the Dragon 2 docks at the station, it will do so to a PMA with an International Docking Adapter installed.

georgegassaway said:

Man, I would LOVE to see the video that this photo is based on. Must have had the booster in view for most if not all of the landing burn. Some sort of computer image trickery to extract just the bright landing flame into a continuous streak plus static shot after landing and the smoke cleared.

Click to expand...

I can answer how they got that photo. It's a super long exposure with the aperture open very slightly. The flame is bright enough to show up in the entire exposure, while the rocket itself is not. Normally you would continue the exposure to get actual rocket as it appears on the ground where it is in the photo. But my guess is they ended the exposure, took a regular photo of the rocket on the ground, then superimposed the long exposure of the flame.

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

Thanks for explaining how that image was made.

So, next launch is set for Saturday June 17th. Launch window opens at 2:10 PM EDT, apparently a 4 hour window. If it launches then, that will be the second-fastest turnaround for a SpaceX launch (14 days & a few hours)

Static firing originally was to have been today, shifted to Wednesday.

Booster is a re-used booster. Apparently #1029, which was launched from Vandenberg in January,successfully delivering the Iridium-NEXT satellite (satellites as it deployed 10), and the booster landed on "Just Read The Instructions"



For this flight, the booster will do an ASDS landing on OCISLY.

Payload is Bulgaria-Sat 1. It's not Bulgaria's first satellite, but their first to Geosynchronous orbit.






Article about this launch and also the X-37B flight later this summer:

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/06/bulgariasat-launch-spacex-secures-x-37b-contract/

Static firing delayed to Thursday. That may push the launch day to Sunday (Test firing without payload, have to go from vertical at pad to horizontal, roll back, install payload, go back to pad, get re-attached to pad and raised vertical, which is very tight to try to do in 2 days though it has been done sometimes).

Weather forecast also not so good for Saturday, better for Sunday.

georgegassaway said:

If it launches then, that will be the second-fastest turnaround for a SpaceX launch (14 days & a few hours)

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That's impressive all by itself. But I guess that's pad preparation more than anything else right? They could have 4 rockets ready to go since they have enough equipment already, and still have to wait on the pad to be ready.

An even more impressive action will be when they turn around a booster and reuse it in a super short amount of time - weeks or even days, instead of months. Someday there might be pads all over the place, and rockets will be reused within days on a regular basis.

Mushtang said:

That's impressive all by itself. But I guess that's pad preparation more than anything else right? They could have 4 rockets ready to go since they have enough equipment already, and still have to wait on the pad to be ready.

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Yes, that's usually the case.

April was an odd case, the NROL-76 satellite was not ready for a few weeks. But SpaceX could not exactly bump them out of line. Well, maybe they could have.... but the next payload after that was not ready yet IIRC, and there also would have been issues with swapping out the assigned boosters.

But other than that odd case with NROL-76, it's mostly the pad that they are waiting for. inspection from the previous launch, "routine" refurbishment/part replacement/repairs, any special case problems to fix, then have it ready to go again. I do not know just what they do inside the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF, their equivalent to the VAB) that may also play a role in this, but what I read about mostly focuses on the Pad.

However, the pad was given the OK without any delays. And yet the the original static fire date was supposed to be Tuesday. So for whatever reasons the work inside the HIF took two days longer than expected, and can't be blamed waiting for the pad (unless there was damage to the TEL that transports and raises/lowers the Falcon that they had to put extra time in, but I have presumed that is supposed to be discovered within the Pad damage assessment and repair time accounted for shortly after the previous launch).

BTW - hours after the CRS-11 launch, the booster for this mission was moved inside the HIF.

Here is an update. Due to weather forecasts (on top of being unlikely to launch Saturday due to the Static Fire being pushed to Thursday), the launch has been moved to MONDAY the 19th, window opening at 2:10 PM EDT.

Here is a very good article about the preparation for the flight, including a bit of insight into the launch preparation. While a lot is about this mission, some of it is generically useful.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/06/spacex-static-fire-next-falcon-9-flight-proven-booster/

UPDATE - Static Fire complete.

Static Fire of our our F9 flight 37 just completed nominal !

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