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Fairing Recovery and Reuse

Discussion in 'SpaceX' started by ecarfan, Dec 19, 2017.

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  1. miimura

    miimura Well-Known Member

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    SpaceX leases the vessel. It was named by the owner, whose first name is Steven.
     
  2. Nikxice

    Nikxice Active Member

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    • Informative x 1
  3. Lift

    Lift Member

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    With Mr. Steven headed to the East Coast now, I wonder if they'll attempt dual recovery for the next FH launch? If they nail all three booster landings AND both fairings that would be a sight to behold haha
     
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  4. Electroman

    Electroman Supporting Member

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    Don't be greedy !
     
  5. e-FTW

    e-FTW New electron smell

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    Just watch it. All the way to the end!
    SpaceX on Twitter

     
  6. ecarfan

    ecarfan Well-Known Member

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    So close. Pretty cool to watch, for sure. Do we know if the fairing parasail is remotely steerable?
     
  7. Bobfitz1

    Bobfitz1 Active Member

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    This seems likely to work during one of the next few attempts! No doubt they would like to recover both fairing halves. Does anyone know if SpaceX has said how they'd accomplish that? Perhaps invest in a Mr. Steven II ?
     
  8. Lift

    Lift Member

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    I believe the only evidence we've seen so far was the recent spotting of SpaceX practicing with two nets while in port with Mr. Steven. I could definitely see a "Mrs. Steven" being built if two on one boat doesn't work out.
     
  9. Lift

    Lift Member

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    I believe the parasail manufacturer makes them so that they can aim at a specific GPS point. Other then that, we don't know unfortunately.
     
  10. mongo

    mongo Well-Known Member

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    Elon Musk on Twitter
     
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  11. ecarfan

    ecarfan Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the link. Here’s the tweet by Elon:
    GPS guided parafoil twisted, so fairing impacted water at high speed. Air wake from fairing messing w parafoil steering. Doing helo drop tests in next few weeks to solve.
    9:57 AM · Mar 30, 2018
     
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    • Funny x 1
  12. miimura

    miimura Well-Known Member

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    I was poking around on Vesselfinder and found that Mr Steven finally showed up on AIS again. He's in Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. He was out of (free) AIS range for about a week.
     
    • Informative x 1
  13. Grendal

    Grendal SpaceX Moderator

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  14. Grendal

    Grendal SpaceX Moderator

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    First successful fairing recovery by a ship, Ms. Tree, on Falcon Heavy STP-1.
    [​IMG]
     
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  15. Nikxice

    Nikxice Active Member

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    Celebrating this fairing feat with Roy Orbison and his "Ms. Tree Girl" album hit, "You Got It"!...RIP Mr. Steven.
     
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  16. ecarfan

    ecarfan Well-Known Member

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    Wow what an amazing accomplishment!
    Excellent choice. :cool:
     
  17. adiggs

    adiggs Active Member

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    I was thinking about the catch of the one fairing - with this mission, SpaceX now has the option (not previously available) to use the 2 fairing halves to do extensive testing on the two, as well as comparing between the two, with the possible outcome of getting adequate test results to make fairings that have been in the water as usable as fairings that were caught (with a little rinse / wash first).

    The ideal outcome would be to just fish 'em out of the water, rinse em off, and use em again (I realize it'll be more than a simple rinse - the idea is something fast and easy). And be able to use them on any mission.

    Most likely, the first user of fairings that have been in the drink will be SpaceX / Starlink launches. My hope is that with some testing and then actual use, the fairing halves being reused (even after a dunk in the water) is as common as first stage reuse is today.
     
  18. Watts_Up

    Watts_Up Active Member

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    Do we know what happen to the second half?
     
  19. Grendal

    Grendal SpaceX Moderator

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    Yes. It landed in the ocean nearby and Ms. Tree picked it up. It was not supposed to get caught. Only one fairing was planned to be caught. Now that it has been done and they have a decent idea of how to do it, then SpaceX will compare the differences between the two and decide whether to get another ship to catch the second fairing.
     
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  20. Watts_Up

    Watts_Up Active Member

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    Thank you for the information.
    - Do you think SpaceX/Go will have boats both in the Pacific and the Atlantic, so a total of four boats?
    - I read that Ms.Tree ("Mystery") got a third set of arms and net?
    Do you know if the the second set was damaged, or it it was replaced by a smaller or a larger set?
     

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