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History Making First Recovery for SpaceX - Orbcomm-2 Launch
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JenniferQ
Active Member
What has gotten little publicity is that Elon stated he thought the landing was a failure with the first stage exploding upon landing.
It wasn't until he went back inside that he found out it had been a success.
They won't re-fly it but they will test the engines
It wasn't until he went back inside that he found out it had been a success.
About 95km downrange and 180km altitude
They won't re-fly it but they will test the engines
Todd Burch
14-Year Member
Thanks! Impressive maneuvering. I'd love to see onboard video of the burnback/reversing process, although I suspect that maybe it's just a lot of flames
.
They had to prove they could hit the place they aimed for. Instead of, for example, downtown Titusville.
They are also limited by the payload too. They mentioned there is a 30% hit for the land based return and a 15% hit for barge landings. When there is heavy cargo, at the limit of capacity, they may not have the ability to return at all. There was a flight earlier in the year that was at the rocket's limit and there was no legs and no chance of return. Can't remember which one now though.
The closer you can get to the equator the more the Earth's rotation helps. This is why Sea Launch placed their floating launch platform on the equator and ESA's land based launch site is very close to the equator at about 5 degrees north latitude. Cape Canaveral on the other hand is at nearly 30 degrees north latitude.
Another advantage to a sea launch is it's safer. When you're not launching over land you don't run into problems like the USSR/Russians and Chinese have had where failed launches have led to serious damage and death downrange.
Disaster at Xichang | History | Air Space Magazine
Call him a Nazi,
he won't even frown.
Nazi, schmatze
Says Verner von Braun.
Gotta love Professor Tom.
Todd Burch
14-Year Member
Thanks for sharing, Space X team
A great many thanks to Space X team for sharing live streaming.
Some other wanna be club members, I will not name names, only share successes and keep failure private. That is ok, but it seems like a lack of trust to me. Perhaps that lack of trust is well placed sometimes.
Space X trusts us unconditionally and gives us the opportunity to watch events live. That opportunity makes us all feel a small part of it.
Sharing is caring. We care back.:love:
A great many thanks to Space X team for sharing live streaming.
Some other wanna be club members, I will not name names, only share successes and keep failure private. That is ok, but it seems like a lack of trust to me. Perhaps that lack of trust is well placed sometimes.
Space X trusts us unconditionally and gives us the opportunity to watch events live. That opportunity makes us all feel a small part of it.
Sharing is caring. We care back.:love:
Fabrication question
In the SpaceX-provided video, during the lead-up to the launch when Mr WaitButWhy is being led through the facility, he and we are shown some production facilities: a cavernous booster construction room, a Merlin engine construction room, a 3-D printer facility, and perhaps some more. That confused me, as I thought production was in California.
So.....
Q: What is created in Hawthorne, and what at Cape Canaveral? Or was that entire video not occurring in Florida but in California?
Follow-up: assuming esp. the 23-story main boosters are fabricated on the opposite coast, what do they use to get them to Cape Canaveral? Truck convoy, rail, or barge via Panama Canal?
In the SpaceX-provided video, during the lead-up to the launch when Mr WaitButWhy is being led through the facility, he and we are shown some production facilities: a cavernous booster construction room, a Merlin engine construction room, a 3-D printer facility, and perhaps some more. That confused me, as I thought production was in California.
So.....
Q: What is created in Hawthorne, and what at Cape Canaveral? Or was that entire video not occurring in Florida but in California?
Follow-up: assuming esp. the 23-story main boosters are fabricated on the opposite coast, what do they use to get them to Cape Canaveral? Truck convoy, rail, or barge via Panama Canal?
So all the video with the WaitButWhy guy, the factory tour as well as the live commentary, was taken at SpaceX in Hawthorne, CA. I've toured those facilities myself.
My understanding is the boosters get transported mostly by truck cross country. I'm sure assembly and staging is done at the Cape.
My understanding is the boosters get transported mostly by truck cross country. I'm sure assembly and staging is done at the Cape.
I watched it this morning having missed it live. My real excitement was watching the excitement of all the people at SpaceX.
However, being a somewhat rational type, my excitement is tempered by knowing that the object is reusability, and that this is just a step in the process. Onwards and upwards (and sideways and sideways and downwards and upwards ... )
Yes, and that makes the 1st stage landing even more of a thrill to me. Ever since I was a kid in the 60's reading science fiction stories I cringe every time a capsule returns from orbit and crashes into the ocean, or, in the case of they Soyuz, slams into the earth's surface. In my favorite sci-fi, humans would land gently on the surface, retro-rockets firing. Finally, we are close to doing that in real life.
Of course the shuttle glided to a landing, but that vehicle was so incredibly complex, and the heat shield tiles so unreliable, that it never achieved anywhere near the promised reusability cost savings.
In my lifetime I expect to see a SpaceX manned capsule slowly descend onto the surface of Mars.
Yes, most of that was shot in Hawthorne. The Tesla Design Center is another building in the same campus, with the superchargers outside it.
The boosters are transported first via McGregor, Texas, where they do some of the testing. Then off to Canaveral for the rest.
Here is another angle on the landing:
The description for this video on YouTube says that the landing pad is six miles from the launch pad. Anyone know if this is true? That seems a bit far. During the launch broadcast the Manager of Falcon Recovery was describing the advantages of landing on land and said the landing pad was within 1000 feet of the processing area.
The description for this video on YouTube says that the landing pad is six miles from the launch pad. Anyone know if this is true? That seems a bit far. During the launch broadcast the Manager of Falcon Recovery was describing the advantages of landing on land and said the landing pad was within 1000 feet of the processing area.
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And lets not stop at Dragon2. In 2016 Falcon Heavy will have its first launch. 3 stages, 9 engines per stage. If my math is correct that is 27 engines.:smile:
From the SpaceX site you can see the Falcon Heavy animation of landing all 3 stages. Not sure if they will try to land any or all stages on the demo flight but after this success it will only be a matter of time.
[video]http://www.spacex.com/falcon-heavy[/video]
From the SpaceX site you can see the Falcon Heavy animation of landing all 3 stages. Not sure if they will try to land any or all stages on the demo flight but after this success it will only be a matter of time.
[video]http://www.spacex.com/falcon-heavy[/video]
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dhanson865
Well-Known Member
probably true, 3 different places
launch
processing
landing
have to travel 1000 ft to process, quite a bit further to relaunch.
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Just to be clear on the numbers and the terminology
On Falcon 9 there are 9 engines on the first stage and 1 engine on the second stage.
On Falcon heavy there are 27 engines on the first stage and 1 engine on the second stage.
The things you are calling stages are called "cores" by SpaceX when referring to Falcon Heavy components.
Falcon Heavy | SpaceX
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