Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
JetBuddy wrote:The picture of the Roadster on top of the launch adapter is awesome. Where did you find that?
JetBuddy wrote:That is one spacious fairing.
Tugger wrote:JetBuddy wrote:That is one spacious fairing.
You know, that makes me wonder... this would be an excellent fairing to actually test a return option on. Basically they could strap anything they want into it to return the fairing.
Tugg
JetBuddy wrote:The picture of the Roadster on top of the launch adapter is awesome. Where did you find that?
KarelXWB wrote:Tugger wrote:JetBuddy wrote:That is one spacious fairing.
You know, that makes me wonder... this would be an excellent fairing to actually test a return option on. Basically they could strap anything they want into it to return the fairing.
Tugg
Meanwhile the recovery vessel has been spotted. SpaceX will span a big net on those 4 arms and try to catch the first half of the fairing.
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-fairin ... very-boat/
Tugger wrote:Yes, but that ship is currently off the coast of California, perhaps they are going to try and catch tonight's fairing?
Friday’s launch is likely to see another attempt to recover the rocket’s payload fairing. A recovery ship, named Mr Steven, left the port of Los Angeles on Thursday bound for Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Mexico.
This will place the ship, which has been fitted with four large arms – possibly intended to hold a net for capturing the fairing, downrange at the time of launch. The fairing, which protects satellites from aerodynamic forces as the rocket ascends through the atmosphere, is the next part of the Falcon 9 that SpaceX aims to make reusable.
flyingturtle wrote:Oh, wow. And I didn't know that they use a Roomba to clean the drone ships.
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-fairin ... very-boat/
According to marinetraffic.com, the Mr. Steven is currently SW of San Clemente Island.
David
Planeflyer wrote:Re the Space X launch tonight, My son was out at a shopping center, saw it live and observed more than a few people had a War of the Worlds moment.
zanl188 wrote:Planeflyer wrote:Re the Space X launch tonight, My son was out at a shopping center, saw it live and observed more than a few people had a War of the Worlds moment.
Some spectacular footage coming out of Southern California tonight.
This one shows staging, boost back burn, AND, apparently, thruster firings from a jettisoned fairing.
https://youtu.be/ioG7PaQkDog
Tugger wrote:Wow, that is awesome! It appears it flew over the metropolitan area? Or is that just an illusion due to its height and trajectory?
Tugger wrote:Also where did they end up putting the booster, into the ocean I am sure of course but just curious. I wonder if they stood the (crash)landing?
Tugg
parapente wrote:Thank you Moo for your comments really valuable.
So they need to shed weight as soon as is practical.
On a related subject I read how the falcon engines are great at producing thrust in the atmosphere lifting heavy loads to LOA.
But pretty terrible ( due to type of fuel) when operating In a vacuum.
At the same time I noted that the US Military is funding Spacex to develop a new second stage for th F9's/F Heavy using a variant of their new engine the Raptor.Now This engine apparently uses a fuel that is far more efficient in a vacuum.
If so (no idea on timing of this development).A Falcon Heavu could have its payload abilities greatly enhanced with the use of a Raptor second stage.
Obviously one imagines that US Military have some heavy stuff they would like to put up in the future.But for early Moom and Mars missions such a second stage could be really useful -no?
I say this as there is a huge leap between the F9's and the BFR.They will need to practice a lot of things before they start shuttling off to Mars.
Such a (FH/Raptor) could be an ideal vehicle I would have thought.
Nomadd wrote:Those photos are pretty misleading. When the fairing is closed up, the corners of the roadster will be almost scraping the walls.
Stitch wrote:Can the current Centaur upper stage be mated to Falcon Heavy or does it require Raptor?
Nomadd wrote:There are no block 5 boosters yet. The side boosters on the FH need the bigger titanium grid fins with better control authority because they don't have an interstage, which changes the airflow quite a bit.
Tugger wrote:Interesting.... I just noticed that the overhead picture of the FH in post #770 is a composite of two pictures cropped together!.
Tugg
o0OOO0oChris wrote:Interesting decision, not their normal way of doing things. They probably had to drop the interstage for the load transfer structures and where forced to go that way..
o0OOO0oChris wrote:Tugger wrote:Interesting.... I just noticed that the overhead picture of the FH in post #770 is a composite of two pictures cropped together!.
Tugg
I think there have to be more pictures stiched together. There is no way you can take a single picture of a 230ft rocket inside a relatively narrow assambly hall, so we are talking about at least 4 images.
You can see the crane operator twice
o0OOO0oChris wrote:Nomadd wrote:There are no block 5 boosters yet. The side boosters on the FH need the bigger titanium grid fins with better control authority because they don't have an interstage, which changes the airflow quite a bit.
Up to your post, I thought the Falcon heavy sidecores had an interstage, because the gridfins are mounted to them. Just now I looked up the latest FH images and you are right. Instead of also reusing the interstage of those prefown sidecores, they moved those gridfin attatchments and actuators on the new cap, making it more complex. Interesting decision, not their normal way of doing things. They probably had to drop the interstage for the load transfer structures and where forced to go that way..
Nomadd wrote:The load transfer to the core is all at the bottom, unlike the shuttle boosters.
Tugger wrote:Nomadd wrote:The load transfer to the core is all at the bottom, unlike the shuttle boosters.
I assume the liftoff will start with identical thrust levels to minimize stress on the links then will adjust to transition the loading smoothly between the boosters during the continued liftoff and climb.
Tugg
Tugger wrote:o0OOO0oChris wrote:Tugger wrote:Interesting.... I just noticed that the overhead picture of the FH in post #770 is a composite of two pictures cropped together!.
Tugg
I think there have to be more pictures stiched together. There is no way you can take a single picture of a 230ft rocket inside a relatively narrow assambly hall, so we are talking about at least 4 images.
You can see the crane operator twice
Yes, I caught the crane operator as my first clue to look closer. It could certainly be made up of more than two but I was basing my estimate on the number of perspective changes I noted in the steel support beams on the sides of the building.
Tugg
zanl188 wrote:Falcon Heavy is on pad 39A for fit checks. Rolled out this morning.
https://twitter.com/spaceflightnow/stat ... 3509995521