Wow, the timelapse of the full landing sequence from the rocket's viewpoint is super exciting though:
SpaceX finally nails a droneship landing!
- Thread starter jeshikat
- Start date
Just watched the hosted webcast, I'm still getting chills every time they're landing. Spaceships are so exciting!
It's really amazing that SpaceX can make it look so damned easy when it's so damned not.
+1 on the heatshrink. I'd like to see that wrapping machine.
+1 on the heatshrink. I'd like to see that wrapping machine.
Looks like they missed a landing, so still not solidly reliable, but still, that they landed the last few is progress.
It'll be interesting to see the footage once Go Quest reaches the ASDS and recovers hard-copy of the footage. Elon said this was the hardest landing yet, but also that it was a RUN on landing, though the few seconds of livestream footage showed the stage stationary on the deck, at least for a few moments. SES-9 impacted at sufficient speed to punch a hole in the steel decking, so I can only assume he didn't count that as a landing attempt.
According to Elon, the stage ran out of O2 at the end of the landing burn, then impacted hard (not as hard as SES-9 though).
In the video, you can see the spurt of smoke as the LOX runs out and the engines vomit uncombusted RP-1 onto the ASDS, then the stage slowly starting to flop over. From the satellite photowe can see the stage is mostly intact, unlike the Jason-3 bellyflop, so likely the lack of LOX to ignite the liberated RP-1 (and possibly the loss of helium pressurant out the bottom of the empty LOX tank and through the engines) made the flop survivable with just a squashed tank rather than an explosive RUD. Still a total loss of the stage, but having most of the bits still sitting on the barge should aid analysis of why the LOX ran out early.
In the video, you can see the spurt of smoke as the LOX runs out and the engines vomit uncombusted RP-1 onto the ASDS, then the stage slowly starting to flop over. From the satellite photowe can see the stage is mostly intact, unlike the Jason-3 bellyflop, so likely the lack of LOX to ignite the liberated RP-1 (and possibly the loss of helium pressurant out the bottom of the empty LOX tank and through the engines) made the flop survivable with just a squashed tank rather than an explosive RUD. Still a total loss of the stage, but having most of the bits still sitting on the barge should aid analysis of why the LOX ran out early.
The first F9 Heavy centre core may have been spotted outside of SpaceX's Hawthorne HQ:
Note the beefed-up Octaweb thrust structure (extra outer ring, overall thicker members) and the enlarged protuberances where two of the holddown clamps would be (12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions), as well as 'divots' to either side of them with flat surfaces perpendicular to the protruberances. These likely constitute the mounting points for the side booster cores
For comparison, this is the thrust structure for the F9-021 core (landed after launching the Orbcomm M2 mission):
Note the beefed-up Octaweb thrust structure (extra outer ring, overall thicker members) and the enlarged protuberances where two of the holddown clamps would be (12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions), as well as 'divots' to either side of them with flat surfaces perpendicular to the protruberances. These likely constitute the mounting points for the side booster cores
For comparison, this is the thrust structure for the F9-021 core (landed after launching the Orbcomm M2 mission):
Remember F9-024 from the JCSAT-14 mission? https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/spacex-finally-nails-a-droneship-landing.586/#post-11700
It was a hot and fast re-entry and landing, and SpaceX just did a full test fire of that first stage:
It didn't explode so that bodes well for eventual reuse of Falcon 9 1st stages
It was a hot and fast re-entry and landing, and SpaceX just did a full test fire of that first stage:
It didn't explode so that bodes well for eventual reuse of Falcon 9 1st stages
That video is such a good demonstration of the force behind a rocket. It's amazing that such an amount of power can be controlled so well.
That shouldn't be a surprise.
The crawler that moved Saturn 5 rockets to the launch pad is was reused for the shuttle, and if I am not mistaken is slated to be used for SMS.
Not to mention SpaceX is using the same launch complex.
The crawler that moved Saturn 5 rockets to the launch pad is was reused for the shuttle, and if I am not mistaken is slated to be used for SMS.
Not to mention SpaceX is using the same launch complex.
Yep, a whole bunch of stuff for the KSC pad SpaceX are using was bought on-the-cheap and repurposed to keep costs as low as possible. For example, the LN2 tank was purchased at scrap value + $1.
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