SpaceX Tuesday...
Discussion
SystemParanoia said:
the "of course i still love you" needs some sky tracking cameras similar to the awesome ones they have near pad 39a
or at least some 360 degree cameras so we can watch it in VR
Serious note or at least some 360 degree cameras so we can watch it in VR
Doubt we will ever see that live 100% guaranteed.. too many influences coming together at the same time..
Eric Mc said:
Just before the onboard shots of the returning first stage cut out, the grid fins were well and truly glowing. It's amazing how quickly they get very hot.
Yes - currently they are aluminium covered in ablative paint, but I believe they are moving to titanium ones soon for longer life
t.Beati Dogu said:
Any landing you can walk away from is a good one of course.
The landings you run away from, and then having run away far enough turn round to check how badly the aircraft is broken and/or whether it is on fire are generally deemed less good than others though. Been there, done that.Anyway, I digress. Did anyone see what looked like sealant oozing out of the plumbing in the second stage? Has that happened before?
T+ 00:03:03
T+ 00:05:01
Beati Dogu said:
Looks like a slightly heavy landing; The legs are noticeably splayed. Not as rough as Friday's though. The crush core doing its job again.
Any landing you can walk away from is a good one of course.
As for the grid fins:
They're made from a single piece of cast & cut titanium.
Probably only a couple of quid each..... Any landing you can walk away from is a good one of course.
As for the grid fins:
They're made from a single piece of cast & cut titanium.
p1stonhead said:
Probably only a couple of quid each.....
More expensive for sure, but as long as they come back, there'll be some savings to be made. They don't need to strip and repaint them any more and they shouldn't need replacing unlike the aluminium ones. Plus being larger, they expect them to allow rockets to land in higher crosswinds than before.They're still working on recovering the two large payload fairings. This will involve a guided parachute system & they hope to have this working by the end of the year apparently.
Meanwhile, the next Falcon 9 launch is only planned for next week - on Tuesday July 4th from LC 39A in Florida.
The payload is the Intelsat 35e, which is another big heavy communications satellite. Since it's around 6 tonnes, this rocket is not going to be coming back. So no legs or grid fins for this one.
Conceivably they can just swap the Ti fins onto the next rocket so wont need as many sets as rockets?
They have now recovered 12 1st stages, 2 have been used twice which is likely the limit for the current 1st stage.
So 10 others, at least 1 is museum fodder still leaves a fair few spare.
Assuming the next disposable launch is though a new one?
The larger fins will help with the FH too as the central core will have more velocity when landing..
They have now recovered 12 1st stages, 2 have been used twice which is likely the limit for the current 1st stage.
So 10 others, at least 1 is museum fodder still leaves a fair few spare.
Assuming the next disposable launch is though a new one?
The larger fins will help with the FH too as the central core will have more velocity when landing..
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