SpaceX Tuesday...

[Beati Dogu]

Good stuff. The Air Force are clearly happy with it.


The next F9 launch is scheduled for Friday 29th June (05:41 EDT / 10:41 UK time) from SLC-40 in Florida. It'll be a "instantaneous launch", so if they have to hold for whatever reason, it'll probably mean a 24 hour delay.

This one is CRS-15, a resupply mission to the ISS & it completed the test fire earlier today.

The (Block 4) first stage flew only 2 months ago, when it took up NASA's TESS satellite on 18th April. It will set a new turn around record, which isn't likely to be held for long.

The capsule has also flown before - Back in 2016 on CRS-9.

[MartG]

SpaceX carried out the 16th test of Crew Dragon's parachute system yesterday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kto1c4pcZ-w

[Zoobeef]

Was that ice on the surface or just some other kind of covering? Are they planning on using rockets to soften the touch down or just the chutes?

[Eric Mc]

Wouldn't be ice.

They were going to use rockets at one point. They are using four large parachutes - which is one more than Orion.

[Zoobeef]

Eric Mc said:

Wouldn't be ice.

They were going to use rockets at one point. They are using four large parachutes - which is one more than Orion.

I didn't know if they had frozen it too simulate the cold of space :/

[Eric Mc]

Zoobeef said:

I didn't know if they had frozen it too simulate the cold of space :/

You wouldn't get ice on the outside in space - unless there was liquid leaking from the vehicle (like out of a vent), vapourising in the vacuum and then forming as ice if it hit the cold surface of the craft. That can happen sometimes (it was what caused the famous "fireflies" noticed by John Glenn on his flight in 1962).

Ice is most commonly seen on some rockets when they are sitting on the launch pad. This happens if the rocket has liquid oxygen or liquid hydrogen as fuel. The tanks are so chilled that moisture in the atmosphere condenses on outside of the tanks and then freezes.

[Zoobeef]

Also what I thought, but wether they had frozen the whole thing and then not bothered to heat the outside to simulate reentry as they were just testing that internal things worked.

Or its something they use to seal the panel gaps

Edit: it's at 24 seconds you can see whatever it is. Can you hazard a guess as to what it is?

Edited by Zoobeef on Wednesday 27th June 23:04

[Beati Dogu]

It's just sealant & other debris from when the explosive bolts release the panel for parachute deployment.

They don't drop it from very high up. About 14,000 feet I believe. Probably the limit for the helicopter.

[MartG]

My guess is heatshield material sealant over the parachute hatch seam breaking away when the chutes deploy

[MartG]

Falcon 9/Dragon launch due 10:42 tomorrow morning

It's a used Block 4 booster - no info whether they are going to recover it

[Eric Mc]

MartG said:

Falcon 9/Dragon launch due 10:42 tomorrow morning

It's a used Block 4 booster - no info whether they are going to recover it

I've heard they aren't.

[RobDickinson]

Last block 4 lauch afik

[Beati Dogu]

Yes, it's block 5 from now on. This one won't be coming back.

[RobDickinson]

Launching in 10 min

[MartG]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycMagB1s8XM

[Beati Dogu]

I just turned on in time to watch it, at T-5 seconds.

It all looks good and the capsule should rendezvous with ISS on Monday morning.

This was the 12th SpaceX launch in 2018.

[MartG]

[Kccv23highliftcam]

Haven't seen that before during Mvac burn.. ..red hot pipe shaped like an upside down umbrella handle



above the fast forward icon on screen

Shut down Mvac...same location..



Hmm....

[Caruso]

Kccv23highliftcam said:

Haven't seen that before during Mvac burn.. ..red hot pipe shaped like an upside down umbrella handle
Hmm....

It's their experimental Mary Poppins anti gravity device.

[MartG]

The pipe is there on previous missions e.g. Iridium/Grace, but doesn't appear to be red hot.