INTERESTING!SpaceX recovery support ships Go Quest and Go Searcher have left Port Canaveral.Possible fairing recovery test!
We are in the process of recovering the fairing, we're getting better and better at recovering the fairing. So we expect to recover the fairing and the booster, the first stage of Falcon 9.
From the transcript of Elon’s pre-FH demo launch press conference:QuoteWe are in the process of recovering the fairing, we're getting better and better at recovering the fairing. So we expect to recover the fairing and the booster, the first stage of Falcon 9.
This is a graph made by a NSF L2 member. Even though reposted by Elon, it means it's not necessarily 100% accurate.
I'm pretty sure we'll have fairing recovery in the next six months.It turns out that you pop the chute on the fairing and you've got this giant awkward thing it tends to interfere with the air flow on the on the parachute and and miss. Gets all twisty and and was low priority too. But we have fairing version two which is the really important one that we want to recover, so even if we recovered fairing version one, we wouldn't be re-flying it in the future. Fairing two and recovery that's very important, and my guess is - next six months we figure out recovery. We've got a special boat to catch the fairing, like a catcher's mitt. It's like a giant catchers mitt in boat form. It's gonna run around it can't catch the fairing.Kinda fun.I think you might be able to do the same thing with dragon so if NASA wants us to, we could try to catch dragon. Made for the fairing, but it would work for dragon too.
QuoteBut we have fairing version two which is the really important one that we want to recover, so even if we recovered fairing version one, we wouldn't be re-flying it in the future. Fairing two and recovery that's very important, and my guess is - next six months we figure out recovery.
But we have fairing version two which is the really important one that we want to recover, so even if we recovered fairing version one, we wouldn't be re-flying it in the future. Fairing two and recovery that's very important, and my guess is - next six months we figure out recovery.
Do you have any more info about fairing version 2?It will be part of block V?Is it supposed to be more expensive to require recovery be "very important"?Lighter?Bigger?
Sorry if I missed this, but are they going to try to use one ship to try to catch two fairing halves? That seems even more improbable!
Quote from: JonathanD on 02/09/2018 04:02 pmSorry if I missed this, but are they going to try to use one ship to try to catch two fairing halves? That seems even more improbable!It is not impossible.However, it's also rather likely that they're simply waiting to see how recovery works, before seeing if they need another identical boat, or a bigger/faster boat, or ...Boats and steel and ropes and nets are cheap.Especially so when you can resell them for a large fraction of the purchase price.
Quote from: First Mate Rummey on 02/07/2018 09:47 pmDo you have any more info about fairing version 2?It will be part of block V?Is it supposed to be more expensive to require recovery be "very important"?Lighter?Bigger?The available info seems to imply it may go along with block V.The bits of F9 that the fairing attaches to are more-or-less static and unchanged over all blocks, as I understand it.It may well be more expensive, it's certainly newer. Lighter - well - possibly not - recovery hardware isn't air.I don't think we've seen any reasonable speculation it would be bigger, and Elon did not mention this when he has mentioned much smaller differences in the above conference.If the fairing is double the price, and you recover and refly nearly all of them, that's a real bargain.
20m20 minutes agoReplying to @DJSnM @doug_ellison @dsfpspacefl1ghtUnder consideration. We’ve already stretched the upper stage once. Easiest part of the rocket to change. Fairing 2, flying soon, also has a slightly larger diameter. Could make fairing much longer if need be & will if BFR takes longer than expected.
Quote from: speedevil on 02/08/2018 11:31 amQuote from: First Mate Rummey on 02/07/2018 09:47 pmDo you have any more info about fairing version 2?It will be part of block V?Is it supposed to be more expensive to require recovery be "very important"?Lighter?Bigger?The available info seems to imply it may go along with block V.The bits of F9 that the fairing attaches to are more-or-less static and unchanged over all blocks, as I understand it.It may well be more expensive, it's certainly newer. Lighter - well - possibly not - recovery hardware isn't air.I don't think we've seen any reasonable speculation it would be bigger, and Elon did not mention this when he has mentioned much smaller differences in the above conference.If the fairing is double the price, and you recover and refly nearly all of them, that's a real bargain.And an answer from a source who knows!https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/963095860060934144Quote 20m20 minutes agoReplying to @DJSnM @doug_ellison @dsfpspacefl1ghtUnder consideration. We’ve already stretched the upper stage once. Easiest part of the rocket to change. Fairing 2, flying soon, also has a slightly larger diameter. Could make fairing much longer if need be & will if BFR takes longer than expected.
Quote from: speedevil on 02/12/2018 04:23 pmQuote from: speedevil on 02/08/2018 11:31 amQuote from: First Mate Rummey on 02/07/2018 09:47 pmDo you have any more info about fairing version 2?It will be part of block V?Is it supposed to be more expensive to require recovery be "very important"?Lighter?Bigger?The available info seems to imply it may go along with block V.The bits of F9 that the fairing attaches to are more-or-less static and unchanged over all blocks, as I understand it.It may well be more expensive, it's certainly newer. Lighter - well - possibly not - recovery hardware isn't air.I don't think we've seen any reasonable speculation it would be bigger, and Elon did not mention this when he has mentioned much smaller differences in the above conference.If the fairing is double the price, and you recover and refly nearly all of them, that's a real bargain.And an answer from a source who knows!https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/963095860060934144Quote 20m20 minutes agoReplying to @DJSnM @doug_ellison @dsfpspacefl1ghtUnder consideration. We’ve already stretched the upper stage once. Easiest part of the rocket to change. Fairing 2, flying soon, also has a slightly larger diameter. Could make fairing much longer if need be & will if BFR takes longer than expected.with wider fairing he wont have to tilt the next car.