Author Topic: SpaceX show off their Falcon and Dragon nurseries  (Read 34067 times)

Offline JBF

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1459
  • Liked: 472
  • Likes Given: 914
Re: SpaceX show off their Falcon and Dragon nurseries
« Reply #60 on: 10/01/2013 06:35 pm »
According to @jeff_foust, during the press conference Elon said "won't hold up CRS-3 launch to install legs on F9. Schedule driven by upgrades to Dragon. Probably Feb '14 launch."

This indicates to me that the next dragon to launch will already have some upgrades, presumably carried over from dragon rider development. However, according to the Falcon nursery article, "According to L2 information, the only noticeable differences in the Crew Dragon weldment are that the aft cylinder is a few inches longer than on Cargo, and there are clevises machined into the edge of the forward bulkhead to receive SuperDraco thrusters."

This information indicates that the cargo version, at least for now, will not have the superdracos and has a different pressure vessel. That means it is different on the inside layer, the outside layer, and everywhere inbetween (differently outfitted inside, different fuel storage, different engines, different space allocations between the skins, etc.).

So there can't be many similarities right now, but the first statement indicates that there is some change and is still valid.

The upgrades he is talking about are the increased power for the expanded freezer.
"In principle, rocket engines are simple, but that’s the last place rocket engines are ever simple." Jeff Bezos

Offline Lars_J

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6160
  • California
  • Liked: 677
  • Likes Given: 195
Re: SpaceX show off their Falcon and Dragon nurseries
« Reply #61 on: 10/01/2013 06:37 pm »
The Dragon change is most likely not a major one - It could be just in internal changes to increase reliability. There was also some additional water proofing work to the service section (ring at the base of the Dragon).

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
0