Author Topic: SCRUB: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) NET March 19  (Read 175983 times)

Online Chris Bergin

From L2.

This date is pending a couple of review processes, but is the current launch date for the second attempt to fly the Falcon I.

This will be the background thread - and live update thread on launch day.

EDIT: http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php
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Offline jimvela

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #1 on: 11/01/2006 05:16 pm »
Quote
Chris Bergin - 1/11/2006  9:19 AM

This date is pending a couple of review processes, but is the current launch date for the second attempt to fly the Falcon I.

I have had a lot to say about the previous launch attempt.  

Let me be the first to say that I sincerely hope that SpaceX has fixed its issues, and to wish them a successful launch!

Offline CentEur

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #2 on: 11/03/2006 10:58 am »
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jimvela - 1/11/2006  6:59 PM

Let me be the first to say that I sincerely hope that SpaceX has fixed its issues, and to wish them a successful launch!

It is a test flight isn't it - no payload this time? Then I sincerely hope that all remaining issues of Falcon 1 will come out this launch. Even if (or especially because) they may become catastrophic, there will be no better flight to find them.

Offline dutch courage

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #3 on: 11/03/2006 11:49 am »
On the wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX the second Falcon 1 launch will loft an instrumented demonstration payload to return data on the booster's performance.

Offline CentEur

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #4 on: 11/03/2006 01:14 pm »
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dutch courage - 3/11/2006  1:32 PM

On the wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX the second Falcon 1 launch will loft an instrumented demonstration payload to return data on the booster's performance.

It makes an even better opportunity for all the bugs to expose and get recorded. No satellite owner to irritate this time.

Offline aero313

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #5 on: 11/03/2006 04:25 pm »
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CentEur - 3/11/2006  8:57 AM
It makes an even better opportunity for all the bugs to expose and get recorded. No satellite owner to irritate this time.

Nope, just the taxpayers...

Offline coach

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #6 on: 11/03/2006 05:23 pm »
No satellite owner to irritate this time.


Amen.  Why didn't SpaceX launch this one the first time?  I have faith in SpaceX overall but Musk doesnn't have infinitely deep pockets.  They certainly know more than me but launching a test rocket like this one out of the gates may have been wise.

Good luck SpaceX

Coach

Offline aero313

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #7 on: 11/03/2006 07:32 pm »
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coach - 3/11/2006  1:06 PM

No satellite owner to irritate this time.


Amen.  Why didn't SpaceX launch this one the first time?
Coach

Because they were paid $8M by DARPA to launch the Falconsat for the Air Force Academy.  DARPA mandated the payload, not SpaceX.  By the way, this was supposed to be the SECOND launch and was supposed to demonstrate a 50% reduction in pad processing as compared to the TacSat 1, which was supposed to be the first launch.  Having done neither, SpaceX has been paid for another Gov't-funded test launch, at another $7M.

Offline coach

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #8 on: 11/03/2006 08:04 pm »
Thanks aero313, now I remember.  TACSAT1 was delayed due to another rocket on the pad in California and other issues.  So they moved to the second launch at Kwaj.  I think I have the facts straight.  I still would have liked to have seen a dummy launch first at some point however.  Maybe a first stage only with a dummy second stage, etc.  But then again, if all goes well, forget  everything I have said!

Coach

Offline MKremer

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Re: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #9 on: 11/03/2006 08:47 pm »
If they had the plans and money to blow for one or two purely test launches, prior to an acutal customer launch, I'm sure they'd be well on their way by now. However, they didn't plan (or have the funding available) to do that.

Offline aero313

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #10 on: 11/05/2006 02:30 am »
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coach - 3/11/2006  3:47 PM
Thanks aero313, now I remember.  TACSAT1 was delayed due to another rocket on the pad in California and other issues.
Coach

The alleged conflict with the Titan IV was an excuse, not the real problem.  The Titan was long gone by the time SpaceX was actually ready for their first launch attempt.  They simply underestimated the time and money required to get to first launch.  They are by no means unique in that, by the way.

Ultimately, I think DARPA and the Air Force mutually agreed to put the DARPA launch with the student satellite first, for exactly the reason you saw.  TacSat is a real mission and the Air Force would like a little more assurance of success before risking that spacecraft.  FalconSat was a throwaway.  Basically it was a student-designed and built satellite from the Air Force Academy.  There was no money to launch it, so it essentially got a free ride on what was really the SpaceX demo flight.

Offline Paul Howard

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Re: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #11 on: 11/05/2006 05:12 am »
Wow, not long. Go SpaceX Go Elon. Ignore worried fat cats from Orbital and LM etc. :P

Offline R&R

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #12 on: 11/05/2006 05:19 am »
That Vandenberg launch also got moved to Kwaj even though Titan had flown and Atlas V is not as much at risk as was the Titan.  There's more than SpaceX is letting on when it comes to launches from Vandenberg.  I sense explosive destruct.

Offline CentEur

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #13 on: 11/05/2006 10:17 am »
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aero313 - 3/11/2006  6:08 PM

Quote
CentEur - 3/11/2006  8:57 AM
It makes an even better opportunity for all the bugs to expose and get recorded. No satellite owner to irritate this time.

Nope, just the taxpayers...

What exactly would be the reason of their irritation in case of launch failure? A satellite not making orbit it ain't because there is none. Would it be the very fact the launch has been paid from their pockets? But that has nothing to do with the launch outcome.

Offline meiza

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Re: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #14 on: 11/05/2006 02:37 pm »
SpaceX should have done empty test flights before. Anyway, Darpa is paying them for sandbag launches, tiny student sat on board or not.
EELV development was subsidized by American taxpayers too. And don't even start about NASA's rockets, but they're banned from the commercial market by law. Still of course, NASA using them instead of the commercial markets can be seen as an aberration.

I don't know how much Orbital got help during their research and development phases, I honestly don't have an idea...

Offline aero313

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Re: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #15 on: 11/05/2006 05:25 pm »
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meiza - 5/11/2006  10:20 AM

SpaceX should have done empty test flights before. Anyway, Darpa is paying them for sandbag launches, tiny student sat on board or not.
EELV development was subsidized by American taxpayers too.

We're in violent agreement on EELV

Quote
And don't even start about NASA's rockets, but they're banned from the commercial market by law. Still of course, NASA using them instead of the commercial markets can be seen as an aberration.

What NASA rockets?  The shuttle?  Everything else is commercially owned.  I'm not counting Ares I/V, since they don't exist yet and may not ever.

Quote
I don't know how much Orbital got help during their research and development phases, I honestly don't have an idea...

Nada, zip, zilch.  Orbital (and joint venture partner Hercules) fully funded the development of Pegasus, to the tune of $50M in then-year dollars.  Taurus development (about another $25M) was also self-funded.  As with SpaceX, DARPA paid for the inital flights, but that was only the cost of that particular set of hardware and launch services, not the development.

By the way, Pegasus early payload history is very similar to that of SpaceX.  DARPA bought the first Pegasus to launch a cluster of seven Microsats, which were a real mission.  As maiden flight jitters approached, DARPA contracted for a second mission, to fly first as a demo.  Given the $6M cost of that flight, DARPA did put a payload on it also, though it was made up of pieces of other cancelled missions that weren't going to be flown otherwise and were willing to take the risk.  Ironically, the first Pegasus flight was perfect and the second (with the Microsats) ran into problems that put the satellites into a much lower than desired orbit.

DARPA then put a $100M payload on the maiden flight of Taurus - a mission that cost DARPA $15M for the launch service.  Orbital, on the other hand, spent much more than that to ensure that the high value payload would be orbited successfully.  That flight also worked perfectly.

Offline BarryKirk

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RE: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #16 on: 11/07/2006 05:09 pm »
Best of luck to SpaceX.  I would really like them to succeed in both the short and the long run.

I define success as being able to accomplish the mission of severly reducing the cost to reach orbit.

Offline Avron

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Re: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #17 on: 11/08/2006 03:52 am »
December is going to be a busy month... looking for two back to back success stories here.

Offline R&R

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Re: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #18 on: 11/08/2006 11:15 pm »
What two successes?

Offline nacnud

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Re: LIVE: SpaceX - Falcon I (Mk.II) December 16
« Reply #19 on: 11/08/2006 11:25 pm »
Falcon and Shuttle?

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