LIVE: Space Falcon 9 Flight 2 Static Fire - December 4, 2010

[FinalFrontier]

Just got back in last night. Looks like there was quite a bit of drama surrounding this test! So ultimately despite what seemed like a firing yesterday it took 3 attempts to fire successfully. Oh well at least it did fire. Will they still be able to launch on schedule?

[rdale]

Just got back in last night. Looks like there was quite a bit of drama surrounding this test! So ultimately despite what seemed like a firing yesterday it took 3 attempts to fire successfully. Oh well at least it did fire. Will they still be able to launch on schedule?

Scroll back a bit, everything is still go for Tuesday. [corrected]

[ugordan]

Tuesday.

[FinalFrontier]

Ok well they did say they are still reviewing right? It is possible that they may find something they don't like and try another firing, but I think thats unlikely. So hopefully we are go for Tuesday! I am really looking forward to this flight but I am also going to be on the edge of my seat for it. Unlike the maiden flight, we have two staging events on this flight that must function properly, the first is stage 2 sep, and the second (the one which will be the most concerning to me) is the separation of dragon and its trunk from stage 2. This I think, will be the area of interest on this flight.

[yg1968]

I have uploaded a 30 minute video of the static fire test here:
http://www.filefront.com/17603918/Full-4EB556DB_LIVE_-Space-Falcon-9-Flight-2-Static-Fire---December-4-2010.avi/

See also this thread:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=23481.0

[Robotbeat]

I'm not worried about Dragon separating from the trunk... I'm worried about the RCS system working good the first time it has ever been tried (along with the navigation system, radios, etc). I'm worried about the reentry. I'm worried about the recovery systems (parachutes, etc) that have to work after being in the vacuum of space and the fireball of reentry, etc.

Dragon/trunk sep is a given compared to those things. IMHO.

[yg1968]

I'm not worried about Dragon separating from the trunk... I'm worried about the RCS system working good the first time it has ever been tried (along with the navigation system, radios, etc). I'm worried about the reentry. I'm worried about the recovery systems (parachutes, etc) that have to work after being in the vacuum of space and the fireball of reentry, etc.

Dragon/trunk sep is a given compared to those things. IMHO.

SpaceX considers that the mission will be a success even if the re-entry fails. I guess that the logic is that upmass is more important than down mass in the short term.

[Halidon]

SpaceX considers that the mission will be a success even if the re-entry fails. I guess that the logic is that upmass is more important than down mass in the short term.

I read it as this first flight of a full spacecraft for them is less about the payload and more about the systems. If everything goes great except re-entry they'll still have covered a bunch of new ground successfully.

[yg1968]

SpaceX considers that the mission will be a success even if the re-entry fails. I guess that the logic is that upmass is more important than down mass in the short term.

I read it as this first flight of a full spacecraft for them is less about the payload and more about the systems. If everything goes great except re-entry they'll still have covered a bunch of new ground successfully.

You are right. I was going on memory. But here is the article that I was thinking of:

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awst/2010/11/29/AW_11_29_2010_p28-271778.xml&headline=Falcon%209%20Static%20Fire%20Test%20Nears&channel=awst

[Antares]

More important is what NASA considers what makes the mission a success.  There's a COTS milestone payment connected to the mission, per the Space Act Agreement available on the NASA web site.  It's a real question how NASA would manage a failed entry, what it would do to future SpaceX payments from both COTS and Resupply.

[moose103]

If Dragon fails to return it will be like every other cargo ship

[vt_hokie]

If Dragon fails to return it will be like every other cargo ship

...and we'll be that much further from a manned Dragon, increasing the gap in US human spaceflight by that much more.

[Patchouli]

If Dragon fails to return it will be like every other cargo ship

...and we'll be that much further from a manned Dragon, increasing the gap in US human spaceflight by that much more.

Hopefully it will work as planned but it's not the only potential crew vehicle.
There are at least two others but they're also a few years behind Dragon.
The political fallout would be the worst part of a failed return.

I think it will return just fine as Spacex has some of the best people in the industry working for them and the shape is fairly well understood.

My biggest worry though is can they demonstrate good landing accuracy and will all three chutes deploy right.

[moose103]

...and we'll be that much further from a manned Dragon, increasing the gap in US human spaceflight by that much more.

I guess, but that is not what Antares was talking about.  He suggested that failing to recover Dragon would affect payments for delivering cargo.  Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

[tigerade]

If Dragon fails to return it will be like every other cargo ship

...and we'll be that much further from a manned Dragon, increasing the gap in US human spaceflight by that much more.

Hopefully it will work as planned but it's not the only potential crew vehicle.
There are at least two others but they're also a few years behind Dragon.
The political fallout would be the worst part of a failed return.

I think it will return just fine as Spacex has some of the best people in the industry working for them and the shape is fairly well understood.

My biggest worry though is can they demonstrate good landing accuracy and will all three chutes deploy right.

This is my concern too.  They did the drop test, which I'm sure aided in their data in some way, but re-entry has not been attempted by this company (or any other, for that matter).  There are a lot that could go wrong.  However personally, if Dragon reaches orbit and seperates from the second stage, I would consider the mission a success. 

I'm not sure if that will be enough of a success for NASA though.  I don't know what their required benchmarks are for this launch.  I do think that if SpaceX does pull it off, has a 95-100% successful mission, then I could see the next flight being combined into one (COTS2 and 3).  So that means, if all goes well, the next dragon will dock with ISS.   

If all goes flawlessly, of course.

[rklaehn]

If Dragon fails to return it will be like every other cargo ship

...and we'll be that much further from a manned Dragon, increasing the gap in US human spaceflight by that much more.

Hopefully it will work as planned but it's not the only potential crew vehicle.
There are at least two others but they're also a few years behind Dragon.
The political fallout would be the worst part of a failed return.

I think it will return just fine as Spacex has some of the best people in the industry working for them and the shape is fairly well understood.

My biggest worry though is can they demonstrate good landing accuracy and will all three chutes deploy right.

This is my concern too.  They did the drop test, which I'm sure aided in their data in some way, but re-entry has not been attempted by this company (or any other, for that matter). 

I would bet that if the capsule can do a reentry burn, it will not burn up. The heatshield is made from proven materials and is massively overdesigned. And the capsule is passively stable in a heatshield-first orientation. There could still be a problem with chute deployment, but if the capsule enters the atmosphere it will not burn up. That is the beauty of the simple passive stability approach.

[MP99]

Edit:

Discussion is off-topic for this thread.

My post moved here:- http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=22041.msg666572#msg666572, and suggest continuing any further discussions over there, too.

cheers, Martin

[arnezami]

[ moved to different thread ]

[MP99]

See Reply #436!

cheers, Martin