Sorry, could not find the Thaicom discussion page so will post my observation here.On the same spaceflight launch schedule page, it says the Thaicom flight was moved forward. A first for SpaceX?
Quote from: EngrDavid on 05/07/2016 04:06 amSorry, could not find the Thaicom discussion page so will post my observation here.On the same spaceflight launch schedule page, it says the Thaicom flight was moved forward. A first for SpaceX?The first Iridium launch out of Vandy somewhat recently was moved up from August to July. So no, not a first entirely, but possibly the first time a stage has been reassigned to another payload. (FYI haven't check my facts, going off memory)
If RTLS result in 60% performance loss, then is it possible to try a RTLS on Thaicomm8 mission? It probably will be low margin but may be possible since Thaicomm8 is less than 3200kg according to Manufacturing information, while the max performance for F9 GTO mission is 8300kg.
Quote from: sunbingfa on 05/07/2016 08:17 pmIf RTLS result in 60% performance loss, then is it possible to try a RTLS on Thaicomm8 mission? It probably will be low margin but may be possible since Thaicomm8 is less than 3200kg according to Manufacturing information, while the max performance for F9 GTO mission is 8300kg.Thaicom 8 weighs less than JCSAT-14, so I think we can safely say that a successful landing on the drone ship is probable. :-)
Frustrating that at the supposed production rate the pipeline is not full and there's not already a good selection of F9s waiting at a warehouse near the cape. We're chronologically far beyond where we should be tracking an individual custom built rocket for a specific flight. Need to get production going, its not rocket science, its production. That's what we do over here in Detroit. Not sure whether I need to go out and fix the production problem for SpaceX or for Tesla Motors first.
Frustrating that at the supposed production rate the pipeline is not full and there's not already a good selection of F9s waiting at a warehouse near the cape. We're chronologically far beyond where we should be tracking an individual custom built rocket for a specific flight.
Thaicom 8 weighs less than JCSAT-14, so I think we can safely say that a successful landing on the drone ship is probable. :-)
If the thermal loading on these GTO missions is just too high to land without extensive damage, I wonder whether they would add GTO-specific TPS, or even sacrificial TPS.
Quote from: sevenperforce on 05/08/2016 03:17 pmIf the thermal loading on these GTO missions is just too high to land without extensive damage, I wonder whether they would add GTO-specific TPS, or even sacrificial TPS.Not easily done, but that's beside the point in that the loading is high because of insufficient propellant margins to reduce velocity sufficiently, so adding more mass for TPS reduces these thin margins below what's there. Rocket equation is an exponential b!tch.