Seeing them act so optimistically, you wonder: just how on-target were those three touch-downs? Counting Cassiope because as far as we can tell at the moment, all three landings relied on the accuracy of the boost-back and retro burns, and all of those burns came off without a hitch on all three flights. Only the Cassiope final burn failed.They were only aiming for 10km, but what did they actually achieve?
Quote from: rpapo on 01/05/2015 01:28 pmSeeing them act so optimistically, you wonder: just how on-target were those three touch-downs? Counting Cassiope because as far as we can tell at the moment, all three landings relied on the accuracy of the boost-back and retro burns, and all of those burns came off without a hitch on all three flights. Only the Cassiope final burn failed.They were only aiming for 10km, but what did they actually achieve?Analyses of the previous launches suggested that there weren't boost backs prior to CRS-4 (sideways). At least not significant ones (i.e. not much beyond just testing a relight without trying to achieve much acceleration/deceleration).
Quote from: Ohsin on 01/05/2015 07:53 amYes it does include inter stage. With cap I meant the cone part onto which crane hooks. Now I wonder how it will get unloaded without it..Maybe that is the intended use of the white adapter that was sitting in front of the 4 x Grey/Blue F9 supports? Bolts into the interstage to allow the F9 to be crane lifted?
Yes it does include inter stage. With cap I meant the cone part onto which crane hooks. Now I wonder how it will get unloaded without it..
Analyses of the previous launches suggested that there weren't boost backs prior to CRS-4 (sideways). At least not significant ones (i.e. not much beyond just testing a relight without trying to achieve much acceleration/deceleration).
Perhaps their AIS is now satellite-capable? Lot of AIS transponders these days also can relay info via satellite when out at sea (OG2 sats that SpaceX delivered up earlier actually carry AIS payloads)http://www.orbcomm.com/uploads/files/AIS_8-12-14.pdfThe location is definitely out of range of shore-based AIS receivers, so that seems to me like the most likely explanation.
Might be an early call but ElsBeth III may be heading back to port.http://www.vesselfinder.com/?mmsi=367017460
Quote from: PhilW on 01/05/2015 03:13 pmMight be an early call but ElsBeth III may be heading back to port.http://www.vesselfinder.com/?mmsi=367017460I guess they left the ASDS at its target and are now moving away to a safe distance.
Quote from: PhilW on 01/05/2015 09:41 amQuote from: Ohsin on 01/05/2015 07:53 amYes it does include inter stage. With cap I meant the cone part onto which crane hooks. Now I wonder how it will get unloaded without it..Maybe that is the intended use of the white adapter that was sitting in front of the 4 x Grey/Blue F9 supports? Bolts into the interstage to allow the F9 to be crane lifted?We discussed it earlier, I agree with your opinion.http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36326.msg1308970#msg1308970
Quote from: MTom on 01/05/2015 03:04 pmQuote from: PhilW on 01/05/2015 09:41 amQuote from: Ohsin on 01/05/2015 07:53 amYes it does include inter stage. With cap I meant the cone part onto which crane hooks. Now I wonder how it will get unloaded without it..Maybe that is the intended use of the white adapter that was sitting in front of the 4 x Grey/Blue F9 supports? Bolts into the interstage to allow the F9 to be crane lifted?We discussed it earlier, I agree with your opinion.http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36326.msg1308970#msg1308970Now I can see it too. Nice! Those pegs could be clamps to grab the rim of inter-stage. Just those two vertical bars are throwing me off(May be a person would ride it and bolt it on?).
Well, this picture produces different results. Measuring this and scaling for 224.4 feet, it looks like the first stage is 155 feet tall, with the interstage, but without legs.
Quote from: Dave G on 01/05/2015 09:19 amQuote from: Ohsin on 01/05/2015 09:08 amThis is not very good picture for reference. Vandenberg pictures are pretty good as they are taken from a height. Also did you use diameter(12ft) or fairing height(43ft) to deduce?I measured the total height and the height of the first stage, and then scaled for a total height of 224.4 feet.The camera angle creates a linear perspective which should scale both measurements equally, unless there are fish-eye type lens distortions, which this picture doesn't appear to have.Would trust SpX has already done this math, way before they leased the dock side land & installed the F9 supports.
Quote from: Ohsin on 01/05/2015 09:08 amThis is not very good picture for reference. Vandenberg pictures are pretty good as they are taken from a height. Also did you use diameter(12ft) or fairing height(43ft) to deduce?I measured the total height and the height of the first stage, and then scaled for a total height of 224.4 feet.The camera angle creates a linear perspective which should scale both measurements equally, unless there are fish-eye type lens distortions, which this picture doesn't appear to have.
This is not very good picture for reference. Vandenberg pictures are pretty good as they are taken from a height. Also did you use diameter(12ft) or fairing height(43ft) to deduce?
Quote from: PhilW on 01/05/2015 09:46 amQuote from: Dave G on 01/05/2015 09:19 amQuote from: Ohsin on 01/05/2015 09:08 amThis is not very good picture for reference. Vandenberg pictures are pretty good as they are taken from a height. Also did you use diameter(12ft) or fairing height(43ft) to deduce?I measured the total height and the height of the first stage, and then scaled for a total height of 224.4 feet.The camera angle creates a linear perspective which should scale both measurements equally, unless there are fish-eye type lens distortions, which this picture doesn't appear to have.Would trust SpX has already done this math, way before they leased the dock side land & installed the F9 supports.Yes, but we're trying to use this information to prove/disprove a theory about the stage returning to port in the vertical orientation. SpaceX only did this math if the stage is returning vertical.
Quote from: Jarnis on 01/05/2015 06:24 pmElon tweeted a pic of the barge enroutehttps://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/552182273865699328/photo/1Taken from air, so maybe camera drone test flight
Elon tweeted a pic of the barge enroutehttps://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/552182273865699328/photo/1Taken from air, so maybe camera drone test flight
From the update thread:Quote from: Lars-J on 01/05/2015 06:29 pmQuote from: Jarnis on 01/05/2015 06:24 pmElon tweeted a pic of the barge enroutehttps://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/552182273865699328/photo/1Taken from air, so maybe camera drone test flight There's no tugboat pushing or pulling it in this picture. Looks to me like the barge is already station-keeping in this photo.