Author Topic: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2  (Read 2965074 times)

Offline PhilW

Good find. Nice detail.

Any idea what the white/alum jig is for?
« Last Edit: 12/30/2014 01:09 pm by PhilW »

Offline woods170

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #281 on: 12/30/2014 01:17 pm »
Awesome catch PhilW!
Somebody else took a good photograph of it!

https://twitter.com/kscottz/status/547867380169207809

Nice! It's definitely very (as in VERY) similar to the structure at McGregor.

Offline Marslauncher

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #282 on: 12/30/2014 01:23 pm »
This to me indicates they are very very confident of landing on the barge, otherwise why go to the bother of creating a semi permanent structure?

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #283 on: 12/30/2014 01:32 pm »
This to me indicates they are very very confident of landing on the barge, otherwise why go to the bother of creating a semi permanent structure?

Yes of course they are. And as a result from that I am too. ;D

It also quite clearly means they will keep the stage vertical until they reach the harbour.

Offline PhilW

When SpX do land a F9 on the ASDS, they will need this support structure to hold the F9 upright while they fold the legs and do other tasks, such as totally draining ALL the tanks, before trucking it away. Had they done the launch on time, this structure would not have been ready.

Suspect the concrete is still curing as they still have the wooden formwork in place.

No sign of any earthwork / formwork nor SpX van in this photo.
« Last Edit: 12/30/2014 01:38 pm by PhilW »

Offline Darga

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #285 on: 12/30/2014 02:13 pm »
What's the consensus on when the ASDS barge will leave port to support the Jan 6th launch? 

I figure two to three days to transit and then get everything set up and running, so maybe 3 Jan? 

When it started to leave last time, I clocked the Elsbeth III at around 6 knots. The landing zone target is ~185 nautical miles from it's berth in Jacksonville so that puts it at about 31 hours but they'll want a buffer for sure. A bigger issue right now seems to be the sea state. The 4th and 5th are currently forecast to have winds nearing 30mph with higher gusts as well as waves of 6-7 feet. Good news is the weather seems to be breaking for the 6th itself although rain might be moving in. We'll know more accurate numbers in a few days.

Offline Jim

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #286 on: 12/30/2014 02:15 pm »
This to me indicates they are very very confident of landing on the barge, otherwise why go to the bother of creating a semi permanent structure?

Because they have to be ready for all possibilities.   And that it is semi permanent is not an indication of multiple reuse, Spacex has abandoned or destroyed many items before after only a few uses.
« Last Edit: 12/30/2014 02:17 pm by Jim »

Offline ravedave

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #287 on: 12/30/2014 02:57 pm »
If they are offloading to a port where there is a cruise ship next door then obviously the rocket will have to be free of hazardous materials, right? This means they will have to 'safe' the rocket at sea somewhere.

Offline Kabloona

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #288 on: 12/30/2014 03:03 pm »
If they are offloading to a port where there is a cruise ship next door then obviously the rocket will have to be free of hazardous materials, right? This means they will have to 'safe' the rocket at sea somewhere.

They will probably allow residual LOX to boil off after landing. The TEA/TEB ignition fluids could be expended by emptying the tanks during ignition of the landing burn. That leaves some residual RP-1 in the fuel tank, which is no more hazardous than all the gasoline in the cars parked in the Carnival lot.

Offline Ohsin

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #289 on: 12/30/2014 03:13 pm »
Another pic from twitter :)

Also something(5-6ft in length) was installed on barge(in front of container on top-left) on 29th, crane stopped near four hold downs and later offloaded it on barge. Whole day people just kept entering and leaving the containers on barge :P

EDIT:

Twitter source for link of first pic

https://twitter.com/JAXPORT/status/548560950841061378
« Last Edit: 12/30/2014 03:53 pm by Ohsin »
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Offline cambrianera

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #290 on: 12/30/2014 03:13 pm »
Good find. Nice detail.

Any idea what the white/alum jig is for?

It should be for alignment of the hold points; hold points at the four corners of the square frame
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Offline TrueBlueWitt

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #291 on: 12/30/2014 03:31 pm »

http://www.mcdonoughmarine.com/assets/pdf/ocean-barge-fleet-a.pdf


This may have already been posted

MARMAC 300
Length 300' (91.44m)
Uniform Deck Load 4500 lbs/ft2 (22 t/m2 )
Width 100' (30.48m)
Cargo Capacity at Loadline 11,318 s. tons (10,267 m tons)
Depth 19'9" (6.02m)
Gross Tonnage 4422 Loadline
Draft 15' 7-7/16" (4.76m)
Net Tonnage 1326
Light Draft 2'8" (0.75m)

Offline Helodriver

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #292 on: 12/30/2014 03:46 pm »
It seems overbuilt for the task of holding up an empty unfuelled stage. I wonder if this is the launch mount from Spaceport USA diverted to Jacksonville for temporary use? Possibly its just a case of "we know this design works for holding up stages, build another one"

The fact this structure was not present at the originally scheduled launch date makes me wonder what the plan was for barge offload then. Perhaps the installation of it was one of the reasons for the current delay.

I wonder if we will see these built at other landing sites?
« Last Edit: 12/30/2014 03:48 pm by Chris Bergin »

Offline Ohsin

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #293 on: 12/30/2014 03:48 pm »
Good find. Nice detail.

Any idea what the white/alum jig is for?

No clue it looks like its legs are buried in ground.. may be it has some role in mounting/dismounting first stage?
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Offline Chris Bergin

This thread is awesome. Remember to check back a few pages, as three of you posted the same twitter link and photo on three consecutive pages ;) Also, if you do take a picture from twitter, remember to link.
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Offline rpapo

The fact this structure was not present at the originally scheduled launch date makes me wonder what the plan was for barge offload then.
They could probably have done the entire process while keeping the stage suspended from the crane, since a crane is evidently part of the process anyhow.  But placing it on the mount would work better, I think.

Wild fantasy: Having placed it on the mount and raised the legs, they mount a nose cone and refuel for a hop back to KSC...  Not happening, I know, but I could just imagine the reactions from the Carnival Cruise people.

For that matter, once a stage has returned successfully, look for a boat-load of tweets of the standing stage from Carnival passengers.
Following the space program since before Apollo 8.

Offline cambrianera

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #296 on: 12/30/2014 04:15 pm »
It seems overbuilt for the task of holding up an empty unfuelled stage. I wonder if this is the launch mount from Spaceport USA diverted to Jacksonville for temporary use? Possibly its just a case of "we know this design works for holding up stages, build another one"

The fact this structure was not present at the originally scheduled launch date makes me wonder what the plan was for barge offload then. Perhaps the installation of it was one of the reasons for the current delay.

I wonder if we will see these built at other landing sites?

Original design was for launch, and a thick steel part is self protected from short temperature spikes.
If you compare few tons of steel with a landing deck weighing something like 10^6 kg you see why your observation about "already designed" should be spot on.
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Offline cscott

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #297 on: 12/30/2014 05:16 pm »
Mounting in concrete should not necessarily be taken as evidence of permanence. Just watch road-building crews, who slap a layer of asphalt over anything they're going to leave for a few days.  Concrete is just really good at holding things, and a jackhammer is pretty good at removing it later.  Further, the legs might actually just be bolted to studs embedded in the concrete; the  MacGregor structure looks shorter/more deeply embedded than its barge port partner.

Offline Ohsin

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #298 on: 12/30/2014 05:26 pm »
Just in case anyone  missed it. Reddit user 'doersino' was recording on 20th Dec and holddowns were installed on that day and be can seen raised.. The JAXPORT rainbow pic I posted was taken on morning of 24th Dec(lights are on) but I don't think I see white jig in front of holddowns in this pic.

a.pomf.se/jdvkor.mp4
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Offline Nydoc

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Re: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2
« Reply #299 on: 12/30/2014 06:27 pm »
Everyone here seems to share a FASCINATION. Too easy?  ;D

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