Fairing reuse

[wannamoonbase]

In the cases where fairing halves are not reused, do we know why?
Sure, there are pictures of damaged fairing halves but what was the cause(s)?
A hard impact with the ocean? A partial parachute deployment? Getting hit by the ship doing the retrieval?

Cheers,
Nic

I don't know anything about the actual practices, but I've assumed they subject recovered fairings to some strength tests.  Maybe when they see them fail for some reasons they are retired.

[catdlr]

https://twitter.com/_rykllan/status/1917045899613577255

[randomname]

Starlink 12-23
SN203-17 and SN198-16 supported this launch. Someone posted a picture they took from the side of the road of a fairing rollout with the 198 serial number visible on one half, and the other half can be identified as SN203 due to "circle" shapes on the fairing to the side of the vents, a feature unique to SN203 and SN202 (and as this fairing was an active half, it had to be SN203). At the time, the mission assignment was unknown, but SN203 was later visually identified on 12-23, and the port photos afterward also confirm that this fairing rollout was for 12-23.

https://twitter.com/ZycharyS/status/1915462039167795538

Starlink 12-10
SN155-24 and SN220-2 supported this launch. This fairing rollout was noticed, but not in time for SCL cameras to zoom in and capture the fairings' serial numbers. Based on the webcast, we were pretty certain it was SN155 and SN220 supporting the launch, which was confirmed by port photos a few hours ago from NSF Space Coast Live.

I'm interested to see if SN220 rejoins SN221 for both halves' 3rd flight to support GPS III SV08, or if SpaceX will debut another set of new halves on that mission. So far, the only GPS mission to reuse fairings was SV07, which reused the Europa Clipper halves (218 & 215) on each fairing's 2nd flight.

[randomname]

Starlink 6-75
Starlink 6-75 used SN152 and SN188. Two photos of the fairings post-flight in the port from NSF Space Coast Live are attached.

Starlink 6-84
The fairings used on this launch are SN212-10 and (99% sure) SN221-3. Both SN221 and SN212 were matched visually during the webcast, and when Doug returned to port, SN212's serial number was visible, but the active half was hiding behind SN212, and there weren't SCL operators online when the fairings were unloaded off the ship, so I can't be 100% sure that it was SN221. That said, it would be very surprising to me if it isn't SN221.

Starlink 6-93
This launch is... the most interesting launch from the perspective of fairing tracking in quite a while. I, rykllan, and others have not been able to visually match the active fairing half visible in the webcast to any other fairing in the fleet, something that hasn't happened in a long time. At this point, I'm thinking this is probably a Vandenberg active half that's been moved over to the Cape, perhaps the active half that launched Starlink 9-10. Bob's highly anticipated return with 6-93's fairing halves will be tomorrow.

Starlink 6-91
To be clear, the fairing for 6-91 hasn't even rolled out to the pad yet. This is fully speculation. But if ignoring SN163, a fairing that has been skipped a few times, the next active half up for flight is SN185, which would be the first 30th flight of a fairing half. If they do use SN185 for this flight (should be pretty clear visually from the webcast if that happens or not), SpaceX should hopefully announce the major milestone of the first fairing to 30 flights in a tweet, like they did when the first fairings reached 10, 11, 20, and 21 flights. Exciting times!

[randomname]

Starlink 6-93
The mystery fairing on 6-93 returned to port a few minutes ago. It turns out to be SN191, a serial number we indeed have never seen before. The passive fairing supporting the mission was SN200-20.

Starlink 6-91/6-83
The fairing supporting 6-91 (or 6-83, I don't know which pad it went to) did end up rolling to the pad yesterday, and Space Coast Live got a shot of the passive's serial number, SN168-26, but wasn't quick enough to catch the active's serial number. That said, comparing with the previous SN185 rollout makes it pretty clear that this fairing is almost certainly SN185-30. This mission uses the top two fairing halves in total flights.

[randomname]

That said, comparing with the previous SN185 rollout makes it pretty clear that this fairing is almost certainly SN185-30.

SpaceX confirms first fairing to reach 30 launches:
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1921091226541191342

[catdlr]

https://twitter.com/_rykllan/status/1922697237731176790

[randomname]

Starlink 6-91
6-91 used SN185-30 and SN168-26. The fairings were seen during pad rollout (albeit only 168's serial number could be directly seen), then SpaceX confirmed the suspected use of SN185-30 in the post above. Both fairings were recovered and returned to port.

Starlink 15-4
The passive fairing can be matched to the same that flew 11-11 and 11-10. The active fairing can be best matched as the fairing that last flew on Transporter 13 and debuted on USSF-52, but the match to 15-4 isn't amazing.

Starlink 6-83
6-83 used SN203-18 and SN202-16. Space Coast Live identified the fairings and each half's serial numbers during pad rollout, and they should return to port within the next few hours.

Starlink 6-67
6-67 used SN155-25 and SN218-7. Similar to 6-83, Space Coast Live caught the fairings during rollout to the pad. Rykllan did some more digging, and we now likely have the full flight history of SN155. The flight history indicates that SN155 was the first fairing to 8, 9, 10, and 11 launches (and previously known as first to 18, 19, 20, and 21), and SN163 was very likely the first fairing to reach 12, 13, and 14 launches.

[randomname]

Starlink 6-83
SN203 and SN202 returned to port after this launch; photos from Space Coast Live are attached.

Starlink 6-67
SN155 and SN218 returned to port after this launch, albeit in the middle of the night. Low-quality nighttime photo from Space Coast Live attached.

Starlink 15-5
The launch was foggy, so unfortunately, there wasn't any usable ground camera footage for us to look at. However, fortunately, this launch used one of only two remaining passive fairing halves with 4 round access covers, and this specific passive fairing has a unique "silvery" rectangular patch on the fairing visible during the stage separation shot, so we were able to identify this as the passive's 18th flight. The active fairing is not very visible in stage separation shots, but we were able to note that it's a v2.4 fairing, so likely SN217, SN229, or a fairing we've so far called 'C' as a placeholder until its serial number is found.

Starlink 12-15
This launch is even more confusing than 6-93 was with its mystery fairing. 12-15's active fairing also has no matches with any other fairing in the current fleet, and has a white rectangle around its serial number, indicating that this fairing hasn't flown since the serial number was added to the fairing, or at most one time since.

We've been able to match virtually every active fairing that's launched from the Cape since at least the start of 2024 together, even extending through most of 2023, and this fairing does not look anywhere near any of them. I've similarly compared this fairing with every active fairing used in Vandy launches since the start of 2023 and have also come up with nothing that looks like this fairing, although it can be difficult with foggy missions carrying unknown fairings.

As the launch was aborted, we only know that this fairing is either a v2.3 or a v2.4 fairing (we'll be able to tell which it is when we see a stage separation shot, which will tell us if this fairing is above or below the 190s in serial number), and we know that this fairing doesn't feature an extra row in the bottom of the exterior structure seen in fairings that debuted on EarthCARE, NG-20, GOES-U, Psyche, USSF-124, and PACE (possibly serial number range 196-207, the serial numbers of the fairings on some of those launches are unknown). I am very curious to learn this fairing's serial number when it eventually launches and returns to Port Canaveral. The passive fairing is probably SN198.

Later Missions
GPS III SV08, at the end of May, is expected to use new fairing halves. So far, the only GPS launch to reuse fairings was SV07 with the 2nd launch of the fairings that supported Europa Clipper. A local saw a wrapped and cage-protected fairing half on the road heading in the direction of Astrotech around 12 days ago, which is where GPS satellites have been integrated into Falcon in the past.

If there are no Starlink launches from SLC-40 between 12-22 and GPS III SV08, similarly none between GPS III SV08 and SXM-10, if there's one more Starlink launch from 39A before Ax-4, and if GPS uses new fairing halves, then the fairings next in line for use on SXM-10 would be SN191 and SN188, two of the few remaining fairing halves in the fleet which we currently do not know the flight totals of. Customer webcasts usually give the flight totals of both fairings, so if we're lucky, we might learn the flight totals of SN191 and/or SN188 on SXM-10.

[catdlr]

https://discord.com/channels/732509550606942268/744701588442054796

A payload encapsulated by fairing halves SN191 and SN220 has rolled towards SLC-40. This will be the 3rd flight for SN220

https://discord.com/channels/732509550606942268/744701588442054796/1374427217764941865

[randomname]

As the launch was aborted, we only know that this fairing is either a v2.3 or a v2.4 fairing (we'll be able to tell which it is when we see a stage separation shot, which will tell us if this fairing is above or below the 190s in serial number), and we know that this fairing doesn't feature an extra row in the bottom of the exterior structure seen in fairings that debuted on EarthCARE, NG-20, GOES-U, Psyche, USSF-124, and PACE (possibly serial number range 196-207, the serial numbers of the fairings on some of those launches are unknown)

The stage separation shot indicated that the active fairing is v2.4, which is... interesting. For background, we've classified v2.4 as the newest major fairing version, first introduced on Psyche in late 2023, and the most visible difference between v2.3 and v2.4 fairings is the change in color of several regions inside the fairing around the edge and tip from a pale color to fully black. The v2.3 with the highest serial number we're aware of is SN191, and the earliest v2.4 we're aware of is SN198. The transition from v2.3 to v2.4 is somewhere in between those fairings. Similarly, the transition from v2.2 to v2.3 is somewhere between SN155 and SN163.

A distinctive feature of the earliest v2.4 fairings is an extra "row" visible in the fairing structure near the bottom of the fairing, and is seen in the fairings that debuted on EarthCARE, NG-20, GOES-U, Psyche, USSF-124, and PACE, as I said earlier. The fairings on USSF-124 were SN199 and (likely) SN198, on Psyche SN200 and (maybe) SN201, on PACE SN202 and SN203, and we know that the extra row is gone by SN208, which doesn't have the feature. The other three launches known to have debuted fairings with this extra row, EarthCARE, NG-20, and GOES-U, could possibly, in any order, have debuted SN196, SN197, SN204, SN205, SN206, and SN207.

The unknown v2.4 active fairing used on 12-15 did not have the extra row, so it likely needs to be SN209 or higher. Currently, the only active fairings known that fit this criteria are SN215, a fairing that traveled to Vandenberg in January and has flown 4 missions there since, SN217, a fairing that traveled to Vandenberg for its most recent mission on NROL-192, SN221, the active fairing that debuted on NROL-69, and SN229, the Vandenberg fairing that debuted on SPHEREx & PUNCH. It's possible that this fairing is in a gap between all of those serials. However, to some extent, it seems unlikely to me that an SN209+ active fairing has managed to go under the radar and undergone enough flights to accumulate that much soot without us noticing. On the other hand, it is confusing that this fairing has a white-colored rectangle surrounding the serial number, something that so far has only been visible on fairings that recently had the serial number added.

My best guess is that the 12-15 fairing could be SN217, but I may be wrong. Bob returns to port later today.

[randomname]

12-15's active ultimately ended up being SN221-4. The fairing's appearance changed quite a bit from its previous flight, and they seem to have redone the serial number decal on the fairing, as the borders of the decal were already blended in with the non-white fairing surface by its 2nd flight. I think that, coupled with the rare lack of any SN221 port photos after its previous launch, ended up dooming its recognition. I also must say this is the sootiest I think I can recall a 4th-flight fairing ever appearing.

Accompanying active fairing half SN221 was passive fairing half SN198-17, as expected.

[cpushack]

12-15's active ultimately ended up being SN221-4. The fairing's appearance changed quite a bit from its previous flight, and they seem to have redone the serial number decal on the fairing, as the borders of the decal were already blended in with the non-white fairing surface by its 2nd flight. I think that, coupled with the rare lack of any SN221 port photos after its previous launch, ended up dooming its recognition. I also must say this is the sootiest I think I can recall a 4th-flight fairing ever appearing.

Accompanying active fairing half SN221 was passive fairing half SN198-17, as expected.

It was fun seeing a 17th flight fairing...on a brand new booster.

[randomname]

It was fun seeing a 17th flight fairing...on a brand new booster.

Even crazier, B1094 debuted on a mission carrying SN155-24, a fairing that's likely been flying around since 2020, and B1092 debuted on a mission with SN185-27 and SN200-18!

Starlink 10-32
The fairing for 10-32 rolled to 39A an hour or two ago, but was noticed too late by Space Coast Live operators for a zoom into the serial numbers as it passed by the cameras by the VAB. That said, the fairing to me looks most like SN188 and (possibly) SN185-31.

SN188 has a unique interior among the passives in the fleet, so we'll be able to confirm its use with the stage separation shot. We'll get a pretty good idea if the active is SN185 or not with the webcast ground shots.

[randomname]

Starlink 15-5
The launch was foggy, so unfortunately, there wasn't any usable ground camera footage for us to look at. The active fairing is not very visible in stage separation shots, but we were able to note that it's a v2.4 fairing, so likely SN217, SN229, or a fairing we've so far called 'C' as a placeholder until its serial number is found.

Starlink 15-5
Shorealone Films got a shot of a fairing half on the dock a few days ago that's really interesting. It's easy apparent from the image that the fairing half is an active half, and that this fairing half is a v2.4 fairing half, due to the presence of an extra row in the fairing structure near the base (this also indicates this is one of the earlier v2.4 fairings). The only v2.4 fairing half currently flying at Vandenberg fitting this criteria is the half with a placeholder name 'C', however, there was a fairing half a long while ago that had debuted on EarthCARE, then launched for its 2nd mission on ASBM in August 2024. It hasn't been seen since, and was presumed destroyed or retired. Our placeholder name for it is 'Q' (we don't know the serial numbers of either fairing half yet)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/81789298@N05/54546891637/in/album-72177720326404346

However, when I compared the fairing half Shorealone Films caught on the dock with both 'C' and 'Q', it was immediately apparent that this fairing half is, in fact, not the currently flying 'C' fairing, but is the 'Q' fairing that has not been seen since ASBM in August. In fact, the 'Space Norway' ASBM decal is even partially still visible on the fairing. This means that it likely launched its 3rd flight on 15-5, with a 277-day turnaround.

Starlink 11-16
Starlink 11-16 launched under more foggy conditions, but the fog was clear enough for us to recognize the active fairing half as SN217-13. The stage separation shot indicated that the passive fairing is a v2.4 fairing, and the only v2.4 passive fairings currently flying at Vandenberg are SN214 and SN228. SN228 was the next fairing in order for flight, and the post-launch images of the launch show a passive fairing that's cleaner than SN214 has looked in previous flights, so SN228-3 likely supported 11-16.

Starlink 12-22
The fairing halves that supported 12-22, SN191 and SN220, were both successfully recovered and returned to port.

Starlink 17-1
Ground visibility was once again problematic for this flight, but enough of the fairing was visible for the active fairing half to be identified as the 19th flight of the half that most recently supported NROL-145 for its 18th, and can be first identified on its 13th for NROL-126. With the webcast issues, there was unfortunately no stage separation shot for us to use in identifying the passive fairing, or even if it was v2.3 or v2.4. The passive fairing that was next up for flight is the passive fairing that most recently supported NROL-145 for its 12th, and this may be its 13th, but there's no way for us to know if it's this fairing or not, unless some lucky port photos are taken when GO Beyond returns. SpaceX quite frequently launches fairing halves out of post-launch time order.

[randomname]

The fairing for 10-32 rolled to 39A an hour or two ago, but was noticed too late by Space Coast Live operators for a zoom into the serial numbers as it passed by the cameras by the VAB. That said, the fairing to me looks most like SN188 and (possibly) SN185-31.

Starlink 10-32
The fairings used on 10-32 returned this morning, and as expected from rollout images and the webcast, the fairings that supported the mission were SN185-31 (the first 31st flight of a fairing half) and SN188.

GPS III SV08
Photographers in the field reportedly saw the serial numbers 222 and 231 on the new fairing halves supporting GPS.

[randomname]

GPS III SV08
Photographers in the field reportedly saw the serial numbers 222 and 231 on the new fairing halves supporting GPS.

And here's now a shot that confirms:
https://twitter.com/spaceflightnow/status/1928491188287422713

[randomname]

The fairing for Starlink 12-19 passed the VAB about an hour ago. The fairing halves supporting are SN203-19 and SN212-11, both of which are the respective active and passive halves that are longest post-flight at the Cape.

It appears that SN152 has departed the fleet, just like SN163, last launched at the start of April, and SN181, last launched in mid-January. We'll see if it returns at some point later down the line. Not strictly impossible that it could be reserved for SXM-10, but I would be very surprised if that happens given the age of the fairing and timelines on past customer missions that reflew fairing halves.

[randomname]

Starlink 11-18
The launch was fairly foggy, not fully, but enough to prevent a definitive match of either fairing half. The stage separation shot indicated a v2.4 passive (currently only 214 and 228 at VSFB) and v2.3 active. It is likely based on that for the passive to be SN214. Active is more difficult; possible options include SN165.

GPS III SV08
Both SN222 and SN231 returned from GPS III SV08 this morning, a surprisingly long time post-launch. Cape fairing recovery ships return around 1 day and 13-14 hours after launch fairly consistently, but Doug took 2 days and 21 hours to return from this mission.

Other - SN188 discovery
While digging through old photos of fairings, I discovered an image of the O3b mPOWER 3 & 4 fairing halves post-return. I immediately noticed a distinct SN188 patch visible on the passive fairing, confirming a possible chain of SN188 missions that rykllan put together a few weeks ago (the passive fairing on O3b 3 & 4 has a unique internal feature that was only present on a few fairing halves, including SN188, leading to the original suspicion). According to the webcast, the passive fairing on the mission was flying for its 3rd time. It's known for certain that the O3b 3 & 4 passive fairing was reused later on O3b 5 & 6 for its 8th flight, and after that, SN188's flight history can be fully mapped, with one exception.

The one flight after O3b mPOWER 5 & 6 that we're uncertain about regarding SN188 is Ovzon-3. It's possible that SN188 could have flown on that launch, and the timeline works out to make it seem that it could have happened, but there's no way for us to know for certain if it was used on Ovzon-3, as that mission did not show fairing separation.

SN188 has, as a result, supported 22 or 23 missions, depending on whether it was used on Ovzon-3 or not.

Here's the shot of the O3b mPOWER 3 & 4 fairings that led me to this discovery:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FSB7KnoCb/

[randomname]

Older Missions - Starlink 15-4 (Mid-May)
rykllan recently discovered that the active fairing that supported 15-4 was actually SN163, a Cape fairing that hadn't been seen since early April.

Starlink 11-22
11-22 used SN215-7 and a passive half with an unknown serial number flying for its 20th time, last flown on 15-3.

SXM-10
SXM-10 used SN221-5 and SN200-21. The serial numbers of the fairings were visible during the webcast, and the fairing half flight numbers given on the webcast match previous tracking of these halves.

Starlink 15-8
15-8 used an unknown active fairing half, perhaps SN165 based on time post-flight, and a passive half with an unknown serial number flying for its 23rd time, which last supported 15-5.

Starlink 12-24
The fairing halves for 12-24 were spotted rolling past the VAB, and are SN155-26 and SN168-27.