Author Topic: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Updates and Discussion Thread 3  (Read 1424484 times)

Offline sewebster

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http://www.sea-distances.org/ says 35.5 days at 15 knots to go around the Horn, by the way.

Prices you guys are talking about sound super cheap to me, but yeah, maybe cheap labour... I guess it's not, uh, rocket science...?

Offline CameronD

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Back on topic.. there's some great pics in this post on the live thread:

Mr. Trip Harriss just tweeted these aerial images by /u/EsTeEs.

https://twitter.com/SpaceXTrip/status/730153377389268997

It appears they fully retract the fwd thrusters, but leave the aft ones down a bit to provide some drag for the tow.

Back a couple of (okay, a few more than that!) pages it was speculated that the aft thruster being down a bit whilst alongside meant it was faulty: I don't agree.. and instead think they had more pressing things to do (like tidy up the deck) than stow the thrusters right away.
 
With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine - however, this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are
going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead.

Offline OxCartMark

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I don't agree.. and instead think they had more pressing things to do (like tidy up the deck) than stow the thrusters right away.
But not as much deck tidying up as two flights ago and previous.
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Offline DatUser14

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Painted an ASDS model I had in OCISLY livery
Titan IVB was a cool rocket

Offline envy887

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Anyone know of an existing public 3D model of an ASDS? I'd like to 3D print one.

Offline DatUser14

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Titan IVB was a cool rocket

Offline Lar

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Cool but a bit backlevel as it doesn't have the shields
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

Offline catdlr

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Painted an ASDS model I had in OCISLY livery

That would make a nice B-Day cake with a Falcon-9 as it's candle.
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Offline 411rocket

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Painted an ASDS model I had in OCISLY livery

That would make a nice B-Day cake with a Falcon-9 as it's candle.

With the flame on the bottom end, maybe light up a leg or two.

F9 has hot legs, during landing.......

How long, before a real droneship heads out again, baring any slips?

Offline Kabloona

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Painted an ASDS model I had in OCISLY livery

That would make a nice B-Day cake with a Falcon-9 as it's candle.

With the flame on the bottom end, maybe light up a leg or two.

F9 has hot legs, during landing.......

How long, before a real droneship heads out again, baring any slips?

With the Range reportedly down until the 27th, a slip from the current NET of the 26th seems probable.

OCISLY will probably be positioned near where she was for JCSAT, so a departure 5 days in advance of launch seems likely, ie NET the 22nd.

Offline garcianc

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This may be worthy of a new thread. If so, moderators feel free to let me know. I did a quick search and have not seen this brought up. If this has already been discussed, my apologies in advance.

I am suggesting that there should be a dedicated ASDS recovery and refurbishment processing facility. This facility would allow the ASDS to float under a gantry crane, quickly offload, allowing the stage to be completely or partially refurbished in the same facility. The facility would have shops and spares to support complete or partial refurbishment of both the rocket and barge.

As an example, SpaceX could take inspiration from the Trident Refit Facility in Kings Bay, GA:



Although in the case of the SpaceX facility, a roof may not be necessary.

Another visual depiction, although not exactly serving a similar purpose, is for a submarine degaussing facility:



Imagine a similar "drive-through" setup with a gantry crane that expands across the two finger piers and is able to move on tracks carrying the stage into the processing area.

Offline DatUser14

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Cool but a bit backlevel as it doesn't have the shields
I noticed this as well, what would you reccomend to get the blast walls?
Titan IVB was a cool rocket

Offline cscott

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My version:

Offline Barrie

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Painted an ASDS model I had in OCISLY livery

What this needs is a landed stage made from a toilet roll centre wrapped in sticky-backed plastic.  ;)

Offline meekGee

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This may be worthy of a new thread. If so, moderators feel free to let me know. I did a quick search and have not seen this brought up. If this has already been discussed, my apologies in advance.

I am suggesting that there should be a dedicated ASDS recovery and refurbishment processing facility. This facility would allow the ASDS to float under a gantry crane, quickly offload, allowing the stage to be completely or partially refurbished in the same facility. The facility would have shops and spares to support complete or partial refurbishment of both the rocket and barge.

As an example, SpaceX could take inspiration from the Trident Refit Facility in Kings Bay, GA:

Although in the case of the SpaceX facility, a roof may not be necessary.

Another visual depiction, although not exactly serving a similar purpose, is for a submarine degaussing facility:

Imagine a similar "drive-through" setup with a gantry crane that expands across the two finger piers and is able to move on tracks carrying the stage into the processing area.

I think a dedicated offloader apparatus will be forthcoming, but I think all it will do is minimal post-flight processing, leg folding, and horizontalizing...  then send it off to a land hanger like they already have...

Spending a week on each stage like this is just temporary IMO, but there's no better way of finding out what you need then doing it a few times "manually".
ABCD - Always Be Counting Down

Offline Jim

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This may be worthy of a new thread. If so, moderators feel free to let me know. I did a quick search and have not seen this brought up. If this has already been discussed, my apologies in advance.

I am suggesting that there should be a dedicated ASDS recovery and refurbishment processing facility. This facility would allow the ASDS to float under a gantry crane, quickly offload, allowing the stage to be completely or partially refurbished in the same facility. The facility would have shops and spares to support complete or partial refurbishment of both the rocket and barge.

As an example, SpaceX could take inspiration from the Trident Refit Facility in Kings Bay, GA:



There isn't room at Port Canaveral for such a facility.  Spacex is working at a shared dock. 
Also, the flight rate likely doesn't need such a facility.

The facility would have shops and spares to support complete or partial refurbishment of both the rocket and barge.

Facilties for stage refurb already exist at space port.
« Last Edit: 05/13/2016 05:04 pm by Jim »

Offline gadgetmind

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What this needs is a landed stage made from a toilet roll centre wrapped in sticky-backed plastic.  ;)

Ah, clearly a fellow Brit!

Offline Lar

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What this needs is a landed stage made from a toilet roll centre wrapped in sticky-backed plastic.  ;)

Ah, clearly a fellow Brit!

The models might well be something we should carve out into a separate thread into our modeling area.
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

Offline DatUser14

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My version:
Did you tape a picture of OCISLY to the same model I used?
Titan IVB was a cool rocket

Offline maximlevitsky

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« Last Edit: 05/14/2016 03:12 pm by maximlevitsky »

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