Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 - SpX-6/CRS-6 DRAGON - Discussion Thread  (Read 519188 times)

Offline Jim

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How about giant airbags? They inflate from the barge deck as soon as the stage touches down, in order to trap it upright.


You have making more problems than solving them.

Offline sanman

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No, it isn't and you have nothing to back up your claim.  The barge is only temporary.  The fence is a kludge and not worth the effort

But Jim, what about for FH center core - is that supposed to always land back on land too? Won't it sometimes travel too far away from land to bring it back?
« Last Edit: 04/14/2015 11:45 pm by sanman »

Offline Jim

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No, it isn't and you have nothing to back up your claim.  The barge is only temporary.  The fence is a kludge and not worth the effort

But Jim, what about for FH center core - is that supposed to always land back on land too?

That has infrequent flights.

Offline JazzFan

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Better make those bags fire proof and able to magically disappear so the vehicle can be quickly secured to the barge deck.

Offline plank

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Congratulations Spacex on successful mission.   Next time you'll stick the landing for sure.   Specking of which anyone knows when will be their next attempt at first sage recovery?

Offline yg1968

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Wasnt sure where to post this.

Saw this on Twitter , havent seen it posted here.

Tweets & replies

Elon Musk @elonmusk  ·  33m 33 minutes ago
@teknotus There are nitrogen thrusters at top of rocket. Either not enough thrust to stabilize or a leg was damaged. Data review needed.

A leg may have been damaged during the launch or during the landing attempt?

Offline Space Ghost 1962

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Wasnt sure where to post this.

Saw this on Twitter , havent seen it posted here.

Tweets & replies

Elon Musk @elonmusk  ·  33m 33 minutes ago
@teknotus There are nitrogen thrusters at top of rocket. Either not enough thrust to stabilize or a leg was damaged. Data review needed.

A leg may have been damaged during the launch or during the landing attempt?

Or on reentry. Possibly not enough control authority.

Offline Lars-J

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Why not? If the barge is in use years down the line, you find it such an implausible statement that it would have better bandwidth?  :) Let's wait and see who is right.

Because it is not needed.  It wasn't needed today, there is no engineering need..  The barge is going to be used less in the future.

Of course it isn't required. But it still will happen, if the barge is kept in service. Are you really that hell-bent on not believing in progress by inertia alone? In the near future even toasters will have the bandwidth to accomplish this - But go ahead, be that guy that 20 years ago would have predicted that noone would have internet access faster than 56k modems because it isn't "needed". Go ahead.  :)

I'm still open to bet on this... 5 years from now, if a SpaceX barge is in service, it will be able to broadcast live video. Want to take that bet?
« Last Edit: 04/15/2015 12:03 am by Lars-J »

Offline rickl

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While I was hoping for a successful landing, I'm very pleased with today's events.  Another flawless Falcon 9 launch sending a healthy Dragon on its way, and a landing attempt that was clearly an improvement over the first try in January.


Back in 1957-58, they were still trying to work out how to make successful launches.  There were several failures for every success.  Today launches are pretty reliable and failures are rare. 


After thousands of space launches since then, this was only the second attempt to soft-land a first stage from an orbital launch.  I'm confident that they'll get it before long.
« Last Edit: 04/15/2015 12:14 am by rickl »
The Space Age is just starting to get interesting.

Offline Coastal Ron

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A leg may have been damaged during the launch or during the landing attempt?

If you look at the image showing the stage landing it appears to have the center engine on the outer landing circle.  I don't know how wide the legs go, but it could have been that the pad/foot of one of the legs was off the side of the barge enough that it caused the tipping to happen.
If we don't continuously lower the cost to access space, how are we ever going to afford to expand humanity out into space?

Offline sanman

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Or on reentry. Possibly not enough control authority.

How much scope is there to beef up the RCS / nitrogen thrusters to help keep the tipping stage balanced?
Is it just a question of increasing the amount of available nitrogen gas? You would think that the RCS which is capable of flipping a stage for boostback would have enough control authority to balance against mere tipping.

Offline QuantumG

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It really would seem better to put an automated system on the drone ship to capture the Falcon stage. I mean, that mass is free.

Lasso that rocket!
Human spaceflight is basically just LARPing now.

Offline Jim

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Of course it isn't required. But it still will happen, if the barge is kept in service. Are you really that hell-bent on not believing in progress by inertia alone? In the near future even toasters will have the bandwidth to accomplish this - But go ahead, be that guy that 20 years ago would have predicted that noone would have internet access faster than 56k modems because it isn't "needed". Go ahead.  :)


If they wanted it, it would be on the barge now.  The capability has existed for years.  So you can't say it will happen.
« Last Edit: 04/15/2015 12:05 am by Jim »

Offline sanman

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Or at least a transponder in the middle of the X (landing zone) for the stage to home in on exactly, and to match speed with.

Offline Jim

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Or at least a transponder in the middle of the X (landing zone) for the stage to home in on exactly, and to match speed with.

How many times does it have to be said.  The rocket and barge don't interact nor do they need to.

Offline sanman

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If they wanted it, it would be on the barge now.  The capability has existed for years.  So you can't say it will happen.

In which case, what would be the reason why they wouldn't want it - security? Time is money, and you'd think they'd like to get the fullest information right away, including visual info, so that they could start immediately assessing what happened, rather than waiting days to get a hold of that footage.

Offline Jim

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You would think that the RCS which is capable of flipping a stage for boostback would have enough control authority to balance against mere tipping.

No, not true   High up in the atmosphere, there is no air nor main engine firing.  There is little resistance.

Offline Jim

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In which case, what would be the reason why they wouldn't want it - security? Time is money, and you'd think they'd like to get the fullest information right away, including visual info, so that they could start immediately assessing what happened, rather than waiting days to get a hold of that footage.

A few days is not going to matter and the video isn't going to provide much more data than the telemetry.

Offline sanman

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How many times does it have to be said.  The rocket and barge don't interact nor do they need to.

Well, technically they *are* interacting - mechanically - which is why the "excess lateral velocity" probably caused the tipping in the end. In which case, it would make sense for the stage to directly measure its distance/velocity relative to the landing target. Some kind of landing beacon might be useful.

Offline Rebel44

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What are those legs made of?

Tags: CRS-6 
 

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