Author Topic: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Updates and Discussion Thread 3  (Read 1424451 times)

Offline Lar

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Unfortunately, you can't beat the laws of physics:  (a) max towing speed will depend upon the sea state at the time, but is never going to be much more than 5 kts in flat water simply by design (b) the tug must stay out of the designated impact zone (10 miles?) until the landed stage has been safed, which is a long way to travel at sea in a tug, even in a hurry and (c) they have a looong way to go to get to port.

One option mooted a couple of threads ago was to not tow it at all:  instead hire/buy one of Dockwise's semi-submersible lift ships to pick the barge and landed stage up at sea and take the whole lot into port at high(er) speed - but it's unclear if adding a few knots to the return speed would really help speed up the process all that much in the overall scheme of things.

A few threads back I also was playing with the notion of whether it's possible to get a barge or barge like vessel "on plane" to get higher speeds and I'm thinking that idea is just as wrong now as it was when I first floated it....

Quote

They could call it the "Falcon's Nest".. :)
 

That name is taken :)
"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 MarekCyzio

OCISLY last weekend + some activity at GO Searcher

Offline MarekCyzio

Roomba tent is gone + some massive crane is ready to put Roomba on OCISLY

Offline Alastor

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Is it Go Quest or Go Searcher, which is supposedly tasked with fairing research activities ?

Offline meekGee

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So it appears the door swings up, yes?

(or does a true garage door motion?  That would be too funny...)
« Last Edit: 03/13/2017 03:32 pm by meekGee »
ABCD - Always Be Counting Down

Offline matthewkantar

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So it appears the door swings up, yes?

(or does a true garage door motion?  That would be too funny...)

Will be similar to a california type garage door, but not quite the same, I believe.

Matthew

Offline CameronD

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Looking big picture here, there's been three ASDS Discussion threads already, a support ship activities thread, numerous design threads and now the Roomba thread may take a path of it's own..

Mods, perhaps it's time for an entire Section devoted to SpaceX Marine Activities?!?

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 Kabloona

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Is it Go Quest or Go Searcher, which is supposedly tasked with fairing research activities ?

Searcher.

Offline Lar

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Looking big picture here, there's been three ASDS Discussion threads already, a support ship activities thread, numerous design threads and now the Roomba thread may take a path of it's own..

Mods, perhaps it's time for an entire Section devoted to SpaceX Marine Activities?!?

3-5 concurrent active threads isn't enough for a whole section I don't think. This is NOT an invitation to start 19 minutia ones[1]. nor is it an invitation to meta discuss whether a section is needed or not[1]. But this is data the mods take into account and it'll be discussed and if the topic blossoms enough to warrant it, then maybe.  IMNSHO[2] subject to overrule by the Boss Man[3], not yet.  I do see a trend to maybe someday.

1 - I know how you people think... [5]
1 - I know how you people think... [4][5]
2 - Not so humble ... kinda goes without sayin' when talking about me, I think?[5]
3 - I don't always know how Mr. Bergin thinks.[5]
4 - guess I should have reused that footnote... They even had the same tail numbers, what was I thinking....[5]
5 - given that every footnote includes the word "think" I might be overthinking my use of footnotes? [5][6]
6 - naaaa.. that's crazy talk! crazy thinking, I think....[5] You can never overuse footnotes [2]. Never..... Well, almost never [3]. Watch Chris delete away my carefully crafted[2] footnote humor on me...
« Last Edit: 03/14/2017 10:59 am by Lar »
"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 Johnnyhinbos

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You hit a self-referential recursion there with [5] Lar, now my head is spinning and I can't get off your footnote... Chris might have to do a mercy deletion.
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Offline Lar

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You hit a self-referential recursion there with [5] Lar, now my head is spinning and I can't get off your footnote... Chris might have to do a mercy deletion.
That was deliberate (if you could see the edit history you'd know I put it in late)[1]... Consider it a test, if you can't parse it successfully you may not be a computer scientist (or just not have a big enough stack? Or your OS doesn't have a proper tail recursion detection/exit algorithm, consider an upgrade)  Don't give Chris any ideas, that's what the mod button is for.

... aaaannnnd... back on topic:

What's the best guestimate at this time about whether they really are going to try to use Roomba on SES-10? Will they have all the garage door mods finished in time? This isn't L2 so public data only, don't get anyone fired.

1 - back in the days of LUGNet[2] I was notorious for footnote humor. And for insisting that every poll include a "this poll is flawed" option.  I think I've grown up some[3]
2 - do your own research on what it is, if you don't know.
3 - YMMV
« Last Edit: 03/14/2017 11:45 am by Lar »
"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 Herb Schaltegger


Mods, perhaps it's time for an entire Section devoted to SpaceX Marine Activities?!?


The internal nickname is apparently "DockX." ;)
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Offline CameronD

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Mods, perhaps it's time for an entire Section devoted to SpaceX Marine Activities?!?

The internal nickname is apparently "DockX." ;)

And reading between the footnotes of Lar's penultimate post, it looks like it got blown out of the water[1].

1 - For now.. but, like Titanic, may someday rise again from the murky depths of the NSF archives. [2]
2 - Like the man said.
 
« Last Edit: 03/14/2017 10:09 pm by CameronD »
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 Lar

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For now.

It's not out of the question, especially if they get to having several fairing recovery ships, several ASDS' that need tracking the same way the stages do, multiple roomba versions to track, etc.  We're good at that cataloging and tracking thing. So maybe if things continue.... Especially after Boca Chica comes on line, it will be fascinating to see what they do in Brownsville, especially if the beltline doesn't get built, the port is on the wrong side of the channel from the launch site I think....
"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 CameronD

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It's been a while since I last looked, but whilst looking for some info for a reply in that other thread I noticed McDonough Marine have updated their web site.  For anyone who might be a bit new to all this barge stuff, their "catalog" is a good read:

http://www.mcdonoughmarine.com/assets/mcd-8.5x11_catalog_v13-perfectbound.pdf

Especially pages 10 & 18.
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 ChrisC

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There's a lot of GREAT info in there.  I did a doubletake on page 21... What is that, a Falcon 7? :)  Page 39 looks to me like a steam generator for a nuclear power plant.
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Offline MarekCyzio

Now we know how the garage opens.

Offline IanThePineapple

Is the bot on the deck yet?

Offline matthewkantar

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Is it possible that the opening mechanism is a chain puller? Thought from the design of the hinge it would be hydraulic rams.

Matthew
« Last Edit: 03/18/2017 04:54 pm by matthewkantar »

Offline IntoTheVoid

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Is it possible that the opening mechanism is a chain puller? Thought from the design of the hinge it would be hydraulic rams.

Matthew
I thought this might be a ram, and that the chain was a secondary safety, like on a trailer hitch.

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