Author Topic: SpaceX FH : Falcon Heavy Demo : Feb 6, 2018 : Discussion Thread 2  (Read 584560 times)

Offline smithy999

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That, and if FH explodes at static fire, does anyone think that the roadster not being on top would make Elon feel better, especially as such is likely to lead to a stand-down for the whole fleet for some months.
If it exploded I doubt it would have any impact on Falcon 9 launches

Offline speedevil

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That, and if FH explodes at static fire, does anyone think that the roadster not being on top would make Elon feel better, especially as such is likely to lead to a stand-down for the whole fleet for some months.
If it exploded I doubt it would have any impact on Falcon 9 launches

If it explodes on static fire, unless it was very, very, very clear that it was something specifically to do with FH, of course it would.
You'd get a full investigation ala-Amos-6, which doesn't end when you find a likely reason, you've got to look at the whole thing in case you're wrong.
And satisfy NASA why they should feel safe launching crew in several launches.
« Last Edit: 01/29/2018 10:47 am by speedevil »

Offline Roy_H

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What is the hypothetical trajectories for a Falcon Heavy Demo Mission which will launch at 1:30 EST on February 6th 2018?
This was discussed at some length earlier:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42705.1060

scroll down near the bottom of the page. Launch near due East, high loft as circular orbit of earth not required.
« Last Edit: 01/29/2018 10:41 am by Roy_H »
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Offline Jim

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That, and if FH explodes at static fire, does anyone think that the roadster not being on top would make Elon feel better, especially as such is likely to lead to a stand-down for the whole fleet for some months.
If it exploded I doubt it would have any impact on Falcon 9 launches

That would be completely wrong

Offline .Scott

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What is the hypothetical trajectories for a Falcon Heavy Demo Mission which will launch at 1:30 EST on February 6th 2018?
I would think the immediate trajectory would be generally Eastward - to take advantage of the spin of the Earth.
More broadly: If it is placed directly into a solar orbit with an apogee that would reach the Martian orbit, it should touch that orbit with Mars well ahead of it.  Insight is waiting until May in order to intercept Mars.

Does anyone have more specifics?

Oh,yes.  As Roy_H says, post #1072 in the old thread.

And since it's likely a 1:30-5:30 launch, we are expecting a LEO parking orbit.
« Last Edit: 01/29/2018 01:33 pm by .Scott »

Offline Kabloona

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Launch near due East, high loft as circular orbit of earth not required.

Just to summarize for people who haven't read the previous trajectory discussions:

Drone ship coordinates for FH core recovery are:

29.0055 N
77.1319 W

This is only about 100 miles from the launch site, much closer than typical for F9 GTO launches, so we infer a more highly lofted trajectory.
« Last Edit: 01/29/2018 01:56 pm by Kabloona »

Offline Jdeshetler

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Since it is highly lofted trajectory, how many seconds of flight would that be before it "clear" the Pad39A's fence perimeter which is 1500' from the pad?

Offline DanseMacabre

Since it is highly lofted trajectory, how many seconds of flight would that be before it "clear" the Pad39A's fence perimeter which is 1500' from the pad?

Also as it's lofted, should the reentry of the center core not be very hot, and require the Ti fins?

Offline Oersted

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Maybe they had the Roadster out to top up the batteries...?

Offline kevinof

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We looked at this before (somewhere in NSF land ) and came to the conclusion that it was around 30 seconds before it was clear of everything.

Since it is highly lofted trajectory, how many seconds of flight would that be before it "clear" the Pad39A's fence perimeter which is 1500' from the pad?

Offline Kansan52

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What if it isn't highly lofted but there isn't three RTLS spots?

Offline DaveH62

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I've booked the KSC "Closer package" at the Rocket Garden. The feel the heat and closest packages were sold out and wondering if this will be a good viewing option. I'm flying in from Chicago and want to get a good view and know the possibility of delay and missing is already significant. Google maps is not encouraging and wondering if Port Canaveral area might be better, especially for the landing, or maybe air bnb in the Cocoa Beach area.

I did read the photo viewing page and am trying to research on google maps.
This was helpful for others researching.
http://launchphotography.com/Delta_4_Atlas_5_Falcon_9_Launch_Viewing.html

Offline RedSky

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Does anyone know if there will be a parking orbit with a later "TMI" burn ... or will it be a direct ascent with a single S2 burn.
« Last Edit: 01/29/2018 06:17 pm by RedSky »

Offline Andrewwski

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I've booked the KSC "Closer package" at the Rocket Garden. The feel the heat and closest packages were sold out and wondering if this will be a good viewing option. I'm flying in from Chicago and want to get a good view and know the possibility of delay and missing is already significant. Google maps is not encouraging and wondering if Port Canaveral area might be better, especially for the landing, or maybe air bnb in the Cocoa Beach area.

I did read the photo viewing page and am trying to research on google maps.
This was helpful for others researching.
http://launchphotography.com/Delta_4_Atlas_5_Falcon_9_Launch_Viewing.html

The Launch Photography page should tell you everything you need to know.  KSCVC is closer than any public viewing option (Titusville, Port Canaveral) at ~7 miles but has no clear view to the pad.  Titusville (can get as close as 11.4 mi at the Max Brewer bridge) or Port Canaveral (13 miles) have clear views of the pad.  Port Canaveral also puts you ~6 mi from the landings, so may be a good choice if you want to have a clear view of both.

If Playalinda happens to be open (still TBD) that will be the best spot for the launch at 3.6 miles, but it will likely fill up very early if it is open.

My recommendation would be Playalinda if it's open, otherwise Port Canaveral to catch the landings, with Titusville being another good option.
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Offline Jdeshetler

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I hoped I am mistaken but it seems the line of sight to 2 incoming boosters may ended a a mile above LZ-1 from Apollo/Saturn Center area since the VAB (500' high) is blocking and is ten times closer than LZ-1?

Offline Roy_H

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Does anyone know if there will be a parking orbit with a later "TMI" burn ... or will it be a direct ascent with a single S2 burn.
I was hoping somebody actually knowledgeable would answer this. It was discussed before and I believe the best guess was direct.
"If we don't achieve re-usability, I will consider SpaceX to be a failure." - Elon Musk
Spacestation proposal: https://politicalsolutions.ca/forum/index.php?topic=3.0

Offline DaveH62

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I hoped I am mistaken but it seems the line of sight to 2 incoming boosters may ended a a mile above LZ-1 from Apollo/Saturn Center area since the VAB (500' high) is blocking and is ten times closer than LZ-1?
If you zoom in, you can see the seating at the Apollo center is to the right and down from your red line, right where the arrow points on the close up shot. It looks close, but you may have a clear line of site. If you are still concerned, I might be convinced to trade my rocket garden for your Apollo center seating.

Offline Jdeshetler

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If you are still concerned, I might be convinced to trade my rocket garden for your Apollo center seating.

Ha, good try, I am checking it out for someone I know who have purchased those Apollo/Saturn Center tickets.
« Last Edit: 01/29/2018 08:48 pm by Jdeshetler »

Offline intrepidpursuit

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I hoped I am mistaken but it seems the line of sight to 2 incoming boosters may ended a a mile above LZ-1 from Apollo/Saturn Center area since the VAB (500' high) is blocking and is ten times closer than LZ-1?

Others have noted that the landing site is blocked from most of the seating area, but that there is one corner that gets far enough over to see around the VAB. I've not been there, but I would assume that is the front left part of the bleachers to see around the north east corner of the VAB.

If they opened the causeway I'd be tempted, but I have a bit of a beef with Delaware North and the way they handle this type of thing, so I don't like to give them my money (it does go to them and not NASA or SpaceX by the way). I'll probably be at the Jetty Park Fishlips pavilion deck.

Offline deruch

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Does anyone know if there will be a parking orbit with a later "TMI" burn ... or will it be a direct ascent with a single S2 burn.
I was hoping somebody actually knowledgeable would answer this. It was discussed before and I believe the best guess was direct.

I don't think that accurately represents the current best guess.  I thought the most convincing argument was that they would want to launch at a time such that all important flight events occurred in sunlight.  i.e. That way all the separations, etc. would have good recording instrument visibility to allow post-mission analysis (or failure analysis if necessary). But the timing required to get to the proper orbit would mean they were launching into darkness if they tried for a direct injection.  So, it seems like they'll want to launch earlier with at least a short section of parking orbit prior to TMI.  This would also give them the maximum width of launch window and let them hold some if needed.
Shouldn't reality posts be in "Advanced concepts"?  --Nomadd

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