Author Topic: Fairing reuse  (Read 974436 times)

Offline Lar

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1780 on: 09/10/2018 01:09 pm »
Review the thread for discussion of why West coast vs East... centers around being close to Hawthorne seen as an advantage, and the East coast frequency is so high that there might not be time to incorporate lessons learned before the next catch attempt.
"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 jee_c2

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1781 on: 10/08/2018 05:41 am »
Hi, is there any news for the latest launch? It was West coast, so it's possible to try to catch the fairing, right?

Online kdhilliard

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1782 on: 10/08/2018 09:06 am »
Hi, is there any news for the latest launch? It was West coast, so it's possible to try to catch the fairing, right?

From @03:21 in the hosted webcast (T-13:38):
Quote
For this particular mission, we're not going to be attempting to recover the fairing, however SpaceX will continue to make ongoing attempts in future launches to recover the fairing for reuse.

Mr. Steven was all dressed up for the occasion, but never left port, possible due to heavy seas.
https://twitter.com/w00ki33/status/1048630215298052097
https://twitter.com/SpaceXFleet/status/1048941012159094790

Next chance will be SSO-A (Sun Synch Express) in the latter half of November (NET November 19, per Spaceflight Now).

Waiting is.

Offline jee_c2

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1783 on: 10/08/2018 04:06 pm »
Hi, is there any news for the latest launch? It was West coast, so it's possible to try to catch the fairing, right?

From @03:21 in the hosted webcast (T-13:38):
Quote
For this particular mission, we're not going to be attempting to recover the fairing, however SpaceX will continue to make ongoing attempts in future launches to recover the fairing for reuse.

Mr. Steven was all dressed up for the occasion, but never left port, possible due to heavy seas.

Next chance will be SSO-A (Sun Synch Express) in the latter half of November (NET November 19, per Spaceflight Now).

Waiting is.

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to a successful catch!

Offline billh

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1784 on: 10/08/2018 08:56 pm »
On the SAOCOM-1A webcast the host said there would be no attempt to recover the fairing on this mission. I wonder if that was the plan all along or did something come up?

Offline Lar

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1785 on: 10/08/2018 09:05 pm »
I think the seas "came up" but those who know for sure aren't saying.
"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 deruch

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1786 on: 10/09/2018 09:14 am »
On the SAOCOM-1A webcast the host said there would be no attempt to recover the fairing on this mission. I wonder if that was the plan all along or did something come up?

I don't think it was the original plan because they hustled to get the arms and supporting booms refitted on Mr. Steven in the days leading up to the launch.  Prior to this "rearming", they had been off the ship for at least a month.  But then the ship never left port.  I suppose it's possible that was just coincidental timing, but I doubt it.  Outsider consensus seems to be that high sea states was the problem, though this is as yet unconfirmed.
Shouldn't reality posts be in "Advanced concepts"?  --Nomadd

Offline CuddlyRocket

Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1787 on: 10/09/2018 09:32 pm »
On the SAOCOM-1A webcast the host said there would be no attempt to recover the fairing on this mission. I wonder if that was the plan all along or did something come up?

Perhaps they just didn't fancy attempting it in the dark?

Offline Lar

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1788 on: 10/09/2018 11:30 pm »
On the SAOCOM-1A webcast the host said there would be no attempt to recover the fairing on this mission. I wonder if that was the plan all along or did something come up?

Perhaps they just didn't fancy attempting it in the dark?
Sunset is marginally[1] more predictable than sea state.  So why hustle to put the arms on if they were going to call it on account of darkness?

1 - for certain values of marginal.
"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 woods170

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1789 on: 10/10/2018 06:18 am »
On the SAOCOM-1A webcast the host said there would be no attempt to recover the fairing on this mission. I wonder if that was the plan all along or did something come up?

Perhaps they just didn't fancy attempting it in the dark?
Sunset is marginally[1] more predictable than sea state.  So why hustle to put the arms on if they were going to call it on account of darkness?

1 - for certain values of marginal.

Mr. Steven doesn't track the fairing half visually, but via radar and transponders. The system is good enough to attempt fairing catch attempts, even in darkness.
« Last Edit: 10/10/2018 06:19 am by woods170 »

Offline Lar

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1790 on: 10/10/2018 09:02 pm »
On the SAOCOM-1A webcast the host said there would be no attempt to recover the fairing on this mission. I wonder if that was the plan all along or did something come up?

Perhaps they just didn't fancy attempting it in the dark?
Sunset is marginally[1] more predictable than sea state.  So why hustle to put the arms on if they were going to call it on account of darkness?

1 - for certain values of marginal.

Mr. Steven doesn't track the fairing half visually, but via radar and transponders. The system is good enough to attempt fairing catch attempts, even in darkness.

Thanks! my point exactly except a bit[1] less snarky.

1 - for certain values of bit.
"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 CuddlyRocket

Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1791 on: 10/10/2018 10:11 pm »
On the SAOCOM-1A webcast the host said there would be no attempt to recover the fairing on this mission. I wonder if that was the plan all along or did something come up?

Perhaps they just didn't fancy attempting it in the dark?

Sunset is marginally[1] more predictable than sea state.  So why hustle to put the arms on if they were going to call it on account of darkness?

1 - for certain values of marginal.

Maybe they changed their mind? They got cold feet (or an excess of caution, if you prefer) or someone raised an objection not previously considered?

Mr. Steven doesn't track the fairing half visually, but via radar and transponders. The system is good enough to attempt fairing catch attempts, even in darkness.

I'm sure the crew is more used to tracking things whilst manouvering visually. Eyeballs are a good back-up system, but work best in daylight. This is an experimental system; perhaps someone was more comfortable conducting those experiments in daylight until they're confident that relying on radar and transponders was going to work?

Online matthewkantar

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1792 on: 10/11/2018 04:55 am »
I would guess the fairing is probably, or will be fitted with a flashing light.

Online Semmel

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1793 on: 10/11/2018 08:05 pm »
At the most recent launch from Vandenberg, at 19:54 in the video, you can see the fairings fly past the second stage from the view point of the stage. At 19:56, you can see a brief flash at the inside of the fairing, for half a second or so. After that, the fairing rotates such that it presents its outside to the engine exhaust. I have not seen that before.


Offline Lars-J

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1794 on: 10/11/2018 09:03 pm »
At the most recent launch from Vandenberg, at 19:54 in the video, you can see the fairings fly past the second stage from the view point of the stage. At 19:56, you can see a brief flash at the inside of the fairing, for half a second or so. After that, the fairing rotates such that it presents its outside to the engine exhaust. I have not seen that before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr_C6LQ7mHc?t=1194

I disagree. IMO that 'flare' looks more like MVac exhaust interacting with the fairing. Because if that was intentional, then it should have fired far earlier since after that the worst effects of the plume have already occurred.
« Last Edit: 10/11/2018 09:04 pm by Lars-J »

Offline sdub

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1795 on: 10/12/2018 02:09 am »
It looks like SpaceX was working with Mr Steven, a test fairing and a helicopter today.

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-mr-steven-helicopter-drop-test-practice/
« Last Edit: 10/12/2018 02:09 am by sdub »

Online Semmel

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1796 on: 10/12/2018 12:03 pm »
At the most recent launch from Vandenberg, at 19:54 in the video, you can see the fairings fly past the second stage from the view point of the stage. At 19:56, you can see a brief flash at the inside of the fairing, for half a second or so. After that, the fairing rotates such that it presents its outside to the engine exhaust. I have not seen that before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr_C6LQ7mHc?t=1194

I disagree. IMO that 'flare' looks more like MVac exhaust interacting with the fairing. Because if that was intentional, then it should have fired far earlier since after that the worst effects of the plume have already occurred.

he flare is inconsistent with engine exhaust interaction. I would expect the plume to hit the entire airing surface if it hits. How comes a small element, exactly at the middle of the fairing lights up but not the edges?

Also, I dont know how far the fairing is from the plume. The camera is a wide angle camera and could observe at a large angle out so that it might see the fairing way before the fairing encounters the plume. I assume they want a certain separation of the fairing and stage to prevent thruster firings to hit the satellite. An argument against a thruster might be that the flash is roughly in the middle of the fairing, close to the center of mass. For efficient steering, you want to put the thrusters away from the center of mass.

Offline Mongo62

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1797 on: 10/19/2018 07:20 pm »

Offline OneSpeed

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1798 on: 10/19/2018 10:46 pm »
he flare is inconsistent with engine exhaust interaction. I would expect the plume to hit the entire airing surface if it hits. How comes a small element, exactly at the middle of the fairing lights up but not the edges?

Perhaps the flare is simply light from the S2 plume reflected from a partially reflective surface inside the fairing half?

Offline alang

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Re: Fairing reuse
« Reply #1799 on: 10/21/2018 08:40 pm »
If you are embarrassed like me about making ignorant comments on this forum then that's good but remember that
all sorts of people set themselves up as experts:
https://www.sciencealert.com/spacex-falcon-9-space-rocket-giant-piece-found-beach

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