Does anyone have any concerns with what they saw as the rocket came to rest? Other threads mentioned some potential concerns with the flames below the engine.
Bottom of the landed stage looks toasty. INTACT... But toasty. It is made of heat treated aluminum, mostly, and I am hoping that the landing heating did not have a bad effect on the aluminum structure materials properties. I am guessing this would be one area of extensive analysis that this spaceframe will be subjected to... Along with a lot of other things, engines, etc. I would NOT be surprised to see just the engines reused before the whole vehicle. But what do I know....
Quote from: dgates on 12/22/2015 02:16 amBottom of the landed stage looks toasty. INTACT... But toasty. It is made of heat treated aluminum, mostly, and I am hoping that the landing heating did not have a bad effect on the aluminum structure materials properties. I am guessing this would be one area of extensive analysis that this spaceframe will be subjected to... Along with a lot of other things, engines, etc. I would NOT be surprised to see just the engines reused before the whole vehicle. But what do I know....Remember that the tanks were fully pressurized at landing. If there was a structural issue, they would have informed us all. Four burns for one of the engines... designed for ten (maybe a hundred) uses -- I'll go with the design team instead of worry trolling. Extensive analysis will be inspection (electronic and visual), reloading fuel and lighting the fuse.
Quote from: AncientU on 12/22/2015 02:22 amQuote from: dgates on 12/22/2015 02:16 amBottom of the landed stage looks toasty. INTACT... But toasty. It is made of heat treated aluminum, mostly, and I am hoping that the landing heating did not have a bad effect on the aluminum structure materials properties. I am guessing this would be one area of extensive analysis that this spaceframe will be subjected to... Along with a lot of other things, engines, etc. I would NOT be surprised to see just the engines reused before the whole vehicle. But what do I know....Remember that the tanks were fully pressurized at landing. If there was a structural issue, they would have informed us all. Four burns for one of the engines... designed for ten (maybe a hundred) uses -- I'll go with the design team instead of worry trolling. Extensive analysis will be inspection (electronic and visual), reloading fuel and lighting the fuse.Actually, my gut guess is the limiting factor will be cycles on the composite He tanks. As we all learned in the discussions immediately after CRS7, composite tanks don't generally like being immersed in cryogenics. So it may be that after every flight, those tanks have to be replaced or at least inspected. Or perhaps it'll be a cycle-count thing, like airframe cycles which drive FAA inspection requirements. Time will tell.But they will be interesting times, won't they?
Is there a fire going there at the base of the rocket after the landing? Hopefully the stage is ok, provided there seems no fire cannons on the landing pad.
Next step: make the second stage reusable.Can it be done?IMHO , yes!!!I'm no professional engineer, but I would fit a clip-on/clip-off ablative disposable heat-shield to a second stage.Fit it it with streamlined 'blister' compartments on the outside to house chutes, transmitter-beacons, avionics.Add snagging hooks on the parachute lines so that the second-stage can be snagged in midair by a modified aircraft with a wide open tail-maw to receive the winched up 2'd stage (It has been done before on a smaller scale on the 'top-secret' Project Discovery return photo capsules (1960)).Can any of you suggest better?
Quote from: AncientU on 12/22/2015 02:13 amThis one's going to the Smithsonian... next one (won't be long).Last I heard they had nixed that possibility. It will be tested and will fly again if it passes.
This one's going to the Smithsonian... next one (won't be long).
http://www.spacex.com/news/2015/12/21/background-tonights-launchThe last sentence is just pure gold.
Will be interesting to see in the morning how close to center they landed.
Quote from: Kabloona on 12/22/2015 01:33 amWill be interesting to see in the morning how close to center they landed.I imagine it will be in a horizontal position before then. I wouldn't want to leave it sitting there any longer than I had to personally. Imagine a stress fracture in one of the legs or something, it'd be tragic (and possibly very dangerous) to lose the stage that way.