The trunk, a riveted aluminum structure, is 2.8 meters (9.2 feet) tall and 3.66 meters (12 feet) wide. The trunk also houses the radiator which is integral to the trunk structure, with the ability to reject up to 3kW of heat.Fairings housing Dragon’s solar arrays—two arrays, each composed of four panels—are attached to the outside of the trunk. The arrays produce more than 5 kilowatts of power, and surplus power recharges Dragon’s batteries for the periods when it is in darkness.
This sounds like a fairly expensive piece. How can they say fully reusable when they throw this away every time?
Does that this mean that a hover slam & soft touchdown will be impossible, (unless they do a second landing burn), and that's why they only have a 30% chance stated of success?
They will likely attempt to recover the stage if that is deemed possible, but are fully expecting it to be lost. Soft touchdown and stage recovery are not mission objectives for this event.
Nice article Chris. BTW I was thinking as I was reading this that there literally is nowhere else on earth I know of where I, or anyone else for that matter, can go to get up-to-the-minute accurate news of space-related events and plans like this article described. NSF is truly a world-class place. Thank you.
Quote from: Zardar on 03/01/2014 11:33 amDoes that this mean that a hover slam & soft touchdown will be impossible, (unless they do a second landing burn), and that's why they only have a 30% chance stated of success?In accordance with the incremental testing program that SpaceX has been executing there is really only one mission objective to this attempt; to demonstrate a successful deployment of the landing legs - and nothing more. They will likely attempt to recover the stage if that is deemed possible, but are fully expecting it to be lost. Soft touchdown and stage recovery are not mission objectives for this event.Nice article Chris. BTW I was thinking as I was reading this that there literally is nowhere else on earth I know of where I, or anyone else for that matter, can go to get up-to-the-minute accurate news of space-related events and plans like this article described. NSF is truly a world-class place. Thank you.
Third article on the legs....but this one is built from answers we gained from SpaceX - and covers more than just CRS-3. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/02/spacex-crs-3-landing-legs-plan-first-stage-recovery-ambitions/---To collate all the recent resources (lots of links, but it provides pretty much all you need on one post):Falcon 9 preparing to stretch her legs via Grasshopper trials:http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/02/falcon-9-stretch-legs-grasshopper-trials/CRS-3 Falcon 9 first stage to sport legs and attempt soft splashdown:http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/02/crs-3-falcon-9-first-stage-sport-legs-attempt-soft-splashdown/Previous main thread for the above article:http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=34065.0--L2 SpaceX:Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R-Dev1) Photos:http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33488.msg1155703#msg1155703Better Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R-Dev1) Photos - with legs:http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33488.msg1156035#msg1156035Grasshopper 1 and 2 - and Texas Site - Videos:http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33488.msg1156491#msg1156491New Status on FH, F9-R and Raptor MCT via Tom Mueller (19th of Feb):http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33488.msg1162065#msg1162065Falcon CRS-3 with Legs notes:http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31562.msg1161997#msg1161997Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R-Dev1) with legs - Feb 22 photos:http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33488.msg1163399#msg1163399CRS-3 Reusable SpaceX Quotes - and Grasshopper notes:http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31562.msg1165068#msg1165068
I would a tried to add flotation bags to the stage for recovery and inspection...
Nice article, but I wasn't sure what I was looking at in the last picture -- is that their test area in New Mexico, or an artist's conception of what it will look like, or something else entirely?
Quote from: Rocket Science on 03/01/2014 01:18 pmI would a tried to add flotation bags to the stage for recovery and inspection...That would be a waste of time, weight, and money. They aren't going to use them for return to launch site, there's no reason to try to develop a new complex system that's only going to be used for a few tests.