Author Topic: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Discussion Thread 2  (Read 2965029 times)

Offline PhilW

That unit can reach up the landed F9 core a long way to attach tie down cables?

« Last Edit: 12/17/2014 12:11 am by PhilW »

Offline deruch

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Also, the deck appears flat and not ramped at the ends.  At least, not significantly ramped.  Not enough to protect the gear and containers anyways.
« Last Edit: 12/17/2014 01:23 am by deruch »
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Online catdlr

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SpaceX Is About To Land A Rocket On A Platform In The Ocean — A Feat That Could Forever Change Spaceflight

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/spacex-land-rocket-ocean-platform-232117337.html

Quote
Musk tweeted images of the football-field long platform. They plan to use GPS tracking, the rockets newly attached "X-wings," and other technology to help safely guide the multi-million-dollar Falcon 9 onto the platform.

"It's probably not more than a 50% chance or less of landing it on the platform," Musk said, still optimistic at the MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium. "But there's at least a dozen launches that will occur over the next 12 months, and I think it's quite likely, probably 80 to 90% likely, that one of those flights will be able to land and re-fly. So I think we're quite close."
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Offline CameronD

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That unit can reach up the landed F9 core a long way to attach tie down cables?

No idea - but it probably doesn't have to reach up too far.  It seems Teupen make cherry-pickers like this up to 50m reach, which would be a horribly unpleasant height to be at on a barge in the open ocean.

By way of reminder, a sea-borne version of this is what is being planned here (from the Spacex Facebook page):
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 PhilW

As the CG is below the top of the legs, thanks to the mass of the 9 Merlins being close to the deck, maybe attach 4 tie downs to the top of the leg to core attachment points to stop the F9 sliding around the deck.

There are 2 LEOs on the sea pad. One at each end of the landing deck, near the containers. With the rubber tracks they can move over the deck, then spread the 3 legs to lift the bucket up the F9 core.

Offline parham55

« Last Edit: 12/17/2014 02:13 am by parham55 »

Offline robertross

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That unit can reach up the landed F9 core a long way to attach tie down cables?

No idea - but it probably doesn't have to reach up too far.  It seems Teupen make cherry-pickers like this up to 50m reach, which would be a horribly unpleasant height to be at on a barge in the open ocean.

By way of reminder, a sea-borne version of this is what is being planned here (from the Spacex Facebook page):

The one linked looks to be the correct one. It has a listed reach of 23,00m (which is obviously good enough, otherwise they would have gone with a larger version)

I agree though, it would be an unpleasant height on a pitching barge! I'll pass!

Offline robertross

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From the SpaceX blog: http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/12/16/x-marks-spot-falcon-9-attempts-ocean-platform-landing

"To complicate matters further, the landing site is limited in size and not entirely stationary. The autonomous spaceport drone ship is 300 by 100 feet, with wings that extend its width to 170 feet. While that may sound huge at first, to a Falcon 9 first stage coming from space, it seems very small. The legspan of the Falcon 9 first stage is about 70 feet and while the ship is equipped with powerful thrusters to help it stay in place, it is not actually anchored, so finding the bullseye becomes particularly tricky. During previous attempts, we could only expect a landing accuracy of within 10km. For this attempt, we’re targeting a landing accuracy of within 10 meters."

Offline robertross

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From the SpaceX blog: http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/12/16/x-marks-spot-falcon-9-attempts-ocean-platform-landing

"To complicate matters further, the landing site is limited in size and not entirely stationary. The autonomous spaceport drone ship is 300 by 100 feet, with wings that extend its width to 170 feet. While that may sound huge at first, to a Falcon 9 first stage coming from space, it seems very small. The legspan of the Falcon 9 first stage is about 70 feet and while the ship is equipped with powerful thrusters to help it stay in place, it is not actually anchored, so finding the bullseye becomes particularly tricky. During previous attempts, we could only expect a landing accuracy of within 10km. For this attempt, we’re targeting a landing accuracy of within 10 meters."

So that must be what we are seeing with the I-beams on the deck surface: the underside of the 'wings'.

Offline CameronD

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From the SpaceX blog: http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/12/16/x-marks-spot-falcon-9-attempts-ocean-platform-landing

edit: added image

It would be interesting to compare the dimensions of that landing pad to the dimensions of the ASDS platform.  Must be awfully close... and, if so, is perhaps an indication they've been practicing this for a while now (albeit from a lower altitude).
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 meekGee

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:(  Too bad, I was rooting for a curved deck...  But I'll take it :)

70 feet leg span on a 170 foot wide target....  so 50' error is the absolute worst case allowed. 

Getting it into the yellow circle would mean about 5' off target, roughly a GH landing.

A friend just send me this video, for comparison:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/bC2XIGMI2kM

Which makes you wonder...
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Offline PhilW

Question being, how long can a F9 hover at station, until a good landing attitude develops?

Offline meekGee

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Zero....

It doesn't do it that way - it's the difference between automatic guidance and a human pilot - it calculates a solution the best it can and tries to stick it.

If ever they were to try to land a boat as wild as this, they'd have to figure out in advance where it will be as part of the landing solution, but clearly that's not the plan.

I just thought it was befitting the occasion.
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Offline Ohsin

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Also, the deck appears flat and not ramped at the ends.  At least, not significantly ramped.  Not enough to protect the gear and containers anyways.

They seem to be really sure about accuracy :-). I was expecting some thing like a Jet Blast Deflector at least.
But yeah hypothesis about deck being not high is right also again the width of deck is definitely 150 ft from new images as well. But if you include the metal extension on wings then it makes it 170 ft :-).
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Offline matthewkantar

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The stage can hover not at all. Minimum thrust from one engine will be more than the weight of the stage, so an attempt to hover would see the stage gain altitude. The stage will have to cancel it's velocity at the same moment it touches the barge.

Matthew

Offline PhilW

With the Yellow wrap around low wall, maybe they plan to flood the deck 0.5m deep in sea water just before touchdown?

Offline Ohsin

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With the Yellow wrap around low wall, maybe they plan to flood the deck 0.5m deep in sea water just before touchdown?

They don't need any pool of water on grasshopper tests so why should they have it here? But expect deluge guns for sure. But seems that boundary would obstruct cherry picker.
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Offline inventodoc

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Is that landing deck transparent?  is it a grid like material? It seems 'see through'.

Offline laika_fr

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anyone has the picture of the barge leaving  ?
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Offline PhilW

Looks like a Yellow water tightest membrane.

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