What's up with SpaceX's pre-launch press conferences anymore? I've not been aware of any since approximately CRS-7. Am I missing them or are they not having them or did they go somewhat underground? ...Or are they only held for NASA payloaded flights? I miss the semi-comedy of seeing Hans Koenigsman having to take the bulk of the questions related to the ASDS landing attempt which isn't really his thing.
Quote from: Ohsin on 02/23/2016 06:16 pmQuote from: okan170 on 02/23/2016 04:52 amQuote from: matthewkantar on 02/22/2016 10:49 pmPics of static fire on SpaceX's Instagram and Facebook.Enjoy, MatthewSeems like there are two rounded rectangles on either side of the leg here, a little bit inset. Previous flights' legs had a roughly square protrusion (small fairing?) here.It also seems they are very faintly visible on this image tweeted by the 45th Space Wing.https://twitter.com/45thSpaceWing/status/701891806255046657Tape. But I am noticing this string/wire first time.Aha! The dangers of low resolution strike again...
Quote from: okan170 on 02/23/2016 04:52 amQuote from: matthewkantar on 02/22/2016 10:49 pmPics of static fire on SpaceX's Instagram and Facebook.Enjoy, MatthewSeems like there are two rounded rectangles on either side of the leg here, a little bit inset. Previous flights' legs had a roughly square protrusion (small fairing?) here.It also seems they are very faintly visible on this image tweeted by the 45th Space Wing.https://twitter.com/45thSpaceWing/status/701891806255046657Tape. But I am noticing this string/wire first time.
Quote from: matthewkantar on 02/22/2016 10:49 pmPics of static fire on SpaceX's Instagram and Facebook.Enjoy, MatthewSeems like there are two rounded rectangles on either side of the leg here, a little bit inset. Previous flights' legs had a roughly square protrusion (small fairing?) here.It also seems they are very faintly visible on this image tweeted by the 45th Space Wing.https://twitter.com/45thSpaceWing/status/701891806255046657
Pics of static fire on SpaceX's Instagram and Facebook.Enjoy, Matthew
Quote from: okan170 on 02/23/2016 10:29 pmQuote from: Ohsin on 02/23/2016 06:16 pmQuote from: okan170 on 02/23/2016 04:52 amQuote from: matthewkantar on 02/22/2016 10:49 pmPics of static fire on SpaceX's Instagram and Facebook.Enjoy, MatthewSeems like there are two rounded rectangles on either side of the leg here, a little bit inset. Previous flights' legs had a roughly square protrusion (small fairing?) here.It also seems they are very faintly visible on this image tweeted by the 45th Space Wing.https://twitter.com/45thSpaceWing/status/701891806255046657Tape. But I am noticing this string/wire first time.Aha! The dangers of low resolution strike again...
Quote from: matthewkantar on 02/23/2016 11:33 pmQuote from: okan170 on 02/23/2016 10:29 pmQuote from: Ohsin on 02/23/2016 06:16 pmQuote from: okan170 on 02/23/2016 04:52 amQuote from: matthewkantar on 02/22/2016 10:49 pmPics of static fire on SpaceX's Instagram and Facebook.Enjoy, MatthewSeems like there are two rounded rectangles on either side of the leg here, a little bit inset. Previous flights' legs had a roughly square protrusion (small fairing?) here.It also seems they are very faintly visible on this image tweeted by the 45th Space Wing.https://twitter.com/45thSpaceWing/status/701891806255046657Tape. But I am noticing this string/wire first time.Aha! The dangers of low resolution strike again...So what I seem to be seeing is two openings in the legs which are each covered by blow off covers of the type that are around the base of the payload fairing (if I recall what those look like, can't find an image now for comparison). Those covers if they are what they may be are to keep rain, birds, etc. out but will blow off when the breeze gets intense. There are wires running vertically into that opening and the wires are secured with red tape. But perhaps its the kind of red tape that says "remove before flight"? Or perhaps the wires are to pre-heat the leg locks. But if the wires are for leg lock heating then they probably wouldn't have been on the Jason 3 flight(?) which (at the limits of image quality I tend to think I see in this Jason 3 image) they seem to be: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/launchpad.jpg
Perhaps Orbcomm was a lofted trajectory?
Well, SES apparently just told James Dean that there is "no impact" on recovery odds, so maybe starsilk's conjecture is correct, ie that SpaceX has run Monte Carlos based on previous flight performance and has now decided they have a little extra delta V to release.
At the SES press briefing it was stated that the first stage burn time is no longer than normal but that at MECO it's doing approx 8000 kph rather than 5000 for the Orbcomm launch (figures are from memory but I think close enough).So does this imply that the Orbcomm launch wasn't actually going at full thrust?
At the SES press briefing it was stated that the first stage burn time is no longer than normal but that at MECO it's doing approx 8000 kph rather than 5000 for the Orbcomm launch (figures are from memory but I think close enough).So does this imply that the Orbcomm launch wasn't actually going at full thrust? Apologies for the novice rocket science question.
So, does anybody know what the weather forecast is like for tomorrow at the Cape?
All a booster can do is get US+payload to staging. US is responsible for orbital velocity and margin for stage shortfall (you can't minimize this margin). 3 burns can improve this, more props e.g. more densified can get you this.
In the above video (thanks, Steven!) --Martin Halliwell, Chief Technology Officer, SES, says the launch weight of SES-9 is 3721 kg (if I heard correctly).Since earlier I saw numbers about 5300-5400, I guess its worth to note this new number, for future performance calculations.