Author Topic: Pad 39A - Transition to SpaceX Falcon Heavy debut - Thread 2  (Read 248162 times)

Offline meekGee

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I don't think that she meant to imply that it would be reflown.  I think she meant that it would be used for fitting and final adjustments of the ground support equipment.  It will be interesting to see if it goes to Spaceport America for high altitude tests or if it is disassembled and tested to fine tune their reuse design.
It's a bit ballsy even by SpaceX standards to go directly to reflying like that, even if it's a throwaway launch....

But they've surprised us before, so who knows. They are not afraid of failures along the way, that's for sure.

Personally, I'd have expected a spaceport America launch.
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Offline chrisking0997

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well, if we're going to go throwing around crazy ideas....how about inflight abort?  ;D


but yeah, probably fit checks
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Offline yg1968

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Carol Scott of SpaceX says if they do manage to land the Falcon9 first stage they will use it as the test article for Pad39A

http://m.space.com/31248-spacex-may-try-land-based-rocket-landing.html?cmpid=514648

The caption to the image is calling the landing complex, landing site 1 which is less confusing than calling it. LC-1. 

Offline cscott

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Carol Scott of SpaceX says if they do manage to land the Falcon9 first stage they will use it as the test article for Pad39A

http://m.space.com/31248-spacex-may-try-land-based-rocket-landing.html?cmpid=514648

The caption to the image is calling the landing complex, landing site 1 which is less confusing than calling it. LC-1.

That caption is written by space.com, not SpaceX.

We may never get full clarity---we still can't agree on what "Dragon 2" is called.  SpaceX does not seem to police trademarks or issue press releases to clarify nomenclature.
« Last Edit: 12/02/2015 06:12 pm by cscott »

Offline Prober

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I don't think that she meant to imply that it would be reflown.  I think she meant that it would be used for fitting and final adjustments of the ground support equipment.  It will be interesting to see if it goes to Spaceport America for high altitude tests or if it is disassembled and tested to fine tune their reuse design.
It's a bit ballsy even by SpaceX standards to go directly to reflying like that, even if it's a throwaway launch....

But they've surprised us before, so who knows. They are not afraid of failures along the way, that's for sure.

Personally, I'd have expected a spaceport America launch.

Better question might be, is there FAA clearance to do such a test?
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Offline rcoppola

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I'm not seeing the "first" returned stage, re-flown off of their brand new, most expensive, human crew capable pad. She's referring to fits & checks. But even before it's used for that, it will be extensively looked over inside the HIF. A great way to not only inspect the stage but also all the equipment and procedures inside the new HIF such as the cranes, etc..
« Last Edit: 12/02/2015 07:07 pm by rcoppola »
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Offline Zed_Noir

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Carol Scott of SpaceX says if they do manage to land the Falcon9 first stage they will use it as the test article for Pad39A

http://m.space.com/31248-spacex-may-try-land-based-rocket-landing.html?cmpid=514648
Well, I don't think many of us expected they would go straight to reflying the very first stage landed...
I did. :)

I thought they were talking about taking the first landed stage to Spaceport America and reflying it to failure.

Only the SpaceX CTO knows for sure. ;)

Offline NovaSilisko

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Well, unless somebody screws up really bad, they should be able to ship it just fine to NM after using it for fit checks at 39A. That seems most likely to me.

Offline johnnyhinbos01

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Well, unless somebody screws up really bad, they should be able to ship it just fine to NM after using it for fit checks at 39A. That seems most likely to me.
I don't understand SpaceX's involvement with NM spaceport. Any input or pointers in the right direction appreciated...

Offline BrianNH

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This is OT for Falcon Heavy debut, but they want to do high altitude testing at Spaceport America.  At McGregor, they could only do low altitude testing due to the surrounding populated areas.   

Offline Beittil

The idea was initially to do a few testruns with F9R-Dev1 at McGregor and then ship it to SP:A, but as we all know that kinda went south when Dev1 decided to turn itself inside out and distribute its components across the test facility.

Offline abaddon

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I don't understand SpaceX's involvement with NM spaceport. Any input or pointers in the right direction appreciated...
SpaceX has signed a lease at Spaceport America and is/was building infrastructure there to use as a high-altitude flight test facility.  News about that has gotten quiet lately, so it is unclear at this point if they are planning on fully developing and using it.

Offline Prober

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Well, unless somebody screws up really bad, they should be able to ship it just fine to NM after using it for fit checks at 39A. That seems most likely to me.
I don't understand SpaceX's involvement with NM spaceport. Any input or pointers in the right direction appreciated...

You might want to use the search features on NSF.
I just plugged in NM spaceport and it has a list including this one...

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=34077.msg1393492#msg1393492
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Offline Lars-J

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User 'jardeon' on Reddit posted this neat panorama of 39A:
(source https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/3v0q5l/panoramic_image_of_lc39a_december_1_2015/ )

It does show that the distance between the SpaceX horizontal assembly hangar is not as close to the pad as it appears in many photos.
« Last Edit: 12/03/2015 04:20 pm by Lars-J »

Offline chrisking0997

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does anyone know what is going on with the curved roof structure seen in that photo at the base of the water tower (yes, I know its further back than that)?  Looks like some sort of open ended building, Im assuming its temporary.
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Offline Jim

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User 'jardeon' on Reddit posted this neat panorama of 39A:
(source https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/3v0q5l/panoramic_image_of_lc39a_december_1_2015/ )

It does show that the distance between the SpaceX horizontal assembly hangar is not as close to the pad as it appears in many photos.

I don't know but 1200' is close for me

Online edkyle99

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User 'jardeon' on Reddit posted this neat panorama of 39A:
(source https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/3v0q5l/panoramic_image_of_lc39a_december_1_2015/ )

It does show that the distance between the SpaceX horizontal assembly hangar is not as close to the pad as it appears in many photos.

I don't know but 1200' is close for me
Especially for a rocket loaded with nearly 3 million pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen.  The VIF at LC41 looks to be more than 1500' distant, for a substantially smaller rocket.

 - Ed Kyle

Offline sublimemarsupial

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User 'jardeon' on Reddit posted this neat panorama of 39A:
(source https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/3v0q5l/panoramic_image_of_lc39a_december_1_2015/ )

It does show that the distance between the SpaceX horizontal assembly hangar is not as close to the pad as it appears in many photos.

I don't know but 1200' is close for me
Especially for a rocket loaded with nearly 3 million pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen.  The VIF at LC41 looks to be more than 1500' distant, for a substantially smaller rocket.

 - Ed Kyle

Good thing it was an order of magnitude cheaper than that VIF then.

Offline OnWithTheShow

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further than the HIF at Vandenberg and LC40

Offline JasonAW3

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Assuming that they start reusing the rockets after launch, I'm suspecting that they most likely will first launch the rockets for reuse on high priority / high value launches, (like Manned) from pad 39A and launch the reused rockets from SLC-40, with lower value, (unmanned) payloads.  At least at first, until they have a proven reuse record.
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