Author Topic: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit  (Read 28062 times)

Online Chris Bergin

SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« on: 05/11/2012 07:51 pm »
Nice pdf - see bottom of post or go here http://spacexlaunch.zenfolio.com/p368447768

COTS 2 Demonstration

First Attempt by a Commercial Company to Send a Spacecraft to the Space Station

A New Era in Spaceflight

We stand at the dawn of an exciting new era in space travel: one in which NASA and commercial companies work in partnership to provide rapid advances in space transportation.

This SpaceX mission is a milestone in that transition, marking the first time in history that a commercial company will attempt to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station, something only a few governments have ever accomplished. This is a demonstration mission, a test flight primarily designed to provide NASA and SpaceX with valuable insight to ensure successful future missions.

Mission Highlights

During the mission, Dragon must perform a series of complex tasks, each presenting significant technical challenges (timeline subject to change):

·         Day 1/Launch Day: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches a Dragon spacecraft into orbit from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

·         Day 2: Dragon orbits Earth as it travels toward the International Space Station.

·         Day 3: Dragon’s sensors and flight systems are subject to a series of complicated tests to determine if the vehicle is ready to berth with the space station; these tests include maneuvers and systems checks that see the vehicle come within 1.5 miles of the station.

·         Day 4: NASA decides if Dragon is allowed to attempt to berth with the station. If so, Dragon approaches; it is captured by station’s robotic arm and attached to the station. This requires extreme precision even as both Dragon and station orbit the earth every 90 minutes.

·         Day 5 - TBD: Astronauts open Dragon’s hatch, unload supplies and fill Dragon with return cargo.

·         TBD: After approximately two weeks, Dragon is detached from the station and returns to Earth, landing in the Pacific, hundreds of miles west of Southern California.

Pushing the Envelope, Success is Not Guaranteed

Demonstration launches are conducted to determine potential issues so that they might be addressed and – by their very nature – carry a significant risk. All spaceflight is incredibly complicated, and this flight introduces a series of new challenges – it is only the third flight of the Falcon 9 rocket, the second of the Dragon capsule, and the first for a number of all-new components necessary to berth with the International Space Station. If any aspect of the mission is not successful, SpaceX will learn from the experience and try again.

2nd Flight of the NASA COTS Program

This is SpaceX's second demonstration flight under a 2006 Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement with NASA to develop the capability to carry cargo to and from the International Space Station. To date, SpaceX has received $381 million for completing 37 out of 40 milestones worth a possible $396 million set in that agreement. Completed milestones include the first test flight in December 2010, during which SpaceX became the first commercial company to send a spacecraft to low-Earth orbit and recover it successfully, something that only three governments – the United States, Russia and China – have ever done.

Next Up

Once SpaceX has successfully demonstrated Dragon’s ability to berth with the space station, it will begin to fulfill a 2008 contract signed with NASA for a minimum of 12 flights carrying supplies to and from the space station. Without the space shuttle, Dragon is the only spacecraft in the world capable of returning significant cargo from the space station. Falcon 9 and Dragon were designed to carry astronauts in the future; these cargo missions will yield valuable flight experience toward this goal.

(Reuploaded the pdf, as I originally uploaded from a dodgy connection, so making sure it's a good upload).
« Last Edit: 05/11/2012 09:06 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Offline jabe

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #1 on: 05/11/2012 08:10 pm »
a few new(?) pics of Vandenberg site on page 6.
jb

Offline ugordan

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #2 on: 05/11/2012 08:13 pm »

Offline Silmfeanor

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #3 on: 05/11/2012 08:23 pm »
Amazing press release, very nice.  Some new stuff, as well as stuff previously seen on L2.

Falcon 9 Overview, page 29:

Quote
Quick facts

Named for the Star Wars Millennium Falcon; 9 refers to the nine Merlin engines that power the first stage; one Merlin vacuum engine powers the second stage.

Eek, I didn't know that  ;D
Falcon Heavy will be renamed into Death Star or Star Destroyer?  ;)
« Last Edit: 05/11/2012 08:24 pm by Silmfeanor »

Offline SpacexULA

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #4 on: 05/11/2012 08:33 pm »
Amazing press release, very nice.  Some new stuff, as well as stuff previously seen on L2.

Falcon 9 Overview, page 29:

Quote
Quick facts

Named for the Star Wars Millennium Falcon; 9 refers to the nine Merlin engines that power the first stage; one Merlin vacuum engine powers the second stage.

Eek, I didn't know that  ;D
Falcon Heavy will be renamed into Death Star or Star Destroyer?  ;)

FYI Dragon is named after Puff the Magic Dragon.
No Bucks no Buck Rogers, but at least Flexible path gets you Twiki.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #5 on: 05/11/2012 08:40 pm »

FYI Dragon is named after Puff the Magic Dragon.

Heh! Amazingly apt! "Lives by the sea". Spacey cartoon angle.

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Offline strangequark

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #6 on: 05/11/2012 08:47 pm »

FYI Dragon is named after Puff the Magic Dragon.

Heh! Amazingly apt! "Lives by the sea". Spacey cartoon angle.



I wonder if Elon was aware of the song's evil hidden message.

Offline sojourner

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #7 on: 05/11/2012 09:01 pm »
I really hope SpaceX can go from 1 launch a year to 14 launches per year by 2015. (ok, ok, NET on site).  Also, could they have found a more "mug shot" looking picture of Elon?  Looks like he was just arrested for something, hehe.

Offline Robotbeat

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #8 on: 05/11/2012 09:49 pm »

FYI Dragon is named after Puff the Magic Dragon.

Heh! Amazingly apt! "Lives by the sea". Spacey cartoon angle.



I wonder if Elon was aware of the song's evil hidden message.
A man who founded a company called SpaceX? Impossible! ;)
Chris  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

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Offline manboy

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #9 on: 05/11/2012 09:56 pm »
I wish they had changed the name. Just calling it COTS 2 is kind of confusing.
"Cheese has been sent into space before. But the same cheese has never been sent into space twice." - StephenB

Offline Comga

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #10 on: 05/11/2012 10:38 pm »
SpaceX appears to have reduce the time between first stage MECO and stage separation from the old 7 second interval:

0:03:00 1st stage engine shutdown/Main Engine Cut Off (MECO)
0:03:05 1st and 2nd stages separate
What kind of wastrels would dump a perfectly good booster in the ocean after just one use?

Offline starsilk

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #11 on: 05/11/2012 10:41 pm »
SpaceX appears to have reduce the time between first stage MECO and stage separation from the old 7 second interval:

0:03:00 1st stage engine shutdown/Main Engine Cut Off (MECO)
0:03:05 1st and 2nd stages separate

could be the longer delay on flights 1 and 2 was an attempt to prevent toasting the parachutes in the interstage? they're no longer there, of course.

Offline SpacexULA

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #12 on: 05/11/2012 11:08 pm »
could be the longer delay on flights 1 and 2 was an attempt to prevent toasting the parachutes in the interstage? they're no longer there, of course.

I don't know why SpaceX would ever want to be careful with the thrust transient of their 1st stage.



It would seem they hare retired that risk.  I wonder how signficant a 2 second reduction in delay is to their payload to orbit? 
No Bucks no Buck Rogers, but at least Flexible path gets you Twiki.

Online oldAtlas_Eguy

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #13 on: 05/11/2012 11:46 pm »
Remember that every second of coast is 1 second of gravity loss of up to 9.8m/s delta V depending on the flight angle. At MECO it is still almost straight up, definitly more than a 45 degree up angle. So a 2 second reduction means a delta V gain of >10m/s.

Offline iamlucky13

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #14 on: 05/12/2012 12:25 am »

FYI Dragon is named after Puff the Magic Dragon.

Heh! Amazingly apt! "Lives by the sea". Spacey cartoon angle.


I wonder if Elon was aware of the song's evil hidden message.

You can't seriously listen to the lyrics and rationally believe the song is about smoking pot.

It would be more credible to spin Chris's joke into a prophecy foreshadowing SpaceX. It almost makes some sense when you consider Jackie Paper bringing Puff bits of fancy stuff (Musk bringing the Dragon parts to built out of) and traveling on a boat with billowed sail (flying in space, with solar panels spread wide).

Let's just hope the third verse doesn't foreshadow Musk losing interest in SpaceX in favor of some other venture.

Offline ChrisC

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #15 on: 05/12/2012 03:09 am »
The first graphic on page 13 is labeled in miles, whereas the subsequent graphics are labeled in metric units.  I hope they correct this in the next revision.  They should just stick with metric; if a given writer wants to convert to imperial units for his readers, so be it, but SpaceX doesn't need to be preemptively dumbing it down at this level.  Anyone reading this press kit should be assumed smart enough to be able to handle metric.

[shakes fist at Reagan]
« Last Edit: 05/12/2012 03:09 am by ChrisC »
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Offline rdale

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #16 on: 05/12/2012 03:25 am »
My guess is the press kit is intended to get information to the public, and the public doesn't (and shouldn't) give a rats betooty about metrics... STS press kits were all English as I recall.

Offline Jorge

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #17 on: 05/12/2012 04:00 am »
The first graphic on page 13 is labeled in miles, whereas the subsequent graphics are labeled in metric units.  I hope they correct this in the next revision.  They should just stick with metric; if a given writer wants to convert to imperial units for his readers, so be it, but SpaceX doesn't need to be preemptively dumbing it down at this level.  Anyone reading this press kit should be assumed smart enough to be able to handle metric.

Journalists uses these press kits as sources for their news stories. Most US news outlets give figures exclusively in English units. Expecting US news outlets to be able to convert metric to English is a bit much.
JRF

Offline ugordan

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #18 on: 05/12/2012 10:19 am »
SpaceX appears to have reduce the time between first stage MECO and stage separation from the old 7 second interval:

They haven't, it was 5 seconds on C1 as well. It was 7 seconds between staging and MVac ignition. Look up the highlights video.

Offline Comga

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Re: SpaceX Dragon C2+ Press Kit
« Reply #19 on: 05/13/2012 12:08 am »
SpaceX appears to have reduce the time between first stage MECO and stage separation from the old 7 second interval:

They haven't. It was 5 seconds on C1 as well. It was 7 seconds between staging and MVac ignition. Look up the highlights video.

Thanks.  I was unable to find that.  My recollection is that it was 7 seconds for Falcon 1 Flights 4 and 5.  Is that correct?  I have no idea now about the delay on Falcon 9 Flight 1, but I was not confusing that interval with the 7 sec between staging and ignition.
What kind of wastrels would dump a perfectly good booster in the ocean after just one use?

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