They're not heading back to the launchpad on CRS3, right? My understanding was that they'd be trying for a point farther south with no people nearby.
No relight of first stage engines happened.
Quote from: dcporter on 12/05/2013 01:57 pmThey're not heading back to the launchpad on CRS3, right? My understanding was that they'd be trying for a point farther south with no people nearby.Musk said they are trying to get approval to get back to shore, full landing. He mentioned it only once.
Quote from: meekGee on 12/05/2013 02:24 pmQuote from: dcporter on 12/05/2013 01:57 pmThey're not heading back to the launchpad on CRS3, right? My understanding was that they'd be trying for a point farther south with no people nearby.Musk said they are trying to get approval to get back to shore, full landing. He mentioned it only once.Yes, but back to shore at a point further south with no people. I don't recall where I read or heard it, but I believe the quote was directly from Musk after the CASSIOPE launch.
Maybe that's why nobody can ever follow my driving directions... (Take the zeroth driveway on your left) Otherwise, it's complicated. (Studied EE, ended up doing some CE, mostly ME) But I'm C Native, so zero's it.ANYWAY.The launch was not a "burn" in my mind. It was, you know, THE LAUNCH.
Yes, definitely not to the pad. If I were to go, I'd look for a vantage point to the landing, not the launch.
Quote from: cambrianera on 12/05/2013 02:05 pmNo relight of first stage engines happened.I really suggest you take a look at L2.
SpaceX hopes to launch another commercial satellite from the Cape before the year is out, for Thaicom.Musk said SpaceX might try to recover that rocket's first stage from the ocean, depending in part on data collected during the SES-8 mission.Link : http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/12/04/spacex-launch-successful/3866655/
Also, the "better than required" performance on SES-8 indicates that have extra margin. Maybe.
To talk of recovering the Thaicom stage, doesn't that imply the roll issue has been fixed? How? There's been no talk of legs being on this flight, only on CRS-3.
If they are going land it at a remote location. It will need to have good road access so they can truck it out.Spacex may need to demo a few successful landings before being allowed to land at pad.
Since SpaceX apparently believes the roll was aero-induced, they may already have done some aerodynamic tweaks on the SES vehicle, or somehow added more control authority, to experiment with nulling that roll torque. One way to improve control authority would be to up the GN2 pressure, assuming the thrusters, tanks and plumbing weren't already operating at their limits, and maybe swap in higher-pressure components if necessary. And since we saw in video that S1 did its post-sep ACS thrusting, I'd be surprised if SpaceX didn't go ahead and actually attempt a relight with residuals.If so, they may have been able to get enough data before stage breakup to verify a fix to the roll issue.
Quote from: mlindner on 12/05/2013 02:24 pmQuote from: cambrianera on 12/05/2013 02:05 pmNo relight of first stage engines happened.I really suggest you take a look at L2.Hi, I am a L2 member, but no clue to what you refer to. Can you please post a link?
so I don't think this speculation of a surface landing for Thaicom-6 launch will pan out (even if legs are ready and Thaicom contract gives them enough fuel reserves for landing).Finally Falcon 9 quoted performance for standard GTO launch is 4850Kg payload, a 30% hit leaves 3395Kg payload capability, very little margin over Thaicom-6 3300Kg (i've seen quotes for both 3,2 and 3,3 tons). If the launch is super sync GTO, then 15% hit for at sea recovery might be the only choice anyways. I know Elon said F9R performed better than expected, but we don't know how much better !
I know Elon said F9R performed better than expected, but we don't know how much better !