Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon 9 : Iridium NEXT Flight 2 (June 25, 2017) : UPDATES  (Read 116430 times)

Offline Arb

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Email from MarineTraffic.com - Departure: NRC QUEST, Port: LOS ANGELES at 2017-06-24 10:17 Local Time (2017-06-24 17:17 UTC)

Offline envy887

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Crop of above picture showing fin detail:

Offline AC in NC

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Side by Side of the Weekend Warriors

Offline Chris Bergin

Feature article by William Graham!

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/06/spacex-falcon-9-iridium-next-2-launch/

Photos via a L2 set from Chris Gebhardt and Philip Sloss out there for NSF. Brady Kennison - for NSF - still involved as we used one of his BulgariaSat-1 photos. :)
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Offline old_sellsword

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Elon has some free time to spend on twitter:

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Flying with larger & significantly upgraded hypersonic grid fins. Single piece cast & cut titanium. Can take reentry heat with no shielding.



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Are they heavier than the originals?

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Slightly heavier than shielded aluminum, but more control authority and can be reused indefinitely with no touch ups



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Do the larger fins require more hydraulic fluid for the standard recovery profile?

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They will, but the hydraulic system is closed loop, so no fluid lost. They do need more power & energy, but rocket has plenty of that.



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Is this the first closed loop version? I thought some of the early attempts ran out of hydraulic fluid due to it being open

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We used to have a (lame) open loop hydraulic system, but that was upgraded to closed about 2 years ago



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Did the heating of the previous fins show noticeable issues with steering?

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No, but shielding got fragged every flight. More control authority is for Falcon Heavy, but also enables Falcon 9 to land in heavier winds.



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Also probably means the first stage can glide further

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True, but that's a minor factor for rockets


« Last Edit: 06/25/2017 12:45 pm by old_sellsword »

Offline jacqmans

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Offline Scylla

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I reject your reality and substitute my own--Doctor Who


Offline ChrisGebhardt

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Right now, our instantaneous launch window is 13:25:14 PDT (20:25:14 GMT/UTC).  If that changes, I'll update.

Offline Michael Baylor

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Hard to see, but the cows of VAFB are ready. Fog is burning off too!
« Last Edit: 06/25/2017 06:02 pm by Next Spaceflight »

Offline yokem55

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Coming up on launch readiness poll per the press kit.

Offline ZachS09

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Under an hour to launch. The RP-1 loading should commence at this time.
Liftoff for St. Jude's! Go Dragon, Go Falcon, Godspeed Inspiration4!

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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Per LD loop, launch area clear and ready to proceed with terminal count

Offline Chris Bergin

Bill Harwood:

https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews/status/879059396034277377
F9/Iridium: A range issue of some sort is apparently in work; no details yet
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Offline ZachS09

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T-40 minutes.
Liftoff for St. Jude's! Go Dragon, Go Falcon, Godspeed Inspiration4!

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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T-35 minutes. LOX loading should be starting now.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline Chris Bergin

Chris G:
Boat in exclusion zone. Range go aside from that
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Offline ZachS09

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About 20 minutes until the webcast starts.

Liftoff for St. Jude's! Go Dragon, Go Falcon, Godspeed Inspiration4!

Offline Rocket Science

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"The laws of physics are unforgiving"
~Rob: Physics instructor, Aviator

Offline NX-0

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JRTI has been moved.

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