Quote from: MP99 on 10/18/2014 08:31 amQuote from: guckyfan on 10/17/2014 08:29 pmQuote from: Lars-J on 10/17/2014 08:21 pmIt would make sense. It looks like they'll just be able to use a simplified strong-back to drive a F9/FH up to the new stand, erect it, tank it up and start the test. (no crane needed to life a stage high)I have thought of a kind of strong-back or TE too. But I am not sure that a crane will not be cheaper to operate. Maybe a Heavy will need one though. That would make the operation even more launch pad like. They would need the full hydraulics to erect it.Is that necessarily true re the hydraulics? It would seem to be simpler to have a winch from somewhere up on the test stand to pull the TE vertical. ISTM they avoid this on the launch pad because they don't have a fixed structure which could house the winch. (Or the winch could be in a protected place on the ground, with the cable trained through a pulley up on the stand.) It's not like the launch pad, where the hydraulics are required to retract the TEL shortly before launch. Think of it as a crane integrated into the stand. Cheers, Martin The problem with that is if the cable should fail, as it would be in tension. For hydraulics, the cylincers are in compression, and there are lond control valves to lock the cylindrs if a hose should fail. And if the worst should happen, they would still provide some amount of slowing of the load.
Quote from: guckyfan on 10/17/2014 08:29 pmQuote from: Lars-J on 10/17/2014 08:21 pmIt would make sense. It looks like they'll just be able to use a simplified strong-back to drive a F9/FH up to the new stand, erect it, tank it up and start the test. (no crane needed to life a stage high)I have thought of a kind of strong-back or TE too. But I am not sure that a crane will not be cheaper to operate. Maybe a Heavy will need one though. That would make the operation even more launch pad like. They would need the full hydraulics to erect it.Is that necessarily true re the hydraulics? It would seem to be simpler to have a winch from somewhere up on the test stand to pull the TE vertical. ISTM they avoid this on the launch pad because they don't have a fixed structure which could house the winch. (Or the winch could be in a protected place on the ground, with the cable trained through a pulley up on the stand.) It's not like the launch pad, where the hydraulics are required to retract the TEL shortly before launch. Think of it as a crane integrated into the stand. Cheers, Martin
Quote from: Lars-J on 10/17/2014 08:21 pmIt would make sense. It looks like they'll just be able to use a simplified strong-back to drive a F9/FH up to the new stand, erect it, tank it up and start the test. (no crane needed to life a stage high)I have thought of a kind of strong-back or TE too. But I am not sure that a crane will not be cheaper to operate. Maybe a Heavy will need one though. That would make the operation even more launch pad like. They would need the full hydraulics to erect it.
It would make sense. It looks like they'll just be able to use a simplified strong-back to drive a F9/FH up to the new stand, erect it, tank it up and start the test. (no crane needed to life a stage high)
Looks like SpaceX is planning to massively expand their McGregor operation. They plan to add 300 new full time jobs (pending an almost-certain approval of incentives from local government), more than doubling the size of their Texas workforce.http://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/spacex-expansion-could-add-jobs-locally/article_a805e495-09ed-5fb0-9b9d-95b038d4cbfc.htmlMaybe this means an expansion in the rate of testing due to more heavies in the pipeline? Or maybe anticipating rehab and checkout for used stages?
Hopefully they are building a Methlox test stand... they will need an entire parallel test campaignstaff to avoid disrupting the Kerlox test flow that includes multiple firings daily. Their Stennis campaign was only at the component level, I think.
Quote from: AncientU on 12/14/2014 02:20 pmHopefully they are building a Methlox test stand... they will need an entire parallel test campaignstaff to avoid disrupting the Kerlox test flow that includes multiple firings daily. Their Stennis campaign was only at the component level, I think. I don't think they will be testing Raptor at McGregor and will likely test complete Raptors on one of the B stands at Stennis. The McGregor expansion plans are most likely for building more test stands for F9 cores and more single Merlin stands to increase the amount of parallel testing to meet demand.
Quote from: DJPledger on 12/14/2014 02:56 pmQuote from: AncientU on 12/14/2014 02:20 pmHopefully they are building a Methlox test stand... they will need an entire parallel test campaignstaff to avoid disrupting the Kerlox test flow that includes multiple firings daily. Their Stennis campaign was only at the component level, I think. I don't think they will be testing Raptor at McGregor and will likely test complete Raptors on one of the B stands at Stennis. The McGregor expansion plans are most likely for building more test stands for F9 cores and more single Merlin stands to increase the amount of parallel testing to meet demand.That much money just for test stands? I was thinking about, say, a new assembly line for rocket engines. Why not even for rockets?! They test the engines and rockets at McGregor, don't they? Then it looks pretty logic for saving money and a lot of time with the transportation/handling - which operation always pose a certain risk - why not do all these activities right here at Mc Gregor...
The new Raptor turbo-pump build engineer position is at Hawthorne... BFR cores are too large to transport from McGregor. McGregor is their test facility, so far, and they have enough in the pipeline to double(?) the workforce there.http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/5985
Quote from: Razvan on 12/14/2014 03:27 pmQuote from: DJPledger on 12/14/2014 02:56 pmQuote from: AncientU on 12/14/2014 02:20 pmHopefully they are building a Methlox test stand... they will need an entire parallel test campaignstaff to avoid disrupting the Kerlox test flow that includes multiple firings daily. Their Stennis campaign was only at the component level, I think. I don't think they will be testing Raptor at McGregor and will likely test complete Raptors on one of the B stands at Stennis. The McGregor expansion plans are most likely for building more test stands for F9 cores and more single Merlin stands to increase the amount of parallel testing to meet demand.That much money just for test stands? I was thinking about, say, a new assembly line for rocket engines. Why not even for rockets?! They test the engines and rockets at McGregor, don't they? Then it looks pretty logic for saving money and a lot of time with the transportation/handling - which operation always pose a certain risk - why not do all these activities right here at Mc Gregor...The new Raptor turbo-pump build engineer position is at Hawthorne... BFR cores are too large to transport from McGregor. McGregor is their test facility, so far, and they have enough in the pipeline to double(?) the workforce there.http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/5985
Quote from: AncientU on 12/14/2014 03:39 pmQuote from: Razvan on 12/14/2014 03:27 pmQuote from: DJPledger on 12/14/2014 02:56 pmQuote from: AncientU on 12/14/2014 02:20 pmHopefully they are building a Methlox test stand... they will need an entire parallel test campaignstaff to avoid disrupting the Kerlox test flow that includes multiple firings daily. Their Stennis campaign was only at the component level, I think. I don't think they will be testing Raptor at McGregor and will likely test complete Raptors on one of the B stands at Stennis. The McGregor expansion plans are most likely for building more test stands for F9 cores and more single Merlin stands to increase the amount of parallel testing to meet demand.That much money just for test stands? I was thinking about, say, a new assembly line for rocket engines. Why not even for rockets?! They test the engines and rockets at McGregor, don't they? Then it looks pretty logic for saving money and a lot of time with the transportation/handling - which operation always pose a certain risk - why not do all these activities right here at Mc Gregor...The new Raptor turbo-pump build engineer position is at Hawthorne... BFR cores are too large to transport from McGregor. McGregor is their test facility, so far, and they have enough in the pipeline to double(?) the workforce there.http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/5985Where did you read that position is going to be located at Hawthorne?At McGregor you can have the manufacturing line for Raptors and Merlins as well. They need a lot of engines with all these launching pads, think of, say, 300 Merlins for Falcon 9, and now they are geting 216 far under their needs; in addition to those they'd need more Merlins for FH, say another 100 maybe 180.They can start small at McGregor and eventually transfer the whole production from Hawthorne and use Hawthorne for Tesla in 5 years or so.BFR might be assembled at Boca Chica site with all the required gear, test stand and all.
http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/5985At the bottom, right above the blue "Apply Now" button it says the job is in Hawthorne.
Quote from: Owlon on 12/14/2014 05:13 pmhttp://www.spacex.com/careers/position/5985At the bottom, right above the blue "Apply Now" button it says the job is in Hawthorne.Actually their McGregor hiring page gives a pretty good idea what they are scaling up therehttp://www.spacex.com/careers/list?location[]=57I like the "Non-Destructive Test Technician"
Quote from: Razvan on 12/14/2014 04:06 pmQuote from: AncientU on 12/14/2014 03:39 pmQuote from: Razvan on 12/14/2014 03:27 pmQuote from: DJPledger on 12/14/2014 02:56 pmQuote from: AncientU on 12/14/2014 02:20 pmHopefully they are building a Methlox test stand... they will need an entire parallel test campaignstaff to avoid disrupting the Kerlox test flow that includes multiple firings daily. Their Stennis campaign was only at the component level, I think. I don't think they will be testing Raptor at McGregor and will likely test complete Raptors on one of the B stands at Stennis. The McGregor expansion plans are most likely for building more test stands for F9 cores and more single Merlin stands to increase the amount of parallel testing to meet demand.That much money just for test stands? I was thinking about, say, a new assembly line for rocket engines. Why not even for rockets?! They test the engines and rockets at McGregor, don't they? Then it looks pretty logic for saving money and a lot of time with the transportation/handling - which operation always pose a certain risk - why not do all these activities right here at Mc Gregor...The new Raptor turbo-pump build engineer position is at Hawthorne... BFR cores are too large to transport from McGregor. McGregor is their test facility, so far, and they have enough in the pipeline to double(?) the workforce there.http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/5985Where did you read that position is going to be located at Hawthorne?At McGregor you can have the manufacturing line for Raptors and Merlins as well. They need a lot of engines with all these launching pads, think of, say, 300 Merlins for Falcon 9, and now they are geting 216 far under their needs; in addition to those they'd need more Merlins for FH, say another 100 maybe 180.They can start small at McGregor and eventually transfer the whole production from Hawthorne and use Hawthorne for Tesla in 5 years or so.BFR might be assembled at Boca Chica site with all the required gear, test stand and all.The Hawthorne factory is supposed to be sized for 400 Merlins and 40 cores a year. 300 more positions at McGregor aren't nearly enough to support that kind of manufacturing. Their lease in Hawthorne also runs through 2023, and they seem pretty committed to staying there in the mid- to long-term.http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/5985At the bottom, right above the blue "Apply Now" button it says the job is in Hawthorne.
Quote from: savuporo on 12/14/2014 05:22 pmQuote from: Owlon on 12/14/2014 05:13 pmhttp://www.spacex.com/careers/position/5985At the bottom, right above the blue "Apply Now" button it says the job is in Hawthorne.Actually their McGregor hiring page gives a pretty good idea what they are scaling up therehttp://www.spacex.com/careers/list?location[]=57I like the "Non-Destructive Test Technician" The list of positions looks more like minor manufacturing and operations needed to operate the FH test stand. The additional acreage may be a insurance that sound levels restrictions would not be encroached by development of the land close to the FH test stand.
maybe its more like they can get the land because its available.
Quote from: Prober on 12/14/2014 06:35 pmmaybe its more like they can get the land because its available."McGregor Mayor Jim Hering said SpaceX leased the additional property because of the difficulties alerting and clearing out local farmers and others in a 1-mile radius each time a rocket engine is tested."Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/article4312711.html#storylink=cpy