Quote from: woods170 on 10/25/2017 06:17 pm...That said. McGregor has also been used for: 1. Testing with structural test articles (Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Dragon and Crew Dragon)2. All-engine static test firings (Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon)3. Short hops (Grasshopper, F9R Dev1 and Crew Dragon)4. Many other things such as COPV testing, stage separation testing, RCS testing and many others.Integrated, all-up, vehicles are usually tested on the launchpad. That's about the only use of BC, other than launching from there. All other stuff can be done at McGregor. Even at 9 meter size.A structural test, short hop, or all-up static test fire would require getting a 9-meter diameter vehicle to McGregor. I don't see any realistic way to do that.Engines and other smaller articles can be tested at McGregor, but full vehicle tests will have to be done at Boca Chica, Stennis, the Cape, or somewhere else with barge access.
...That said. McGregor has also been used for: 1. Testing with structural test articles (Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Dragon and Crew Dragon)2. All-engine static test firings (Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon)3. Short hops (Grasshopper, F9R Dev1 and Crew Dragon)4. Many other things such as COPV testing, stage separation testing, RCS testing and many others.Integrated, all-up, vehicles are usually tested on the launchpad. That's about the only use of BC, other than launching from there. All other stuff can be done at McGregor. Even at 9 meter size.
Not sure where they can do it, other than catching it on a barge, in which case Boca Chica is an option.
introducibg the STARGATE windows!!!! Ohhh and Somebody surveyed and cleared a large lot between the antennas and the crane. Sorry about the pictures looking like that, but here you go. What do you think there gonna put in between the antennas and crane. Parking lot maybe?
Ohhh and Somebody surveyed and cleared a large lot between the antennas and the crane... What do you think they're gonna put in between the antennas and crane. Parking lot maybe?
...the county earlier this year transferred ownership of 25 lots to the Cameron County Spaceport Development Corp. Sepulveda said that these lots are in the vicinity of the launch area, and that his understanding is that the properties would be used to develop parking.
By the way, the university that will be running the Stargate tracking center has posted around 40 pictures here.https://utrgv-umc.photoshelter.com/galleries/C00004Wy4yGzDBMw/G0000e7FR9ioIZQw/STARGATE-Boca-Chica
So, it would be interesting to see the interior now ...
SpaceX has finished installing a second ground station antenna at its future Boca Chica spaceport for the purpose of tracking Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Station beginning in 2018.Crew Dragon is the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company’s seven-seat spacecraft designed to carry humans to the ISS and other destinations. A SpaceX spokesman said the antennas will also be used to track flights from Boca Chica once they’re underway.The company acquired the 86-ton antennas from NASA’s KennedySpaceCenter at Cape Canaveral and transported them to Boca Chica via semitrailer. The first antenna was installed this summer...The Boca Chica site broke ground in September 2014. Later, 310,000 cubic yards of soil were trucked in over a period of months to stabilize the area. No concrete has been poured other than the antenna bases and no structures have been erected, though the STARGATE Technology Park, a public-private partnership between the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and SpaceX, is under construction across State Hwy. 4. No date has been set for the first launch from Boca Chica.The company said it has completed 16 launches so far in 2017, including Monday’s launch of a Korean commercial communications satellite from KennedySpaceCenter.“While SpaceX’s launch cadence has never been higher, and even as our teams have worked to modernize and improve our other launch complexes, we have continued to make progress on building the first-ever orbital commercial spaceport in South Texas,” said the spokesman.Meanwhile, the company is at work developing its Interplanetary Transportation System, nicknamed “BFR,” which SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk plans to use to transport humans to Mars for the purposes of colonization. BFR, which stands for “Big F— Rocket,” would feature 31 main engines propelling a spacecraft capable of carrying about 100 people.Musk gave an update of his Mars plans at a meeting of the International Astronautical Congress on Sept. 29 in Australia, during which he said the company plans to launch its first non-crewed flights to Mars by 2022. If all goes well, the first crewed flights to Mars would take place in 2024, he said.
Is this a common construction technique in that part of the country, put up essentially a hangar and then build an office building inside of it? Seems a bit inefficient as they are basically creating two structures, unless this makes it easier to control heating and cooling somehow.
Also note that NASA is helping to pay for these 2 antennas as part of their $2.6 billion commercial crew contract with SpaceX. Apparently, NASA was OK with SpaceX using the antenna dishes for other purposes as well.
But this brings up an interesting issue: Who gets priority? I'm assuming NASA. In other words, for the ~2 days Dragon2 en route to the ISS, and the ~2 days it's en route back to earth, I'm assuming SpaceX won't be able to launch from Boca Chica. That's for each commercial crew mission.
Just to remind you all. This is not a party thread.
Quote from: Dave G on 10/31/2017 10:41 amBut this brings up an interesting issue: Who gets priority? I'm assuming NASA. In other words, for the ~2 days Dragon2 en route to the ISS, and the ~2 days it's en route back to earth, I'm assuming SpaceX won't be able to launch from Boca Chica. That's for each commercial crew mission.These antenna's are mainly for ascent tracking only. They are basically available for other purposes 20 minutes after launch of a CCP mission, not 2 days.
Quote from: StuffOfInterest on 10/31/2017 09:32 amIs this a common construction technique in that part of the country, put up essentially a hangar and then build an office building inside of it? Seems a bit inefficient as they are basically creating two structures, unless this makes it easier to control heating and cooling somehow.This is quite common, at least in all parts of the country where I've lived. The advantage is that you can change the interior configuration of the building at any time. Conference rooms, cubicles, offices, etc., can all be decided later, or changed as a result of experience. For commercial buildings, it lets them appeal to a wider variety of customers, some of whom may not be known when the building is built.
Quote from: woods170 on 10/31/2017 11:49 amQuote from: Dave G on 10/31/2017 10:41 amBut this brings up an interesting issue: Who gets priority? I'm assuming NASA. In other words, for the ~2 days Dragon2 en route to the ISS, and the ~2 days it's en route back to earth, I'm assuming SpaceX won't be able to launch from Boca Chica. That's for each commercial crew mission.These antenna's are mainly for ascent tracking only. They are basically available for other purposes 20 minutes after launch of a CCP mission, not 2 days.Not quite sure what you mean here.If you're saying that the 2 antenna dishes at Boca Chica will somehow be used for ascent tracking of commercial crew launches from the cape, that's not correct. They'll use dishes at the cape for that.The 2 antenna dishes at Boca Chica will be used to track Crew Dragon in orbit to/from the ISS. SpaceX made this clear in both press releases, here and here. NASA's commercial crew contract requires SpaceX to locate tracking stations at locations other than the cape for this purpose.And today we just found out that SpaceX will also use these 2 antenna dishes for launches from Boca Chica.