Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon 9 : CRS-12 : Aug 14, 2017 : DISCUSSION  (Read 122611 times)

Offline Halidon

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Wow that tracking shot. Can really see how the air's flowing

Offline Surfdaddy

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I am still amazed at how smoothly the return and landing goes these days.... two years ago was just science fiction, now routine.

Offline IanH84

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I am still amazed at how smoothly the return and landing goes these days.... two years ago was just science fiction, now routine.
I was saying the same thing on another forum; it never gets old, but I don't worry that something is going to go wrong unless it's an ASDS landing in rough seas.

Offline Tomness

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It sounds like they're broadcasting the commentary from a cafeteria...

I believe it is above the cafeteria & all the employees right below them and to the back of the control room

Offline yokem55

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Thought for a bit the tracking shot on descent was showing the first stage breaking up and the stage camera just hadn't caught up yet. But I guess we just haven't seen all the potential atmospheric interactions on display yet...
« Last Edit: 08/14/2017 04:50 pm by yokem55 »

Offline Ben the Space Brit

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Yeah, there was a glow just after MECO3 that must have been residuals leaking out of the centreline Merlin but it really looked like they'd had a propulsion failure, especially how she seemed to heel over to about 30-degrees off-prograde!
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Offline ZachF

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That thing took off quick.... more thust?
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Offline LouScheffer

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The grid fins seemed to be much more active during the landing sequence, compared to previous missions. 

Offline Chris_Pi

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Wow that tracking shot. Can really see how the air's flowing

Looks like it's got soot much further up the windward side. Wonder if they were leaning it over more than before.

And kinda cutting it close on landing leg deploy there. Three or four seconds before touchdown? Going to have to re-watch later and check.

Offline Zach Swena

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When the right hand view changed from second stage to the tracking shot, I was confused also.  Then I realized that we finally got to see the first stage flying with an angle of attack.  If you notice, the first stage was flying sideways to the airstream, probably to create some lift and alter the return path.  This is something that has been talked about with grid fin discussion for a while, but we hadn't really gotten to see it in action from that perspective before.

Offline matthewkantar

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The view of the first stage changing angle of attack as it came in was hair raising!

Matthew

Offline whitelancer64

Wow that tracking shot. Can really see how the air's flowing

Looks like it's got soot much further up the windward side. Wonder if they were leaning it over more than before.

And kinda cutting it close on landing leg deploy there. Three or four seconds before touchdown? Going to have to re-watch later and check.

Leg deploy has always been in the last few seconds before touchdown.
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Offline intrepidpursuit

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I'm looking forward to seeing some of the analysis the brilliant people here do of these launches applied to this one. Many things looked a little different, including angle of attack on reentry, speed of acceleration and length of the single engine landing burn. It could be that it was just a really clear day with better than average camera angles, but it was certainly interesting nonetheless.

Offline kevinof

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yeah thought it was going to tumble but no. Interesting that they are trying to get some lift from the stage on the way in.

The view of the first stage changing angle of attack as it came in was hair raising!

Matthew

Offline Jarnis

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That thing took off quick.... more thust?

Yep. New uprated engines, Block 4 booster. +11% thrust or thereabouts.

Offline RotoSequence

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The grid fins seemed to be much more active during the landing sequence, compared to previous missions.

I currently attribute it to the booster's trajectory and angle of attack after the deceleration burn.

Offline M.E.T.

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That thing took off quick.... more thust?

Yep. New uprated engines, Block 4 booster. +11% thrust or thereabouts.

Is this speculation or was it confirmed that this was the first Block 4?

Offline LouScheffer

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Whatever they changed did not include the final landing sequence.  It started at 4 km up, 300 m/s, and lasted 30 seconds, just like the last time, to within the precision of the webcast.

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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That thing took off quick.... more thust?

Yep. New uprated engines, Block 4 booster. +11% thrust or thereabouts.

Is this speculation or was it confirmed that this was the first Block 4?

This was supposed to be the first block 4, but the grid fins were wrong and Hans said yesterday that nothing was really new with this booster.  So I'll check and see what I can find.

Offline Jarnis

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That thing took off quick.... more thust?

Yep. New uprated engines, Block 4 booster. +11% thrust or thereabouts.

Is this speculation or was it confirmed that this was the first Block 4?

Was quoted as "fact" from unnamed sources on Reddit prior to launch (implied it was from someone who knew someone who worked at SpaceX), but now that you question it, I haven't heard an official confirmation. I'm sure someone is already counting frames and figuring out if the rocket took off the pad any faster than previous ones...

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