Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 12/21/2017 07:13 amA bit of a tease but sounds like payload is either in processing or encapsulated:Can confirm that it is already mated to the payload adapter.
A bit of a tease but sounds like payload is either in processing or encapsulated:
I was taking a sponsored community college kid on a bus tour at KSC a few days back on the 8th.We got stopped by the escort vehicles for... this.Headed to 39A as far as I could tell...
Did they change the Ti grid fin design? I don't see the scalloped edges in the latest FH images.
Quote from: Coastal Ron on 12/20/2017 07:41 pmQuote from: ugordan on 12/20/2017 03:29 pmThe left side booster also appears to contain the number 8 in the expected location, considering the two cores are 180 deg apart.Actually the two side boosters are not 180 degrees apart. I noticed the feed line that runs down the side of the boosters are installed so that they are on the same side of the center stage.What precisely do you mean by feed lines? To the best that my eye can see, they are identical cores, one simply rotated 180 degrees. Like Atlas V HLV would have done and unlike Delta IV Heavy.
Quote from: ugordan on 12/20/2017 03:29 pmThe left side booster also appears to contain the number 8 in the expected location, considering the two cores are 180 deg apart.Actually the two side boosters are not 180 degrees apart. I noticed the feed line that runs down the side of the boosters are installed so that they are on the same side of the center stage.
The left side booster also appears to contain the number 8 in the expected location, considering the two cores are 180 deg apart.
Quote from: Norm38 on 12/21/2017 01:43 pmDid they change the Ti grid fin design? I don't see the scalloped edges in the latest FH images.The two outer cores are fitted with TI grid fins, the center core has Al fins.
Due to the turbulence produced by the nose cone of the side boosters while it is traveling backwards more control authority is needed by the side booster than the centre stage. Hence they have the larger Ti grid fins.
Been meaning to ask a (rather trivial) question but keep forgetting: does anyone know why some (but not all) of the engine bells on the left booster are shiny/reflective, while all the other engine bells are matte/sooty? Any significance to that?(Best seen from the overhead views)
The separation is performed in vacuum, grid fins can't help then.
Quote from: nacnud on 12/21/2017 11:36 pmDue to the turbulence produced by the nose cone of the side boosters while it is traveling backwards more control authority is needed by the side booster than the centre stage. Hence they have the larger Ti grid fins.This I can't picture. The tails of aircraft aren't open cylinders, they taper to points. I get that the two are different and have different control responses. But why does the nosecone produceworse turbulence? Is it not long enough or something?Edit: I guess this belongs in an FH thread.
What do we think the biggest risks are for this mission? If I had to guess, in order:1. Side booster sep2. Liftoff3. MaxQ4. Faring sep5. S/C sepAnyone else?