Author Topic: SpaceX's Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship Updates and Discussion Thread 3  (Read 1424279 times)

Offline Kabloona

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Elsbeth III just passed the Jetty Park surf cam towing OCISLY.

Next stop is probably the Grand Bahama Shipyard for drydock. Should be around a 36 hour trip with arrival early Friday morning.
« Last Edit: 06/29/2016 09:54 pm by Kabloona »

Offline John Alan

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Making 6.5 knots with OCISLY being pumped of ballast...  8)

Offline Kabloona

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Making 6.5 knots with OCISLY being pumped of ballast...  8)

Good observation. Maybe only 30 hour trip then.

Offline Scylla

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As of June 30, 19:37 UTC--Elsbeth III is approximately 31nm from Freeport.

Lat/Lon:26.66805 N/79.32994 W
Course/Speed: 111.7 ° / 5.4 kn.
https://www.vesselfinder.com/?mmsi=367017460
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Offline rosbif73

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Elspeth III now about 1 nm from Freeport.

I can't find a port webcam, though there's one on the Carnival Pride which just went into port ahead of her and gave us a good look at the shipyard.


Offline rosbif73

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Vesselfinder says Elspeth III is now in port, and ought to be in full view of the Carnival Pride. But no sign of the ASDS on the Pride's webcam - unless that's her circled in red?

[Edit: which seems unlikely as there was something at the same spot in the previous image I posted, at which point EIII was behind the Pride]
« Last Edit: 07/01/2016 11:48 am by rosbif73 »

Offline John Alan

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Elsbeth III it seems is parked far end and far left side of Pride's view... way down behind the container port...
The shipyard is center to left of center in Pride's view... where all the cranes are sticking up... far end...

I doubt we see much of OCISLY and Elsbeth III for the duration...  :-\

On edit...
Source Google search... Marine traffic and Elsbeth III
« Last Edit: 07/01/2016 02:36 pm by John Alan »

Offline John Alan

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Attached is a webpage snap with the players marked...

Carnival Pride's webcam location lower left (red box)
ElsBeth III parked upper center (red box and flag callout)

Location of the two floating dry docks that OCISLY can fit in width wise...
Center right (two red boxes)

Source Marine Traffic web page
Source on fit... http://grandbahamashipyard.com/facilities/

On edit... clarify wording... add ref link

Later edit... Carnival Pride left port...
« Last Edit: 07/01/2016 06:47 pm by John Alan »

Offline archae86

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Elspeth III left Freeport 2016-07-09 17:58 UTC.  Can anyone tell whether she had the barge in tow--as seem likely?

Offline Kabloona

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Elspeth III left Freeport 2016-07-09 17:58 UTC.  Can anyone tell whether she had the barge in tow--as seem likely?

No inside info, but I expect OCISLY is with her. So we should be seeing them back at Port Canaveral in 36 hours or so, ie late night Sunday or early Monday morning.
« Last Edit: 07/09/2016 07:01 pm by Kabloona »

Offline John Alan

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Elspeth III left Freeport 2016-07-09 17:58 UTC.  Can anyone tell whether she had the barge in tow--as seem likely?

No inside info, but I expect OCISLY is with her. So we should be seeing them back at Port Canaveral in 36 hours or so, ie late night Sunday or early Monday morning.

Based on the speeds posted to MarineTraffic after out in the open ocean, but before she went out of range of Freeport...
5.8 to 5.6 knots steady state...
I would say OCISLY is following along behind Elsbeth III on her long tow line just fine now...  :)

I agree with your ETA... maybe the captain will even stretch it out a bit till mid-morning Monday...
Just my opinion...  ;)

On edit...
I wonder if it still a black hull... or did they change it... Hmmmm...  ???  :o  8)
« Last Edit: 07/09/2016 10:07 pm by John Alan »

Offline mattstep

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There is a post in the facebook group speculating whether the Westport Orange Shipyards in Orange Texas are refitting a new ASDS.  Cass Miller (presumably an employee?) posted photos to the Westport Orange Shipyards facebook page on March 4th: https://www.facebook.com/cass.miller.16/posts/738052796331032  Daniel Paasch made the post on the SpaceX facebook group.

Mr. Paasch claims this shipyard did some work on the original ASDS's, but it is not clear if this is actually a Marmac or just some other barge.  Opinions?

Edit: Wrong kind of barge entirely?
« Last Edit: 07/11/2016 01:04 am by mattstep »

Offline ClayJar

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That looks like a hopper barge but the pipes make me wonder if it's a tank barge of some kind.  (I've seen tank barges that would look quite similar to hopper barges from such a low angle.)  What it doesn't look like is a deck barge, which is what an ASDS would be made of.  Also, it has a flat stern like I see all the time on Mississippi River barges, but the MARMAC siblings all sport a sloped stern with two large "skegs" (a better hull plan for ocean voyages, perhaps?). 

So, it's certainly not a MARMAC sibling, but it's still interesting to see a barge moving about on dry land.

Offline CameronD

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So, it's certainly not a MARMAC sibling, but it's still interesting to see a barge moving about on dry land.

Ooo.. a (very rare) Land Barge!  ;D

(I know that was decidedly NOT helpful.. just couldn't resist)
« Last Edit: 07/11/2016 01:45 am by CameronD »
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Offline CyndyC

We're towards the end of several days in a row of 100 degree temperatures in Jacksonville, Florida. My AC was working like a champ until today, and as some may recall from my post last January when my heater needed some maintenance, it turns out my regular HVAC company is the same one SpaceX employed to repair the drone ship cooling units after damage in 2015.

What was different this time was that I asked the man a few questions before telling him about this message board instead of after, so I initially got a whole new song & dance that was kind of comical. No, he was not at all disappointed the drone ship was no longer in Jacksonville because it was so much work and very complicated work and they had to work on it till really late, and when I asked if SpaceX gave them free SpaceX T-shirts, he said no, they were really nice people but the company didn't do anything for them but pay them. Nevertheless, he did say he was impressed by what SpaceX was doing and their ambition to explore and take people to Mars, and that starting life on other planets was really important.

Then I told him about this message board used by 1000s of people from all over the world, and asked if there was anything he could give me to post here. I don't know how much on the deck people here can or can't already ID, but he said one thing really amazing to him was that SpaceX used 4 commercial-sized AC units, which he estimated to be 4-6 tons each, at both bow & stern for each of two containers of telemetry equipment no larger than the pickup truck he was sitting in. He also complimented their upgrades of fire and breaker walls.

He added that SpaceX told them his company was chosen to do the work because other companies they called either didn't do marine work, or hung up on them haha, probably not believing the call or caller were authentic.
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Offline Kabloona

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There is a post in the facebook group speculating whether the Westport Orange Shipyards in Orange Texas are refitting a new ASDS.  Cass Miller (presumably an employee?) posted photos to the Westport Orange Shipyards facebook page on March 4th: https://www.facebook.com/cass.miller.16/posts/738052796331032  Daniel Paasch made the post on the SpaceX facebook group.

Mr. Paasch claims this shipyard did some work on the original ASDS's, but it is not clear if this is actually a Marmac or just some other barge.  Opinions?

Edit: Wrong kind of barge entirely?

Matt, thanks for the alert. But I'm skeptical. In your 3rd photo there's a man for scale, and using him to estimate the barge width, it's less than 40' wide, which i don't believe is wide enough for a stable ASDS, especially with wings which will tend to make the barge even less stable in ocean swells.

Maybe a catamaran ASDS would make sense, and maybe this is one of two hulls to be joined with a center deck arrangement, but as a single (winged) hull I don't see it working as an ASDS.

Also, as ClayJar mentioned, it doesn't appear to be a deck barge, which would be the most logical choice for a new ASDS.
« Last Edit: 07/11/2016 08:31 am by Kabloona »

Offline Kabloona

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Elsbeth III now idling in a holding pattern offshore south of Port Canaveral. Captain just radioed ahead that EIII will be arriving in port at 0800.
« Last Edit: 07/11/2016 09:42 am by Kabloona »

Offline southshore26

Elsbeth III now idling in a holding pattern offshore south of Port Canaveral. Captain just radioed ahead that EIII will be arriving in port at 0800.

Just got the notice from Marine Traffic that EIII has returned to port.

Offline John Alan

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A certain webcam has OCISLY and Elsbeth III tying up at the berth now...  8)

So... about 12 days gone and good as new...  :)

On edit... helper tugs now gone...
Not sure on paint colors now... pics too grainy to see any details...  :P

Later edit...
Elsbeth III now parked in her normal spot... job done... 8)
« Last Edit: 07/11/2016 02:24 pm by John Alan »

Offline kaiser

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Then I told him about this message board used by 1000s of people from all over the world, and asked if there was anything he could give me to post here. I don't know how much on the deck people here can or can't already ID, but he said one thing really amazing to him was that SpaceX used 4 commercial-sized AC units, which he estimated to be 4-6 tons each, at both bow & stern for each of two containers of telemetry equipment no larger than the pickup truck he was sitting in. He also complimented their upgrades of fire and breaker walls.


That's about what I'd expect, if not a bit large.  For our telemetry containers, it's dual 3-ton units and we have six racks full of heat generating gear.  The 3-tons (only one runs at a time, they cycle between each other -- gotta have redundancy) keep up pretty well, and we have much more equipment than SpaceX should have.  Those 4-tons might present a bang-bang type scenario where they're practically freezing the equipment.  Luckily TM ans satcom equipment isn't super sensitive to that type of thing.

They're not running all ACs at once, just half of them.  ACs are cheap and the cost of scrubbing a mission due to your TM gear getting to 170F and failing due to one AC breaking just isn't acceptable.

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