Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon 9 : CRS-16 (Dragon SpX-16) : December 5, 2018 - DISCUSSION  (Read 247886 times)

Online gongora

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10205
  • US
  • Liked: 13885
  • Likes Given: 5933
CRS-16 Discussion thread

NSF Threads for CRS-16 : Discussion / Updates / CRS-16 Dragon Updates after launch
NSF Articles for CRS-16: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?s=CRS-16

NSF Articles for CRS missions :  https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?s=CRS

Successful launch December 5, 2018 at 1:16pm EDT (18:16 UTC) on Falcon 9 (new booster 1050) from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral. The Dragon capsule was previously used on the CRS-10 mission.  RTLS landing was expected, but a grid fin failure resulted in the booster coming down in the water a couple of miles offshore.



External cargo: GEDI, RRM3



Other SpaceX resources on NASASpaceflight:
   SpaceX News Articles (Recent)  /   SpaceX News Articles from 2006 (Including numerous exclusive Elon interviews)
   SpaceX Dragon Articles  /  SpaceX Missions Section (with Launch Manifest and info on past and future missions)
   L2 SpaceX Section
« Last Edit: 12/08/2018 09:30 pm by gongora »

Online gongora

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10205
  • US
  • Liked: 13885
  • Likes Given: 5933
GEDI (Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation)

GEDI Home Page at UMD

Quote
May the Forest Be With You: GEDI Moves Toward Launch to Space Station

May 4, 2018

A first-of-its-kind laser instrument designed to map the world's forests in 3-D is moving toward an earlier launch to the International Space Station than previously expected.

The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation – or GEDI, pronounced like "Jedi," of Star Wars fame – instrument is undergoing final integration and testing this spring and summer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The instrument is expected to launch aboard SpaceX's 16th commercial resupply services mission, targeted for late 2018. GEDI is being led by the University of Maryland, College Park; the instrument is being built at NASA Goddard.

“Scientists have been planning for decades to get comprehensive information about the structure of forests from space to deepen our understanding of how this structure impacts carbon resources and biodiversity across large regions and even globally, as well as a host of other science issues,” said Ralph Dubayah, GEDI principal investigator and a professor of geographical sciences at the University of Maryland. “This is why seeing the instrument built and racing toward launch is so exciting.”

From its perch on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory, GEDI will be the first space-borne laser instrument to measure the structure of Earth's tropical and temperate forests in high resolution and three dimensions. These measurements will help fill in critical gaps in scientists' understanding of how much carbon is stored in the world's forests, the potential for ecosystems to absorb rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, and the impact of forest changes on biodiversity.

GEDI will accomplish its science goals through an ingenious use of light. The instrument is a lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging. It captures information by sending out laser pulses and then precisely measuring the light that is reflected back.

GEDI's three lasers will produce eight ground tracks – two of the lasers will generate two ground tracks each, and the third will generate four. As the space station and GEDI orbit Earth, laser pulses will reflect off clouds, trees and the planet's surface. While the instrument will gather height information about everything in its path, it is specifically designed to measure forests. The amount and intensity of the light that bounces back to GEDI's telescope will reveal details about the height and density of trees and vegetation, and even the structure of leaves and branches within a forest's canopy.

NASA has flown multiple Earth-observing lidars in space, notably the ICESat (Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite) and CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) missions. But GEDI will be the first to provide high-resolution laser ranging of Earth's forests.



Online gongora

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10205
  • US
  • Liked: 13885
  • Likes Given: 5933
RRM3 (Robotic Refueling Mission 3)

RRM3 Home Page at Goddard
Quote
RRM3 Primary Objectives
1. Perform cryogenic liquid methane transfer in micro-gravity
2. Maintain cryogen fluid mass for six months via zero boil-off

RRM3 Secondary Objectives
1. Demonstrate and validate the Compact Thermal Imager - An instrument that utilizes available room on RRM3 to observe Earth to detect smoke and fires, as well as measure crop transevaporation.
2. Complete Machine Vision Tasks - In-space assessment of fiducials (decals) with unique patterns that enhance machine vision algorithms and aid in autonomous rendezvous and tool positioning.

Quote
Robotic Refueling Mission 3 Completes Crucial Series of Tests

June 20, 2018

Space exploration has captured our attention for over half of a century. NASA plans to propel human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit and continue the legacy of the Apollo missions.

With a renewed focus on exploration, NASA is developing new space technologies and capabilities that pave the way for missions back to the Moon and beyond. The agency will advance long duration mission-critical capabilities with the Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3).

From the International Space Station, RRM3 will demonstrate cutting-edge technologies to store and transfer liquid methane in space. Once proven, the methods can be applied to the storage and transfer of other cryogenic fluids – fluids with extremely low boiling points that can function as a coolant or propellant – for a variety of missions.

RRM3 recently concluded a crucial series of tests at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Tests confirmed its electrical compatibility with the space station and validated successful methane operations on the ground. With rigorous testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where the module was built, and Kennedy now complete, RRM3 will go into storage until final launch preparations are conducted later this fall.

The mission will launch aboard a SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services mission to the space station later this year. Once installed, the transfer and storage technologies will be put to the test.

The station’s Dextre robot will use a suite of three tools for the technology demonstration. The cryogen servicing tool delivers the cryogen transfer hose from a source tank filled with liquid methane to an empty receiving tank within the module. The multi-function tool operates adapters, or smaller specialized tools, for transferring liquid methane. The Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot 2 (VIPIR2) is the eyes of the operation and uses a state-of-the-art robotic camera to verify the successful implementation of the tools used to complete the liquid methane transfers.

Offline cuddihy

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1251
  • Liked: 580
  • Likes Given: 935
I thought IDA-3 was supposed to be on SpX-16. Has that shifted again?

Online gongora

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10205
  • US
  • Liked: 13885
  • Likes Given: 5933
I thought IDA-3 was supposed to be on SpX-16. Has that shifted again?

Apparently so.  Maybe we'll get a partial FPIP at the NASA Advisory Council meetings next month.

Offline russianhalo117

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8755
  • Liked: 4672
  • Likes Given: 768
I thought IDA-3 was supposed to be on SpX-16. Has that shifted again?
IDA-3 was delayed due to the shift of Commercial Crew services to the right. Because of the shift Science payloads are given priority for now. IDA-3 will shift CRS flight by CRS flight until it services are needed.

Online Alexphysics

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1605
  • Spain
  • Liked: 5917
  • Likes Given: 945
IIRC, Kirk Shireman said on the last CRS mission that IDA-3 would go on the CRS-18 mission, he said at that time that he could be wrong about it so we "thought" he was wrong because the last FPIP showed IDA-3 going on the CRS-16 mission but now it seems he could have been right. CRS-18 is scheduled to launch inside the same period of time at when we should expect at least the first crewed mission to have happenned (around May-June 2019), so it makes sense.

Offline Tomness

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 660
  • Into the abyss will I run
  • Liked: 289
  • Likes Given: 737
but now it seems he could have been right. CRS-18 is scheduled to launch inside the same period of time at when we should expect at least the first crewed mission to have happenned (around May-June 2019), so it makes sense.
That would be nice to line that up with comerical crew doing the installation of IDA-3 to free up USOS for science but that's so far out to line it up like that.

Online gongora

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10205
  • US
  • Liked: 13885
  • Likes Given: 5933

Offline Mobius57

  • Member
  • Posts: 4
  • Liked: 2
  • Likes Given: 0
I noticed the other day that we've never had a November launch :)

Online gongora

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10205
  • US
  • Liked: 13885
  • Likes Given: 5933
I noticed the other day that we've never had a November launch :)
shhhhh...don't jinx it

Online gongora

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10205
  • US
  • Liked: 13885
  • Likes Given: 5933
Quote
Iridium and NASA just learned that TechEdSat-8 has been added to the launch manifest for SpaceX-16, which is scheduled to be launched on December 1, 2018

Offline jbenton

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 413
  • Liked: 153
  • Likes Given: 702
I noticed the other day that we've never had a November launch :)
shhhhh...don't jinx it

Quote
Iridium and NASA just learned that TechEdSat-8 has been added to the launch manifest for SpaceX-16, which is scheduled to be launched on December 1, 2018

I guess Mobius jinxed it.  :P

Offline jbenton

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 413
  • Liked: 153
  • Likes Given: 702
Do we know which capsule is being launched for this mission? To my knowledge C112 and C113 have not yet been reused.

Online ZachS09

  • Space Savant
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8406
  • Roanoke, TX
  • Liked: 2344
  • Likes Given: 2060
Do we know which capsule is being launched for this mission? To my knowledge C112 and C113 have not yet been reused.

What about the Dragons prior to CRS-4 (C106) or C107 from CRS-5? Those have not been reused either.
Liftoff for St. Jude's! Go Dragon, Go Falcon, Godspeed Inspiration4!

Online Alexphysics

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1605
  • Spain
  • Liked: 5917
  • Likes Given: 945
Dragons prior to CRS-4 were in bad conditions to be refurbished mainly because of salt water intrusion. They upgraded the capsules from CRS-8 onwards, they had more protection against salt water intrusion and those are easier and faster to refurbish. They will need to use three times a few Dragons to complete the CRS-1 contract.

Offline vaporcobra

Quote
Inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians work on the pump package assembly (PPA) on Aug. 30, 2018. The payload will be carried to the International Space Station on SpaceX's 16th Commercial Resupply Services mission. The PPA will be used to continuously drive the cooling water in the space station's thermal control system. The assembly includes a centrifuge pump, a fine filter and gas trap for pump protection, a coarse outlet filter, sensors, and an accumulator. The PPA also will provide a reservoir used for makeup of coolant if leakage occurred. CRS-16 is scheduled to launch to the space station later this year. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasakennedy/30873974548/in/dateposted/


Offline Steven Pietrobon

  • Member
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 39215
  • Adelaide, Australia
    • Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive
  • Liked: 32735
  • Likes Given: 8178
Does anyone know if the PPA is an internal or external payload?
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online crandles57

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 614
  • Sychdyn
  • Liked: 431
  • Likes Given: 136

Online AnalogMan

  • Member
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3430
  • Cambridge, UK
  • Liked: 1599
  • Likes Given: 50
Does anyone know if the PPA is an internal or external payload?

PPAs are installed inside the ISS, so I would think that it will be carried as an internal Dragon payload.

Tags: CRS-16 
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
0