Author Topic: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 1 Launch 5 (RazakSat) - July 13/14 (Read 361289 times)

HMXHMX · « **Reply #740 on:** 07/14/2009 05:07 am »

Quote from: Antares on 07/14/2009 05:05 am

Quote from: astronaut23 on 07/14/2009 04:57 am
Do the shuttle engines glow red like that on the way up. Or do they have a better cooling system? I know this is a one time use and throw away engine.

Shuttle engines HAVE a cooling system. This one, like the RL10 and AJ10 for instance, has NO cooling system. It just gets hot and radiates.

The RL-10 is regeneratively cooled to about 57:1 as I recall, and then radiatively cooled in the extended nozzle versions.

Antares · « **Reply #741 on:** 07/14/2009 05:12 am »

Quote from: HMXHMX on 07/14/2009 05:07 am

Quote from: Antares on 07/14/2009 05:05 am
Shuttle engines HAVE a cooling system. This one, like the RL10 and AJ10 for instance, has NO cooling system. It just gets hot and radiates.
The RL-10 is regeneratively cooled to about 57:1 as I recall, and then radiatively cooled in the extended nozzle versions.

Yes, yes, was just trying to explain quickly for the new poster. The radiative on the RL10 is often seen in rocket cams. The regen part is essential to its power cycle, as we know.

rumble · « **Reply #742 on:** 07/14/2009 05:13 am »

Congrats, SpaceX!!

A_M_Swallow · « **Reply #743 on:** 07/14/2009 05:13 am »

Well done SpaceX.

soldeed · « **Reply #744 on:** 07/14/2009 05:22 am »

Well now that an official payload has been orbited perhaps some potential customers who may have been reluctant to commit will now take the plunge. Or so I hope. Deploying a payload was the only undemonstrated thing space X had not yet done and now that they have I am completely confident in the falcons and expect the first F-9 flight to go off without a hitch, whenever it goes.

astronaut23 · « **Reply #745 on:** 07/14/2009 05:27 am »

Thanks for the information.

corrodedNut · « **Reply #746 on:** 07/14/2009 05:30 am »

From Spaceflight Now:

"We nailed the orbit to well within target parameters...pretty much a bullseye. Satellite has separated and is communicating with (the) ground," Musk said.

NUAETIUS · « **Reply #747 on:** 07/14/2009 05:33 am »

Quote from: soldeed on 07/14/2009 05:22 am

Well now that an official payload has been orbited perhaps some potential customers who may have been reluctant to commit will now take the plunge. Or so I hope. Deploying a payload was the only undemonstrated thing space X had not yet done and now that they have I am completely confident in the falcons and expect the first F-9 flight to go off without a hitch, whenever it goes.

There are plenty of things unique to the Falcon 9 that have not been proved out by the Falcon 1. I would not be quite that confident. We don't even know if the spacecraft survived, or if it's in the right orbit yet. Either one means failure.

Hootz · « **Reply #748 on:** 07/14/2009 05:34 am »

..and with that, hearty congratulations to Elon and his whole team. WOW.

G-pit · « **Reply #749 on:** 07/14/2009 05:37 am »

Quote from the launch updates:

"Second burn and satellite separation nominal. Falcon 1 has successfully deployed RazakSAT into the correct orbit."

Go SpaceX :-).

G-pit · « **Reply #750 on:** 07/14/2009 05:40 am »

So, how long until they can begin to check that the spacecraft is working properly? Hours or days?

NUAETIUS · « **Reply #751 on:** 07/14/2009 05:44 am »

Quote from: corrodedNut on 07/14/2009 05:30 am

From Spaceflight Now:

"We nailed the orbit to well within target parameters...pretty much a bullseye. Satellite has separated and is communicating with (the) ground," Musk said.

YES! Congratulations to SpaceX, their staff, and Mr Musk. The space industry has just changed... a little.

cixelsyD · « **Reply #752 on:** 07/14/2009 05:50 am »

Quote from: G-pit on 07/14/2009 05:40 am

So, how long until they can begin to check that the spacecraft is working properly? Hours or days?

Yeah I would guess that just because the satellite is communicating with the ground, doesn't mean that it's unharmed. That's why the launch was delayed in the first place, since they believed that the vibrations would cause damage.

osiossim · « **Reply #753 on:** 07/14/2009 06:08 am »

Congratulations,

But there is no mass media news about the result and I could not even see the confirmation on ATSB's web site. Also, the video stream on SpaceX web site is not working and the youtube video finishes at 9 minutes 55 seconds.

I hope everything is allright.

GI-Thruster · « **Reply #754 on:** 07/14/2009 07:03 am »

Congrats SpaceX!

Would be great to see an F9 fly this year.

Crispy · « **Reply #755 on:** 07/14/2009 07:11 am »

Great job SpaceX

Bubbinski · « **Reply #756 on:** 07/14/2009 07:15 am »

Good work Space X. Looking forward to seeing Falcon 9 go up now.

jimvela · « **Reply #757 on:** 07/14/2009 07:22 am »

Quote from: G-pit on 07/14/2009 05:40 am

So, how long until they can begin to check that the spacecraft is working properly? Hours or days?

If they survived launch without damage they probably know that by about now. The rest of us might never really know.

Actual (operational) comissioning a spacecraft can take quite a long time, even if you're really well prepared.

All the really hard stuff remains-
+ Is your FSW really right?
+ How do you calibrate your instrument?
+ How do you operationally execute- e.g. ground ops, scheduling, imaging methodology, addressing all of the little quirks of your spacecraft and instrument...
+ How do you get enough comm time to maximize data collection from the instrument?
+ Are your procedures for operations, anomaly resolution, table updating, FSW updates, etc actually right?

It could be that they're busy as hell right now- it's do or die time for the S/C and its systems. I've seen teams deal with life-or-death issues for spacecraft immediately after launch. A great team deals with issues, a poor team stands around and watches helplessly as the s/c dies.

We might know if a few days or weeks some of those details...

pippin · « **Reply #758 on:** 07/14/2009 07:38 am »

Quote from: astronaut23 on 07/14/2009 04:57 am

Do the shuttle engines glow red like that on the way up. Or do they have a better cooling system? I know this is a one time use and throw away engine.

If you want to see a _really_ glowing hot engine bell watch out for Ariane 1-4 launch vids. They had radiation cooled 1st stage engines.

Kaputnik · « **Reply #759 on:** 07/14/2009 10:01 am »

Had to go to bed last night, have skipped the last 25 pages, great news, well done to everyone at SpaceX!!!!