SpaceX: Post F9 Flight 1 and status updates on Falcon and Dragon (Thread 3)

[mmeijeri]

Did the Falcon 9 lift-off early or were the audio and video not synchronised? On the SpaceX video it seems to be lifting off at T-2, so there would have to be a delay between the overlay and the camera too if it didn't really lift-off early.

[corrodedNut]

Both the clock and audio were out of synch to the video. The apparent vehicle movement at T-3 really freaked me out.

Watch the video taken from atop of the VAB, you can hear the radio countdown and it's right on time.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Ah2NPfGR4dA

[mmeijeri]

Heheh, nice avatar! I for one welcome our new insect overlords.

[gladiator1332]

Heheh, nice avatar! I for one welcome our new insect overlords.

Haha that is great. I kept thinking, after seeing the launch videos, that bug has no idea that is now an internet celebrity.

[yinzer]

Looked like 70-80 degrees to me. It's a really bad idea to do any drastic maneuvering until you have at least cleared the holddown system and disconnected the umbilicals.

Agree.  I was thinking it was the roll to the flight azimuth and someone forgot to put in a delay until climb out and start of the pitch program.

I was thinking it was a hold- before- release issue--no feedback on the roll bias until the rocket can turn. So even a slight offset would result in an immediate roll until GNC can catch it after release.

Hmm... did the roll slowly stop or did it turn at a constant rate and then stop quickly?  My guess was a planned roll maneuver - either to align the pitch axis with the flight path or for antenna visibility reasons - that was scheduled a little optimistically.

It wouldn't be the first time that SpaceX looked at the conventional wisdom of "wait X seconds between events" and decided that X was too large, only to reconsider later.

[edkyle99]

I gotta say, it didn't take very long for people to start complaining how incompetent SpaceX must be when they didn't catch such "easy" problems.

I have read no such "complaints"

 - Ed Kyle

[godfreja]

Maneuvering before clearing the tower is not unprecedented. The Saturn V yawed before clearing the tower. (To help ensure it did clear the tower.)

[tigerade]

SpaceX has a new press release on their website:

"SpaceX achieves orbital bullseye with inaugural flight of Falcon 9 rocket"
http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20100607

[Jim]

Maneuvering before clearing the tower is not unprecedented. The Saturn V yawed before clearing the tower. (To help ensure it did clear the tower.)

Not the same thing

[godfreja]

Maneuvering before clearing the tower is not unprecedented. The Saturn V yawed before clearing the tower. (To help ensure it did clear the tower.)

Not the same thing

Didn't claim it was.

[Dave G]

I'd be much more interested in the feedback/resolution on the 90 degree roll at liftoff.

I noticed that on the video as well.  The SpaceX logo made it pretty obvious.

I'm not sure if this is a real problem or not, but I'm sure SpaceX knows about it.

Lot's of data for them to analyze...

[Jim]

Maneuvering before clearing the tower is not unprecedented. The Saturn V yawed before clearing the tower. (To help ensure it did clear the tower.)

Not the same thing

Didn't claim it was.

so the point is meaningless in this case

[daver]

Both the clock and audio were out of synch to the video. The apparent vehicle movement at T-3 really freaked me out.

Watch the video taken from atop of the VAB, you can hear the radio countdown and it's right on time.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Ah2NPfGR4dA

This is probably my favorite video of the launch.  The flame looks like a giant X after the rocket clears the tower.  Also the guy had the exact same impression of the launch "SWEEEET!"

[Dave G]

In the lastest (June 6th) This Week in Space Episode, Miles O'Brien interviews Elon Musk for about 15 minutes (the interview was conducted 24 hours after the launch). One of the interesting things that Elon Musk mentions is that "the roll problem is easy to fix".  I thought that was important news.

Yes, I saw this also.

For those who haven't already seen it already, its definately worth 15 minutes:
http://spaceflightnow.com/twis/

[gladiator1332]

In the lastest (June 6th) This Week in Space Episode, Miles O'Brien interviews Elon Musk for about 15 minutes (the interview was conducted 24 hours after the launch). One of the interesting things that Elon Musk mentions is that "the roll problem is easy to fix".  I thought that was important news.

Yes, I saw this also.

For those who haven't already seen it already, its definately worth 15 minutes:
http://spaceflightnow.com/twis/

Watched it as well. It is a great interview. It also seems that the recent success means Elon Musk is no longer going to be afraid to fight back.

[yg1968]

Its been posted several times, but here once more are full details of that, as outlined by Musk on the post-flight conference
http://hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=21153

Total SpaceX expenditures?
- The $350M-$400M mentioned the other day was for Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets.
- Dragon, facilities, pad, etc add up to about another $100M-$150M.
- So total SpaceX expenditures till now adds up to around half a billion dollars.
- Includes money from NASA, private investment, deposits from customers, etc.

You can also hear it directly from Elon Musk in the audio file, here (right click and select "save target as"):

http://cdn.spacevidcast.com/podcasts/F9F1Conference.mp3

http://www.spacevidcast.com/2010/06/06/spacex-falcon-9-flight-1-post-flight-press-conference/

I was listening to the beginning of the audio post launch teleconference with Elon Musk, one other important thing that Elon Musk mentions is that it will take SpaceX about a month to analyse all of the data of the first flight. Following that analysis, if anything needs to be fixed, it will be done prior to launching the next flight (scheduled for this summer). They would rather delay the next flight, if necessary, in order to make sure that everything that needs fixing is fixed.

[Ben the Space Brit]

Previously, SpaceX have said that COTS D1 would follow about 8 to 12 weeks after the F9 maiden launch.  Is that still realistic?

[ugordan]

Previously, SpaceX have said that COTS D1 would follow about 8 to 12 weeks after the F9 maiden launch.  Is that still realistic?

That schedule was based on the assumption the 1st flight is successful. Beyond that, your guess is as good as ours.

[simonth]

Previously, SpaceX have said that COTS D1 would follow about 8 to 12 weeks after the F9 maiden launch.  Is that still realistic?

That schedule was based on the assumption the 1st flight is successful. Beyond that, your guess is as good as ours.

Actually, the planning as of May 27 was for COTS Demo 1 to fly 6-8 weeks after the maiden flight according to NASA's Lindenmoyer (COTS admin) who was informed by SpaceX about this timeline. Gwenn Shotwell confirmed that timeline (end of July) at the end of May as well.

There is no indication that SpaceX isn't targeting end of July/beginning of August right now.

[Garrett]

Previously, SpaceX have said that COTS D1 would follow about 8 to 12 weeks after the F9 maiden launch.  Is that still realistic?

I think I've seen here on the forum that the SpaceX "multiplier" is something between 2 and 3, so say 2.5. So if SpaceX says 8 to 12 weeks, then we should expect actual launch to occur in 5 to 7 months time, i.e. Christmas.
Of course, the closer one is to an actual launch date, the more irrelevant the notion of a multiplier becomes (or at least I would imagine so).
My bets are on October. I hope I'm wrong and that it occurs sooner.