LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 (Flight 2) - COTS-1 - Launch Updates - December 8, 2010

[Peter NASA]

They lost one Draco. No big deal, and also not surprising they told the media all worked.

[SpacexULA]

They lost one Draco. No big deal, and also not surprising they told the media all worked.

I thought the firing of that Draco was just off nominal, not a total loss.

[Lars_J]

They lost one Draco. No big deal, and also not surprising they told the media all worked.

I don't doubt you, but I'd like to know what the source for this story is?

And this is another benefit of recovering the spacecraft. Now they can examine the Draco's (and other equipment) and see what went wrong (or how right).

[Hanol]

And they didn't even use the aircraft carrier. 

[docmordrid]

Did a bit of cropping & a gamma correction, and it shows that same dark discoloration extending well into the PICA-X TPS.  Looks like it could well be ablation products that deposited on the downstream structures. Image not attached, the forum is ghosting the file dialog from my phone.

Done....

[sanman]

Yeah, couldn't help but notice that discoloration on the recovered capsule. They all seem to look that way after re-entry heat. If it's due to ablation products smearing the lower portion of the walls, then is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is it good in the sense that you're accumulating some extra Pica-X on the lower walls which are exposed to the flowstream? Or is it bad in the sense that it means that hot ablated stuff is coming back to your capsule instead of sending its head elsewhere? What if some serious-sized chunks came off? Would they pose a danger to the capsule walls by hitting them?

If this does turn out to be a problem, how could it be rectified?

[Lars_J]

It is not a necessarily a problem - this is an ablative heat shield after all. The outer materials in the side walls are there to absorb the remaining heat after the heat shield has taken the brunt, and discoloration is a pretty mild side-effect compared to more extensive damage they are trying to protect against. The back side of the capsule took the brunt of the heat scarring as designed.

Of course given the mountains of data that this flight will provide, they may be able to tweak the outer material to handle the heat better.

It is not necessarily a problem for reusing the capsule either. Strip off the top layer, apply a new layer in its place (plus heat shield replacement if needed), and it can be reused. If the structure and other components are in a flyable shape, of course.

EDIT: BTW, here are some Soyuz capsuled after landing for comparison:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-9/hires/jsc2004e47547.jpg
http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/images/apogee_0912_capsule.jpg

[MarsInMyLifetime]

Also, the video of capsule separation clearly shows an asymmetric pattern to the PICA-X tiles, indicating an off-center CG. Off-axis CG creates a slight amount of lift for controlled reentry. The discoloration could be due to radiative heating on the side of the capsule that leans closer to the plasma flow. I agree, with little sandblasting and repainting, it should be good to go around again.

[LegendCJS]

EDIT: BTW, here are some Soyuz capsuled after landing for comparison:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-9/hires/jsc2004e47547.jpg
http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/images/apogee_0912_capsule.jpg

I know its off topic, but I have to know:  What is the pole sticking out of the Soyuz in those pictures?

[mr. mark]

"Draco thrusters, each capable of producing about 90 pounds of thrust, began the six minute deorbit burn at T+2:32. For this particular mission, we could have lost two entire quads and still returned to Earth with only 8 or 10 engines working, but all thrusters performed NOMINALLY during the COTS Demo1 flight".

If this was not the case, Don't you think Spacex would report it as such. Someone at NASA or elsewhere reviewing the data would see right through a false report which could be an embarrasment.

[ugordan]

Someone at NASA or elsewhere reviewing the data would see right through a false report which could be an embarrasment.

Or, maybe NASA knew about it (seeing how Lindenmoyer was sitting with Shotwell in LCC the whole time and all) and let them have their little "white" lie, if it indeed was the case a Draco failed.

I'm not even sure they're really obligated to inform anyone except NASA about this kind of thing. Could be wrong, though.

[kevin-rf]

Or, maybe NASA knew about it (seeing how Lindenmoyer was sitting with Shotwell in LCC the whole time and all) and let them have their little "white" lie, if it indeed was the case a Draco failed.

That or take a play out of the Clinton play book and define what the meaning of the word "Failed" is

Something could have been off nominal and some would see it as failed, some as off nominal, and some as a little insignificant fireball that had no impact on the mission.

[docmordrid]

Or the "failure" was just off the ideal performance, but still within tolerances.

[kch]

Or the "failure" was just off the ideal performance, but still within tolerances.

That's the impression I got from what Chris said:

Looking very good so far. Sources note one of the Dracos has failed - within tolerance. Internally they are seeing video at SpaceX, shame they aren't streaming it.

[JayP]

EDIT: BTW, here are some Soyuz capsuled after landing for comparison:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-9/hires/jsc2004e47547.jpg
http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/images/apogee_0912_capsule.jpg

I know its off topic, but I have to know:  What is the pole sticking out of the Soyuz in those pictures?

Recovery beacon antena

[mr. mark]

Update on COTS 1 nano sat.

"This was an exciting mission for us, and we are proud to be SpaceX's first nongovernment customer," said Danny Hillis, co-founder of Applied Minds. "We hope to launch many more satellites with them in the future."

http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=221694

[Robotbeat]

That's the best thing for SpaceX. Happy customers.

[Silmfeanor]

small update:

@jeff_foust Jeff Foust
On display at the SpaceX #smallsat booth: the most famous wheel of cheese in the space community: yfrog.com/h7npzhej

http://yfrog.com/z/h7npzhej

They havent eaten it yet!

[kevin-rf]

small update:

@jeff_foust Jeff Foust
On display at the SpaceX #smallsat booth: the most famous wheel of cheese in the space community: yfrog.com/h7npzhej

http://yfrog.com/z/h7npzhej

They havent eaten it yet!

Maybe he's saving it for his martian retirement party

[ChefPat]

small update:

@jeff_foust Jeff Foust
On display at the SpaceX #smallsat booth: the most famous wheel of cheese in the space community: yfrog.com/h7npzhej

http://yfrog.com/z/h7npzhej

They havent eaten it yet!

Maybe he's saving it for his martian retirement party

The oldest available cheese is a 20 or so y/o cheddar (it's so sharp it'll make your teeth itch )
If he wants the one that flew on Dragon 1 he'd best get a move on or it'll be bad by the time he gets there.