SpaceX COTS Demo 2 Updates

[ChefPat]

Link looks removed

Here's one that's not.
Dr. Ralph Ewig, a Mission Operations Engineer at SpaceX reports: "Starting a Dragon’s Heart - this morning we booted up the Dragon 2 spacecraft for the first time. It was just a simple power-up to test all the avionics, sensors, and electrical systems..." The rest of his blog post can be found here. The next Dragon flight is scheduled towards the end of this year.

[ChefPat]

This was Dr. Ewigs post in total;

Starting a Dragon’s Heart

this morning we booted up the Dragon 2 spacecraft for the first time. It was just a simple power-up to test all the avionics, sensors, and electrical systems, but with something this complex you always anticipate glitches.

However, everything worked flawlessly, and while to some this may seem like not that big a deal, to the people doing the work this moment of watching it light up the telemetry screens for the first time meant to wake a spacecraft that holds the blood, sweat, and tears of hundreds - and the dreams of thousands more.

By the end of this year it will carry those dreams to space with it, and do its part as another small stepping stone in humanity’s ongoing endeavor to build a bridge to the stars. Here’s hoping this Dragon’s temperament will be as benign in flight as it was at its first awakening

[FinalFrontier]

So What I am hearing is:

C2+3 combined flight, also acting as the final demo flight, will occur in the oct-dec timeframe of this year with approach (and docking or not?) to ISS. The first operational flight is expected to be between jan-march 2012 barring any serious technical issues or failures on flight 3. Any word on if there will be any other Falcon 9 launches between now and then or are they just going to hold off and focus on c2+3 ?

If they can make this timeframe that would be a really really really good thing, IMO because we NEED the operational flights of Dragon as soon as we can possibly get them. STS ends next month. No more cargo transportation down from ISS will occur until Dragon begins flights and the only up mass will be from soyuz+progress or HTV 3, since I haven't heard of another ATV mission planned before 2012.


If we as a nation expect to use this station as a research facility we need to get a fast and reliable supply chain running in place of STS before the next election. And since Dragon is the only vehicle that can provide down mass besides soyuz,  the sooner the better and the more flights the better. Really kind of astounding how much of this is falling to Spacex at this point, although I know Orbital is moving along nicely they have yet to fly their spacecraft or LV......


Keep up the hard work Spacex alot is riding on this.

[FinalFrontier]

This was Dr. Ewigs post in total;

Starting a Dragon’s Heart

this morning we booted up the Dragon 2 spacecraft for the first time. It was just a simple power-up to test all the avionics, sensors, and electrical systems, but with something this complex you always anticipate glitches.

However, everything worked flawlessly, and while to some this may seem like not that big a deal, to the people doing the work this moment of watching it light up the telemetry screens for the first time meant to wake a spacecraft that holds the blood, sweat, and tears of hundreds - and the dreams of thousands more.

By the end of this year it will carry those dreams to space with it, and do its part as another small stepping stone in humanity’s ongoing endeavor to build a bridge to the stars. Here’s hoping this Dragon’s temperament will be as benign in flight as it was at its first awakening

The first one worked fine. Although this mission is going to much longer and more challenging I am quite optimistic that it will go fine. Real concern for me is the LV. F9 has done pretty well so far but its still a new LV.

[Jason1701]

C2+3 combined flight, also acting as the final demo flight, will occur in the oct-dec timeframe of this year with approach (and docking or not?) to ISS. The first operational flight is expected to be between jan-march 2012 barring any serious technical issues or failures on flight 3. Any word on if there will be any other Falcon 9 launches between now and then or are they just going to hold off and focus on c2+3 ?

If NASA managers approve the combined mission (as looks almost certain), that does not mean that Dragon must berth with the ISS. All it means is that IF all of its systems check out, and the space station officials are satisfied that berthing is possible, then it will be attempted. You should view this as the C2 mission with an optional bonus of satisfying the C3 berthing objective.

No F9 launches before C2; they don't have anything else to launch, seeing as the first Orbcomms are riding with C2.

[Comga]

I may be wrong, but in my mind this grapple fixture is a mechanical and electrical-power and data connection. = expensive and fragile = you would want to recover-and-reuse it if the budget is tight.

There are Power and Data Grapple Fixtures and Flight Releaseable Grapple Fixtures.  Does anyone know which type is supposed to be on Dragon?  Neither looks particularly fragile or expensive.  However, the shaft would stick out quite a long way. (10.8")

Amendment 3 of the Space Act Agreement covering COTS provides for the loan of one Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture (FRGF) to SpaceX by NASA.  And interestingly is to be returned to NASA not later than 2 months following completion of demonstration flight 3 (along with a load of other loan items).

OK.  So if NASA loaned SpaceX one FRGF, it was probably for COTS-3.  If they are to have a chance of achieving the COTS-3 goals on this next flight, they will have to install that FRGF on the COTS-2 Dragon.  That sounds like one of the changes on the SpaceX side necessary for combining the missions.

[Nomadd]

 It seems more likely the loan was to facilitate SpaceX's fabrication of their own fixture rather than to actually install the NASA one.

[tigerade]

I remember hearing that we'd get confirmation on a combined mission in June.  However, it's almost July and all is quiet on the NASA front.  I wonder if there is some kind of problem.

[mr. mark]

June 28th and NASA looks like they are not keeping their word on the COTS 2/3 flight announcement update. Two days to go, stay tuned....

[Nate_Trost]

June 28th and NASA looks like they are not keeping their word on the COTS 2/3 flight announcement update. Two days to go, stay tuned....

"Keeping their word?" For crying out loud, where did anybody at NASA make a public promise to you personally to give a COTS 2/3 update by the end of June? All I can remember being reported was the target of making a decision by the end of June.

I understand your impatience and enthusiasm, but don't let it turn into a nasty case of amazing people entitlement.

[Robotbeat]

June 28th and NASA looks like they are not keeping their word on the COTS 2/3 flight announcement update. Two days to go, stay tuned....

"Keeping their word?" For crying out loud, where did anybody at NASA make a public promise to you personally to give a COTS 2/3 update by the end of June? All I can remember being reported was the target of making a decision by the end of June.

I understand your impatience and enthusiasm, but don't let it turn into a nasty case of amazing people entitlement.

Agreed!

[mr. mark]

Ah...Such is government. When I tell my customers something, they hold me to it otherwise I lose. Government on the other hand... If they can't keep a target date, don't make a target date, keep it vague. Say sometime in summer. But, there is still time and just like Spacex time that we joke about NASA has it's own time as well. I'm sure that NASA will mention something when they feel like it. By the way, I'm not a amazing people of Spacex. I am a fan of all spaceflight. No need to get personal.   

[Nate_Trost]

Ah...Such is government. When I tell my customers something, they hold me to it otherwise I lose. Government on the other hand...

So if they can't make a decision by the end of June it's automatically NASA's fault?

Even say if, hypothetically, NASA laid out questions and material they needed from SpaceX months ago and SpaceX didn't get things to NASA in the timeframe that was needed? Or if the decision requires analysis of test data that isn't yet complete or hasn't been done yet?

You have no insight into the process, but are comfortable throwing around terms like "breaking their word" and snarking about "government time", and then take it personally when it is noted that your posting is veering off into amazing people land? If you don't like it, then stop posting with prejudiced assumptions.

Should NASA treat a target date as a goal for accomplishing analysis and decision making or just an arbitrary point to rubber stamp whatever it is SpaceX wants to do? Your posts in this thread make it hard to not project the latter viewpoint onto you.

[ugordan]

What difference does it make whether NASA makes a decision now or in two weeks? SpaceX aren't flying anything any time soon in either case.

[A_M_Swallow]

What difference does it make whether NASA makes a decision now or in two weeks? SpaceX aren't flying anything any time soon in either case.

There is a cut off date after which SpaceX tells NASA what the decision was.

[Jim]

What difference does it make whether NASA makes a decision now or in two weeks? SpaceX aren't flying anything any time soon in either case.

There is a cut off date after which SpaceX tells NASA what the decision was.

No, there isn't.  Spacex is not going to the ISS if NASA doesn't say so.

[cuddihy]

I took this as, if SpaceX does not provide sufficient information providing confidence by a certain date, the de facto decision will be "no go", courtesy SpaceX being unable to meet the threshold!

[Silmfeanor]

I took this as, if SpaceX does not provide sufficient information providing confidence by a certain date, the de facto decision will be "no go", courtesy SpaceX being unable to meet the threshold!

Do you have a source for this?
To me this sounds just as unlikely as saying that NASA is at fault for not giving a decision within the next 2 days "because some spokeperson vaguely said something about a number of weeks/ months".

Don't go throwing blame, either way; certainly not without a source!

[cuddihy]

I'm not throwing blame, just trying to make AM_Swallow make sense. The call is NASA's to make but clearly they will make the decision on one basis only, and that is safety of ISS. If the decision is for sure two separate missions, I would expect an additional delay even for a COTS-2 demo because that means Space-X was unable even now to satisfy the advanced go/no go at this stage-- which makes it very unlikely they woyld be allowed to approach much less dock w/iSS.

[Antares]

Why would they need to make the decision this far in advance of the launch?