Author Topic: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread (Read 343058 times)

A_M_Swallow · « **Reply #180 on:** 08/09/2012 05:07 pm »

One of the pre-launch delays was getting the lander flat, within a fraction of an inch. You can do that on Earth but on the Moon if one of the legs sinks into the ground then you have to take off several inches from horizontal.

Mark S · « **Reply #181 on:** 08/09/2012 05:10 pm »

Quote from: Wildthing on 08/09/2012 05:02 pm

I'd have to see the replay but my recollection is that is seemed almost off balance from liftoff....wasn't there some delay due to leveling of the tanks....maybe they didn't get that right...??

That's very true. It veered off almost immediately on takeoff. So perhaps the engine didn't have enough control authority to compensate for the unbalanced tanks.

I guess we'll have to wait for the post-mortem results before we know for sure.

Condolences to the Morpheus team, I hope this is not the end of the program.

One thing's for sure, Morpheus 2.0 had better have more control authority and quicker reflexes.

kkattula · « **Reply #182 on:** 08/09/2012 05:11 pm »

Another possibility is that with 4 tanks connected in pairs, during pressurization, propellant flowed from one tank into its mate, messing up the balance.

If the COG gets outside the engine thrust line at max gimbal, there's no way back.

A_M_Swallow · « **Reply #183 on:** 08/09/2012 05:13 pm »

The previous vehicle Pixel used to take off from blocks, even when tethered. This vehicle never seems to have used blocks so any instability during ignition and initial liftoff will have been handled by the tether.

Mark S · « **Reply #184 on:** 08/09/2012 05:13 pm »

Someone wake up Chris, NSF should have a headline up by now.

savuporo · « **Reply #185 on:** 08/09/2012 05:15 pm »

Bummer. I sure hope they will keep on going.

A_M_Swallow · « **Reply #186 on:** 08/09/2012 05:16 pm »

Quote from: NASAJim on 08/09/2012 05:04 pm

I really hope someone recorded that whole video so it can be posted on YouTube today.

The Morpheus team were recording the launch.

Mark S · « **Reply #187 on:** 08/09/2012 05:19 pm »

Quote from: A_M_Swallow on 08/09/2012 05:16 pm

Quote from: NASAJim on 08/09/2012 05:04 pm
I really hope someone recorded that whole video so it can be posted on YouTube today.

The Morpheus team were recording the launch.

Doesn't mean they'll post it.

Downix · « **Reply #188 on:** 08/09/2012 05:20 pm »

Screenshots of the footage posted here:

http://imgur.com/a/wLQcx

Space Pete · « **Reply #189 on:** 08/09/2012 05:32 pm »

Darn, I really liked Morpheus. Too bad Agent Smith got to it.

But seriously, at least no-one was hurt, and at least it didn't go flying off somewhere it shouldn't.

This was a test flight. If test flights never failed, there would be no need to perform them.

rdale · « **Reply #190 on:** 08/09/2012 05:35 pm »

Video & stills: http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2012/8/9/nasa_morpheus_crash_.html

kenny008 · « **Reply #191 on:** 08/09/2012 05:36 pm »

They may want to look into giving themselves a little more separation to the tank truck in the background. Seems awfully close to the blast zone, especially if it had veered in that direction.

Space Pete · « **Reply #192 on:** 08/09/2012 05:45 pm »

Up on YouTube:

Dappa · « **Reply #193 on:** 08/09/2012 05:58 pm »

I think that the nozzle is pointing in the wrong direction at 0:07, and straight at 0:08. That would indicate good hardware I think?

jongoff · « **Reply #194 on:** 08/09/2012 06:03 pm »

Quote from: Pheogh on 08/09/2012 04:52 pm

Can anyone quantify what was lost here, how much do these things cost, how much of a set back is a failure like this?

I asked some questions on twitter several months back. They said they had 50-60 FTEs working on the project, and I recall them saying separately that they had spent somewhere in the $5-10M on hardware and testing costs. So, depending on what you guess for JSC FTE costs, we're talking somewhere in the $25-35M so far total program cost.

But the cost of building a new copy should be a lot cheaper. Here's to hoping they can work through the post mortem quickly and get back on their feet. Having been through a TLOV and my fair share of fires, hard starts, and other "off-nominalities" I feel for them and hope they can get to the bottom of the problem quickly.

~Jon

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #195 on:** 08/09/2012 06:07 pm »

A bit dramatic. But that's why they test.

randomly · « **Reply #196 on:** 08/09/2012 06:10 pm »

Quote from: Mark S on 08/09/2012 05:02 pm

Yes, they always flew with the tether before, which corrected the vehicle attitude when the software didn't. No tether, so attitude got out of known flight bounds, software goes "lol whut?". Kablooie.

As you can see from this video, the tether was a single line vertically suspending the lander, with the tension off the tether there is no attitude correction at all. The tether only keeps the lander from impacting when the engine is cut at the end of a flight or if the attitude gets out of bounds.
http://morpheuslander.jsc.nasa.gov/

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #197 on:** 08/09/2012 06:12 pm »

Quote from: Mark S on 08/09/2012 05:13 pm

Someone wake up Chris, NSF should have a headline up by now.

Been busy with day job stuff. Feel free to hire me full time...I'll come cheap!

I'll work an article shortly. I promise not to use "KABOOM" in the headline.

randomly · « **Reply #198 on:** 08/09/2012 06:16 pm »

Seems the Nozzle is hard over the wrong way when Morpheus gets above the dust cloud. Reminds me of when I accidentally swapped the aileron control rods in an RC plane.

Jeff Lerner · « **Reply #199 on:** 08/09/2012 06:18 pm »

From NASA Watch :

http://nasawatch.com/archives/2012/08/morpheus-lander-2.html

"...According to NASA PAO: "During today's free-flight test of the Project Morpheus vehicle lifted off the ground and then experienced a hardware component failure, which prevented it from maintaining stable flight. No one was injured and the resulting fire was extinguished by KSC fire personnel. Engineers are looking into the incident and the agency will release information as it comes available."