SpaceX COTS Demo 2/3 Updates (THREAD 2)

[Ben the Space Brit]

A gutsy decision; if Dragon C2/3 blows up in their face so will the live streaming decision.  That they're taking this risk implies a high degree of confidence in their hardware.

I don't see how this would be any different from C1. They streamed large parts of that live as well. C1 could have blown up in their face just as well.

There is a big difference.  If I understand Mr. Musk's tweet correctly, there is going to be live broadcast of the downlink from C2/3 throughout the entire mission duration.  That wasn't the case with C1.  For SpaceX, who seem to be wary of too much live coverage, this is a quite unprecedented level of access to a major mission.

It is understandable, though.  After all, they have to prove to everyone that they are capable of matching their publicity with flying hardware.  Sometimes building confidence requires grand gestures.

[ChefPat]

Have we determined conclusively that C-2/3 does not have a window? If it doesn't will it have an external camera on the Dragon or the Trunk?
If it has neither it's going to be a pretty boring webcast.

[Jim]

Have we determined conclusively that C-2/3 does not have a window? If it doesn't will it have an external camera on the Dragon or the Trunk?
If it has neither it's going to be a pretty boring webcast.

Not really feasible to have continuous video

[Ben the Space Brit]

Have we determined conclusively that C-2/3 does not have a window? If it doesn't will it have an external camera on the Dragon or the Trunk?
If it has neither it's going to be a pretty boring webcast.

Oh, I don't know.  I've no doubt that SpaceX will be able to broadcast the ISS's videos of rendezvous and berthing.  That said, an external camera on the trunk or capsule would probably be wise from a mission standpoint.  I can think of several points where visual check capabilities would be desirable to verify events (i.e. solar array deploy and trunk jet).

[krytek]

Came across this tweet by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) that you wouldn't see if you were simply following him because the tweet was a reply to somebody else:

Feb 4th
@MacDeviant Yeah, we will stream the whole mission realtime with no buffer. You see what we see.

Link to the original tweet: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/165898145841168385

So I think that answers some of the questions that were asked about SpaceX's plans for live streaming. (unless this has already been previously clarified?)

Edit: added date of tweet

Good news, perhaps they make some sort of live show for this event. The guy behind spacevidcast.com works for SpaceX since this autumn.

Benjamin is a cool guy, glad to hear SpaceX hired him.
Now I know the reason for the long hiatus over there 

end of OT.

[ugordan]

Appears the problem is with the Merlin:

Technicians will also conduct precautionary inspections looking for delamination in the Falcon 9 rocket's kerosene-fueled Merlin engines,

So what's all this about? You don't do "precautionary inspections" unless you suspect something. Also, why now? The 1st stage has been sitting there for 9 months and the last WDR was months ago.

[iamlucky13]

From the SFN article:

"...workers will apply high-emissivity paint to meet thermal constraints on the Dragon's propellant tanks."

Did we decide what color "high-emissivity paint" is? Black? Which would make sense since the service-section area is already painted white. Can we deduce that SpaceX is concerned the propellent would get too cold, or perhaps even freeze?

High-emissivity in this case refers to (thermal) infrared, not visible. As we mentioned earlier, something can well be white in the visible and "black" in thermal infrared.

Agreed. If they're trying to keep temperatures down in the propellant, you want something that reflects as much incoming radiation as possible (the bulk of which comes from a black body source at approximately 5200 Kelvin), which would appear white in visible light. However, you want something that radiates as much as possible at the desired temperature of the spacecraft (no doubt around 300 Kelvin), which is in the thermal infrared band.

[iamlucky13]

A gutsy decision; if Dragon C2/3 blows up in their face so will the live streaming decision.  That they're taking this risk implies a high degree of confidence in their hardware.

Not really. If the mission fails, there's no way of hiding it. I guess there is the political angle, that the more visually impressive a failure is, the more useful the footage is to any of SpaceX's competitors and more realistically, competitors' supporters in Congress. However, at this point they have decent confidence Falcon 9 will work, and if Dragon doesn't work, there won't be any cameras capable of showing much beyond perhaps earth spinning around an out-of-control capsule.

So what's all this about? You don't do "precautionary inspections" unless you suspect something. Also, why now? The 1st stage has been sitting there for 9 months and the last WDR was months ago.

It could have been a manufacturing defect in other Merlins that they need to determine if extends to those sitting in Florida. It is possible, for example, that a defect survives qualification testing at MacGregor but could become a problem in flight.


Bummer about the latest delays. Back in November, when Musk was saying January, I put my marker on March. Oh well.

[Antares]

That they're taking this risk implies a high degree of confidence in their hardware.

Thin line between confidence and hubris.  Also, given that MCC-X will be constantly staffed for this mission, I'm sure someone there will have a cut button at the ready, similar to the Sea Launch failure webcast.

[robertross]

Okay, that's enough on future thoughts please...this is the COTS 2/3 update thread

[rdale]

Elon:

Docking with Space Station now likely to happen in April. Hopefully will look something like this: pic.twitter.com/A2gd9ziC

https://twitter.com/#!/elonmusk/status/165622701631868928/photo/1

[mr. mark]

"Bummer about the latest delays. Back in November, when Musk was saying January, I put my marker on March. Oh well".

We are talking about a company of just 1,500 people. Hype aside, that they have come this far and are just a few months away from possibly birthing with the ISS is completely incredible. Instead of slacking this company because of delays, they should be celebrated for achieving what they have so far. I think everyone here is hoping for the best....

[Chris Bergin]

Get it back on topic. Some of you are being rather silly.

And the next comment was utterly pointless, so thread trimmed.

[Lars_J]

A new tweet from SpaceX with a new Dragon picture:

https://twitter.com/#!/SpaceX/status/167356882053378049/photo/1

Photo Update: Dragon complete with trunk at the SpaceX hangar, preparations continue for the historic mission ahead. http://pic.twitter.com/1JdcCTK4

[Prober]

Looks like the trunk is getting a little chubby. 

Sure they will rework the whole trunk in the future as part of the learning curve.

[Comga]

A new tweet from SpaceX with a new Dragon picture:

https://twitter.com/#!/SpaceX/status/167356882053378049/photo/1

Photo Update: Dragon complete with trunk at the SpaceX hangar, preparations continue for the historic mission ahead. http://pic.twitter.com/1JdcCTK4

Is anyone else surprise that the other solar panel fairing is not visible in the photo?   One does get a good perspective on just how wide these are.

[ugordan]

I actually think it *is* visible, just very nearly out of sight.

[ChefPat]

Looks like the trunk is getting a little chubby. 

It looks like it's getting a big chubby to me.

[kevin-rf]

I was so not expecting that shape for the pods, but then how else do you attach rectangular solar panel to the trunk.

[Space Pete]

I think it looks sexy....but then I say that about every single spacecraft I see.