SpaceX COTS Demo 2/3 Updates (THREAD 2)

[Chris Bergin]

Article:

SpaceX team conduct successful Falcon 9 WDR ahead of Dragon’s ISS debut:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/03/spacex-successful-falcon-9-wdr-dragons-iss-debut/

William Graham's countdown event overview included in the article.

[deltaV]

From the article:

“SpaceX Demo: capability (50 CTBE – Cargo Transfer Bag Equivalent) vs manifest (41 CTBE). Launching empty bags (18 CTBE of the 41) to facilitate maximum disposal capability for SpaceX and Orbital demo flights. Manifest complement is food and crew provisions. PLs and Vehicle launch allocations not utilized.”

In layman’s terms, Dragon is likely to carry around 1,000lbs of various supplies – such as clothes and food – to the crew of the International Space Station.

I'm surprised they're sending lots of empty bags and only 1000 lbs of stuff. Why not fill the empty bags with jugs of water?

[Chris Bergin]

Well it's a demo flight, and one which won't even arrive at the ISS unless they pass all the objectives, so it's probably best they don't fill the vehicle until the CRS flights.

[ChrisC]

Article:  SpaceX team conduct successful Falcon 9 WDR ahead of Dragon’s ISS debut:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/03/spacex-successful-falcon-9-wdr-dragons-iss-debut/
William Graham's countdown event overview included in the article.

Posting here instead of PM because it might be of general interest ...

[A moderator deleted the questions and engaged me via PM.  Oh well. It was about the images in articles, which is sort of addressed here.]

Thanks for this very good article. 

Thanks all for the coverage of the last two days; I was following this thread via Blackberry!

[ugordan]

Hi res image via SFN.com: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=286475088088564&set=a.131474330255308.25052.123621931040548&type=1&ref=nf

(Image removed due to copyright claim - Chris).

[mr. mark]

ugordan, Thanks for the great pic! Most likely my new desktop image.

[corrodedNut]

Man, that is quite a shower cap...

[Robotbeat]

I got a screen-grab of the SpaceX control room from the youtube link ugordon provided... Really neat, you can see the levels of the propellants in the different stages on the screen in the foreground, you can see what looks like a timeline with different events on it on the other screens (and later in that video on the foreground viewscreen) and lots of other stuff.


Anyone know what software package that looks like? In-house or some standard software?

[Jim]

The avionics are operating and so the heat has to go some where.  Liquid cooling is usually the choice

[JayP]

Anyone know what software package that looks like? In-house or some standard software?

Custom software running on Unix or Linux.

[Rocket Science]

Those solar panels give me pause… I hope they did their homework…

[kevin-rf]

Those solar panels give me pause… I hope they did their homework…

I am sure they reviewed the SkyLab 1 Launch

[Antares]

Unlike the previous flight, it appears there isn't an umbilical going directly to the Dragon, only the combo umbilical to the trunk and then to Dragon via the "Dragon Claw". How do they get conditioned air to the pressurized section? I had assumed the "Dragon Claw" was only for power, data and liquid coolant. Can they use active cooling while on the pad?

Usually, capsules don't get conditioned air because it is pressurized.

So, I guess they did it that way last time because Dragon C1 had no active cooling capability? Due to short duration flight? Also, does coolant come from the ground side, or is the system self contained and only needs power to function?

Are there radiators that sprout with the solar panels?  If not, then I'd imagine that there are radiators in the trunk and some sort of ATCS.  Then the trunk would be conditioned with cool air when it's on the pad.  That would be the first guess I'd draw on a napkin.  Unless it is passively thermally habitable.  In which case they have some really good thermal designers.

[Rocket Science]

Those solar panels give me pause… I hope they did their homework…

I am sure they reviewed the SkyLab 1 Launch

You’re a mind reader Kevin… We don’t need that again!
~Robert

[Antares]

Anyone know what software package that looks like? In-house or some standard software?

Custom software running on Unix or Linux.

Since every complicated but commercial or university system I've ever seen runs Labview (or totally in-house if really complicated), I had a sneaking suspicion it was Labview.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1783494/innovation-agents-dr-james-truchard-co-founder-and-ceo-national-instruments
https://decibel.ni.com/content/servlet/JiveServlet/previewBody/11968-102-2-21082/TS3290-MA.pdf (pitch is by SpaceX actually)
http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Job-Openings/SpaceX-LabVIEW-Position-Los-Angeles-CA/td-p/1554474

[Robotbeat]

Anyone know what software package that looks like? In-house or some standard software?

Custom software running on Unix or Linux.

Well, the front-end at least is running Windows 7 (or Vista, though that's pretty doubtful), as you can pretty clearly see here: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=26616.msg868487#msg868487

Antares: I was thinking labview, too... Some of the GUI elements remind me a lot of stuff I've done in Labview.

[Seattle Dave]

Article:

SpaceX team conduct successful Falcon 9 WDR ahead of Dragon’s ISS debut:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/03/spacex-successful-falcon-9-wdr-dragons-iss-debut/

William Graham's countdown event overview included in the article.

Thanks for that article and the catch up on the thread coverage.

234,000 views by the way. These SpaceX threads sure do get the interest levels!

[Jason Sole]

I got a screen-grab of the SpaceX control room from the youtube link ugordon provided... Really neat, you can see the levels of the propellants in the different stages on the screen in the foreground, you can see what looks like a timeline with different events on it on the other screens (and later in that video on the foreground viewscreen) and lots of other stuff.


Anyone know what software package that looks like? In-house or some standard software?

Amazing that most of them look like they are fresh out of school. I'm sure that's all cool and funky, but I'd trust Mike Leinbach over the lot of them.

[Robotbeat]

I got a screen-grab of the SpaceX control room from the youtube link ugordon provided... Really neat, you can see the levels of the propellants in the different stages on the screen in the foreground, you can see what looks like a timeline with different events on it on the other screens (and later in that video on the foreground viewscreen) and lots of other stuff.


Anyone know what software package that looks like? In-house or some standard software?

Amazing that most of them look like they are fresh out of school. I'm sure that's all cool and funky, but I'd trust Mike Leinbach over the lot of them.

We got to the Moon using engineers just as "fresh out of school" as these.

[mr. mark]

I noticed that too about everyone looking so young in the control room. Of course, I recently turned 50 and everyone looks young now.