SpaceX COTS Demo 2/3 Updates (THREAD 2)

[Lee Jay]

That is the reason for no hard helmets. 

Really bad excuse.

True story.

We were lifting a 38,000 pound object 120 feet in the air.  Very expensive, very one-of-a-kind.  Complex lift, two cranes with rotation.  Fully engineered lift, large safety factors.  We did not drop the object, and the lift was a full success.

However, during the lift a half-inch bolt about 3 inches long fell about 100 feet and landed about five feet from me.  Not sure where it came from, but it could have been from the crane, the object or even from the target of the lift (where the object was going to land).  Regardless, that half-inch bolt could easily have killed me had it hit me on top of the head and if I hadn't been wearing a hard hat, which I was.

You never know.  A warning sign could shake loose from the crane trolley while it's in motion and fall 400 feet.  A wrench could have been left on the bridge during maintenance.  You don't have to drop the full load to endanger people during a crane lift.  Where I work, you can't walk under a load and you can't be anywhere near a crane lift of any sort without hard hat, safety shoes and safety glasses.  That's industry wide - globally.  I wear fall protection even in a scissors lift where it's not technically required, but where you could still easily fall to your death.

If someone were to get hurt, OSHA would come down on the organization even if they weren't violating any OSHA rules.  It's a performance-based standard.  If someone drops a wrench and cracks someone's skull that wasn't wearing a hard hat, I'd bet on a 6-figure fine.

[Jim]

That is the reason for no hard helmets. 

Really bad excuse.

No, it has OSHA approval.  Cheaper to pay the medical costs than the hardware costs.

I agree on the fall protection

[Lee Jay]

That is the reason for no hard helmets. 

Really bad excuse.

No, it has OSHA approval.  Cheaper to pay the medical costs than the hardware costs.

For hard hats, safety glasses and steel-toed boots?  My hard hat and safety glasses together cost $11, and my boots cost less than a quarter the cost of my fall-protection harness.

No kidding - one person gets hurt, likely 6-figure fine, regardless of prior approval (OSHA doesn't approve stuff specifically, as far as I know).  It's a performance-based system.  If someone gets hurt, you obviously didn't do enough to protect them, and if they get hurt where a simple commonly-used piece of PPE would have protected them, you're really in trouble.

[KSC Sage]

No, the trunk was not on that truck. It is just as large of an object as the capsule, so it would have been visible if it was.

The Trunk will arrive this week.

The Dragon/Trunk will be integrated on the Falcon 9 by Thanksgiving.

[Chris Bergin]

The above post was a rare update on this update thread.

Stop the rambling and keep this thread useful. I've got stories to write, not deal with mod reports because someone likes the sound of their own voice a little bit too much

[JayP]

new photo of Dragon from SpaceX's facebook post

[kevin-rf]

Like the pink, so how much do they donate to Breast Cancer Awareness for each dragon launch?

[Halidon]

EDIT never mind, looked in higher rez and it doesn't look like anyone's spraying.

[Silmfeanor]

new photo of Dragon from SpaceX's facebook post

Thanks. First time we see the grapple fixture attached?

I hope that hatch opens correctly, and stays fixed in that position- otherwise it'd be a failure, I guess.

[Jason1701]

I hope that hatch opens correctly, and stays fixed in that position- otherwise it'd be a failure, I guess.

A fixture on the back of the hatch engages one on the Dragon below the door, to ensure that it stays open through the mission. The hatch certainly needs to close at the end.

[Silmfeanor]

I hope that hatch opens correctly, and stays fixed in that position- otherwise it'd be a failure, I guess.

A fixture on the back of the hatch engages one on the Dragon below the door, to ensure that it stays open through the mission. The hatch certainly needs to close at the end.

ah, I wasn't even thinking about reentry. Good point; thanks for the information.

[Comga]

Like the pink, so how much do they donate to Breast Cancer Awareness for each Dragon launch?

That looks like the Pink Poly material that is specifically banned around here as an ESD hazard.

edit: That view of the hatch seems to show a window, or at least it has been stripped down to show a plug in the frame for a window.

[Robotbeat]

Like the pink, so how much do they donate to Breast Cancer Awareness for each Dragon launch?

That looks like the Pink Poly material that is specifically banned around here as an ESD hazard.
...

Umm, they make it in ESD-safe versions, too, you know! (use pink poly anti-static bags at my business)

[jimvela]

Umm, they make it in ESD-safe versions, too, you know! (use pink poly anti-static bags at my business)

And still, as far as I know, it is still universally banned in the aerospace world. 

The problem isn't that there aren't some variants that may be ESD "Safe" (depending on the ESD policy in effect), the problem is that there isn't a visual way to distinguish whether the subject material is or is not the ESD "Safe" Variety.

I know policy at work is that we will not use it, and immediately transfer any ESD-sensitive items that are vendor-packaged with that stuff into packaging that is compliant with our ESD policies.

[peter-b]

I know policy at work is that we will not use it, and immediately transfer any ESD-sensitive items that are vendor-packaged with that stuff into packaging that is compliant with our ESD policies.

When I was working in the electronics industry (in the UK), the ESD policy at both the places I worked directly with hardware was that pink packing materials were ESD-safe and undyed ones were not. There's no reason why SpaceX couldn't have a similar policy, is there?

[beancounter]

That grappling arrangement seems a bit complicated but guess they considered their options.  Seems like it has the following possible failure points:
- hatch fails to open;
- hatch fails to close;
- hatch fails to lock in place;
- hatch fails to unlock after use;
- hatch sticks during opening;
- hatch sticks during closing;

I'd be looking for max of 2 at the most.  If you had an embedded grapple fixture then all you'd need is a cover that opens and closes.  Not a rocket scientist but was a mechanic in a past life.

[Robotbeat]

Not all of those are totally unrecoverable. Not necessarily full failures.

[Comga]

Not all of those are totally unrecoverable. Not necessarily full failures.

That's "damning with faint praise" like "some people survive this disease".
It is an atypical solution for SpaceX, which has favored simplicity.

[wolfpack]

Loving all this talk about ESD!

As an analog IC designer, I guess I'm your enemy. We love to strip those protection diodes out of our designs to go faster. There ain't much in the way of ESD on the serial inputs for a PCI express gen2 receiver or USB 3.0!

Of course, I'm in your smartphone and tablet computer, not the Dragon!

Any idea when we'll see a launch date set for COTS2/3? This is by far the biggest "next milestone" for American spaceflight, IMO.

[Ben the Space Brit]

Any idea when we'll see a launch date set for COTS2/3? This is by far the biggest "next milestone" for American spaceflight, IMO.

That depends a lot on when the next Expedition is launched to the ISS as they are the crew trained to operate and berth a Dragon.  At the moment Dec 2011/Jan 2012 appears to be the working time-frame for Dragon-C2/3.