SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon COTS Demo (C2+) GENERAL DISCUSSION

[Lars_J]

SpaceX, please add a ReEntryCam!   

Or show us the video of the one you already have onboard!

What video? There were no windows, and the GNC door was closed - and no external camera on the capsule as far as I know.

[Confusador]

Latest main page article lists splashdown at 8:42am Central.  Shouldn't that be Pacific?

Houston uses central time.

But it was 10:42 in Houston when Dragon hit the water.

[kch]

Latest main page article lists splashdown at 8:42am Central.  Shouldn't that be Pacific?

Houston uses central time.

It does indeed, but the splashdown time *was* 8:42 am Pacific (10:42 Central, 11:42 Eastern).

[QuantumG]

What video? There were no windows, and the GNC door was closed - and no external camera on the capsule as far as I know.

If they had one I mean.

[blazotron]

But boy, the whole surface of the thing seems to be charred. I thought the heat shield at the bottom takes nearly all the punishment, but even the upper parts of the capsule seem quite singed. If that GNC door were to have stayed open, I'm thinking the capsule wouldn't have made it.

My understanding: as the outer surface of ablative heatshield burns away, some of the charred material is collected by the airstream and deposited on the sidewalls.

Yes, and I also get the impression that the side wall exterior material ablates some as well. If the capsule was reused, they whole exterior layer would likely have to be re-applied anyway.

As for the GNC door not closing leading to LOM - I'm not so sure. Note that this door (and the front hatch) are on the side that receives the least amount of heating - and would be mostly protected from the worst effects by the angle of the reentry. (see image below)

Discolored sidewall insulation does not imply unserviceable insulation.  Obviously the parachute riser track tear-away covers have to be replaced if there is to be reuse, but there is no obvious evidence of any ablation damage in either the C1 or C2+ photos we have seen so far, nor the C1 capsule I managed to see in person.  It just looks stained, or as if primary heat shield material was deposited on top of the sidewall material.  It will be very interesting to see if the common berthing mechanism is still useable, though.  Even if it is just covered in deposits (as opposed to being thermally eroded), it may require uneconomically large amounts of refurbishment time to reuse it.

[sanman]

What kind of testing does a used Dragon have to undergo as part of reconditioning and requalifying it for another flight? What particular things do they have to pay attention to? How long would the whole process take?

[Silmfeanor]

What kind of testing does a used Dragon have to undergo as part of reconditioning and requalifying it for another flight? What particular things do they have to pay attention to? How long would the whole process take?

Since SpaceX has never done this before, it is full of unknowns, and thus can't be answered with any precision.
They might choose to remove the whole outer shell, heatshield, GNC compartment and docking ring, perhaps everything except the pressure vessel. They might keep the RCS. They might perhaps reuse just parts, ie single RCS thrusters. They might reuse a whole lot and just give a scrubbing and drain the seawater out of the compartments, add a new layer of paint.
Too many unknowns.

[zerm]

My take on all of this...

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=86720054-1c40-4dba-b219-a69f1191f2e7

[IRobot]

I think this one will be fully disassembled to check for problems and then reassembled for display. I doubt they will start reusing them before flight 6 or 8.

[plank]

I think this one will be fully disassembled to check for problems and then reassembled for display. I doubt they will start reusing them before flight 6 or 8.

Once they have elsewhere to go you me.  NASA won't allow a used dragon to go to the ISS again.,

[corrodedNut]

What kind of testing does a used Dragon have to undergo as part of reconditioning and requalifying it for another flight? What particular things do they have to pay attention to? How long would the whole process take?

At the very least, I think SpaceX plans to reuse the grapple fixture on future CRS flights. It's made by MDA, and isn't cheap (not by SpaceX standards, anyway) Why bother with the complexities/risk of the GNC door if you're not going to reuse it?

[Jim]

I think this one will be fully disassembled to check for problems and then reassembled for display. I doubt they will start reusing them before flight 6 or 8.

Once they have elsewhere to go you me.  NASA won't allow a used dragon to go to the ISS again.,

No, once again, this is wrong.  NASA never said anything about used Dragons going to ISS.  NASA said to price the CRS contract assuming new Dragons for each mission because the feasibility and cost are unknown.

[sdsds]

What kind of testing does a used Dragon have to undergo as part of reconditioning and requalifying it for another flight? What particular things do they have to pay attention to? How long would the whole process take?

At the very least, I think SpaceX plans to reuse the grapple fixture on future CRS flights. It's made by MDA, and isn't cheap (not by SpaceX standards, anyway) Why bother with the complexities/risk of the GNC door if you're not going to reuse it?

It seems like a lot hinges on whether it would even be possible to recondition and requalify the CBM after it was exposed to splashdown salt spray, not to mention conditions during re-entry?

[Robotbeat]

What kind of testing does a used Dragon have to undergo as part of reconditioning and requalifying it for another flight? What particular things do they have to pay attention to? How long would the whole process take?

At the very least, I think SpaceX plans to reuse the grapple fixture on future CRS flights. It's made by MDA, and isn't cheap (not by SpaceX standards, anyway) Why bother with the complexities/risk of the GNC door if you're not going to reuse it?

It seems like a lot hinges on whether it would even be possible to recondition and requalify the CBM after it was exposed to splashdown salt spray, not to mention conditions during re-entry?

Make it out of a marine alloy.

[PahTo]

It seems like a lot hinges on whether it would even be possible to recondition and requalify the CBM after it was exposed to splashdown salt spray, not to mention conditions during re-entry?

I wondered the same thing yesterday as I saw images of Dragon in the Pacific--even though on the "cool side", I bet the CBM  gets pretty darn warm during entry.  Are there temperature sensors on the external hatch and/or CBM?  Love to see some high res images of that area...

[sdsds]

whether it would even be possible to recondition and requalify the CBM

I bet the CBM  gets pretty darn warm during entry.  Are there temperature sensors on the external hatch and/or CBM?  Love to see some high res images of that area...

Really high res. Or ... aren't there ways to microscopically look into a metal object to determine if the particles have annealed, etc? And as for potential sources of damage, I hope the dive team members aren't wearing any sharp, hard gear. (But wouldn't you love to be that guy?!)

(Photo credit NASA/US Navy, made available on SpaceX facebook page.)

[Joffan]

Wow sdsds, now that gives a really good comparison - in my mind - to the Apollo capsule, showing just how much bigger the Dragon is.

For example http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/140808/enlarge

[Joffan]

Looking round the SpaceX threads, I couldn't see whether anyone had talked about the unberth NOT requiring the station arm, and how that could be implemented.

The departure of the Dragon from the ISS was very smooth and I would imagine that the capsule could easily have backed away from the port without the aid of the arm. Will NASA/SpaceX be trying departure without arm assistance on any future visits?

(I do recall a statement that a new docking facility is intended/under development to allow both direct dock and direct undock for Dragon, but really I'm thinking about the present berthing position and facilities.)

[manboy]

What kind of testing does a used Dragon have to undergo as part of reconditioning and requalifying it for another flight? What particular things do they have to pay attention to? How long would the whole process take?

At the very least, I think SpaceX plans to reuse the grapple fixture on future CRS flights. It's made by MDA, and isn't cheap (not by SpaceX standards, anyway) Why bother with the complexities/risk of the GNC door if you're not going to reuse it?

Isn't the CBM made by Boeing?

I think this one will be fully disassembled to check for problems and then reassembled for display. I doubt they will start reusing them before flight 6 or 8.

Once they have elsewhere to go you me.  NASA won't allow a used dragon to go to the ISS again.,

No, once again, this is wrong.  NASA never said anything about used Dragons going to ISS.  NASA said to price the CRS contract assuming new Dragons for each mission because the feasibility and cost are unknown.

So do you think SpaceX will eventual be able to renegotiate their CRS contract to be able to reuse the Dragon capsules?

[Jorge]

Looking round the SpaceX threads, I couldn't see whether anyone had talked about the unberth NOT requiring the station arm, and how that could be implemented.

The departure of the Dragon from the ISS was very smooth and I would imagine that the capsule could easily have backed away from the port without the aid of the arm. Will NASA/SpaceX be trying departure without arm assistance on any future visits?

No, CBM wasn't designed for it. Unbolting mechanism assumes the module with the PCBM (Dragon in this case) is secured by the arm.