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

[rcoppola]

Amazing how beautiful and clean Dragon appears. It looks as good as if it was still on the hangar floor.

[Silmfeanor]

Amazing how beautiful and clean Dragon appears. It looks as good as if it was still on the hangar floor.

I agree in general - but not completely.
check out the ISS feed on nasatv -
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/iss_ustream.html
and you'll see some yellowish deposits near the draco thrusters - on the clamp, and also towards various panel lines. Not a biggie, but it shows the thrusters have been working!

and I need to learn how to screencap so I can just show it instead of talking about it.

[robertross]

and I need to learn how to screencap so I can just show it instead of talking about it.

My method from a regular feed:
1. Open paint program
2. go full screen on the feed
3. hit Print Screen
4. go to paint & CRTL V to paste the image in paint
5. 'Save As' in the folder of your choice (I categorize mine) and select a JPG.

If you do a ton of these, it sometimes helps to number in reverse order to keep the newest once at the top of the window in case you lose track

edit to add: it doesn't work that great if you have dual monitor capability. You have to (as I learned): to crop the image. (for paint, select the image to keep and hit crop, then save)

[reubenb]

and I need to learn how to screencap so I can just show it instead of talking about it.

My method from a regular feed:
1. Open paint program
2. go full screen on the feed
3. hit Print Screen
4. go to paint & CRTL V to paste the image in paint
5. 'Save As' in the folder of your choice (I categorize mine) and select a JPG.

If you do a ton of these, it sometimes helps to number in reverse order to keep the newest once at the top of the window in case you lose track

Another tip: Alt-Print Screen will just grab the current window instead of the entire screen.  That tends to work better.

[robertross]

Another tip: Alt-Print Screen will just grab the current window instead of the entire screen.  That tends to work better.

Learn something new every day. thanks!

[corrodedNut]

Amazing how beautiful and clean Dragon appears. It looks as good as if it was still on the hangar floor.

I agree in general - but not completely.
check out the ISS feed on nasatv -
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/iss_ustream.html
and you'll see some yellowish deposits near the draco thrusters - on the clamp, and also towards various panel lines. Not a biggie, but it shows the thrusters have been working!

and I need to learn how to screencap so I can just show it instead of talking about it.

I was expecting to see more residue on the Dragon end of "Dragon claw". All in all, it's a good looking spacecraft.

[Silmfeanor]

Thanks for the heap of replies.
I'll check around with it a bit - problem is that I have 2 screens on this PC, so fullscreen would require quite a bit of cropping every time.
Of course, I could add my laptop for 3 screens - with the laptop used for capping and uploading images. hmm, not a bad idea.
Now, back to the general discussion.

Do we have any good pictures of the hatch of the dragon? the outside, mylar covered side in particular? I hope some of the guys up there take a few good photographs of it - it looked interesting.

[plank]

So was there something Wrong with the LIDAR?

[sanman]

Not to jinx anything, but what happens if something major fails on Dragon while it's berthed/docked to station, so that it can't undock? What do they do in that scenario?

[Ben the Space Brit]

Not to jinx anything, but what happens if something major fails on Dragon while it's berthed/docked to station, so that it can't undock? What do they do in that scenario?

Well, there's actually nothing that could happen that would do that.  The worst case scenario is that they can't re-activate the thrusters (they've been safed) for some reason.  Then, it would slowly drift away from the release point due to orbital mechanics.  It would be a moderate collision danger for approaching spacecraft so they'd have to do something eventually.

[sanman]

Not to jinx anything, but what happens if something major fails on Dragon while it's berthed/docked to station, so that it can't undock? What do they do in that scenario?

Well, there's actually nothing that could happen that would do that.  The worst case scenario is that they can't re-activate the thrusters (they've been safed) for some reason.  Then, it would slowly drift away from the release point due to orbital mechanics.  It would be a moderate collision danger for approaching spacecraft so they'd have to do something eventually.

Well, what about those power-screws, that are supposed to self-tighten to firmly attach the Dragon to ISS? Even if they're on the ISS side, what if they fail and Dragon can't undock? Do they have to do an EVA at that point?

[sojourner]

That mold line we can see going from the cbm area down the sidewall of dragon to the draco level. Is that for the parachute lines?

[Silmfeanor]

That mold line we can see going from the cbm area down the sidewall of dragon to the draco level. Is that for the parachute lines?

yes

[corrodedNut]

That mold line we can see going from the cbm area down the sidewall of dragon to the draco level. Is that for the parachute lines?

yes

Specifically, the drogue risers.

[Ben the Space Brit]

Not to jinx anything, but what happens if something major fails on Dragon while it's berthed/docked to station, so that it can't undock? What do they do in that scenario?

(snip)

Well, what about those power-screws, that are supposed to self-tighten to firmly attach the Dragon to ISS? Even if they're on the ISS side, what if they fail and Dragon can't undock? Do they have to do an EVA at that point?

That's an ISS issue, not a Dragon issue so it isn't something that SpaceX can really do anything about.  I'm sure that there's a fix, probably an astronaut in the Harmony Nadir Port Bay with a battery-operated power-driver, unscrewing the bolts one-by one.

[erioladastra]

Not to jinx anything, but what happens if something major fails on Dragon while it's berthed/docked to station, so that it can't undock? What do they do in that scenario?

Well, there's actually nothing that could happen that would do that.  The worst case scenario is that they can't re-activate the thrusters (they've been safed) for some reason.  Then, it would slowly drift away from the release point due to orbital mechanics.  It would be a moderate collision danger for approaching spacecraft so they'd have to do something eventually.

Well, what about those power-screws, that are supposed to self-tighten to firmly attach the Dragon to ISS? Even if they're on the ISS side, what if they fail and Dragon can't undock? Do they have to do an EVA at that point?

SpaceX is required to have multiple redudancy, as does ISS, on all aspects that would prevent that.  Flight rules detail when, for example, when the first item fails when you have to undock before the final leg fails.  This applies to batteries, power, computers, berthing components...  If the bolts fail they can be replaced internally (nothing would be available via eva).  Worse case is you get a dead Dragon off and "fling" it with the SSRMS.  So unlikely it is not practiced or seriously worked.

[sanman]

What's the mission life of ISS supposed to be? If the COTS/CRS/CCDEV programs are successful, could they conceivably extend the lifespan of the ISS?

[FinalFrontier]

In my opinon, given the progress we have been shown here, and given that of all commercial providers Spacex has been the first to reach ISS with its own vehicle, it would be a travesty for Spacex not to be selected as the CRS provider in the event we are forced to down-select to one provider.

SpaceX is already a CRS provider.    I think you are talking about Commercial Crew.  I am still hoping that there won't be a downselect.  If that happens, we'll take that issue when it comes around.

Yikes how did I mess up these acronyms so badly. Yes CCDev is what I was talking about.


And yes, here's to hoping there won't be a downselect, that would be pure politics if there was, no other reason to try and focus costs on one company rather then spreading program costs across two or three (namely spacex boeing and either osc or snc)

[edkyle99]

I am going to say this (and probably take flak for it).

In my opinon, given the progress we have been shown here, and given that of all commercial providers Spacex has been the first to reach ISS with its own vehicle, it would be a travesty for Spacex not to be selected as the CRS provider in the event we are forced to down-select to one provider.

Its my sincere hope however that we are not forced to down-select to one provider. As that in and of itself would be bad and quite unfair. Heres to hoping.

I wouldn't say "travesty".  I would only say that SpaceX clearly have a leg up on the competition.  Everyone else is talking about building and flying a spacecraft.  They're going to have to work harder now.

 - Ed Kyle

[FinalFrontier]

I am going to say this (and probably take flak for it).

In my opinon, given the progress we have been shown here, and given that of all commercial providers Spacex has been the first to reach ISS with its own vehicle, it would be a travesty for Spacex not to be selected as the CRS provider in the event we are forced to down-select to one provider.

Its my sincere hope however that we are not forced to down-select to one provider. As that in and of itself would be bad and quite unfair. Heres to hoping.

I wouldn't say "travesty".  I would only say that SpaceX clearly have a leg up on the competition.  Everyone else is talking about building and flying a spacecraft.

 - Ed Kyle

Hence the reason why I said that. How fair would it be to deny the guys who are already flying the opportunity, in favor of someone who does not even have a working vehicle yet.

Anyway I digress, this will be a debate for the discussion threads not the update thread, so i'll leave it at that for now.