Author Topic: LIVE: SpaceX Dragon COTS Demo (C2+) FD2 and FD3 UPDATES (Read 202967 times)

oiorionsbelt · « **Reply #520 on:** 05/25/2012 01:10 am »

In that pic the underside of the solar panels, which, as we have seen, are white, look black.
I'm with Lars, it's just the lighting.

mr. mark · « **Reply #521 on:** 05/25/2012 01:18 am »

The only other thing to consider, is the paint used on the trunk could be different from what they used to paint Dragon. It may have not withstood the temperatures exerted on it and it shed. Highly doubtful and I'm also with Lars on this one as well. It's most likely shadows.

vt_hokie · « **Reply #522 on:** 05/25/2012 01:20 am »

I must admit, it's pretty cool to see these photos! Hats off to SpaceX. I'll admit, I was initially skeptical after seeing the failure of Kistler and numerous other commercial ventures, but it's nice to see a success every now and then!

rickl · « **Reply #523 on:** 05/25/2012 01:28 am »

In some photos, the Apollo Command Module looked kind of black.

Kabloona · « **Reply #524 on:** 05/25/2012 01:29 am »

The appearance of the trunk to be black is because that side of the trunk, facing the camera, is facing deep space, from which there is essentially zero visible radiation to be reflected...the semicircle of white is reflected sunlight from Dragon pointing slightly off-axis toward the the sun...if the photo had been taken from the other side of the trunk it would appear white due to Earth albedo.

corrodedNut · « **Reply #525 on:** 05/25/2012 01:31 am »

Notice the protruding trunk umbilical fairing, and the long shadow it casts. It's three-sided. The sun facing side is bright white, the shadowed faces are grey. On the ground, this component, along with the rest of the trunk, is plain white.

Shadows, especially long shadows, have a way of playing with the mind. Its why people "see" crap like the "face on Mars".

AS-503 · « **Reply #526 on:** 05/25/2012 01:31 am »

The Apollo CM is covered in highly reflective mylar strips.

Prior to re-entry the Command Module is pretty much a mirror.

docmordrid · « **Reply #527 on:** 05/25/2012 01:40 am »

In my mail...

Quote

SpaceX to Webcast Dragon's Visit Space Station

SpaceX is planning to webcast Dragon's historic attempt to visit the space station live tomorrow morning starting at approximately 4:30 AM PT / 7:30 AM ET. Times may change so check back for updates.

Norm38 · « **Reply #528 on:** 05/25/2012 01:43 am »

Quote from: corrodedNut on 05/25/2012 01:31 am

Notice the protruding trunk umbilical fairing, and the long shadow it casts. It's three-sided. The sun facing side is bright white, the shadowed faces are grey. On the ground, this component, along with the rest of the trunk, is plain white.

Okay, I was comparing that picture to the one of Dragon's trunk on the ground, but they're of opposite sides of the vehicle. The umbilical is on the other side. So is the grapple door.

jaufgang · « **Reply #529 on:** 05/25/2012 01:54 am »

With respect to the dark shadows, you should also keep in mind that the limited dynamic range of digital cameras tends to exaggerate the darkness of shadows when the exposure is adjusted to very bright scenes. Go dig up some vacation photos of your kids wearing a hat on a sunny day at the beach and you'll see that the part of their faces shaded by the brim of the hat looks much darker than it did when you were standing there about to take the shot.

Now think about how bright the background field of white clouds reflecting the sun must be in that photo, as well as the cone of the Dragon capsule, and how the image exposure would have to be adjusted accordingly.

The human eye has an incredible dynamic range compared to CCDs, or film for that matter. Most likely the shadows would appear somewhat dark but not nearly as black as they appear in those photos to any astronaut looking down from the ISS at the capsule.

jaufgang · « **Reply #530 on:** 05/25/2012 02:05 am »

Incidentally, this effect of camera exposure and limited dynamic range is also why you can't see any stars in photos of the Apollo moonwalks. A lack of understanding of this basic principle of photography has led numerous morons to use this lack of stars in the background as evidence to corroborate their claims that the Apollo landings were faked and the photos were staged in a Hollywood studio.

docmordrid · « **Reply #531 on:** 05/25/2012 02:05 am »

This is precisely why camera makers are coming out with In-Camera HDR (high dynamic range), which basically takes multiple photos at different exposure values then digitally merges them into an HDR image. Pretty impressive.

ChrisC · « **Reply #532 on:** 05/25/2012 02:07 am »

This is a mission updates thread. Please take the exposure chatter elsewhere. As Chris B. has said, posts to this thread generates email notifications for some people!

mr. mark · « **Reply #533 on:** 05/25/2012 02:15 am »

"The International Space Station mission management team just gave a "go" for integrated operations between the space station and Dragon spacecraft".

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/003/status.html

JimOman · « **Reply #534 on:** 05/25/2012 03:19 am »

Quote from: docmordrid on 05/25/2012 01:40 am

In my mail...

Quote
SpaceX to Webcast Dragon's Visit Space Station

SpaceX is planning to webcast Dragon's historic attempt to visit the space station live tomorrow morning starting at approximately 4:30 AM PT / 7:30 AM ET. Times may change so check back for updates.

Thanks for passing that along. Can you or anybody clarify whether the approach or the actual grapple is expected to start at 0730ET? I'm seeing different times all over the net, but trust our NSF guys most!

Thanks, Jim

rdale · « **Reply #535 on:** 05/25/2012 03:30 am »

No, the latest information available says 9am EDT. But as your quote says, "times may change." There is no way grapple will be right at 730am.

JimOman · « **Reply #536 on:** 05/25/2012 04:48 am »

Ok, Thanks RDale. I just saw this post from NASA/LaRC on Facebook that is a little clearer.

Quote

The space station crew will capture the Dragon with the station's robotic arm at approximately 8:00 a.m. Friday, with berthing scheduled about 11:20 a.m

Sorry about the confusion.

EDIT: Quoted times are eastern.

brodo · « **Reply #537 on:** 05/25/2012 05:58 am »

NASA TV seems to start coverage immediately

psloss · « **Reply #538 on:** 05/25/2012 06:03 am »

We need a FD4 thread...

Anyway, crew wake up was a couple minutes ago at 06:00 GMT and the HA2 burn for today's rendezvous occurred about an hour ago.

Rex Chan · « **Reply #539 on:** 05/25/2012 06:03 am »

ISS crew just woke up (minutes ago).

BTW: the flickr photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/7263995646/in/photostream/) of Dragon were AMAZING!

Just some Twitter posts for completeness:

NASA ‏@NASA
So, what were the ISS astronauts doing during @SpaceX's historic #Dragon launch this week? The same thing we were! http://pic.twitter.com/5HuXFfFa

Johnson Space Center ‏@NASA_Johnson
In this photo, the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft approaches the #ISS for a series of tests during its fly-under. http://flic.kr/p/c4TSU3

NASA ‏@NASA
.@SpaceX #Dragon now proceeding toward rendezvous with #ISS. Berthing ~11:20amET Friday. NASA TV coverage begins 2am http://www.nasa.gov/ntv