SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon CRS-2 SpX-2 MISSION GENERAL DISCUSSION

[russianhalo117]

Boats are so slow - it would be so much faster if they could airlift Dragon to shore.

Or better still, propulsively land it in Texas.

... or Hawthorne and if they elect to start refurbing them in the future for reflight then you might as well land next to that planned facility to save on shipping and port costs

Talk about slowing down traffic on the 105...

hehe That one will be a doozy if that was actually the plan.

[llanitedave]

Boats are so slow - it would be so much faster if they could airlift Dragon to shore.

Or better still, propulsively land it in Texas.

... or Hawthorne and if they elect to start refurbing them in the future for reflight then you might as well land next to that planned facility to save on shipping and port costs

Talk about slowing down traffic on the 105...

hehe That one will be a doozy if that was actually the plan.

Just have the Dragon parachute right down onto the roof!

[IanO]

Boats are so slow - it would be so much faster if they could airlift Dragon to shore.

Or better still, propulsively land it in Texas.

I hear Elon has an idea to upgrade the recovery ship with a hydrofoil, to get back to port more quickly.

He's going to call it the hypersloop. 

[Space Pete]

I hear Elon has an idea to upgrade the recovery ship with a hydrofoil, to get back to port more quickly.

He's going to call it the hypersloop. 

No, he'd call it the Hyper-X!

[Avron]

Any LA folks going to the dock in a few hours to get some Dragon pics??  say 4-5 hours... Barracuda st( just off Marina st)  in the harbor looks like the place to be.. 

[jabe]

looks like it is now docked.. hope they release more pics and a nice pr vid soon
jb

[Liryc]

All Operations are on schedule. CBM Bolts have been driven, #Dragon's strobe light is on and teams are getting ready for unberthing.

Hi guys,
what's the use of this strobe light ?

cheers !
Cyril

[Garrett]

From the Updates thread:

NASA JSC's C9 aircraft "N932NA" landed in Houston just over an hour ago, after flying the critical Dragon science samples from Long Beach back to Ellington/JSC.

So the aircraft landed at 3:57am CDT, i.e. 1:57am PDT. Seeing as Dragon splashed down at 9:34am, that's roughly 41 hours since splash down.

Quick question regarding the 48 early-arrival cargo: Does the clock stop ticking once they hand over the cargo in Long Beach, or is it once the cargo arrives in Houston?

[JBF]

All Operations are on schedule. CBM Bolts have been driven, #Dragon's strobe light is on and teams are getting ready for unberthing.

Hi guys,
what's the use of this strobe light ?

cheers !
Cyril

Ease of visibility when the ISS and Dragon are in the shadow of the earth.

[Liryc]

All Operations are on schedule. CBM Bolts have been driven, #Dragon's strobe light is on and teams are getting ready for unberthing.

Hi guys,
what's the use of this strobe light ?

cheers !
Cyril

Ease of visibility when the ISS and Dragon are in the shadow of the earth.

Ha! so simple, ok
I thought it was some sort of distance measuring device.

Thanks !

[smoliarm]

I found this pre-flight hires pic of CRS-2 during late cargo loading:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8513/8582568834_f42f041897_o.jpg

It clearly shows no yellow shading, moreover bolt covering spots are actually lighter then the rest of Dragon skin. So, this yellow shading spotted during unberthing developed in flight, and it's likely UV effect.

[llanitedave]

All Operations are on schedule. CBM Bolts have been driven, #Dragon's strobe light is on and teams are getting ready for unberthing.

Hi guys,
what's the use of this strobe light ?

cheers !
Cyril

All the Federation Star Fleet Vessels will have them.

[Joffan]

From the Updates thread:

NASA JSC's C9 aircraft "N932NA" landed in Houston just over an hour ago, after flying the critical Dragon science samples from Long Beach back to Ellington/JSC.

So the aircraft landed at 3:57am CDT, i.e. 1:57am PDT. Seeing as Dragon splashed down at 9:34am, that's roughly 41 hours since splash down.

Quick question regarding the 48 early-arrival cargo: Does the clock stop ticking once they hand over the cargo in Long Beach, or is it once the cargo arrives in Houston?

I'm sure the clock stops once the cargo is in NASA's hands. I guess it's possible that the handover target might be adjusted (say 44 hours) if the handover takes place somewhere easier for SpaceX.

[Lars_J]

I found this pre-flight hires pic of CRS-2 during late cargo loading:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8513/8582568834_f42f041897_o.jpg

It clearly shows no yellow shading, moreover bolt covering spots are actually lighter then the rest of Dragon skin. So, this yellow shading spotted during unberthing developed in flight, and it's likely UV effect.

Nice find!
But the ISS approach pictures also showed it to be pure white, so that settles it even more (if there was any question about it).

[mlindner]

I found this pre-flight hires pic of CRS-2 during late cargo loading:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8513/8582568834_f42f041897_o.jpg

It clearly shows no yellow shading, moreover bolt covering spots are actually lighter then the rest of Dragon skin. So, this yellow shading spotted during unberthing developed in flight, and it's likely UV effect.

Nice find!
But the ISS approach pictures also showed it to be pure white, so that settles it even more (if there was any question about it).

I know UV damages plastic-type materials quite heavily by breaking chemical chain bonds which causes that yellowing effect. On the other hand though, you don't hear about what happens when these things are exposed to x-ray or gamma radiation as normally almost none of that reaches the surface of the Earth. I would expect that gamma would shoot through the coating without being absorbed, possibly the same for x-rays, but an expert opinion on this would be interesting.

[corrodedNut]

Max-Q will also toast your marshmallow...

[Lars_J]

Max-Q will also toast your marshmallow...

Yes, but that did not cause the yellow. As you can see in the picture before, Dragon arrived in pristine white condition:

[IRobot]

Could it be the result of some sort of electric current running between Dragon structure and the ISS? They do have separate solar panels... how is the "earth" generated in space?

[Space Pete]

how is the "earth" generated in space?

A HUGE reel of cable?

[Robotbeat]

Could it be the result of some sort of electric current running between Dragon structure and the ISS? They do have separate solar panels... how is the "earth" generated in space?

They hook up more than one wire, that's how.

(But actually, it is possible to discharge to the diffuse plasma of space.)