Author Topic: LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon CRS-2 (SpX-2) LAUNCH and FD-1 UPDATES (Read 278929 times)

Tass · « **Reply #420 on:** 03/01/2013 07:10 pm »

Question to Elon: "Was it a hardware or software problem"?

Star One · « **Reply #421 on:** 03/01/2013 07:10 pm »

Blockage or stuck valve appear to have been issue at this stage.

Lar · « **Reply #422 on:** 03/01/2013 07:10 pm »

Bill Harwood asks Elon "what exactly went wrong" ...

E - be careful about assessing root cause too early, one possibility is some blockage in the ox pressurization, which we freed. Or maybe a stuck valve which we unstuck. Cycling the valves to pressure hammer them did it. As always till we have more time hard to say, just a guess

Norm38 · « **Reply #423 on:** 03/01/2013 07:10 pm »

Wow, hardware problem, stuck valve. Had to "pressure hammer" and cycle it to get it unstuck.

wronkiew · « **Reply #424 on:** 03/01/2013 07:10 pm »

Musk: Potentially some blockage in oxidizer pressurization.

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #425 on:** 03/01/2013 07:11 pm »

Questions - on what went wrong.

Too early to assess root cause. Could be some blockage in the oxidizer press system, maybe a valve. Have freed it up by pressure hammering. Need more time, so this is prelim info.

All four oxidizer tanks holding their pressure now.

simonbp · « **Reply #426 on:** 03/01/2013 07:11 pm »

They "pressure hammered" the valves until it worked. The Fonz method...

meekGee · « **Reply #427 on:** 03/01/2013 07:11 pm »

Holy Mollie - that had to physically shake loose some blockage. In a pressurization system that's apparently common. (Assuming blockage was after one of the pods, before the others... then maybe got pushed downstream.)

Wow.

AJA · « **Reply #428 on:** 03/01/2013 07:12 pm »

Minimum requirements for berthing from NASA POV: Adequate redundancy + Root Cause Analysis
- Phasing and attitude control should give information about that.

Lar · « **Reply #429 on:** 03/01/2013 07:12 pm »

Q: what does SpaceX need to do to satisfy NASA that it is safe to dock?

Gerst: we will try to confirm failure modes, make sure there is redundancy and ensure ISS not in jepoardy, which we do as we go with maneuvering... we will tell how well things are operating as it gets closer

Suff: not much to add. need 3 of 4 working, and they are getting all 4 up. We watch and evaluate.. we continue to plan for berthing opps as Dragon approaches but it won't enter the protected ara till we are comfy

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #430 on:** 03/01/2013 07:12 pm »

On ensuring NASA are happy with Dragon arriving.

Gerst wants to confirm the likely cause, and confident in redundancy. Getting into the berthing box will show how it's performing.

Suff: Require 3 of 4 quads for ISS segment of the mission.

Star One · « **Reply #431 on:** 03/01/2013 07:12 pm »

All 4 are up now?

Nickolai · « **Reply #432 on:** 03/01/2013 07:12 pm »

"Sounds like all 4 are up now" - Michael Suffredini

That's different from what was said a few minutes ago...

Thunderbird5 · « **Reply #433 on:** 03/01/2013 07:13 pm »

Nasa TV announcer stating that solar arrays not yet deployed, don't think it was recording

kevin-rf · « **Reply #434 on:** 03/01/2013 07:13 pm »

Quote from: Chris Bergin on 03/01/2013 07:11 pm

All four oxidizer tanks holding their pressure now.

Does this mean that they used up pressurant (I assume helium) to try to bring the tanks up to pressure and now have reduced pressurant available for the rest of the mission?

wronkiew · « **Reply #435 on:** 03/01/2013 07:13 pm »

Gerst: SpaceX will determine root cause, NASA will evaluate if enough backup is available before approaching ISS.

Lar · « **Reply #436 on:** 03/01/2013 07:14 pm »

Todd Halvorson: confused about pods... is it 2 or 4 or ? that are operating? and how many are needed to actually get to ISS?

Gerst: The other two got recovered WHILE we are in the con, so we are now at 4.
E: pressure was one issue, all tanks are now at nominal pressure but we have not enabled 2 and 3 thrusters yet.. plan to enable them soon. Right now only 1 and 4 enabled

Star One · « **Reply #437 on:** 03/01/2013 07:14 pm »

Confirmed other two recovered as well.

wronkiew · « **Reply #438 on:** 03/01/2013 07:15 pm »

Suff: Just got a note showing that SpaceX recovered the other two quads.

Elmar Moelzer · « **Reply #439 on:** 03/01/2013 07:15 pm »

Wow hardware issue? That is weird. Glad they were able to fix it, but what does that mean for future missions?