SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 - CASSIOPE - September, 2013 - GENERAL DISCUSSION THREAD

[tigerade]

Any word on when the fairing and payload will be shipped?

[Salo]

SpaceX Testing Complete at NASA Glenn's Renovated Facility
Published by Klaus Schmidt on Wed Jul 17, 2013 7:58 pm via: NASA

[Prober]

SpaceX Testing Complete at NASA Glenn's Renovated Facility
Published by Klaus Schmidt on Wed Jul 17, 2013 7:58 pm via: NASA

a good sign; now only to test in real flight.

[edkyle99]

Has the second stage been tested on the stand yet?

There was a development test of the second stage attempted on May 21, 2013, that ended in an abort.  I haven't heard anything since about second stage testing.

 - Ed Kyle

[Prober]

Has the second stage been tested on the stand yet?

There was a development test of the second stage attempted on May 21, 2013, that ended in an abort.  I haven't heard anything since about second stage testing.

 - Ed Kyle

They could use the older C ver. that works to get this mission off couldn't they?
 

[docmordrid]

Has the second stage been tested on the stand yet?

There was a development test of the second stage attempted on May 21, 2013, that ended in an abort.  I haven't heard anything since about second stage testing.

 - Ed Kyle

Must have snuck them in. Up a few posts it's reported Tom Mueller said at the prop conference the second stage leaves for Vandy a week after the first stage. Guess he should know.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31429.msg1075341#msg1075341

[Roy_H]

They could use the older C ver. that works to get this mission off couldn't they?

Yes, But zero chance they would do that. This mission is not about getting a launch up in a short time. It is about proving Merlin1 D works and that includes the upper stage.

MDA is getting a low price since this is mostly a demonstrator launch. Cassiope was originally slated to go on a Falcon 1.

[docmordrid]

FWIW: supposedly the start/finish of a 300s F9 v1.1 2nd stage burn was shown during Shotwell's TED presentation.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32202.msg1076036#msg1076036

[Kabloona]

FWIW: supposedly the start/finish of a 300s F9 v1.1 2nd stage burn was shown during Shotwell's TED presentation.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32202.msg1076036#msg1076036

Yes, but the screen stamp has a date of 5/11, which predates the 5/21 abort.

[Chris Bergin]

Update and going with September 5:

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/07/spacexs-falcon-9-v1-1-begins-arrive-california/

[IRobot]

Cassiope is very light. If there are up to 2 engine malfunctions during the first seconds of flight, can the F91.1 compensate for it? Maybe using the fuel reserves for the landing attempt?

I know about the 2 engine out capability, but AFAIK that is not from near lift off.

[LegendCJS]

Since this launch serves the dual purpose of validating the F9 v1.1 for full time commercial delivery duty, I would think that SpaceX would include some kind of ballast so that when it is all said and done they can prove by example that the the F9 v1.1 is ready for the payload masses of normal F9 v1.1 customers, instead of just the wee little Cassiope (which I think was originally going to go up in an F1 iirc.)

[SpacexULA]

Since this launch serves the dual purpose of validating the F9 v1.1 for full time commercial delivery duty, I would think that SpaceX would include some kind of ballast so that when it is all said and done they can prove by example that the the F9 v1.1 is ready for the payload masses of normal F9 v1.1 customers, instead of just the wee little Cassiope (which I think was originally going to go up in an F1 iirc.)

The fact the payload is very low mass gives SpaceX much more leeway in case of a non optimal flight.  There are a lot of systems on the Falcon 1.1 that have never been flgiht tested, better to err on the side of causion and not start the Falcon 1.1 off with a failure. If everything goes right, this gives SpaceX the maximum amount of fuel to try to recover the first stage.

If the recovery of the Falcon 1.1 1st stage fails for lack of fuel, they will likely change their recovery plans again.

[Sesquipedalian]

Aren't they going to need ballast anyway, to avoid accelerating too quickly?  Cassiope is a lot lighter than just about every other payload the rocket plans to launch.

[beancounter]

Update and going with September 5:

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/07/spacexs-falcon-9-v1-1-begins-arrive-california/

As usual, great update story.  Thanks Chris.

[Nomadd]

Aren't they going to need ballast anyway, to avoid accelerating too quickly?  Cassiope is a lot lighter than just about every other payload the rocket plans to launch.

If they launch with full fuel, the 2nd stage will probably shut down and deploy the sat when it still has quite a bit of fuel left, so acceleration shouldn't get that high.
 They can just shut engines down sooner to keep 1st stage acceleration down. Of course, having the first stage separation later than normal is going to make re-entry harder, since it will be going faster and higher.

[Chris Bergin]

Update and going with September 5:

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/07/spacexs-falcon-9-v1-1-begins-arrive-california/

As usual, great update story.  Thanks Chris.

Thanks!

[MikeAtkinson]

Aren't they going to need ballast anyway, to avoid accelerating too quickly?  Cassiope is a lot lighter than just about every other payload the rocket plans to launch.

If they launch with full fuel, the 2nd stage will probably shut down and deploy the sat when it still has quite a bit of fuel left, so acceleration shouldn't get that high.
 They can just shut engines down sooner to keep 1st stage acceleration down. Of course, having the first stage separation later than normal is going to make re-entry harder, since it will be going faster and higher.

Don't forget that Merlin 1D can throttle as well. Design was 70%, but we have not had that confirmed for the production engines. It is possible that second stage 1Dvac has a different minimum throttle level as it won't have to worry about flow separation.

[dedead]

Hi !

I have just one question. I will maybe be in California for my holidays in september. Do you know if it is possible to see the launch from vendenberg from a good point of view ?
I'm french, I don't want to be sent in jail if I cross the military fences !

[mr. mark]

Maybe we should start a viewing section for this launch? That is if a few here are going.