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

[blazotron]

If MCCX is the mission control at Canaveral, will this one be designated MCVX?

MCC-X is Dragon mission control in Hawthorne. There's "only" a LCC at the Cape and now VAFB.

I think MCC-X is used for all missions. LCC will lose sight of the vehicle after it passes over the horizon, which is long before the flight is complete.

If I could just note a correction. LCC's don't lose telemetry when vehicles go over the horizon.  That is what down range stations, tracking sites and TDRSS are for.   

MCCX is for the Dragon and not for Falcon.  LCCs are for launch vehicles.   Launch vehicles are not controlled in flight but monitored.   The LCC at VAFB is in the RLCC bldg 8500, which was for the Shuttle but now is shared with all vehicles.  The LCC at the Cape is right outside the south gate.

SpaceX's LCC at Vandenberg is in a separate building 8505 right next door to 8500. SpaceX occupies the entire building and do not share it with other vehicles.

[Kabloona]

The facebook update mentions that the fairing has been integrated to the launch vehicle - So will the hot-fire occur withe the payload inside the fairing? Or will the fairing be empty for the hot-fire, or the fairing taken off temporarily?

The payload(s) are encapsulated inside the fairing. And apparently this is one of the payloads:

[Robotbeat]

The facebook update mentions that the fairing has been integrated to the launch vehicle - So will the hot-fire occur withe the payload inside the fairing? Or will the fairing be empty for the hot-fire, or the fairing taken off temporarily?

The payload(s) are encapsulated inside the fairing. And apparently this is one of the payloads:

Kerbal Space Program FTW! 

[Kabloona]

Cornell's CUSat is apparently flying too:

[Lars_J]

As seen in the update thread - first view of F9v1.1 with fairing:   
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/377325202121580544

Elon Musk
‏@elonmusk
First of next gen Falcon 9 rockets rolls out to the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base pic.twitter.com/hNl6zKodvr

[woods170]

As seen in the update thread - first view of F9v1.1 with fairing:   
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/377325202121580544

Elon Musk
‏@elonmusk
First of next gen Falcon 9 rockets rolls out to the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base pic.twitter.com/hNl6zKodvr

I just love "Rockets in the Mist".

[subzero788]

Rolled for the static fire I presume?

[Norm38]

That tweet is dated 9/10 at 2am. So F9 should be vertical at the pad with fairing right now.

[Ben the Space Brit]

Elon tweets that, as this will be the first flight of a rocket with lots of new technology, the chances of a failure are 'significant'.  I hope that MDA have paid up their insurance and I'm sure they're thanking Elon for the privilege of having their payload ride on the first flight. 

Welp! We're all set for the hotfire it seems! Looking forward to pics/results!

[corrodedNut]

As seen in the update thread - first view of F9v1.1 with fairing:   
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/377325202121580544

Elon Musk
‏@elonmusk
First of next gen Falcon 9 rockets rolls out to the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base pic.twitter.com/hNl6zKodvr

What are we seeing here? This thing supporting the fairing/payload is an integration fitting, not part of the TE, right? So the encapsulated payload was mated to F9 at the pad? At 2 in the morning?

[JBF]

What are we seeing here? This thing supporting the fairing/payload is an integration fitting, not part of the TE, right? So the encapsulated payload was mated to F9 at the pad? At 2 in the morning?

No It's part of the TE.  If you look at some of the earlier pictures you can see it sticking up above the 2nd stage.

[Zed_Noir]

Elon tweets that, as this will be the first flight of a rocket with lots of new technology, the chances of a failure are 'significant'.  I hope that MDA have paid up their insurance and I'm sure they're thanking Elon for the privilege of having their payload ride on the first flight. 

Welp! We're all set for the hotfire it seems! Looking forward to pics/results!

From the Space News article it appears MDA pay about $11M for the Guinea Pig privilege. From the SpaceX web site we get a launch price of $56.5M per Falcon 9 ver 1.1 flight. So 56.5 x 0.2 = 11.3 rounded to 11.

“Cassiope paid a tiny fraction of the price for the right to be on the demonstration flight. This is essentially a development flight for the rocket. It’s not an operational flight,” Musk said.

“Cassiope is a very small satellite. It takes up just a tiny fraction of the volume of the fairing. They paid, I think, maybe 20 percent of the normal price of the mission,” he added.

http://bit.ly/19pdpoI

[Norm38]

Elon tweets that, as this will be the first flight of a rocket with lots of new technology, the chances of a failure are 'significant'.

Lowering expectations is a key rule in business.  If investors expect $500M in profit and get $900M, the stock jumps.  If they're told $1B and get the same $900M, the stock plummets.  People only like good surprises. 

A good engineer, when running a proto for the first time, doesn't say anything more than "Watch this!"

[SolSystem]

Actually they paid less than $10 million. The contract was signed in 2005 for a Falcon 1 launch.

[Ben the Space Brit]

Actually they paid less than $10 million. The contract was signed in 2005 for a Falcon 1 launch.

I thought that this was sounding more and more like a Falcon-1 or -1e mission.

[Herb Schaltegger]

The facebook update mentions that the fairing has been integrated to the launch vehicle - So will the hot-fire occur withe the payload inside the fairing? Or will the fairing be empty for the hot-fire, or the fairing taken off temporarily?

The payload(s) are encapsulated inside the fairing. And apparently this is one of the payloads:

Kerbal Space Program FTW! 

Is it bad that "I wonder how to build that in KSP?" was my first thought too?

[Prober]

Cornell's CUSat is apparently flying too:

This CUSat seems very complex.

[Mader Levap]

Elon tweets that, as this will be the first flight of a rocket with lots of new technology, the chances of a failure are 'significant'.  I hope that MDA have paid up their insurance and I'm sure they're thanking Elon for the privilege of having their payload ride on the first flight. 

And I am sure MDA knows what they got into way, way better than you (or anyone not related to SpaceX or MDA).

[Kabloona]

Cornell's CUSat is apparently flying too:

This CUSat seems very complex.

More background on the secondaries:

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/09/cusat-launch-now-delayed-until-sept-15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_and_Atmospheric_Neutral_Density_Explorer

[mgrusin]

Kerbal Space Program FTW! 

Is it bad that "I wonder how to build that in KSP?" was my first thought too?

I'd be very surprised if that wasn't done in STK, which is the primary mission design, analysis, and visualization software we use at COSGC.