Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 - Thaicom 6 - DISCUSSION THREAD (Read 271820 times)

MP99 · « **Reply #220 on:** 12/29/2013 10:05 am »

Quote from: Robotbeat on 12/28/2013 09:25 pm

Quote from: MP99 on 12/28/2013 07:51 pm
Quote from: Robotbeat on 12/28/2013 06:13 pm
Just the 2nd launch of v1.1, remember!

3rd, I think! (Cassiope, SES-8, Thaicom.)

cheers, Martin
I was talking about SES8. I wasn't being clear.

NP. Thanks for clarifying.

Cheers, Martin

Comga · « **Reply #221 on:** 12/29/2013 11:22 pm »

Quote from: Chris Bergin on 12/29/2013 01:17 am

And I'll stick this into the update thread so everyone's on the same page:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/12/spacex-falcon-9-v1-1-static-fire-test-thaicom-6-launch/

Are any of those photos (excluding the second, of course) of the Thaicom launch vehicle or are they from the previous launch?

You use "would have" statements throughout the article. Did you get nothing beyond a simple confirmation of the hot fire test and based these all upon past static fire events or scripts?

averagespacejoe · « **Reply #222 on:** 12/30/2013 04:24 am »

We are less than 5 days away I am excited to see what the patch looks like. I hope it has something to do with the country of Thailand

AJW · « **Reply #223 on:** 12/30/2013 11:58 pm »

Interesting that UPI and USA Today are both reporting that there was a dry-run on Saturday but the engines were not lit.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Blog/2013/12/30/SpaceX-to-launch-its-first-rocket-of-2014-on-Friday/8981388414571/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/12/30/spacex-satellite-launch/4247365/

oiorionsbelt · « **Reply #224 on:** 12/31/2013 12:05 am »

What the ..... is a dry run?
WDR, static fire, but dry run?

ChefPat · « **Reply #225 on:** 12/31/2013 12:07 am »

Quote from: AJW on 12/30/2013 11:58 pm

Interesting that UPI and USA Today are both reporting that there was a dry-run on Saturday but the engines were not lit.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Blog/2013/12/30/SpaceX-to-launch-its-first-rocket-of-2014-on-Friday/8981388414571/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/12/30/spacex-satellite-launch/4247365/

At least they didn't say it failed to take off.

I'll take Chris' word over the mass media any day.

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #226 on:** 12/31/2013 12:23 am »

Firstly, why is the first link even posted? (An attempt to cross confirm, when it's just a copy of what USA Today ran).

Secondly, the vehicle fired the engines. It was a Static Fire, not a WDR.

AJW · « **Reply #227 on:** 12/31/2013 12:58 am »

Quote from: sdsds on 12/31/2013 12:10 am

Let's discuss this on the discussion thread!

This IS the discussion thread

@Chris
No disrespect intended, I saw your posts confirming this information before you wrote your piece. I consider test firing the engines to be significant and should probably not be surprised that major news services not only miss this, but state that it didn't happen.

Gary NASA · « **Reply #228 on:** 12/31/2013 01:06 am »

They were likely trying to say the rocket didn't lift off. Not sure why every little thing about SpaceX gets 500 posts examining it. It's just another pre-launch flow.

plank · « **Reply #229 on:** 12/31/2013 11:48 am »

Wait... this is another launch?

How long has it been since the last one?

Ben the Space Brit · « **Reply #230 on:** 12/31/2013 12:54 pm »

@plank,

12/3/13 - So, exactly one calendar month ago.

plank · « **Reply #231 on:** 12/31/2013 01:45 pm »

That's impressive in my opinion considering the time we live in now. I had the impression it usually take months between rocket launches from the same organization or government. What was the shortest time between orbital type rocket launches from the same organization or government?

Silmfeanor · « **Reply #232 on:** 12/31/2013 02:14 pm »

Quote from: plank on 12/31/2013 01:45 pm

That's impressive in my opinion considering the time we live in now. I had the impression it usually take months between rocket launches from the same organization or government. What was the shortest time between orbital type rocket launches from the same organization or government?

Not the right place for this, but less then a week between R-7 type launches. I'm sure historians have the records, this was just from a fast wikipedia search, so not the shortest - I know Gunther, JCM or Ed have the answer. This is just an example looked up in 2-3 minutes.
10 March 1984, 17:00 Soyuz-U LC-41/1, Plesetsk
16 March 1984, 23:29 Molniya-M LC-41/1, Plesetsk
So a month is not that weird. What's interesting for this thread (and this launch) is that this is a relatively new vehicle, so that procedures might improve.

Jim · « **Reply #233 on:** 12/31/2013 02:55 pm »

Quote from: plank on 12/31/2013 01:45 pm

That's impressive in my opinion considering the time we live in now. I had the impression it usually take months between rocket launches from the same organization or government. What was the shortest time between orbital type rocket launches from the same organization or government?

Here are some ULA clusters from last year.

Atlas-5(401) AV-036 4M CC SLC-41 31.01.2013 TDRS 11 (K) NASA
Atlas-5(401) AV-035 4M Va SLC-3E 11.02.2013 Landsat 8 (LDCM) NASA
Atlas-5(401) AV-037 4S CC SLC-41 19.03.2013 SBIRS-GEO 2 (USA 241)

Atlas-5(551) AV-040 5M CC SLC-41 19.07.2013 MUOS 2
Delta-4M+(5,4) D-363 CC SLC-37B 08.08.2013 WGS 6 (USA 244)
Delta-4H D-364 Va SLC-6 28.08.2013 KH-11 16 (USA 245, NROL 65)
Atlas-5(531) AV-041 5S CC SLC-41 18.09.2013 AEHF 3 (USA 246)

Here is an old one

D-298 Delta-7925 10.06.2003 CC SLC-17A MER A (Spirit)
D-299 Delta-7925H 08.07.2003 CC SLC-17B MER B (Opportunity)

rcoppola · « **Reply #234 on:** 12/31/2013 03:10 pm »

Any rumblings on what additional 1st stage reentry routines they may run on this flight? I'm curious because it was reported that SES-8 did give SpaceX permission to test return but SpaceX still wanted to reserve margin. Now with that flight done and an evaluation of all the flight data, I wonder if they may be a bit more aggressive with 1st stage return tests on this flight.

Jarnis · « **Reply #235 on:** 12/31/2013 03:17 pm »

Quote from: rcoppola on 12/31/2013 03:10 pm

Any rumblings on what additional 1st stage reentry routines they may run on this flight? I'm curious because it was reported that SES-8 did give SpaceX permission to test return but SpaceX still wanted to reserve margin. Now with that flight done and an evaluation of all the flight data, I wonder if they may be a bit more aggressive with 1st stage return tests on this flight.

None that I've seen. Official word is "no reuse tests". I would expect RCS on the first stage fire again and possibly the engines be relit (as last time) for a bit but no fuel reserves to be left for any real recovery attempt.

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #236 on:** 12/31/2013 03:23 pm »

Any signs of a mission booklet yet?

mheney · « **Reply #237 on:** 12/31/2013 03:28 pm »

Quote from: Silmfeanor on 12/31/2013 02:14 pm

Quote from: plank on 12/31/2013 01:45 pm
That's impressive in my opinion considering the time we live in now. I had the impression it usually take months between rocket launches from the same organization or government. What was the shortest time between orbital type rocket launches from the same organization or government?

Not the right place for this, but less then a week between R-7 type launches. I'm sure historians have the records, this was just from a fast wikipedia search, so not the shortest - I know Gunther, JCM or Ed have the answer. This is just an example looked up in 2-3 minutes.
10 March 1984, 17:00 Soyuz-U LC-41/1, Plesetsk
16 March 1984, 23:29 Molniya-M LC-41/1, Plesetsk
So a month is not that weird. What's interesting for this thread (and this launch) is that this is a relatively new vehicle, so that procedures might improve.

GT-7 CC LC-19 04 Dec 1965 14:05 UTC (Gemini 7)
GT-6A CC LC-19 15 Dec 1965 13:37 UTC (Gemini 6A)

So, there's 11 days between manned launches. (And the GT-6A had *tried* to launch 3 days earlier - with the first on-pad abort after ignition ...)

In Russia, you had

Vostok 3 11 Aug 1962 08:24 UTC
Vostok 4 12 Aug 1062 08:02 UTC
(Less than one day apart from the same pad ...)

Vostok 5 14 June 1963 11:59 UTC
Vostok 6 16 June 1963 09:30 UTC
(Less than 2 days apart)

So launch sorties are nothing new - they've been doing them for 50+ years.

Vostok 6

king1999 · « **Reply #238 on:** 12/31/2013 04:39 pm »

Elon has stated his goal was single digit hours between launches.

mme · « **Reply #239 on:** 12/31/2013 04:50 pm »

Does anyone know if SpaceX will webcast the launch?

They haven't updated their http://www.spacex.com/webcast page. Other than an engineer publicly tweeting "See you on the webcast!," I haven't seen any mention of the webcast in the media or by SpaceX. Unless she's directly involved with the webcast, it could be an assumption.

No doubt they are scrambling and such things are a low priority.