SpaceX payload fairing imagery

[spectre9]

Will SpaceX be painting fairings like ULA?

It's something I've just taken for granted seeing those nice pictures on the Atlas and Delta fairings.

Maybe the customer has to pay extra for a pretty fairing?

I would be disappointed to see plain white.

[mlindner]

Will SpaceX be painting fairings like ULA?

It's something I've just taken for granted seeing those nice pictures on the Atlas and Delta fairings.

Maybe the customer has to pay extra for a pretty fairing?

I would be disappointed to see plain white.

It's not paint, they're decals printed on a printer. Think like the decals people put on their cars. I don't see why they wouldn't.

[spectre9]

Ok cool. I didn't know that.

I guess paint is too heavy. Easier to just print.

[Norm38]

It's not paint, they're decals printed on a printer. Think like the decals people put on their cars. I don't see why they wouldn't.

Yeah, but decals on a car see 80mph tops.  NASCAR decals, okay 200mph.  But the fairing decals have to not peel off at MaxQ.  Must use pretty good glue.

[newpylong]

Why do they have to withstand Max-Q? Once they've gotten off the ground they've done their job.

[kttopdad]

It's not paint, they're decals printed on a printer. Think like the decals people put on their cars. I don't see why they wouldn't.

Yeah, but decals on a car see 80mph tops.  NASCAR decals, okay 200mph.  But the fairing decals have to not peel off at MaxQ.  Must use pretty good glue.

It probably doesn't matter if the decals peel off once the rocket is out of sight from the ground.  The fairings are lost upon separation.  It just has to look pretty sitting on the pad.   

[Lars_J]

Will SpaceX be painting fairings like ULA?

It's something I've just taken for granted seeing those nice pictures on the Atlas and Delta fairings.

Maybe the customer has to pay extra for a pretty fairing?

I would be disappointed to see plain white.

Yes, I don't see why not. Remember one of the F9 flights carried additional mini-sats, and decals for them were applied to the trunk. I'm sure they will put something for a paying customer on the outside of the fairing.

EDIT: I found one example... The CRS-1 flight carried an Orbcomm secondary payload (the one that was not placed in the proper orbit due to engine out) If you zoom in to this picture you can see an Orbcomm sticker applied to the top part of the upper stage.

EDIT#2: I found an image of the secondary payload stickers on the COTS1 flight:

[Excession]

Why do they have to withstand Max-Q? Once they've gotten off the ground they've done their job.

Hell, you probably want them to peel off at max-q. Decals have weight too, you know!

[Comga]

Post from Lars_J 

[QuantumG]

SpaceX fairings are painted white, I've seen no evidence of decals, yet.

[c3infinity]

Why do they have to withstand Max-Q? Once they've gotten off the ground they've done their job.

Hell, you probably want them to peel off at max-q. Decals have weight too, you know!

Fun fact, the decal weight is often book kept as "payload system weight" along with the spacecraft for the total weight the vehicle is contracted to loft.

[spectre9]

Is that the stars and stripes I see?

I guess that answers this question. 

[IRobot]

It's not paint, they're decals printed on a printer. Think like the decals people put on their cars. I don't see why they wouldn't.

Yeah, but decals on a car see 80mph tops.  NASCAR decals, okay 200mph.  But the fairing decals have to not peel off at MaxQ.  Must use pretty good glue.

Vinyl decalcs are used even to (fully) cover super fast sail boats hulls like Volvo Ocean Race. And they get hit by water constantly. And their weight is very low, otherwise they would not be used on racing sailboats.

[Lars_J]

It looks like the newest F9v1.1 images at the pad resolve this issue - see them here: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31734.msg1095903#msg1095903

Yes, there are payload stickers on the fairing - for the primary and 5 secondary payloads.

[Lars_J]

Further payload fairing imagery/stickers, from SES-8: (quite a large logo!)