SpaceX F9 : SES-10 with reuse of CRS-8 Booster SN/1021 : 2017-03-30 : DISCUSSION

[whitelancer64]

Dirty core on the pad.
https://twitter.com/nova_road/status/847414851076898817

You can barely make out the '21' tag on the booster in this pic.

It's easier from the original sized image:



Edit: The link is to the original image, but the forum doesn't show it.

I thought that re-flights of the same core were supposed to have a -number indicating the number of flights?

Very interesting this core does not have 21-1 or 21-2 painted on it...

They do get a number for each flight, but that was never going to be painted on the actual booster.

That's a bummer, I guess my understanding was mistaken. Thanks!

[abaddon]

The look reminds me a little bit of Shuttle, which always looked a little dingy.  (That sounds disparaging, but it really isn't.  I always loved the Shuttle and that part was unique to it).  I was thinking they would clean it more, and I thought that picture of the Orbcomm2 booster looked cleaner.  But I think it looks great!  The latest picture on the Update thread is just spectacular.

You can really tell when you look at the the interstage flush against the new S2, and the legs.

[old_sellsword]

I was thinking they would clean it more, and I thought that picture of the Orbcomm2 booster looked cleaner.  But I think it looks great!

1019 got a fresh coat of paint after it returned to Hawthorne, it appears 1021 has only been hosed down. Interesting that the interstage is original as well, we've heard reports of them getting really blasted at MVac startup.

[RotoSequence]

Interesting that the interstage is new as well, we've heard reports of them getting really blasted at MVac startup.

Is it? Core 21's interstage for SES-10 looks just as dingy as the booster!

[abaddon]

1019 got a fresh coat of paint after it returned to Hawthorne, it appears 1021 has only been hosed down.

Ah, that makes sense.

Is it? Core 21's interstage for SES-10 looks just as dingy as the booster!

Agreed, it definitely does not look new.  That's what I was commenting on, that you can really tell the difference with the new S2 up against the used interstage.

[old_sellsword]

1019 got a fresh coat of paint after it returned to Hawthorne, it appears 1021 has only been hosed down.

Ah, that makes sense.

Is it? Core 21's interstage for SES-10 looks just as dingy as the booster!

Agreed, it definitely does not look new.  That's what I was commenting on, that you can really tell the difference with the new S2 up against the used interstage.

Accidentally said new when I definitely meant flight-proven Fixed now.

[jpo234]

1019 got a fresh coat of paint after it returned to Hawthorne, it appears 1021 has only been hosed down.

Ah, that makes sense.

Is it? Core 21's interstage for SES-10 looks just as dingy as the booster!

Agreed, it definitely does not look new.  That's what I was commenting on, that you can really tell the difference with the new S2 up against the used interstage.

The mission patch (see http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42544.msg1656644#msg1656644) shows a grey first stage and a white interstage.

[padrat]

“We’re at the edge of quite significant bit of history here. This is big step for SES, for @SpaceX and for the industry.” M. Halliwell, SES

https://twitter.com/ses_satellites/status/847434266447196161

That white stand to the right of the rocket is that to enable payload integration while the rocket is on the transport erector?

Yes. Quite a bit of an upgrade from the one we had at 40.

Hmm.....I think it's been probably 7 or 8 years since I've been in a picture on here....

[AJW]

They do get a number for each flight, but that was never going to be painted on the actual booster.

It would be traditional to go with mission marks....  Just need a silhouette of a Dragon.

[envy887]

1019 got a fresh coat of paint after it returned to Hawthorne, it appears 1021 has only been hosed down.

Ah, that makes sense.

Is it? Core 21's interstage for SES-10 looks just as dingy as the booster!

Agreed, it definitely does not look new.  That's what I was commenting on, that you can really tell the difference with the new S2 up against the used interstage.

The mission patch (see http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42544.msg1656644#msg1656644) shows a grey first stage and a white interstage.

It also shows a rocket with about half the fineness of a Falcon 9 v1.2, and a cloverleaf the size of Colorado floating in the Atlantic. There's some artistic license involved...

[jpo234]

1019 got a fresh coat of paint after it returned to Hawthorne, it appears 1021 has only been hosed down.

Ah, that makes sense.

Is it? Core 21's interstage for SES-10 looks just as dingy as the booster!

Agreed, it definitely does not look new.  That's what I was commenting on, that you can really tell the difference with the new S2 up against the used interstage.

The mission patch (see http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42544.msg1656644#msg1656644) shows a grey first stage and a white interstage.

It also shows a rocket with about half the fineness of a Falcon 9 v1.2, and a cloverleaf the size of Colorado floating in the Atlantic. There's some artistic license involved...

They were really careful to color the landing legs and the grid fins white.

[envy887]

1019 got a fresh coat of paint after it returned to Hawthorne, it appears 1021 has only been hosed down.

Ah, that makes sense.

Is it? Core 21's interstage for SES-10 looks just as dingy as the booster!

Agreed, it definitely does not look new.  That's what I was commenting on, that you can really tell the difference with the new S2 up against the used interstage.

The mission patch (see http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42544.msg1656644#msg1656644) shows a grey first stage and a white interstage.

It also shows a rocket with about half the fineness of a Falcon 9 v1.2, and a cloverleaf the size of Colorado floating in the Atlantic. There's some artistic license involved...

They were really careful to color the landing legs and the grid fins white.

And yet totally missed including the second stage? The flag and F9 logo  are both supposed to be on the interstage. I wouldn't read too much into it.

[Lars-J]

Do you have any numbers to back that '75 seconds' up? A whole 30 seconds more??? And different compared to what - do you expect this to be radically different than previous downrange landings. If so, show some data from earlier flights.

 I don't think most realize how much difference just a few seconds of thrust makes when the stage is nearly empty.

I'm not sure how you are misunderstanding me, but yes I fully understand this. Please go back and read what I have written.

Lets go through this again, using YOUR example:

15 second 3 engine braking burn == 45 engine seconds
30 second 1 engine landing burn == 30 engine seconds
45+30 = 75 engine seconds

Oh I see - sorry for the misunderstanding. I thought you had added 30 seconds to the total.

[2megs]

The rocket didn't go vertical until around 4 AM. I'm assuming SpaceXers were working hard all day, right up until then (or it would have gone up earlier). Add on the "13 hours of checkouts" and then the prop loading and terminal count, and that makes 35 continuous hours of non-stop work there at the pad.

I'm also assuming nobody's steely-eyed enough to let people in the 35th hour of a shift oversee the launch of a nine-figure payload. Does anyone know how SpaceX manages their staffing for things like this? Do they have three shifts worth of people handing off the various phases of final prep and checkout? What do they do with that many people when it's not launch day?

[Arb]

With the re-use attempt of the Falcon 9 and the up-and-coming start of Model 3 production (plus various minor endeavours such as photovoltaic roof tiles, solar panels, Hyperloop, tunnel boring, battery production) was there ever another Man of Industry with more irons in the fire and more risk on the line? This year will be incredible intense for Musk. Hope he holds up.   

Brunel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel

[stcks]

Oh I see - sorry for the misunderstanding. I thought you had added 30 seconds to the total.

👍 👍 👍
No worries! Glad we are on the same page. And I apologize the snark last night.

[Reflectiv]

The rocket didn't go vertical until around 4 AM. I'm assuming SpaceXers were working hard all day, right up until then (or it would have gone up earlier). Add on the "13 hours of checkouts" and then the prop loading and terminal count, and that makes 35 continuous hours of non-stop work there at the pad.

I'm also assuming nobody's steely-eyed enough to let people in the 35th hour of a shift oversee the launch of a nine-figure payload. Does anyone know how SpaceX manages their staffing for things like this? Do they have three shifts worth of people handing off the various phases of final prep and checkout? What do they do with that many people when it's not launch day?

That 13 hour check out is mostly being done by Airbus people.

[PGNCSandAGC]

Airb.us already announced the successful launch of SES-10... a bit earlier. 

[rockets4life97]

Airb.us already announced the successful launch of SES-10... a bit earlier. 

No launch slip in alternate universe 44!

[Space Ghost 1962]

Musk said that he would have considered them to have failed if LV reuse did not succeed.

When Musk made those statements he was at least talking about full reuse, if not a "Fully and Rapidly Reused" LV.

Dead wrong.

When he first made a claim of reuse for SX, it was Falcon 1 and about reusing the Merlin 1 (then A) engine.

Just that, parachute recovery of a partially damaged stage, to get at the engine in salt water. Continuing what started with Saturn 1B and refiring the engine,  but re-manufacturing it into a stage.

Been a few changes since.

How soon they forget...

Forget, ignorance, retconn, or intentionally mis state.

There are many steps to go, no doubt, but this goal post moving was properly predicted by others.

They will always move the goal posts. They can only move goal posts.

It is what it is.