LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 - CRS-3 Dragon - ATTEMPT 2 UPDATES

[Antares]

I would expect rain is pumped away eventually, and the level of waterin the trench  is strictly monitored and controlled.

Why would you expect that?

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk
Orbit insertion and Dragon deploy all good. Falcon reentry burn also good. Waiting for landing data from tracking plane.

[Antares]

Falcon 9 stage 2 will be deorbited SW of Australia shortly; first time the second stage has been deorbited on an F9 flight

I wonder whether this is being driven more by orbital debris considerations, wanting to practice relights on the second stage (building up experience for GTO missions), or if they're trying to use it to start gathering data for F9R upper stage reuse, or something else entirely.

If the burn is to depletion it gives a data point on what total vehicle performance really is.

[docmordrid]

Any links for the presser? NASA TV?

[Danderman]

Falcon 9 stage 2 will be deorbited SW of Australia shortly; first time the second stage has been deorbited on an F9 flight

I wonder whether this is being driven more by orbital debris considerations, wanting to practice relights on the second stage (building up experience for GTO missions), or if they're trying to use it to start gathering data for F9R upper stage reuse, or something else entirely.

If the burn is to depletion it gives a data point on what total vehicle performance really is.

They don't want to burn to depletion, instead the goal is to put the debris in a predefined zone in the Pacific.

[Ben the Space Brit]

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk
Orbit insertion and Dragon deploy all good. Falcon reentry burn also good. Waiting for landing data from tracking plane.

This seems to be something of a constant. There is apparently a bottleneck somewhere in the communications that means the PAOs and other communications providers don't always have immediate information.

FWIW, though, given the weather, the stage could be down in moderately heavy seas, making spotting it a lot more difficult.

[Chris Bergin]

Any links for the presser? NASA TV?

Yep, NASA TV http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv but my brain fried earlier, so I'm not sure what time. Edit: Avron's got it. 5pm Eastern.....he had a post, not sure where it is now! 

[Prober]

Blimey SpaceX, you popular!

Sorry.........it's not like I put flyers out or anything....

Congrats Padrat that's what we all wanted to see.

[Avron]

Any links for the presser? NASA TV?

Yep, NASA TV http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv but my brain fried earlier, so I'm not sure what time. Edit: Avron's got it. 5pm Eastern.....he had a post, not sure where it is now! 

ok Ill put it back..

 ‏@b0yle  32m
.@NASA post-launch press conference on #SpaceX3 mission planned for 5 p.m. ET. Will find out about stage re-light and dark plume.

[Avron]

‏@elonmusk  1m
Last known state for rocket boost stage is 360 m/s, Mach 1.1, 8.5 km altitude and roll rate close to zero (v important!)

[Marslauncher]

Dang it Avron! Beat me too it, Congrats to SpaceX, eagerly waiting on the press conference.

[Mongo62]

Also ninja'd by Avron

[AJA]

Falcon 9 stage 2 will be deorbited SW of Australia shortly; first time the second stage has been deorbited on an F9 flight

I wonder whether this is being driven more by orbital debris considerations, wanting to practice relights on the second stage (building up experience for GTO missions), or if they're trying to use it to start gathering data for F9R upper stage reuse, or something else entirely.

If the burn is to depletion it gives a data point on what total vehicle performance really is.

They don't want to burn to depletion, instead the goal is to put the debris in a predefined zone in the Pacific.

1. So what happened to the second stages on all the other Falcon flights?
2. They can still burn to depletion, while putting it in the predefined zone in the Pacific.

[TRS717]

‏@elonmusk  1m
Last known state for rocket boost stage is 360 m/s, Mach 1.1, 8.5 km altitude and roll rate close to zero (v important!)

Hard to imagine a soft touchdown, this time anyway, if the last known state had the F9 at 28,000' going straight down at over Mach 1. Still, the very low roll rate is encouraging, and one can't wait to see yesterday's "Grasshopper II" video recreated after a live F9 launch.

[Danderman]

2. They can still burn to depletion, while putting it in the predefined zone in the Pacific.

By definition, burning to depletion and putting the second stage into a predefined "landing zone" in the Pacific are mutually exclusive, due to uncertainty in propellant consumption.

It's kind of like saying " drive your car until it runs out of gas" and also "park the car carefully in the garage".

[ugordan]

By definition, burning to depletion and putting the second stage into a predefined "landing zone" in the Pacific are mutually exclusive, due to uncertainty in propellant consumption.

Not unless you have a significant amount of propellant left so you can make the trajectory significantly more ballistic than a typical retroburn which only ensures you enter the atmosphere shallowly.

[Targeteer]

NASA TV still showing various replays, no indication of the presser yet

[AncientU]

‏@elonmusk  1m
Last known state for rocket boost stage is 360 m/s, Mach 1.1, 8.5 km altitude and roll rate close to zero (v important!)

Hard to imagine a soft touchdown, this time anyway, if the last known state had the F9 at 28,000' going straight down at over Mach 1. Still, the very low roll rate is encouraging, and one can't wait to see yesterday's "Grasshopper II" video recreated after a live F9 launch.

20-25 sec before hitting the water... this is where we've estimated the burn starts, and speed is 'nominal'

[AJA]

2. They can still burn to depletion, while putting it in the predefined zone in the Pacific.

By definition, burning to depletion and putting the second stage into a predefined "landing zone" in the Pacific are mutually exclusive, due to uncertainty in propellant consumption.

It's kind of like saying " drive your car until it runs out of gas" and also "park the car carefully in the garage".

lol.. but the garage is a VAST swathe of the Pacific.

[Mongo62]

‏@elonmusk  1m
Last known state for rocket boost stage is 360 m/s, Mach 1.1, 8.5 km altitude and roll rate close to zero (v important!)

Hard to imagine a soft touchdown, this time anyway, if the last known state had the F9 at 28,000' going straight down at over Mach 1. Still, the very low roll rate is encouraging, and one can't wait to see yesterday's "Grasshopper II" video recreated after a live F9 launch.

Actually this looks encouraging to me. From that altitude and speed, the first stage would need to decelerate at less than 2 gees (including 1 gee for Earth's own gravity) to reach simultaneous zero altitude and velocity.