QuoteCrew Dragon is at @NASA’s Plum Brook Station testing facility in Ohio, home to the largest thermal vacuum chamber in the world, to demonstrate its capability to withstand the extreme temperatures and vacuum of space. Once complete, Crew Dragon will travel to Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of its first flight.https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1009580017049747456
Crew Dragon is at @NASA’s Plum Brook Station testing facility in Ohio, home to the largest thermal vacuum chamber in the world, to demonstrate its capability to withstand the extreme temperatures and vacuum of space. Once complete, Crew Dragon will travel to Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of its first flight.
Where in the process to the launch is the Plum Brooks testing? Is August still achievable?
Quote from: jpo234 on 06/21/2018 05:33 amWhere in the process to the launch is the Plum Brooks testing? Is August still achievable?Nov-Jan timeframe is most likely, currently. At this rate, the main bottleneck is going to be Falcon 9, IMHO.
Quote from: vaporcobra on 06/21/2018 06:25 amQuote from: jpo234 on 06/21/2018 05:33 amWhere in the process to the launch is the Plum Brooks testing? Is August still achievable?Nov-Jan timeframe is most likely, currently. At this rate, the main bottleneck is going to be Falcon 9, IMHO.How so?
QuoteKavandi: SpaceX just wrapped up thermal vacuum testing [of Crew Dragon] at Plum Brook. #AIAAPropEnergyhttps://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1016302142062321665Edit to add context:QuoteThe AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum is starting at 8 am EDT with a keynote by NASA Glenn director Janet Kavandi. That’ll be webcast along with some other sessions, such as one later this morning on SLS and Orion:https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1016288877034790912
Kavandi: SpaceX just wrapped up thermal vacuum testing [of Crew Dragon] at Plum Brook. #AIAAPropEnergy
The AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum is starting at 8 am EDT with a keynote by NASA Glenn director Janet Kavandi. That’ll be webcast along with some other sessions, such as one later this morning on SLS and Orion:
And now... to the Cape!!Back in June SpaceX said:"Crew Dragon is at @NASA’s Plum Brook Station testing facility in Ohio, home to the largest thermal vacuum chamber in the world, to demonstrate its capability to withstand the extreme temperatures and vacuum of space. Once complete, Crew Dragon will travel to Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of its first flight."https://www.instagram.com/p/BkQ8w0mFoxa/Looks like their hardware at least is on track for a September launch. Note that Elon has been guiding for Crew Dragon's shipment to the cape in late July since May 2nd, so they may even be slightly ahead of schedule
The COPV's were being installed on the tanks when the last NASA update came out (thanks to it we knew the booster for that mission is B1051!) so I'd suppose they're more than finished by now.
@SpaceXCrew Dragon arrived in Florida this week ahead of its first flight after completing thermal vacuum and acoustic testing at @NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio. http://instagram.com/p/BlJVBidF4I2/
What are we seeing in that photo of Dragon 2 with the Super Dracos?Beyond the white or light grey ramps, as opposed to black, are those covers over the exhaust ports?I wonder if they are to prevent water intrusion and were added when SpaceX went from land landing to ocean?
Quote from: Comga on 07/13/2018 04:40 amWhat are we seeing in that photo of Dragon 2 with the Super Dracos?Beyond the white or light grey ramps, as opposed to black, are those covers over the exhaust ports?I wonder if they are to prevent water intrusion and were added when SpaceX went from land landing to ocean?Notice two things from the HR version of that photo: (1) The exhaust ports are covered by something that is marked as "remove before launch", and (2) The color of the ramps is not grey, but silver. That makes sense in the same sense as they silvered much of the tail portion of SpaceShip Two. Reflecting heat away is more effective than absorbing it, at least for certain cases.
Question on the article.It says "core B1050 will be next out of Hawthorne and on the test stand at McGregor soon."But in the core spotting thread B1050 was claimed to be spotted leaving Hawthorne on July 7. Was that information wrong?
Quote from: cd-slam on 07/14/2018 12:05 amQuestion on the article.It says "core B1050 will be next out of Hawthorne and on the test stand at McGregor soon."But in the core spotting thread B1050 was claimed to be spotted leaving Hawthorne on July 7. Was that information wrong?I have to agree that this is (very likely) incorrect/outdated info in the article...In L2 there is even more confirmation that 1050 is indeed already @McGregor for several days, maybe a week.Since coreNrs are virtually impossible to see since Block-5, this is all assumption, but it does fully aligns with our predictions and earlier tidbits from SpaceX interview @Hawthorne..Mainly the number of cores to be produced this year combined with the statement of being at a pace of 1 core per roughly 2 weeks is foundation for 1050 being at McGregor, possibly even being tested even, already.. The same logic would have 1051 hitting the road in about 10 days.
Quote from: Jakusb on 07/14/2018 10:47 amQuote from: cd-slam on 07/14/2018 12:05 amQuestion on the article.It says "core B1050 will be next out of Hawthorne and on the test stand at McGregor soon."But in the core spotting thread B1050 was claimed to be spotted leaving Hawthorne on July 7. Was that information wrong?I have to agree that this is (very likely) incorrect/outdated info in the article...In L2 there is even more confirmation that 1050 is indeed already @McGregor for several days, maybe a week.Since coreNrs are virtually impossible to see since Block-5, this is all assumption, but it does fully aligns with our predictions and earlier tidbits from SpaceX interview @Hawthorne..Mainly the number of cores to be produced this year combined with the statement of being at a pace of 1 core per roughly 2 weeks is foundation for 1050 being at McGregor, possibly even being tested even, already.. The same logic would have 1051 hitting the road in about 10 days. I go by the first post on the L2 core location thread, which until this morning listed B1050 as being at Hawthorne and part of the "Assumed upcoming Test Schedule." Glad that's changed and it's at McGregor, now. But I go by the info we have confirmed at time of publication which did not have confirmation that B1050 was at Hawthorne (at least by date stamps on posts in L2).
Quote from: ChrisGebhardt on 07/14/2018 01:19 pmQuote from: Jakusb on 07/14/2018 10:47 amQuote from: cd-slam on 07/14/2018 12:05 amQuestion on the article.It says "core B1050 will be next out of Hawthorne and on the test stand at McGregor soon."But in the core spotting thread B1050 was claimed to be spotted leaving Hawthorne on July 7. Was that information wrong?I have to agree that this is (very likely) incorrect/outdated info in the article...In L2 there is even more confirmation that 1050 is indeed already @McGregor for several days, maybe a week.Since coreNrs are virtually impossible to see since Block-5, this is all assumption, but it does fully aligns with our predictions and earlier tidbits from SpaceX interview @Hawthorne..Mainly the number of cores to be produced this year combined with the statement of being at a pace of 1 core per roughly 2 weeks is foundation for 1050 being at McGregor, possibly even being tested even, already.. The same logic would have 1051 hitting the road in about 10 days. I go by the first post on the L2 core location thread, which until this morning listed B1050 as being at Hawthorne and part of the "Assumed upcoming Test Schedule." Glad that's changed and it's at McGregor, now. But I go by the info we have confirmed at time of publication which did not have confirmation that B1050 was at Hawthorne (at least by date stamps on posts in L2).Me bad, I was late in updating that post.. I will try to do a better job of getting that post also as up to date as possible.
