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#120
by
vaporcobra
on 21 Jun, 2018 00:55
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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://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1009580017049747456
And higher res from Twitter!
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#121
by
jpo234
on 21 Jun, 2018 05:33
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Where in the process to the launch is the Plum Brooks testing? Is August still achievable?
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#122
by
Alexphysics
on 21 Jun, 2018 05:36
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There's no chance of launch in August. Aside from the fact that this capsule won't be ready by then, there's a FCC permit for Crew Dragon launch communications and it is NET August 31st so they can't launch this capsule before that date.
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#123
by
vaporcobra
on 21 Jun, 2018 06:25
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Where 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.
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#124
by
envy887
on 21 Jun, 2018 11:27
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Where 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?
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#125
by
abaddon
on 21 Jun, 2018 13:36
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Where 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?
The only bottleneck I can think of is COPV 2.0 not being finished and available for the LV. It seems to be a requirement for DM-1.
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#126
by
Alexphysics
on 21 Jun, 2018 13:59
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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.
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#127
by
russianhalo117
on 09 Jul, 2018 19:22
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Dragon-2 Space Vehicle-1 Integrated Stack (Capsule/Trunk/Payload Adaptor) has wrapped up at NASA PBS and is reportedly either on its way to CCAFS for pre-launch processing or about to be (Same Capsule will be used for the In-flight Abort test):
Kavandi: SpaceX just wrapped up thermal vacuum testing [of Crew Dragon] at Plum Brook. #AIAAPropEnergy
https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1016302142062321665
Edit to add context:
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:
https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1016288877034790912
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 
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#128
by
yg1968
on 10 Jul, 2018 03:51
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#129
by
Jakusb
on 10 Jul, 2018 07:11
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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.
I would expect 1051 to be leaving Hawthorne around 18-23th, based on a predicted and required 2 week production rate.
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#130
by
ChrisGebhardt
on 13 Jul, 2018 01:15
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@SpaceX
Crew 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/
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#131
by
Comga
on 13 Jul, 2018 04:40
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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?
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#132
by
rpapo
on 13 Jul, 2018 09:43
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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?
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.
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#133
by
woods170
on 13 Jul, 2018 13:00
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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?
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.
The silver material is NOT for heat reflection.
It is the same silver-colored material that is used to cover the primary heat shield on Cargo Dragon, as well as the primary heat shield on Crew Dragon. It is for moisture protection. Given that the exhaust ports for Super Draco are covered in the same material as the primary heat shield (PICA-X) you can expect the same application of silvery material for moisture protection.
PICA(-X) is known to absorb moisture (water) from the atmosphere. When absorbed into the PICA material the water negatively influences the performance of PICA as a heat shield material. It is therefore necessary to prevent PICA from absorbing moisture. That is why the PICA is covered in the silvery material as seen in the recent pictures.
More on this subject:
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1083&context=me_etdsOh, and uh, high-res version of the "Crew-Dragon-arriving-at-KSC" pic is below.
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#134
by
Chris Bergin
on 13 Jul, 2018 13:06
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#135
by
cd-slam
on 14 Jul, 2018 00:05
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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?
Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
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#136
by
Jakusb
on 14 Jul, 2018 10:47
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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?
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.
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#137
by
ChrisGebhardt
on 14 Jul, 2018 13:19
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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?
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).
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#138
by
Jakusb
on 14 Jul, 2018 13:48
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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?
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.
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#139
by
ChrisGebhardt
on 14 Jul, 2018 14:42
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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?
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.
Sorry, didn't mean for that to sound harsh from my part, just that I didn't see confirmation prior to publication.
You do an awesome job with that chart, and it's greatly useful for keeping track of all cores in play.
You do an awesome job with that chart, and it's greatly useful for keeping track of all cores in play.