SpaceX Falcon 9 / Dragon 2 : SpX-DM1 : March 2, 2019 : DISCUSSION

[kdhilliard]

From Chris Gebhardt's article, NASA, SpaceX realign DM-1 test to NET 17 January launch:

Something that is now abundantly clear from both SpaceX and NASA is that DM-1 is still very much targeting a launch in January 2019, a date that had been thrown into wild disarray and speculation with comments from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine that January was “unfeasible” and that the mission would “definitely launch in the first half of the year” – statements the raise questions as to why the Administrator would seemingly make such incorrect statements to the public.

From the 29 November USA Today article, NASA program to launch astronauts to space station facing delays but 2019 still on target:

Bridenstine's acknowledgment that January is a "very low probability" window is the first time the agency has publicly cast doubt on the timing of the scheduled launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

That USA Today article is quite sloppy, never identifying what event or interview their quotes and paraphrases come form.  This Space News article from a week later links to the USA Today article and says that the Administrator's remarks came from a 29 November media roundtable at NASA Headquarters.  I've not found any other coverage of the roundtable, though perhaps is was held following the Commercial Lunar Payload Services partnerships announcement.

Chris G, is your “unfeasible” a direct quote (and if so from what source) or are you paraphrasing the USA Today quote?  Did you attend that roundtable?

[kdhilliard]

Gwynne Shotwell's passing remark on DM-1 schedule while justifying her prediction that they will be flying people to and from Mars in ten years.

Ten years is an eternity.  We've only been in business for sixteen.  And what have we done in sixteen years?  We've flown sixty-five times; flew a Falcon Heavy; sixteen missions to the International Space Station; developed a crew capsule that we're about ready to fly here; we'll have a dry dress rehearsal right before Christmas, should fly it a couple weeks later in January.  All that in sixteen years.  So ten years with this momentum, that's very achievable.

From 11:14 into yesterday's Marketplace radio interview: At SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell's job is to solve the problems that others can't  [14:15 audio; limited transcript]

[Rondaz]

Experience the Launch of the First Commercial Crew Demo Flight by SpaceX

Dec. 14, 2018

Social media users are invited to register to attend the SpaceX Commercial Crew uncrewed flight test, known as Demo-1. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft will launch atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Demo-1 is targeted for Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. However, NASA has a series of reviews before the uncrewed test flight, and the outcome of these reviews, including the Flight Readiness Review, will ultimately determine the Demo-1 launch date.

If your passion is to communicate and engage the world via social media, then this is the event for you! Seize the opportunity to be on the front line to blog, tweet or Instagram everything about SpaceX’s uncrewed flight test of the Crew Dragon atop a Falcon 9 rocket for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

A maximum of 120 social media users will be selected to attend this two-day event, slated for January 16-17, 2019, and will be given access similar to news media.

NASA Social participants will have the opportunity to:

View the demo flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft
Tour NASA facilities at Kennedy Space Center
Speak with representatives from NASA and SpaceX
View and take photographs of the Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon at Launch Complex 39A
Meet fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media
NASA Social registration for the Commercial Crew / SpaceX Demo-1 launch opens on this page on December 14 and closes at 11:59am EST on December 17. All social applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

https://www.nasa.gov/social/spacexdemo

[Lars-J]

VP Mike Pence tweeted about his visit to KSC, with two images of the Dragon 2 demo flight article:

https://twitter.com/VP/status/1075108943125458944

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/emrekelly/status/1075127145943445506

Few of my favorites from today's Pence visit to #SpaceX pad 39A. In first photo, from left to right: Previously flown B1048, booster for DM-1, Crew Dragon for DM-1. Look at the size of that Merlin engine bell.

More photos: goo.gl/XBT7V6

[Lars-J]

Attached the two best images from the previous posts twitter link: (higher res)

[Mammutti]

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket are positioned at the company’s hangar at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ahead of the Demo-1 flight test targeted for January 17, 2019.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2018/12/18/spacex-demo-1-spacecraft-and-rocket-at-launch-pad/

[Lars-J]

Finally a shot of the solar panel side! 

EDIT: Another solar panel side angle, a little brighter:

source: https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/1075144854924115968

[FlokiViking]

That's surely not the "final" (DM-2+) Dragon hatch design is it?
I'd expect it to be more apparent how to open it from the outside.  And will there be a window in it?

[whitelancer64]

That's surely not the "final" (DM-2+) Dragon hatch design is it?
I'd expect it to be more apparent how to open it from the outside.  And will there be a window in it?

Correct, this isn't the final hatch design. Also the flight unit / crew hatch should have a window in it, unless that window was deleted? Windows are heavy, it would be an easy way to save mass.

[CT Space Guy]

I was wondering if anyone knows...I thought the fins on the trunk were going to have radiators on them? It looks to me that they are covered in solar cells?

[russianhalo117]

I was wondering if anyone knows...I thought the fins on the trunk were going to have radiators on them? It looks to me that they are covered in solar cells?

Only on half of the trunk.

[mme]

I was wondering if anyone knows...I thought the fins on the trunk were going to have radiators on them? It looks to me that they are covered in solar cells?

Just a guess, but it kooks to me like the white side of the *trunk* is the radiators.

[Lars-J]

I was wondering if anyone knows...I thought the fins on the trunk were going to have radiators on them? It looks to me that they are covered in solar cells?

Just a guess, but it kooks to me like the white side of the *trunk* is the radiators.

Correct.

[Alexphysics]

That's surely not the "final" (DM-2+) Dragon hatch design is it?
I'd expect it to be more apparent how to open it from the outside.  And will there be a window in it?

Correct, this isn't the final hatch design. Also the flight unit / crew hatch should have a window in it, unless that window was deleted? Windows are heavy, it would be an easy way to save mass.

Final hatch design doesn't have a window on it. Just the four standard windows at the sides of the hatch. This one only has 2 of those four windows. Next Dragon 2's will have all four windows.

[Comga]

Finally a shot of the solar panel side! 

EDIT: Another solar panel side angle, a little brighter:

source: https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/1075144854924115968

Subjective of course, but to me the new trunk looks even better than the illustrations.
It’s hard to believe that an efficient array will be strong enough and smooth enough to survive and be effective in supersonic airflow, but they must have tested them extensively.
It looks like the individual cells are curved.
This from a group that started making their own panels just a few years ago.

[deruch]

We know what the Dragon for this mission will look like (see recent pictures).  Discussing that is on topic.  Discussing the flight configurations of Dragons for future general missions and how they will change after this mission should take place in the Dragon 2 thread.

[CorvusCorax]

I see all drakos and superdrakos ... not
Are they covered in foam during ascent or just pre-flight?

This seems kinda weird, assuming they will be exposed during reentry, ascent shouldnt really bother them ?!?

Then again, the capsule does fly the other way around during descent.


Any insight on that?

[Lars-J]

Look closer, the Draco’s are there, although in different spots compared to Dragon 1. They are covered by a thin covers that flies off during ascent or the first thruster firing.

If you look at the “solar panel side” of dragon you can see the covers. There are three Draco thruster just next to each Super Draco fairing. Same on the front side. And I think there are a couple more on each side.

[Johnnyhinbos]

Dracos are covered in the same fashion on Dragon 1 I believe...