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#2020
by
Semmel
on 04 Jan, 2016 19:51
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Well, I concluded that from:
- screws being visible, that are behind the cover in the other engines (edit: wrong statement, screws are visible in the top-right engine.)
- white stuff visible instead of black from the other engines. Given that everything is full of soot, thats odd
- no buckling to the outside, rather white stuff into the gap between engine and metal plate
So maybe my interpretation of burned "away" was a bit too dramatic. might be that the cover is still there, just below some burned surface.
edit: lets not overstate this. Its probably nothing serious and I am sure if it was its an easy to replace part. Not really worth a page of discussion in this thread.
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#2021
by
Dante80
on 04 Jan, 2016 20:03
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edit: lets not overstate this. Its probably nothing serious and I am sure if it was its an easy to replace part. Not really worth a page of discussion in this thread.
Its an interesting find, and we are nitpicking here so...
A question. The thing does not look sooty. Could that mean that the cover is actually removed for inspection and we are seeing a second cover/part of the underside?
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#2022
by
punder
on 04 Jan, 2016 20:04
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Could the white stuff be some consequence of the supersonic reentry burn? Assuming those are the two engines used in addition to the center, they are the only ones that made that particular group of burns (launch/boostback/reentry, but not landing).
Pardon my non-aero-engineer speculation.
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#2023
by
Comga
on 04 Jan, 2016 20:13
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Cross posting from Updates thread, (because discussion is not updates.....)
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38148.msg1469736#msg1469736
This is a great pic! I am fascinated by the stuff revealed with the raceway cover removed. It's possible it's just the exposure of the photo, but it seems pretty sooty under that cover, which is surprising.
If by "raceway cover" you mean the cowlings over the tops of the grid fin pivots, there were no cowlings on the OG2 flight.
PS The black-cross-in-circle feature is on the left of the N2 RCS thruster cluster. This corresponds to the "before" part of the before-and-after image, where the feature appears to have switched sides.
"That's one less mystery!"
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#2024
by
oiorionsbelt
on 04 Jan, 2016 21:13
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PS The black-cross-in-circle feature is on the left of the N2 RCS thruster cluster. This corresponds to the "before" part of the before-and-after image, where the feature appears to have switched sides.
"That's one less mystery!"
True, but what is the "Black-cross-in a circle feature"? The circle part appears painted in the before picture and then mysteriously shiny, as though something was unbolted and removed, in the after photo. I'm having a hard time coming up with a plausible explanation.
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#2025
by
Lars-J
on 04 Jan, 2016 21:20
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Cross posting from Updates thread, (because discussion is not updates.....)
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38148.msg1469736#msg1469736
This is a great pic! I am fascinated by the stuff revealed with the raceway cover removed. It's possible it's just the exposure of the photo, but it seems pretty sooty under that cover, which is surprising.
If by "raceway cover" you mean the cowlings over the tops of the grid fin pivots, there were no cowlings on the OG2 flight.
No, that's not the raceway. The "raceway" is the external piping that runs the length of the stage, highlighted in green in image #1, and you can see the whole length of it from the bottom to the top in image #2.
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#2026
by
intrepidpursuit
on 04 Jan, 2016 21:28
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Cross posting from Updates thread, (because discussion is not updates.....)
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38148.msg1469736#msg1469736
This is a great pic! I am fascinated by the stuff revealed with the raceway cover removed. It's possible it's just the exposure of the photo, but it seems pretty sooty under that cover, which is surprising.
If by "raceway cover" you mean the cowlings over the tops of the grid fin pivots, there were no cowlings on the OG2 flight.
No, that's not the raceway. The "raceway" is the external piping that runs the length of the stage, highlighted in green in image #1, and you can see the whole length of it from the bottom to the top in image #2.
I have seen that covering before but never really realized its scale. I always wondered where they put stuff on a rocket that has no internal compartments along it. Looks like there is plenty of room for various equipment right there in the raceway.
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#2027
by
CameronD
on 04 Jan, 2016 21:53
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A couple of questions from the curious:
1. How far from the center of the pad did the stage touch down? (Presumably it landed well within the area of the deck of an ASDS.. but did it?)
2. How much propellant (RP-1 & LOX) did they have to unload?
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#2028
by
Rocket Science
on 04 Jan, 2016 22:06
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A couple of questions from the curious:
1. How far from the center of the pad did the stage touch down? (Presumably it landed well within the area of the deck of an ASDS.. but did it?)
2. How much propellant (RP-1 & LOX) did they have to unload?
You be the judge...X marks the spot!
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#2029
by
mfck
on 04 Jan, 2016 22:36
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#2030
by
CaptLego
on 04 Jan, 2016 22:50
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Thanks for the notes on the image.
Question: can we tell that that cover is necessarily burned off? Might it have been damaged somehow (supersonic turbulence, etc.) and blown off, before further blackening by soot? Or something else entirely?
It is not burned off, it is still there.
The other "cloth" opening covers look the same towards the center engine. You can follow the crease from outer to inner side & see the same effect. (blue circles added to Semmel's red image). If it isn't a lighting artifact, I'd say it is just singed at most.
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#2031
by
Doesitfloat
on 04 Jan, 2016 23:16
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Could the white stuff be some consequence of the supersonic reentry burn? Assuming those are the two engines used in addition to the center, they are the only ones that made that particular group of burns (launch/boostback/reentry, but not landing).
Pardon my non-aero-engineer speculation.
Dirt from the road while being carried back to the Hanger.
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#2032
by
OxCartMark
on 04 Jan, 2016 23:25
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This is a great pic! I am fascinated by the stuff revealed with the raceway cover removed. It's possible it's just the exposure of the photo, but it seems pretty sooty under that cover, which is surprising.
Fascinating, I don't think we've ever seen under that cover. Can anyone shed light on what we're looking at? Starting with the bulkhead on the right / top end and moving left we have a large cluster of "stuff" followed by two smaller clusters of stuff followed by a long repeting sequence of equally spaced thingies. What are these thingies and stuffs? And, is this raceway where the detonation cord is?
___________________
I'm not seeing any burned out or missing sections in the bellows blanket where the engine passes through the engine compartment cover. Likewise, I'm not seeing the paint drips in the nozzle. To me it looks simply as if they cleaned up the nozzle with a scotchbrite pad in an angle grinder. Bonus points if it was the same angle grinder that was used to cut the damaged part of the vacuum nozzle extension off in one of the previous flights.
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#2033
by
CameronD
on 05 Jan, 2016 00:10
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A couple of questions from the curious:
1. How far from the center of the pad did the stage touch down? (Presumably it landed well within the area of the deck of an ASDS.. but did it?)
You be the judge...X marks the spot!
Now THAT really is awesome!!!
With precision like that, next we know the DoD will be asking if they could help them land payloads in the Middle East...
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#2034
by
Jim
on 05 Jan, 2016 00:15
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With precision like that, next we know the DoD will be asking if they could help them land payloads in the Middle East...
precision has nothing to do with it. ICBMs can do that already.
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#2035
by
QuantumG
on 05 Jan, 2016 00:23
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#2036
by
llanitedave
on 05 Jan, 2016 00:26
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With precision like that, next we know the DoD will be asking if they could help them land payloads in the Middle East...
precision has nothing to do with it. ICBMs can do that already.
Betcha they can't do it twice!
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#2037
by
AncientU
on 05 Jan, 2016 00:31
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With precision like that, next we know the DoD will be asking if they could help them land payloads in the Middle East...
precision has nothing to do with it. ICBMs can do that already.
Betcha they can't do it twice!
Or RTLS
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#2038
by
Jim
on 05 Jan, 2016 00:31
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With precision like that, next we know the DoD will be asking if they could help them land payloads in the Middle East...
precision has nothing to do with it. ICBMs can do that already.
Betcha they can't do it twice!
Don't need to, just send two
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#2039
by
Dante80
on 05 Jan, 2016 00:32
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Come on, lets get back on topic. ICBMs have nothing to do with it.
2. How much propellant (RP-1 & LOX) did they have to unload?
LOX and helium is vented. The amount of RP-1 they had to unload is unknown, I don't think it would be much though (the legs cannot take a very heavy landing, and there is no need for a big reserve).
