If Zuma really is delayed until at least December (which is currently being reported) can SpaceX move its launch to SLC-40 and start working on LC 39A to prepare it for Falcon Heavy launch?
Quote from: Rebel44 on 11/20/2017 06:12 PMIf Zuma really is delayed until at least December (which is currently being reported) can SpaceX move its launch to SLC-40 and start working on LC 39A to prepare it for Falcon Heavy launch?Related also to if FH-demo will use a fairing.
Quote from: speedevil on 11/20/2017 06:25 PMQuote from: Rebel44 on 11/20/2017 06:12 PMIf Zuma really is delayed until at least December (which is currently being reported) can SpaceX move its launch to SLC-40 and start working on LC 39A to prepare it for Falcon Heavy launch?Related also to if FH-demo will use a fairing.Seeking confirmation: Is the FH PLF to be the same "make/model" as currently used on F9?
Quote from: zubenelgenubi on 11/20/2017 09:39 PMQuote from: speedevil on 11/20/2017 06:25 PMQuote from: Rebel44 on 11/20/2017 06:12 PMIf Zuma really is delayed until at least December (which is currently being reported) can SpaceX move its launch to SLC-40 and start working on LC 39A to prepare it for Falcon Heavy launch?Related also to if FH-demo will use a fairing.Seeking confirmation: Is the FH PLF to be the same "make/model" as currently used on F9?Does it matter? The demo mission is to demonstrate the launcher, not the fairing! If the fairing fails to open or opens improperly does that invalidate the test of the launcher which will have already passed through launch, maxQ, MECO, staging and second stage ignition? At worst you'll demonstrate an already suspected fault in the fairing. (Although the second stage might not complete its full firing sequence, it's a standard second stage - already flown on multiple missions.) Of course, you'll lose whatever's inside the fairing, but that might only be a mass simulator!
Yes it matters. A fairing failure would stop all launches with fairings during the failure investigation.
SpaceX confirms Aviation Week report that the Falcon Heavy’s debut test flight is now expected in early 2018, a few weeks after a hold-down static fire test at KSC in December.
Bit more detail:QuoteSpaceX confirms Aviation Week report that the Falcon Heavy’s debut test flight is now expected in early 2018, a few weeks after a hold-down static fire test at KSC in December.https://twitter.com/stephenclark1/status/935619345182543872
In other words, it slipped by about 1 week. And it's only "news" because it crossed a year boundary in that week.
Quote from: ChrisGebhardt on 11/28/2017 11:27 PMIn other words, it slipped by about 1 week. And it's only "news" because it crossed a year boundary in that week. How did you extract "early 2018" to mean first week of January??? Not even January, but first week of January? Heck, I take it to mean Q1 of 2018. Which is what I predicted during Q1 of this year (hoping I'd be wrong, but considering everything related to FH announced scheduling for years, that seemed more likely than July 2017 did at the time).I'd love for it to be the first week of January. But fool me once, fool me twice, fool me 27 or so times.... eventually a pattern emerges. and
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 11/28/2017 08:52 PMBit more detail:QuoteSpaceX confirms Aviation Week report that the Falcon Heavy’s debut test flight is now expected in early 2018, a few weeks after a hold-down static fire test at KSC in December.[/b]https://twitter.com/stephenclark1/status/935619345182543872
Bit more detail:QuoteSpaceX confirms Aviation Week report that the Falcon Heavy’s debut test flight is now expected in early 2018, a few weeks after a hold-down static fire test at KSC in December.[/b]https://twitter.com/stephenclark1/status/935619345182543872
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 11/28/2017 08:52 PMBit more detail:QuoteSpaceX confirms Aviation Week report that the Falcon Heavy’s debut test flight is now expected in early 2018, a few weeks after a hold-down static fire test at KSC in December.https://twitter.com/stephenclark1/status/935619345182543872In other words, it slipped by about 1 week. And it's only "news" because it crossed a year boundary in that week.
Maybe the part that says bold mineQuoteSpaceX confirms Aviation Week report that the Falcon Heavy’s debut test flight is now expected in early 2018, a few weeks after a hold-down static fire test at KSC in December.
You should have seen the static I was sent privately when I reported info (coming from SpaceX-ers no less), in september this year, that FH was fully expected to slip into 2018. But in the end those SpaceX sources turned out to be correct.
Quote from: woods170 on 11/29/2017 06:09 AMYou should have seen the static I was sent privately when I reported info (coming from SpaceX-ers no less), in september this year, that FH was fully expected to slip into 2018. But in the end those SpaceX sources turned out to be correct.Actually no, they did not. Without the Zuma problems they might well have made it this year. Sources saying months ago that it can not happen this year were missing important developments like working in parallel on LC-40 and LC-39A.
And yet, despite all your denials, the launch has still been moved to January. So YES they were correct.
Quote from: Pete on 11/30/2017 09:55 AMAnd yet, despite all your denials, the launch has still been moved to January. So YES they were correct.Not relevant. Their reasons were wrong.Edit: Or to formulate it differently, their statement that FH would not fly this year was based on wrong assumptions. So invalid even if in the end FH now does not fly this year.