Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon 9 : SAOCOM 1A : Oct. 7/8, 2018 : Vandenberg - DISCUSSION (Read 87275 times)

chawleysnow · « **Reply #120 on:** 10/08/2018 03:53 am »

Most of my pictures are potato because I didn't read up beforehand on how to use my wife's DSLR. Attaching the two best ones I got; one with both stages, and one of the entry burn. All taken from Redondo Beach.

hartspace · « **Reply #121 on:** 10/08/2018 03:57 am »

My pics from Orange County with my iPhone

lonestriker · « **Reply #122 on:** 10/08/2018 04:15 am »

Congrats on the ho-hum, "boring", routine launch and landing!

It occurs to me that if someone had the foresight to book a flight into/out of LAX and time it for this launch, could have been epic. But there's got to be some good airline footage out in the wild, just waiting for Wi-Fi to be uploaded...

1 · « **Reply #123 on:** 10/08/2018 04:30 am »

Quote from: chawleysnow on 10/08/2018 03:53 am

All taken from Redondo Beach.

Were you out on the pier? I probably walked right past you.

It's been interesting seeing the increase in the number of people watching launches. Tonight was a pretty good showing. Did my part by calling a bunch of friends / family members and telling them to look west. Was my nephews first time seeing a launch; he absolutely loved it.

deruch · « **Reply #124 on:** 10/08/2018 05:58 am »

Quote from: atsf90east on 10/08/2018 02:50 am

Did anyone else notice how much flame impingement there was on the first stage after separation? As the booster was in the middle of it's flip it looks like the flame hit between the bottom of the interstage and the top of the lox tank

The first stage flip was incredibly fast. Seemed even more aggressive than previous "fast flip" maneuvers.

woods170 · « **Reply #125 on:** 10/08/2018 07:26 am »

Quote from: MATTBLAK on 10/08/2018 02:40 am

No fairing capture attempt, no. They probably wont be doing night fairing recoveries until they've perfected day ones. This mission went very well, though I see the first stage ended up with quite a lean! Partial failure of one leg?

Partial crush core usage. We've seen this before. The vehicle can lean quite a bit further before it falls over.

G-pit · « **Reply #126 on:** 10/08/2018 09:01 am »

My best photo from tonight. Next time I'll bring a tripod but I think photos don't do it justice. Taken from "Firefighter Rd".

rpapo · « **Reply #127 on:** 10/08/2018 11:35 am »

From the Updates thread:

Quote from: scr00chy on 10/08/2018 03:57 am

Hot damn (60 FPS)

At this point in the boost-back it sure looked to me like they were firing all nine Merlins. As far as I'm concerned, that would be a very good way to cancel their forward velocity quickly, but without the second stage there you can only imagine how many G's they were pulling...

The first attached image was taken from the video cited above.

The second image was taken from SpaceX's webcast, shortly after boostback started.

EDIT: On second thought, the streaking might only be the shadows from the six inactive Merlins.

ugordan · « **Reply #128 on:** 10/08/2018 01:00 pm »

There are three and only three engines burning during the majority of the boostback phase, save for a couple of seconds at the beginning and end where it's just the center engine. Nothing should be read into the streakiness/pluminess of the exhaust, by the same token one could infer that the 2nd stage has like 5 engines running on because it produces a pentagonal pattern. In reality, it comes down more to combustion chamber injector geometry and plume interactions between neighboring 2 engines.

Rocket Science · « **Reply #129 on:** 10/08/2018 01:41 pm »

Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 10/08/2018 03:31 am

Some nice shots before launch.

Congratulations to SpaceX and CONAE for the successful launch!

Looks like it was leaning before launch from the drone... Dam lenses... We need to hang plumb bobs on landed stages to stop the arguing...

Alexphysics · « **Reply #130 on:** 10/08/2018 01:49 pm »

I don't know where you saw the lean, the first stage is standing straight on that landing pad and if you see SpaceX's pictures is clear there is no lean at all.

edkyle99 · « **Reply #131 on:** 10/08/2018 02:22 pm »

Any idea what's going on here?

- Ed Kyle

ugordan · « **Reply #132 on:** 10/08/2018 02:40 pm »

Quote from: edkyle99 on 10/08/2018 02:22 pm

Any idea what's going on here?

~~Ice, I imagine.~~

Actually, scratch that. If the different cameras have valid clocks, then the metadata for this one says it was taken around 3.5 hrs after landing (compared to landing images which do seem to check out as local time).

A thin layer of ice would not persist that long and the texture looks off as well.

eriblo · « **Reply #133 on:** 10/08/2018 02:48 pm »

Quote from: ugordan on 10/08/2018 02:40 pm

Quote from: edkyle99 on 10/08/2018 02:22 pm
Any idea what's going on here?

Ice, I imagine.

I think so too. More specifically: Bottom of LOX tank getting a fresh layer of frost after landing due to residual LOX/GOX in combination with streaks of sooty condensation/melting ice from higher up? Post landing safing will get rid of most of the Helium but there will still be some Helium/GOX left at atmospheric pressure and any LOX will take some time and heat to boil off.

EDIT: urgodan had a change of heart and I agree that just an ice layer would not last 3.5 hours. But if they have a few hundred kg of LOX and the approach is to let it sit in the double-walled riser/bottom of the tank quietly boiling of that might take some time. The resulting cold GOW would then slowly go up the tank while getting warmer and then vent trough valves at the top of the tank. The alternative would be to dump it through the engine chill-down valves, but that feels like an unnecessary risk to me (I'm assuming the actual pad GSE LOX-interface needs an external connection).

blaze79 · « **Reply #134 on:** 10/09/2018 06:11 am »

Any news about Mr.Steven and fairing?

woods170 · « **Reply #135 on:** 10/09/2018 06:16 am »

Quote from: blaze79 on 10/09/2018 06:11 am

Any news about Mr.Steven and fairing?

Mr. Steven didn't sail due to heavy seas in the recovery area. So, there was no attempt to catch a fairing.

oiorionsbelt · « **Reply #136 on:** 10/09/2018 05:03 pm »

Quote from: woods170 on 10/09/2018 06:16 am

Quote from: blaze79 on 10/09/2018 06:11 am
Any news about Mr.Steven and fairing?

Mr. Steven didn't sail due to heavy seas in the recovery area. So, there was no attempt to catch a fairing.

Is the reason a known or assumption?

Lar · « **Reply #137 on:** 10/09/2018 11:41 pm »

Assumption, I assume. But some people are pretty well connected.

Comga · « **Reply #138 on:** 10/10/2018 05:46 am »

Quote from: woods170 on 10/09/2018 06:16 am

Quote from: blaze79 on 10/09/2018 06:11 am
Any news about Mr.Steven and fairing?

Mr. Steven didn't sail due to heavy seas in the recovery area. So, there was no attempt to catch a fairing.

Or as speculated above SpaceX won't attempt nighttime fairing recovery until they have success in daylight.

kdhilliard · « **Reply #139 on:** 10/10/2018 06:38 am »

Quote from: Comga on 10/10/2018 05:46 am

Quote from: woods170 on 10/09/2018 06:16 am
Quote from: blaze79 on 10/09/2018 06:11 am
Any news about Mr.Steven and fairing?

Mr. Steven didn't sail due to heavy seas in the recovery area. So, there was no attempt to catch a fairing.
Or as speculated above SpaceX won't attempt nighttime fairing recovery until they have success in daylight.

The timing of the launch was know well in advance, but the sea state was not. It might be a coincidence that they put the arms back on Mr. Steven and rigged the net just days before the launch even though they weren't planning on attempting a capture, but it seems more likely that they were preparing for this launch and called it off at the last minute.