SpaceX Falcon 9 : CRS-16 (Dragon SpX-16) : December 5, 2018 - DISCUSSION

[ugordan]

 

Great tracking video of the landing - and this shot catches the severe tumble a few seconds after the braking burn. 

Wow. Good to see they transitioned from filming a camera screen with a camera to a proper capture in the last couple of launches.

If you pause at around 1:03 you can actually see the bow shock refracting the light of background clouds 

Reminds me of WB-57 chase plane footage of IIRC STS-114 launch, but the public video quality was very bad and the video was interlaced and created horrendous artifacts.

[Lars-J]

Wow. Good to see they transitioned from filming a camera screen with a camera to a proper capture in the last couple of launches.

If you pause at around 1:03 you can actually see the bow shock refracting the light of background clouds 

Here is an animated GIF of the most eye-popping sequence  (not sped up!)

[ugordan]

Here is an animated GIF of the most eye-popping sequence  (not sped up!)

I think that's the point we got to see in the live stream, that roll reversal before they cut the feed. These guys have a serious tracking setup.

[Gliderflyer]

Put me in the interstage is broken camp. The lower left section doesn't line up with the rest of it.

[whitelancer64]

Wow. Good to see they transitioned from filming a camera screen with a camera to a proper capture in the last couple of launches.

If you pause at around 1:03 you can actually see the bow shock refracting the light of background clouds 

Here is an animated GIF of the most eye-popping sequence  (not sped up!)

I can hear the "Oh! ... ... wooooOOOAAAHHH!!" from the SpaceX cafeteria crowd in my head as I watch that lol xD

[ellindsey]

Two very quick drawings where I outlined the damage to the interstage.  The first shows the location of the gash and a bend where the separated section of the interstage is pulled outward from its normal position.  The second is the end-on shot, where you can see that the top of the interstage is no longer circular, and has a large opening facing downwards.  Yellow shows the new profile of the top of the interstage, red is the edges of the tear and the position of the bend in the first image.

[flyright]

This might explain why the Coast Guard was asking Go Quest if they had picked up a piece of the interstage. Go Quest replied that they picked up a piece of a leg.

[ugordan]

Put me in the interstage is broken camp. The lower left section doesn't line up with the rest of it.

That'll buff right out.

[Lars-J]

Two very quick drawings where I outlined the damage to the interstage.  The first shows the location of the gash and a bend where the separated section of the interstage is pulled outward from its normal position.  The second is the end-on shot, where you can see that the top of the interstage is no longer circular, and has a large opening facing downwards.  Yellow shows the new profile of the top of the interstage, red is the edges of the tear and the position of the bend in the first image.

Hmm, you could be on to something. There is new video in the update thread, it seems to support this too.  (although only 360p res uploaded so far)

[whitelancer64]

Two very quick drawings where I outlined the damage to the interstage.  The first shows the location of the gash and a bend where the separated section of the interstage is pulled outward from its normal position.  The second is the end-on shot, where you can see that the top of the interstage is no longer circular, and has a large opening facing downwards.  Yellow shows the new profile of the top of the interstage, red is the edges of the tear and the position of the bend in the first image.

That "large opening facing downwards" is just water inside the interstage.

I'm still not seeing a gash on the side of the interstage, I think it's just light bouncing off the water onto the interstage.

[llanitedave]

Also, there are no floatation bags on the interstage, so what looks like water, pretty much has to be water.

[ugordan]

Hmm, you could be on to something. There is new video in the update thread, it seems to support this too.  (although only 360p res uploaded so far)

Yeah, seems to me youtube is taking its sweet time encoding the other quality options.

Once it's done it should be legen-wait for it-dary.

[MattBaker]

Regardless of any gashes and landing legs being intentionally removed or torn off by Aquaman himself (clearly this whole thing is paid promotion from DC Comics proving water > space):

The stage has been in salt water for nearly 30 hours already and even if it would be out by 9 AM sharp tomorrow morning, 44 hours. Then hydraulics already failed before landing, who knows what caused that, and the whole thing took a sizeable whack when it tipped over into water and spent however many hours it will ultimately be subjected to the constant forces of ocean waves jerking it around, which might or might not have torn any gashes into it.

Add the recovery to it, it's not something that's really been done before so they might as well further damage it even with the best intentions.

All that taken together: Do you think this stage will ever fly again?

The way I see it, even if they successfully recover it, which seems like quite a headache, all value this stage has is forensics, which might be valuable in itself though.

[Kabloona]

Here is an animated GIF of the most eye-popping sequence  (not sped up!)

Eye-popping indeed. Apollo 13, you're heading for gimbal lock!

[leetdan]

Delta Mariner is heading in to port, and will pass right by the recovery area.  It's a shame they won't be passing during daylight hours, the photo caption possibilities would be nearly endless!

[whitelancer64]

Two very quick drawings where I outlined the damage to the interstage.  The first shows the location of the gash and a bend where the separated section of the interstage is pulled outward from its normal position.  The second is the end-on shot, where you can see that the top of the interstage is no longer circular, and has a large opening facing downwards.  Yellow shows the new profile of the top of the interstage, red is the edges of the tear and the position of the bend in the first image.

You know what? I retract my previous statements. I see the flap now. That illustration was very helpful.

Sorry Lars-J, I'm in the "the interstage is busted" camp.

[DigitalMan]

Two very quick drawings where I outlined the damage to the interstage.  The first shows the location of the gash and a bend where the separated section of the interstage is pulled outward from its normal position.  The second is the end-on shot, where you can see that the top of the interstage is no longer circular, and has a large opening facing downwards.  Yellow shows the new profile of the top of the interstage, red is the edges of the tear and the position of the bend in the first image.

You know what? I retract my previous statements. I see the flap now. That illustration was very helpful.

Sorry Lars-J, I'm in the "the interstage is busted" camp.

It seems to me the interstage would have impacted the ocean with the most force since it is at the top.  Also interesting that the damage is on the same side as the probable leg 'issue'.  Whether the leg was damaged or removed is a good question but I don't recall hearing anything about leg removal on the radio link.

[whitelancer64]

AmericaSpace has an article with pictures looking down the barrel that clearly shows the interstage is broken.

https://www.americaspace.com/2018/12/06/teams-working-to-recover-floating-falcon-9-rocket-off-cape-canaveral/

[Lars-J]

Two very quick drawings where I outlined the damage to the interstage.  The first shows the location of the gash and a bend where the separated section of the interstage is pulled outward from its normal position.  The second is the end-on shot, where you can see that the top of the interstage is no longer circular, and has a large opening facing downwards.  Yellow shows the new profile of the top of the interstage, red is the edges of the tear and the position of the bend in the first image.

You know what? I retract my previous statements. I see the flap now. That illustration was very helpful.

Sorry Lars-J, I'm in the "the interstage is busted" camp.

Yep, I see it too. I stand corrected. Fortunately my hat is very tasty. 

[flyright]

SpaceX is moving the ASDS and the little spacer barge about 300 feet to the west.
Getting help from two tugs.

I'm guessing they are making room for the booster.