Quote from: DanClemmensen on 03/28/2022 03:50 pmWill NASA allow capsule higher capsule reuse? Note: max of four is my guess, not an official number.Quote from: kevinof on 03/28/2022 04:11 pmfor the 4 re-uses that was decided by NASA and SpaceXThe SpaceX quoted / official number was actually up to 5 reuses.We've also seen SpaceX pull older boosters out of storage and use them so I'm sure C205 is being stored somewhere safe. This would extend Dragon's fleet life to 20+ future flights without exceeding 5 flights per airframe.
Will NASA allow capsule higher capsule reuse? Note: max of four is my guess, not an official number.
for the 4 re-uses that was decided by NASA and SpaceX
IIRC Starliner will only have two capsules and DreamChaser was going to only have one(?). Not sure why Dragon would be any different, four capsules is plenty.
We've also seen SpaceX pull older boosters out of storage and use them so I'm sure C205 is being stored somewhere safe. This would extend Dragon's fleet life to 20+ future flights without exceeding 5 flights per airframe.
Some perspective on Crew Dragon's rapid rise: It has now flown 22 astronauts into orbit. China, widely regarded as having the second-most capable space program in the world, has launched 20 astronauts since 2003.
Calling China the second most capable space program when, by my counts, Russia has launched 204 people on Soyuz since 2003 seems odd.
Question about dragon recovery zones:Does spaceX still have the capability to recover dragon from the west coast? With all the weather delays, it seems like a good idea to have recovery options... Especially for non-nasa missions.
Quote from: AstroWare on 04/23/2022 05:37 pmQuestion about dragon recovery zones:Does spaceX still have the capability to recover dragon from the west coast? With all the weather delays, it seems like a good idea to have recovery options... Especially for non-nasa missions.They don't have crew recovery ships on the west coast, only in the Gulf and the Atlantic near Florida.
Quote from: whitelancer64 on 04/23/2022 05:54 pmQuote from: AstroWare on 04/23/2022 05:37 pmQuestion about dragon recovery zones:Does spaceX still have the capability to recover dragon from the west coast? With all the weather delays, it seems like a good idea to have recovery options... Especially for non-nasa missions.They don't have crew recovery ships on the west coast, only in the Gulf and the Atlantic near Florida.Well Sure, that's the short answer. Shannon (was go navigator?) and Meghan (was go searcher?) Are on the east coast. Is nrc Quest still used? It was used to support booster landings out of Vandenberg as well as dragon 1's recovery. Something is still used for west coast fairings. Does it still have capsule recovery hardware? Sure, no helicopter pad, but they don't have to use that...Consider spaceX must have contingency recovery plans for the whole ascent abort trajectory. So there are procedures in place for other methods of recovery if needed.
Quote from: AstroWare on 04/23/2022 07:16 pmQuote from: whitelancer64 on 04/23/2022 05:54 pmQuote from: AstroWare on 04/23/2022 05:37 pmQuestion about dragon recovery zones:Does spaceX still have the capability to recover dragon from the west coast? With all the weather delays, it seems like a good idea to have recovery options... Especially for non-nasa missions.They don't have crew recovery ships on the west coast, only in the Gulf and the Atlantic near Florida.Well Sure, that's the short answer. Shannon (was go navigator?) and Meghan (was go searcher?) Are on the east coast. Is nrc Quest still used? It was used to support booster landings out of Vandenberg as well as dragon 1's recovery. Something is still used for west coast fairings. Does it still have capsule recovery hardware? Sure, no helicopter pad, but they don't have to use that...Consider spaceX must have contingency recovery plans for the whole ascent abort trajectory. So there are procedures in place for other methods of recovery if needed.Crew Dragon ascent abort contingency recovery splashdown zones are along the North American Eastern sea coast from Florida to Newfoundland and the Western approaches to Ireland.SpaceX have recovery assets in place for the Florida coastline. The US and Canadian military have recovery assets for the other splashdown zones. Plus any US and Allied naval units near the splashdown zone will be drafted for recovery duties.The capability of SpaceX to do West coast Dragon recovery is unclear. Their West coast recovery fleet are GO Quest and NRC Quest. With main task of the NRC Quest being retrieving payload fairings. Doubt there is a West coast cadre of personnel on standby for Dragon recovery after all Dragon recoveries shifted to the East coast.
<snip>My point about abort contingencies was just that spaceX has had to consider how to recover Dragon without their two *dedicated* recovery vessels. Wasn't making a point about the abort zones locations themselves.
Of all the SpaceX engines, Draco is the one that changed the least from my original design. Merlin and Kestrel were completely transformed once we got test data, but Draco looks almost exactly like my first sketch except for the size/shape of the final injection holes.
Crew Dragon has now flown more astronauts (22) into orbit and back than NASA's Gemini spacecraft (20). Up next is the Apollo capsule, at 45. The space shuttle's tally, 355 astronauts, likely remains out of reach until Starship comes online.
The article claims that the "composite heat shield structure" was reused on the Crew-4 launch, in spite of the capsule being new. I assume this means the PICAX heat shield? This is the first I've heard of that - can anyone confirm that to be the case?
Quote from: whitelancer64 on 05/23/2022 09:39 pmThe article claims that the "composite heat shield structure" was reused on the Crew-4 launch, in spite of the capsule being new. I assume this means the PICAX heat shield? This is the first I've heard of that - can anyone confirm that to be the case?I believe it was stated (at one of the press conferences for an earlier CRS mission where they first trialed this kind of reuse) that what they were reusing was the support structure of the heat shield, not the PICA-X ablator. That is, they installed fresh ablator tiles on a reused composite support frame.Given that Axiom-1, which ostensibly had the issue with hypergols leaking into the heat shield causing accelerated ablator wear, was not reusing any part of the heat shield, it doesn't sound like this issue is related to heat shield reuse. And if I'm parsing the article's (rather sloppy) words correctly, it doesn't sound like Axiom-1 was reusing Draco thrusters either. Apparently both heat shield and Draco reuse are being done for the first time (for a crew mission) on Crew-4, having been previously trialed exclusively on cargo missions.Assuming the leaked memo reported by the article is indeed genuine (which is not a given, particularly since they did not publish or quote from the memo), it sounds like this is a real issue that SpaceX and NASA are concerned about and working through, but the Space Explored issue is taking it and sensationalizing it with a great deal of FUD.It would be great if some more reputable/careful outlets could pick up the story and ask some probing questions, e.g. at an upcoming Commercial Crew press conference (of which there should be opportunities within the coming days surrounding OFT-2's return). Perhaps then we could get some clearer answers as to the nature of this issue and the status of any root cause investigation and remediation efforts.
https://spaceexplored.com/2022/05/23/spacex-heat-shield-issues/I've just seen this posted on Facebook. Some relevant quotes from that article: SpaceX Dragon hypergolic leak risked crew, NASA investigation underwayAxiom-1 heat shield issues****While those watching the flight would have been unaware of any complications during the launch, Space Explored has been made aware of a cascade of issues. The most serious affected the spacecraft during its return to Earth. Hypergolic propellant made its way into the Crew Dragon Endeavour’s heat shield, according to sources at SpaceX and NASA who spoke with Space Explored. This hypergolic propellant is used by the Crew Dragon in its Draco engines – hypergolic means that the two parts spontaneously combust upon contact. It is believed that this hypergolic propellant impacted the integrity of the heatshield, causing dangerously excessive wear upon reentry.SpaceX memo & NESC investigationSpace Explored has also been made aware of an internal memo at SpaceX addressing other issues during the flight of the Axiom private astronauts. Further, SpaceX made NASA aware of the issues with Axiom’s Crew Dragon heat shield, which has led to an NESC inquiry taking place in relation to the excessive wear. NESC is NASA’s Engineering and Safety Center, which was created in the wake of the Columbia disaster on the recommendation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. NESC’s mission is to “perform value-added independent testing, analysis, and assessments of NASA’s high-risk projects to ensure safety and mission success,” which works “proactively to help NASA avoid future problems.”****We will have a first time reuse on the composite heat shield structure on the Dragon vehicle for this flight. And then in particular we are reusing four Draco thrusters on this flight.The article claims that the "composite heat shield structure" was reused on the Crew-4 launch, in spite of the capsule being new. I assume this means the PICAX heat shield? This is the first I've heard of that - can anyone confirm that to be the case?
