Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon 1 Live update thread (Nov. 26 attempt) (Read 74316 times)

braddock · « **Reply #160 on:** 11/27/2005 12:01 am »

Our blogger has a different story:
"Another anomoly appeared during the T-Minus 10 minute hold. The rocket computer rebooted and there is not enough LOX to analyze the problem.

That really sucks.

Next launch date is January based on current LOX delivery estimates."

braddock · « **Reply #161 on:** 11/27/2005 12:02 am »

Larry Williams of SpaceX: "we have not gotten confirmation on what the plan is for tomorrow. If you can keep an eye on our web site, we will post information on our web site, and tell you what our next launch date is."

braddock · « **Reply #162 on:** 11/27/2005 12:05 am »

The conference was just ended.

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #163 on:** 11/27/2005 12:09 am »

Well that was eventful.

Thanks to all on this thread, and let's see if they can try again next year

AndyMc · « **Reply #164 on:** 11/27/2005 12:17 am »

Many thanks to yourself Chris, and braddock for keeping us informed. Much appreciated

DaveS · « **Reply #165 on:** 11/27/2005 12:21 am »

Yes many thanks to Chris and braddock for the updates! Let's hope for better luck next time!

James Lowe1 · « **Reply #166 on:** 11/27/2005 12:22 am »

That was eventful wasn't it! Well that shows how it is with rockets. They aren't simple.

Great work by Braddock. And also Chris - who you won't know has worked through to what is now the early hours of his birthday.

kcowing · « **Reply #167 on:** 11/27/2005 12:29 am »

The January blog entry is incorrect. According to SpaceX, the next launch date will be at least a week, but could be mid-December.

Launch Fan · « **Reply #168 on:** 11/27/2005 12:39 am »

Drama, surreal, hopes, confusion, hope, then an anti-climax. Rocket Science is anything but boring!

Flightstar · « **Reply #169 on:** 11/27/2005 12:44 am »

Quote

kcowing - 26/11/2005 7:29 PM

The January blog entry is incorrect. According to SpaceX, the next launch date will be at least a week, but could be mid-December.

That's an important find. Thank you.

I was otherwise begining to wonder about their contingency plans.

Happy Birthday to Chris. How old now?

Orbiter Obvious · « **Reply #170 on:** 11/27/2005 12:48 am »

Why is there such a long delay, even to the middle of Dec?

James Lowe1 · « **Reply #171 on:** 11/27/2005 12:52 am »

Quote

Orbiter Obvious - 26/11/2005 7:48 PM

Why is there such a long delay, even to the middle of Dec?

Because they need to ship in more LOX from the U.S. It's a several thousand mile trip.

And Flight, Chris is 34 now, he said when he was moaning to me about it on MSN, while telling me not to mention it on site

kcowing · « **Reply #172 on:** 11/27/2005 02:47 am »

The SpaceX launch is scrubbed for today. As I warned, the likelihood of an all new rocket launching from an all new launch pad on its first attempt is low.

The reason for the delay was an auxiliary liquid oxygen (LOX) fill tank had a manual vent valve incorrectly set to vent. The time it took to correct the problem resulted in significant LOX boiloff and loss of helium, and it was the latter that caused the launch abort. LOX is used to chill the helium bottles, so we lose helium if there is no LOX to cool the bottles.

Although we were eventually able to refill the vehicle LOX tanks, the rate at which we could add helium was slower than the rate at which LOX was boiling away. There was no way to close the gap, so the launch had to be called off. In addition, we experienced an anomaly with the main engine computer that requires further investigation and was arguably reason in and of itself to postpone launch.

We are anticipating rescheduling the launch within a week at the earliest but probably longer as we need to bring in LOX and helium from Hawaii. Our LOX plant on Omelek will not replenish our supply in time.

- Elon Musk

David AF · « **Reply #173 on:** 11/27/2005 03:19 am »

Quote

kcowing - 26/11/2005 9:47 PM

The reason for the delay was an auxiliary liquid oxygen (LOX) fill tank had a manual vent valve incorrectly set to vent.

- Elon Musk

Seeing the word manual suggests this was a proceedure error by one of the SpaceX engineers?

braddock · « **Reply #174 on:** 11/27/2005 08:21 am »

Quote

David AF - 26/11/2005 11:19 PM

Seeing the word manual suggests this was a proceedure error by one of the SpaceX engineers?

Kinda impossible to know, but from the blog of Elon Musk's brother, it sounds like the Army procedures didn't help at all. Apparently they were forced to wait for over an hour for permission from the range to go back to the launch site island while most of their LOX boiled out the open valve at a rate of 500 gallons per hour. The Army required some form of procedure writeup that they had to write on the spot and then wait for approval. It must have been infuriating.

The blog of Elon's brother, who is on the island with the team, really proved to be the best source of information on the launch, and makes SpaceX look good (especially compared with the utter confusion of SpaceX HQ on the conference call). It also has some very interesting background on the atoll.

http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_kwajrockets_archive.html

lmike · « **Reply #175 on:** 11/27/2005 08:33 am »

Well, it's a let down in a way, but the learning they are getting is priceless. I'm still awed by the fact that there are just 6 people in that control trailer doing the launch. They also seem to be having fun as they do this rather serious rocket business (judging by the blog), and are being inventive. Enthusiasm counts for a lot to me. Must be a great place to work. And thanks for the reporting guys!

Terry Rocket · « **Reply #176 on:** 11/27/2005 12:54 pm »

Must be fun being rich, but they need to get it right eventually cause theres other private companies looking to do this and need positive investors to back them.

Dobbins · « **Reply #177 on:** 11/27/2005 04:26 pm »

Quote

Terry Rocket - 27/11/2005 8:54 AM

Must be fun being rich, but they need to get it right eventually cause theres other private companies looking to do this and need positive investors to back them.

SpaceX needs investors and is depending on a successful Falcon 1 program to attract the funds needed to develop the Falcon 9. Musk is wealthy, but he's nowhere near being in the same class with people like Paul Allen.

braddock · « **Reply #178 on:** 11/28/2005 12:35 pm »

Elon Musk is estimated to _have_ been worth about $250 - 350 million when he sold PayPal. He's now spent about $100 million of that on SpaceX. That's a pretty substantial chunk of his net worth to spend on a brave gamble. He won't starve, but obviously this is more than a toy to him.

Everything Musk says indicates that he believes in doing this in the hopes that this will make us a true space-faring species. Cut-rate prices can only make money in volume, and the launch market really doesn't seem to be there to support this. If he makes $1 million net off of his $6.7 million Falcon I flights, he's going to need an awful lot of customers to get rich in this business. Especially since a lot of people with much deeper pockets will come out of the woodwork to compete if he can induce a real market.

He should just call it the SpaceX Foundation and at least get the tax deduction. But I'm very glad he's doing it.

lmike · « **Reply #179 on:** 11/28/2005 02:19 pm »

Brad (if I may) is absolutely right, IMHO. There are billionares spending money on "God knows what", but Mr. Musk is "into it" and is not afraid to bet his fortune on it. This counts for a lot in terms of the investors' anticipations. It takes a 'kick-starter' to spin the machine. Speaking from my Silicon Valley experience... The venture capital will follow... I hope...