SpaceX

[docmordrid]

Super Heavy booster stacking has commenced.

CC: Boeing <snark>

IMG_20201108_125544.jpg

https://twitter.com/BocaChicaGal/sta...79927060180992

[Nicolas]

All this effort just because Musk wants his Roadster back... ;-)

[docmordrid]

Other company's Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity (ACO) selections at the link.

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/sp...ACO_Selections

>
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California

SpaceX will partner with Langley to capture imagery and thermal measurements of its Starship vehicle during orbital re-entry over the Pacific Ocean. With the data, the company plans to advance a reusable thermal protection system, which protects the vehicle from aerodynamic heating, for missions returning from low-Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.
>

[docmordrid]

Boca Chica

Wet Dress Rehearsal tonight, wrapping things up.

Another road closure with static fire warning for tomorrow, Nov. 10.

[docmordrid]

Dragon Crew-1 Saturday Nov 14 at 1949 Eastern

Prepare your popcorn & brews...

IMG_20201110_103212.jpg

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1325931233784680448

[docmordrid]

SN-08 static fire!

There were some flying bits, but the consensus is it was ground debris; excavated concrete, gravel, crispy lizards etc.

IMG_20201110_213841.jpg

https://twitter.com/SpacePadreIsle/s...17711937441792

[docmordrid]

Michael Baylor @nextspaceflight
Nov 10, 2020
The Starship SN8 road closure scheduled for Nov. 11 has been cancelled after Tuesday's static fire. The next testing opportunity is now Nov. 12. Anticipating another header tank static fire next, potentially with multiple engines.
||
Preliminary info is that the debris that went flying during Tuesday's static fire was likely from the pad and is not a concern per Raptor performance. However, assessments can always change based on further data reviews, inspections, etc.

https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/...78584781545472

[docmordrid]

Crew Dragon Crew-1 slips: weather (not unexpected)

Date: November 15, 2020
Time: 1927 Eastern (0027 UT)

[Garrison]

So a potentially serious issue on the third static fire but the safety system worked:

https://www.space.com/spacex-starshi...c-fire-problem

"We lost vehicle pneumatics. Reason unknown at present. Liquid oxygen header tank pressure is rising. Hopefully triggers burst disk to relieve pressure, otherwise it’s going to pop the cork," Musk said via Twitter on Thursday night. (Burst disks are single-use devices that, like valves, seal off different sections or systems of a vehicle. They relieve pressure when they open, as Musk noted.)

The cause of the problem is unknown at the moment, Musk said in another Thursday tweet: "Maybe melted an engine preburner or fuel hot gas manifold. Whatever it is caused pneumatics loss. We need to design out this problem."

That's the bad news. The good news is that the burst disk did its job, and SN8 is still in one piece.

[Nicolas]

I'd say that this is the best possible moment -apart from the design phase- of discovering such secondary damage issue. There will be some delay to solve it, but no loss of vehicle, mission, or crew. You wouldn't want to become "the DC10 of spaceflight".

And bravo for the burst disk, took one for the team.

[publiusr]

This is precious
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=44880

[Extravoice]

This is precious
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=44880

Very well done. It brought back a few memories from my childhood.

[Van Rijn]

This is precious
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=44880

For others, the post is titled “SpaceX are go!” and it links to a video mixing SpaceX and Thunderbirds. I never watched Thunderbirds, but this is extremely similar to Space 1999 in style.

[Nicolas]

Where the obvious huge style difference is that Thunderbirds were marionets, where Space 1999 was live action. And SpaceX is larger than life action.

[Garrison]

I'd say that this is the best possible moment -apart from the design phase- of discovering such secondary damage issue. There will be some delay to solve it, but no loss of vehicle, mission, or crew. You wouldn't want to become "the DC10 of spaceflight".

And bravo for the burst disk, took one for the team.

Also since this hasn't happened in previous tests it probably means its something rare and they can just swap out the engine and go on with other testing in the meantime. This is yet another example of having multiple test articles being a plus.

[docmordrid]

They spent yesterday and today swapping out an engine.

The landing video has been revised after Musk made suggestions,

https://youtu.be/EoFthb8LWQc

[cjameshuff]

Also since this hasn't happened in previous tests it probably means its something rare and they can just swap out the engine and go on with other testing in the meantime. This is yet another example of having multiple test articles being a plus.

It may also be some quirk to running from the header tanks. Maybe even a result of the pneumatics being lost, if that wasn't itself caused by the engine melting down.

[docmordrid]

Better to find the problem now that at 3km on the way down.

[Trebuchet]

Better to find the problem now that at 3km on the way down.

But less spectacular, of course!

[publiusr]

Now, the Russians often didn’t house over the area, leaving the engines somewhat exposed.
Raptors are recessed inside a resonating tube.

Could that be a factor? Or would sympathetic vibrations from each engine interfere with the others?
Could different turbo pumps at slightly different speeds allow for some kind of vibration frequency matching, letting things smooth out?

[docmordrid]

There's be acoustic loads for sure, but they already deal with 9 engines on Falcon and 27 on Falcon Heavy. Methinks they know how to model acoustic loads.

Due to the newness of some techs being used 1) they may run into unknown-unknowns, and 2) not be able to talk about the vehicle in detail because of ITAR.

[publiusr]

Falcon engines fire in the open, though.
If the cylinder is forced a bit wider due to acoustics, might that be “felt” by hoses as their attachments being pulled away in some wise?

[Nicolas]

Acoustic analysis is a standard part of launcher design.

[docmordrid]

Acoustic analysis is a standard part of launcher design.

And...SpaceX is said to have one of the most powerful CFD systems anywhere, developed by a SpaceXer who spent time at Brookhaven and collaborating with Sandia.

Since 2016 they've had access to Air Force Research Laboratory's Lightning, Thunder and Mustang supercomputers

https://www.afrl.hpc.mil/news/success/SpaceXFalcon.html

[bknight]

So when is the ETA of Crew Dragon? All I found on the net was previous missions, maybe I asked the wrong questions.

[Garrison]

So when is the ETA of Crew Dragon? All I found on the net was previous missions, maybe I asked the wrong questions.

11pm EST/0400 GMT. Being followed in more detail on the Crew-1 thread.

[bknight]

11pm EST/0400 GMT. Being followed in more detail on the Crew-1 thread.

Thanks.

[Kay Burton]

And...SpaceX is said to have one of the most powerful CFD systems anywhere, developed by a SpaceXer who spent time at Brookhaven and collaborating with Sandia.

Since 2016 they've had access to Air Force Research Laboratory's Lightning, Thunder and Mustang supercomputers

https://www.afrl.hpc.mil/news/success/SpaceXFalcon.html

And no wonder. They are very motivated in space exploration. Well done for building their location for launching missiles. Now they do not depend on other people's moods and are not obliged to pay indescribable money for launching from Baikonur.

[Garrison]

And no wonder. They are very motivated in space exploration. Well done for building their location for launching missiles. Now they do not depend on other people's moods and are not obliged to pay indescribable money for launching from Baikonur.

Technically they could still put a US astronaut on a Soyuz under a deal where they give the Russians a seat on a US commercial vehicle. I suspect however it will be a long time before Roscosmos agrees to put one of their people on a Dragon.

[docmordrid]

Technically they could still put a US astronaut on a Soyuz under a deal where they give the Russians a seat on a US commercial vehicle. I suspect however it will be a long time before Roscosmos agrees to put one of their people on a Dragon.

Quick! Someone send Dmitry Rozogin a recipe for crow!