SpaceX Falcon 9 Live Landing Attempt
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Er, yes, and here's a frenchman doing the same thing......in 1957
L'ATAR VOLANT : A.F du 29/05/1957. - Vidéo Dailymotion
L'ATAR VOLANT : A.F du 29/05/1957. - Vidéo Dailymotion
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Meanwhile, back in the 21st Century - does anyone know how the telegraph pole is kept upright? Presumably extending steerable cruciform fins at the top deployed for the freefall, but is it thrusters or gimballing exhaust for the delicate bit?
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Flagon
There is mention here of a cold gas attitude control system:
SpaceX Grasshopper Development Updates - Spaceflight101
There is mention here of a cold gas attitude control system:
SpaceX Grasshopper Development Updates - Spaceflight101
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I believe it's cold gas thrusters outside the atmosphere, fins in the atmosphere with the engine off, and engine gimballing when the engine is running.
Landing video is up, didn't see anyone else post it yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nMsUvakPM
Apparently the fins got stuck at a steep angle when the hydraulic fluid ran out, and the engine gimbal couldn't compensate for it and still decelerate enough to land softly.
Unfortunately, from the video, it looks like there won't be many pieces left that are large enough to determine whether it really will be reusable when they land it in one piece. Hopefully next time it will work.
Wasn't this also the first time they did a boostback manoeuvre where it turns around and heads back toward Florida? I think the previous attempts just fell into the sea wherever it was heading.
Edit: here you go, this is how it's supposed to work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfMuvsC9k2U
Landing video is up, didn't see anyone else post it yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nMsUvakPM
Apparently the fins got stuck at a steep angle when the hydraulic fluid ran out, and the engine gimbal couldn't compensate for it and still decelerate enough to land softly.
Unfortunately, from the video, it looks like there won't be many pieces left that are large enough to determine whether it really will be reusable when they land it in one piece. Hopefully next time it will work.
Wasn't this also the first time they did a boostback manoeuvre where it turns around and heads back toward Florida? I think the previous attempts just fell into the sea wherever it was heading.
Edit: here you go, this is how it's supposed to work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfMuvsC9k2U
Last edited by MG23; 17th Jan 2015 at 04:14.
Despite going wrong as above, that is pretty close, demonstrates they have clearly cracked a lot of the technical challenges to get this far, and a very impressive achievement.
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Launch 11.05 pm gmt
Mission background:
SpaceX moves Falcon 9 launch with DSCOVR to Tuesday | NASASpaceFlight.com
Watch here:
http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/08/wat...r-launch-live/
Mission background:
SpaceX moves Falcon 9 launch with DSCOVR to Tuesday | NASASpaceFlight.com
Watch here:
http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/08/wat...r-launch-live/
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SpaceX Scrubs Falcon 9's DSCOVR Launch (Again) Due to Winds
BY ALAN BOYLE
SpaceX postponed the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket with the Deep Space Climate Observatory once more on Tuesday, due to unacceptable upper-level winds.
The rocket was geared up to send the observatory, also known as DSCOVR, on its trek to a vantage point a million miles from Earth — and then make a second try to land the rocket's first stage on an oceangoing platform.
But with 13 minutes left on the countdown clock, the upper-level winds were judged to be too high for the rocket to handle.
Even before the launch was postponed, SpaceX founder Elon Musk expressed concern about Tuesday's conditions. "Extreme wind shear over Cape Canaveral," Musk said in a tweet. "Feels like a sledgehammer when supersonic in the vertical. Hoping it changes..."
SpaceX Scrubs Falcon 9's DSCOVR Launch (Again) Due to Winds - NBC News
Rescheduled to Wednesday 11.03 pm gmt
BY ALAN BOYLE
SpaceX postponed the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket with the Deep Space Climate Observatory once more on Tuesday, due to unacceptable upper-level winds.
The rocket was geared up to send the observatory, also known as DSCOVR, on its trek to a vantage point a million miles from Earth — and then make a second try to land the rocket's first stage on an oceangoing platform.
But with 13 minutes left on the countdown clock, the upper-level winds were judged to be too high for the rocket to handle.
Even before the launch was postponed, SpaceX founder Elon Musk expressed concern about Tuesday's conditions. "Extreme wind shear over Cape Canaveral," Musk said in a tweet. "Feels like a sledgehammer when supersonic in the vertical. Hoping it changes..."
SpaceX Scrubs Falcon 9's DSCOVR Launch (Again) Due to Winds - NBC News
Rescheduled to Wednesday 11.03 pm gmt
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
SpaceX, Air Force sign deal for landing pad at Cape
SpaceX and the Air Force have reached an agreement to use a former Atlas launch pad on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as a landing site for returning Falcon rocket boosters.
"The way we see it, this is a classic combination of a highly successful launch past morphing into an equally promising future," Brig. Gen. Nina Armagno, commander of the 45th Space Wing, said in a statement........
Located on "Missile Row," Launch Complex 13 first supported a test of an Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile in 1958, and later launches of unmanned planetary probes for NASA and classified Air Force missions. It was deactivated in 1978 after more than 50 launches and designated part of a National Historic Landmark, according to Air Force records.
"For decades, we have been refining our procedures for getting successful launches skyward here on the Eastern Range. Now we're looking at processes on how to bring first-stage rockets back to earth at the first landing pad at the Cape," Armagno said. "We live in exciting times here on the Space Coast."
SpaceX and the Air Force have reached an agreement to use a former Atlas launch pad on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as a landing site for returning Falcon rocket boosters.
"The way we see it, this is a classic combination of a highly successful launch past morphing into an equally promising future," Brig. Gen. Nina Armagno, commander of the 45th Space Wing, said in a statement........
Located on "Missile Row," Launch Complex 13 first supported a test of an Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile in 1958, and later launches of unmanned planetary probes for NASA and classified Air Force missions. It was deactivated in 1978 after more than 50 launches and designated part of a National Historic Landmark, according to Air Force records.
"For decades, we have been refining our procedures for getting successful launches skyward here on the Eastern Range. Now we're looking at processes on how to bring first-stage rockets back to earth at the first landing pad at the Cape," Armagno said. "We live in exciting times here on the Space Coast."
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Launch tonight went well, no holds, everything nominal, DSCOVR is now in parking orbit ready for next burn to reach Lagrange point.
First stage returned to sea. Wave height 10m did not permit ships to stay in recovery location.
First stage returned to sea. Wave height 10m did not permit ships to stay in recovery location.
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Yesterday's Falcon 9 launch of the DSCOVR spacecraft to the L-1 point was picture perfect.
According to Elon Musk, the booster fly-back was successful, landing vertically within ten meters of the target.
Sadly, due to 10 meter wave conditions, Just Read The Instructions was recalled prior to what became a water landing of the Falcon 9 stage one.
According to Elon Musk, the booster fly-back was successful, landing vertically within ten meters of the target.
Sadly, due to 10 meter wave conditions, Just Read The Instructions was recalled prior to what became a water landing of the Falcon 9 stage one.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
SpaceX will try again to make history during the launch of its robotic Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station on Monday (April 13).
The company aims to bring the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth for a soft touchdown on an unmanned "spaceport drone ship" in the Atlantic Ocean after the booster sends Dragon on its way toward the orbiting lab. Liftoff is scheduled for 4:33 p.m. EDT (2033 GMT) Monday from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; you can watch all the action live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV.
WATCH LIVE NOW: HD Views from the International Space Station
The company aims to bring the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth for a soft touchdown on an unmanned "spaceport drone ship" in the Atlantic Ocean after the booster sends Dragon on its way toward the orbiting lab. Liftoff is scheduled for 4:33 p.m. EDT (2033 GMT) Monday from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; you can watch all the action live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV.
WATCH LIVE NOW: HD Views from the International Space Station
Scrubbed due to thunderstorms.
Falcon is on the way, so far all ok. I caught a glimpse of the mission control crowd behind the windows sort of clapping and sort of looking disappointed - I wonder if stage 1 landing was a very near miss...?