Updates SpaceX Falcon 9 F2 updates

[Kyle]

Updates on the second Falcon 9 flight, Maiden flight of the Dragon vehicle.

(no patch available yet)

SOURCE OF ARTICLE: http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/002/100716firststage/

'Six weeks after the first Falcon 9 rocketed into orbit, pieces of the second launcher have begun arriving at Cape Canaveral for a shakedown flight of SpaceX's Dragon capsule in September, according to the company's top executive.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-2]The Falcon 9 rocket's first stage inside the hangar at pad 40 on Thursday. Credit: SpaceX[/SIZE][/FONT]

The Falcon 9 first stage pulled into Cape Canaveral Thursday after a truck ride from SpaceX's test site in central Texas.
The stage was placed inside the company's rocket assembly hangar at launch pad 40. Officials said they untarped the rocket and completed initial inspections Thursday night.
Engineers plan more testing over the next several weeks to make sure the stage and its nine Merlin engines are ready for flight.
The Falcon 9 upper stage should arrive in Florida by August, according to Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO.
The objective of the privately-built rocket's second mission is to send the first operational Dragon spacecraft to orbit, where it will briefly test its propulsion, pressure, communications, guidance, navigation and control systems.
"It's really just testing the core functionality of the system," Musk said. "Can it go up there, can it maneuver around, does it maintain integrity, maintain communications, can it re-enter?"
SpaceX is developing the Dragon to ferry cargo to and from the International Space Station beginning next year. The company says the capsule could also be modified to carry humans to orbit within about three years, making the Dragon a leading candidate to win a slice of NASA's plans to procure commercial operators for human transportation to space.
The Falcon 9's first launch June 4 placed an inert Dragon capsule in orbit, but the craft stayed attached to the rocket's second stage. Engineers are methodically reviewing all of the Dragon's systems for the more ambitious upcoming test flight.'


Please note, leave all discussions on commercial vs government out of this thread. Solely use for questions on the Falcon 9 vehicle and Flight 2 of Falcon 9.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Florida Today: "SpaceX plans Falcon 9 flight at Cape in September".

 

[PhantomCruiser]

September seems to be pretty aggressive (to me). I'd really like them to be successful, but I don't want them to over-reach.

 

[Iberville]

With all the troubles at NASA presently I'll would not be surprised that SpaceX's launchers and capules become the US's next spaceship. After all, it's cheaper, look reliable if they succeed, can send payloads in LEO, a crew and can dock to any future space stations or spaceships modules.

 

[ddom2006]

September seems to be pretty aggressive (to me). I'd really like them to be successful, but I don't want them to over-reach.

I'd be amazed if they managed September, I'm personally thinking late October/Early November seems more realistic given how much the first SpaceX flight slipped by.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Aviation Week: "SpaceX Readies First Dragon Spacecraft".

 

[silent_protagonist]

For land recovery, SpaceX is devising a Dragon configuration with four landing legs with shock absorbers or crushable cartridges.

Land based landings with legs? This spacecraft just keeps getting cooler and cooler. :speakcool:

 

[dnt462]

Man i am so pumped for SpaceX to succeed. When I see the planned missions and date, it almost reminds of the "good" NASA that put a man on the moon.

 

[ddom2006]

SpaceX are exciting prospects indeed. I was a little dubious they could do September... but it looks like they're on schedule nicely.

I just hope that Congress/Senate agree to fund the continued development of these projects with the levels of funding they deserve. (That could have been off-topic, apologies if it crossed that line)

 

[silent_protagonist]

SpaceX’s Dragon Spacecraft Successfully Completes High Altitude Drop Test

More flying hardware from SpaceX :speakcool: Nice video. The post also confirms SpaceX's plan to eventually set Dragon down on land, using a combination of landing gear and thrusters.

For initial crewed flights, Dragon will be recovered by helicopter and airlifted to shore. Our long term goal, however, is to land Dragon on land. Once we have proven our ability to control reentry accurately, we intend to add deployable landing gear and leverage the thrusters in order to land on land in the future.

 

[anemazoso]

In particular, SpaceX thanks the Dynegy Morro Bay Power Plant, Erickson Air-Crane, Angel City Air Aerial Photography, Associated Pacific Constructors of Morro Bay, Castagnola Tug Service, Morro Bay Harbor, Fire and Police Departments, US Coast Guard Morro Bay Station, The Federal Aviation Administration, Morro Bay Planning Division, Protech Express Towing, SloDivers, Centurion Private Security, Coast Diving Service and Woody Wordsworth at Radio Shack Morro Bay.

Nice! :thumbup:

 

[silent_protagonist]

Hmm,

we intend to add deployable landing gear and leverage the thrusters in order to land on land in the future.

if I recall correctly the Draco thrusters are hydrazine fueled. Wouldn't that be a toxicity hazard if they used them for dry landings?

and Woody Wordsworth at Radio Shack Morro Bay.

Lol, I wonder what the story there is.

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now: SpaceX: Dragon testing will determine launch schedule.

 

[ddom2006]

Hmm,

if I recall correctly the Draco thrusters are hydrazine fueled. Wouldn't that be a toxicity hazard if they used them for dry landings?

No more than the Shuttle does presumably? I expect as much hydrazine would be used or bled from the Dragon before touch down though...

 

[francisdrake]

I don't think they intend to use the current Draco thrusters as landing engines. A single draco has a thrust of 400 N (90 pounds) only and is angled outward by ~30°. With 4 downward thrusters this gives only 0.9 x 1600 N thrust (vacuum or sea-level?), while the Dragon capsule in return config weighs around 3000 kg = 30.000 N.

Maybe SpaceX has plans to add a pusher-type LES to the underside of the capsule for a later manned config. If not used during ascent, parts of this system may be used for a braking impulse just before landing (comparable to the landing thruster of a Soyuz).

 

[silent_protagonist]

I don't think they intend to use the current Draco thrusters as landing engines. A single draco has a thrust of 400 N (90 pounds) only and is angled outward by ~30°. With 4 downward thrusters this gives only 0.9 x 1600 N thrust (vacuum or sea-level?), while the Dragon capsule in return config weighs around 3000 kg = 30.000 N.

Maybe SpaceX has plans to add a pusher-type LES to the underside of the capsule for a later manned config. If not used during ascent, parts of this system may be used for a braking impulse just before landing (comparable to the landing thruster of a Soyuz).

Ah, good point, the draco's would be just a drop in the bucket. I wonder what they mean then by "leveraging the thrusters"?

A dual-use LES would certainly be an interesting challenge, as it'd have to be mounted in the reentry capsule, which I'm guessing is already pretty cramped, especially if they're putting landing gear in there too.

 

[andysim]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p1ZuxjvfSM"]YouTube- SpaceX Dragon Drop Test[/ame] Drop Test. Looks good

 

[tblaxland]

Thanks for the video. How do they design the parachutes so that they stay separated from one another? I'm guessing that they have some strategically placed vents but how does one ensure that they are in the correct relative orientation when the chutes open?

 

[francisdrake]

I found this interesting quote in an Aviation week article, page 2:

Musk says he has shelved plans for a traditional tractor tower escape system in favor of putting engines directly into the Dragon spacecraft.
“It makes the whole thing considerably lighter and there’s less to go wrong,” he says. “We also have the ability to abort all the way to orbit insertion. [With]the launch escape tower approach, you have to toss off shortly after second-stage ignition [due to weight], so you actually don’t even have it for most of your flight.”
Musk says the engines in a push-off escape system can double as a propulsive landing system, enabling Dragon to land on the ground and saving the expense and time of a water recovery.


Honestly, I found it only _after_ writing the post above


But I heard before they intend to omitt the classical launch escape tower, as its weight penalty would be too high. So the alternatives would either be
- No LES at all. This could be acceptable if the overall safety of the vessel is sufficiently high (as for an airliner jet)
- Or having a pusher-type LES. If these LES propellants are carried all the way up to orbit, it would make sense to find a dual use for them, which could be deorbiting or landing.

 

[silent_protagonist]

Well I guess that answers that question, thanks for the link.