Launch News SpaceX Falcon 9 Return to Flight with 11 Orbcomm-2 satellites, December 21/22, 2015

[Thunder Chicken]

No indication of a static fire being done yet. Launch date is now Sunday Dec. 20, pending LRR.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/12/spacex-static-fire-falcon-9-og-2-rtf/

The supercooled LOX loading system seems to have some teething troubles.

 

[Kyle]

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk 16s16 seconds ago
Aborted on ignition timing due to slow ground side valve. Adjusting ignition sequence by 0.6 secs for next attempt.

 

[IronRain]

Elon Musk just posted this!

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Wow! I wouldn't have guess a RTLS. I wish them the best of luck.

 

[BrianJ]

Wow! I wouldn't have guess a RTLS. I wish them the best of luck.

Indeed, I expected the authorities to require a succesful landing at sea before giving permission for a RTLS.
However, the Orbcomm flight is a great opportunity to try a RTLS due to the very steep ascent profile required to go direct to a ~ 650x715km orbit. The 1st stage has much less horizontal velocity to kill compared to a launch to 200km LEO (the way I launch it Orbiter, anyway!). Fingers crossed, good luck SpaceX.

 

[Urwumpe]

Indeed, I expected the authorities to require a succesful landing at sea before giving permission for a RTLS.
However, the Orbcomm flight is a great opportunity to try a RTLS due to the very steep ascent profile required to go direct to a ~ 650x715km orbit. The 1st stage has much less horizontal velocity to kill compared to a launch to 200km LEO (the way I launch it Orbiter, anyway!). Fingers crossed, good luck SpaceX.

Remember, Earth has a radius of about 6378 km. It is not such a big difference in flight profile as it sounds, despite flying about twice as high above ground as usual.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Woo hoo! RTLS attempt! I am so excited! :woohoo:

Oh yeah, I hope the Orbcomm satellites get delivered too. :dry:

 

[Urwumpe]

Woo hoo! RTLS attempt! I am so excited! :woohoo:

Oh yeah, I hope the Orbcomm satellites get delivered too. :dry:

If you remember that it is just a tiny white match stick and not a 600 ton STS stack involved, RTLS sounds far less exciting. :facepalm:

 

[Kyle]

Guessed it was going to be LC-13 or water-landing. SpaceX sounds like they're fed up with the ASDS as it's apparently way easier to land on actual land than a barge.

There's a high chance of failure, obviously, but I'm really excited for this.

 

[Urwumpe]

Guessed it was going to be LC-13 or water-landing. SpaceX sounds like they're fed up with the ASDS as it's apparently way easier to land on actual land than a barge.

There's a high chance of failure, obviously, but I'm really excited for this.

Absolutely. If land does list and pitch, you are landing during an earthquake.

 

[Pipcard]

If you remember that it is just a tiny white match stick and not a 600 ton STS stack involved, RTLS sounds far less exciting. :facepalm:

A match stick dozens of meters tall, descending on a column of fire to gently touch down on a landing pad.

(And if they stick the landing, it has a better chance of being able to demonstrate economical reusability than the Shuttle.)

I have doubts about their super-heavy launcher concept known as the "BFR" becoming operational, but if it does, that will be even more exciting.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

If you remember that it is just a tiny white match stick and not a 600 ton STS stack involved, RTLS sounds far less exciting. :facepalm:

A 600 ton stack with 7 people on board. I'm glad we never had that sort of "excitement".

I'll take the unmanned match stick; that's plenty exciting for me.

 

[Kyle]

Weather forecast is 90% Go.

(99% of a technical scrub, imo).

 

[Urwumpe]

A 600 ton stack with 7 people on board. I'm glad we never had that sort of "excitement".

I'll take the unmanned match stick; that's plenty exciting for me.

Thunder...... Chicken :lol:

I love doing a RTLS abort as test flight in Orbiter, as much as I can understand your reservations in the real world, it is alone by the mass and dimensions a whole different kind of roller coaster ride.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Thunder...... Chicken :lol:

I love doing a RTLS abort as test flight in Orbiter, as much as I can understand your reservations in the real world, it is alone by the mass and dimensions a whole different kind of roller coaster ride.

True, but I think you'd be less enthusiastic about it if you were in the real thing. That's all I'm saying.

Rockets flying back to the pad and landing. Awesome (hopefully)!

 

[Urwumpe]

True, but I think you'd be less enthusiastic about it if you were in the real thing. That's all I'm saying.

Rockets flying back to the pad and landing. Awesome (hopefully)!

Not sure. If I were a test pilot, I would likely consider it the "The last thing you would ever want to do in your career"-thing. In a positive and a deadly negative sense.

After all, what is the problem? Sitting on a few hundred tons of explosives while ground comes closer quickly? I would be far more scared trying to land a F-18E in darkness during typical North Atlantic weather. You have no idea how much I respect the dudes who can take off from an aircraft carrier without being scared to death.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Not sure. If I were a test pilot, I would likely consider it the "The last thing you would ever want to do in your career"-thing. In a positive and a deadly negative sense.

Once upon a time some of my friends got into a discussion about things you might do when you were elderly or had a terminal illness or were otherwise faced with dying within a short period of time. We decided that risky activities were definitely on the table, but only if failure meant that you absolutely positively died if something went wrong. No suffering, just BLAM!...nothing left except some ash and parts of a smoking shoe.

I think volunteering to test fly a STS RTLS abort would definitely be one of these activities. :lol:

 

[Andy44]

I don't know, but something tells me a space shuttle RTLS would have actually be easier to pull off than landing an unthrottleable booster stage on its tail...the danger to the shuttle would be whatever was causing you to decide on an RTLS in the first place, not the actual RTLS. Just thinking out loud.

In any case, best of luck to SpaceX with this.

 

[RGClark]

Launch pushed back to Monday:

Elon Musk Verified account
‏@elonmusk
Just reviewed mission params w SpaceX team. Monte Carlo runs show tmrw night has a 10% higher chance of a good landing. Punting 24 hrs.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/678679083782377472

Bob Clark

---------- Post added 12-21-15 at 01:44 PM ---------- Previous post was 12-20-15 at 07:58 PM ----------

The launch will be livestreamed:

ORBCOMM-2
Science & Technology / Space · More details ...
Mon, Dec 21 2015 8:29 PM EST — Mon, Dec 21 2015 9:05 PM EST
http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

http://livestream.com/spacex/events/4600161

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5bTbVbe4e4


Bob Clark

 

[Kyle]

Q: Why would additional chilling of LOX allow for increased performance during launch? Musk stated they were chilling the LOX to record temperatures for a launch for this reason.