Anyway, bit of a launch post-mortem for those interested, some stuff I didn't think to share earlier, what this means going forward, upcoming launches (with a particular focus on upcoming cool launches, of course!):
So that was a very pretty launch on what looked like a beautiful Florida afternoon. The Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle performed nominally, delivering it's Dragon spacecraft into orbit en route to a rendezvous with the International Space Station.
A lot happens in the first few minutes of a launch, so I thought I'd provide a little timeline of a nominal launch (like this one!):
T 0s : Liftoff!
T + 70s: Maximum atmospheric pressure as the rocket powers through the atmosphere
T + 78s: We are supersonic! Get rekt, sound waves!
T + 2m45s: Main Engine Cutoff, Stage Separation, Second Stage Engine Ignition, spacecraft now travelling at about 1.8km/s all happen around this time
T + 3m: Do a flip! (The 1st stage reorients itself, turning almost 180 degrees and pointing back the way it came - sorta)
T + 4m45s: 1st stage begins the first of 3 burns, known as the "boostback" burn as it reduces it's horizontal velocity to near 0.
T + 5m: Stage 2 + Spacecraft are 165km up, 205km downrange, and travelling at 2.5km/s!
T + 5m20s: Boostback burn complete!
T + 6m50s: 1st stage begins the second of 3 burns, the "reentry" burn, where it slows its descent speed through the atmosphere so it doesn't get too hot - it has no "heat shield" to speak of, beyond what the engines and their thrust plate are already designed to resist.
T + 7m20s: Reentry burn completed, second stage and Dragon spacecraft still doing their thang, going in to space, no big deal.
T + 8m: 1st stage begins burn 3 of 3, the "landing burn" otherwise known as the "suicide" burn, where it tries to time it perfectly so that it reaches the barge right as its velocity is reduced to 0m/s. This is the part that apparently didn't go perfectly today. We lose telemetry data with the stage soon after this burn begins, which is why visual confirmation is necessary for the rest of its flight (times are therefore inexact for the first stage after this point.)
T + 9m30s: Expected landing time for stage 1. Second Stage Engine Cut Off!
T + 10m10s: Second stage separation, Dragon spacecraft deployed, Primary mission success!
From this point on, things start moving a lot slower. If you want a description of the general flightplan for the Dragon spacecraft, I am of course more than happy to provide one, but I won't have things like exact times or anything available
Anyway, no super-cool robo-barge landing today, but that's okay. It's an ambitious effort, and they're still learning and experimenting, and this is part of the process, as much as it does suck to see. Rocket re-usability is a huge goal of all of the Commercial Spaceflight enterprises, though, so it will be very cool seeing them all try their hand at their version of reusable technology.
Rural France is more like rural.... Let's say Virginia.
It looks good the weather is nice in the summer but the political climate isn't so great and a lot of the smart young people moved to the big city long ago.
French food is pretty good though.
Eh, in some ways. It's still got a much better political climate than rural US.
Rural France is more like rural.... Let's say Virginia.
It looks good the weather is nice in the summer but the political climate isn't so great and a lot of the smart young people moved to the big city long ago.
French food is pretty good though.
the weather is terrible here in the summer who told you that
food is good though
Allegedly a voice of reason.
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TTODewbackPuts the drawl in ya'llI think I'm in HellRegistered Userregular
i'm also curious as to what level of recycling they'll be able to get out of the first stage even if they recover it. the space shuttle was reusable in only the loosest sense of the word. it basically had to be stripped down and rebuilt. no two flights used the same engines (the engines were removed, refurbished, and retested, about 60 or so in the fleet I think). they weren't even planning on removing them originally but yep, that's what they had to do.
SpaceX is very curious about this too, but they already know from practice that stuff from water landings isn't very reusable, so this is their next best effort!
Reusability is definitely a very uncertain business, but it's something to strive towards if only because it could make things so much cheaper.
Those dang engines are expensive (which, as an aside, is why stage 2 recovery is less of a priority - it's much smaller and only has one engine anyway!)
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It does. Interesting.
Eh. Most airplanes don't have to have a (0,0,0) velocity vector to not explode, though.
but it was a good turn
Eh, in some ways. It's still got a much better political climate than rural US.
O_O
gimmmmmeeeee
you can see them through the sunglasses
After your Chinese adventures I recommend the Schweinshaxe
When and where?
Now I have the mental image of a gymnast on the uneven bars wearing a suicide vest.
yeah but it's also like, everything but a picture perfect landing makes it go boom
so there's going to be a lot of *booom* "wow that went great so much better than last time"
trevor is my spirit animal
scandinavia's china
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
you're gonna have to explain that one
the weather is terrible here in the summer who told you that
food is good though
dropping wubs in his meth addled mind
wait is trevor the meth head or the other guy
SpaceX is very curious about this too, but they already know from practice that stuff from water landings isn't very reusable, so this is their next best effort!
Reusability is definitely a very uncertain business, but it's something to strive towards if only because it could make things so much cheaper.
Those dang engines are expensive (which, as an aside, is why stage 2 recovery is less of a priority - it's much smaller and only has one engine anyway!)
runner up category kids
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
say what
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
runner up category portraits
eyebrows are the best part of the human body
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
http://i.imgur.com/8hAismL.jpg (<- not awful tiny version)
also this one, from Nidarosdomen
that's trevor
some people say the most erotic part of the human body is the boobs
On average, this thread was zooming by at warp 3.4
@Gooey will create the new thread
@Thomamelas is backup