Space Flight Updates - Russia pullingout of ISS?
- Thread starter ThreatMatrix
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- Jul 23, 2014
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I've been keeping one eye on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch today, but it looks like the Space Coast is having some bad weather.
Probably a scrub for tonight...
Atlas V USSF-12
Probably a scrub for tonight...
Atlas V USSF-12
- Jun 11, 2014
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Normal test......
I don't think so.
Way too much external fuel being burnt!
That fire ball was over 100 ft. tall.
If that was a test of just the inner 9 Raptors....... The full burn will destroy everything around the OLP
I don't think so.
Way too much external fuel being burnt!
That fire ball was over 100 ft. tall.
If that was a test of just the inner 9 Raptors....... The full burn will destroy everything around the OLP
- Aug 28, 2014
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I am really surprised but they are lifting B7 with the chop sticks. I thought it would take a while to check everything out. The engines look to be in good shape too. Shrouds are a little f'd up. They even changed an engine earlier which implies they can still use B7 for testing at least. Scott Manly did a back of the envelope calculation and came up with an explosion equivalent to "only" a back pack full of TNT.
Somehow methane built up under the booster. The question for us is where did the methane come from because we don't think the booster was fueled with methane. SpaceX is aware of the possibility of this happening and have sensors to detect it. And we don't know what the ignition source would have been either. SpaceX no longer uses torch igniters on Raptor 2 and the new method of lighting the engines is a "state" secret. And in any case they weren't lighting the engines (on purpose) .
Hydrolox rockets famously leak hydrogen which is burned off with spark generators. Hydrogen, being the smallest element, can literally leak through solid material. You can see the spark system starting at t-10 in this video of the shuttle
And the fireball during a Delta IV launch.
I thin Elon has said they will use a spark system in the future.
Somehow methane built up under the booster. The question for us is where did the methane come from because we don't think the booster was fueled with methane. SpaceX is aware of the possibility of this happening and have sensors to detect it. And we don't know what the ignition source would have been either. SpaceX no longer uses torch igniters on Raptor 2 and the new method of lighting the engines is a "state" secret. And in any case they weren't lighting the engines (on purpose) .
Hydrolox rockets famously leak hydrogen which is burned off with spark generators. Hydrogen, being the smallest element, can literally leak through solid material. You can see the spark system starting at t-10 in this video of the shuttle
And the fireball during a Delta IV launch.
I thin Elon has said they will use a spark system in the future.
Jake from State Farm
I'm wearing Khakis, why?
- Sep 6, 2014
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Yeah that's crazy. I'll believe it when I see it.
- Aug 28, 2014
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Interesting article. Particularly toward the end about the engine QDs on the OLP, possible source of the spin prime "explosion" and the changes they made to the OLP.
- Aug 28, 2014
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SLS is sitting on launch pad 39B waiting for a Monday morning lift-off. I will watch it from Cocoa Beach. I use to watch Shuttles from there. It's not close but at least I can just roll out of bed and watch it from my balcony with a cup of coffee.
www.spaceline.org
So there is some interesting news. See the map. SpaceX is currently building the Starship launch pad at 39-A. Inconveniently that is also where Crewed F9 launches from and NASA is concerned that a Starship RUD could take out the F9 crew launch tower. Spacex launches F9's from pad LC-40 however the pad is not configured for crew. So SpaceX has to either reconfigure LC-40 or convince NASA that 39-A is safe. In the meantime SpaceX has crazy plans for how many Starships they're going to launch, if for no other reason than to finish the Starlink constellation. So they have reportedly been at work on LC-47 to convert it to a Starship Launchpad. Parts for a 3rd tower and pad have been seen at SpaceX's Roberts Road facility at the cape.
CAPE CANAVERAL LAUNCH SITES | Spaceline
www.spaceline.org
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- Jun 11, 2014
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I'm always on pin and needles before a big launch but this SLS Launch has me full of forbidding. I just think something bad is coming down the road. Of course, it could be the BFR Launch that will RUD!
Exciting times!
Exciting times!
- Jul 16, 2018
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Oh there will be several RUDs of the booster I'm willing to bet... And probably even another starship. It's not second nature yet.
- Jul 23, 2014
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Here's my take on SLS
I don't think I'm imagining it but I think Elon said after one of SLS's many valve problems "well there's your problem, you have too many valves."
That goes to one of Elon's core rules. Engineers spend a lot of time designing and optimizing a part they may not have really needed. Elon tells a story about sleeping on the Tesla factory floor while trying to solve a production problem causing massive delays. A liner was installed between the battery and the floorboard but they had one helluva time designing the robots to do it fast so Elon spent a lot of effort trying to fix the problem. Then he went to the floorboard people and asked why they needed it and they said they didn't, the battery people said they needed it. So he went to the battery people and they said they didn't, the floorboard people needed it. Elon tells his Engineers to always ask the question is this part really needed? The metric that you are doing it right is that if you have to add parts back in 10% of the time then you are removing enough parts.
One of the big reductions made in going from Raptor 1 to Raptor 2 was getting rid of all the damn sensors it had. They were needed during development but for flight, they aren't needed. The SLS is flying used shuttle engines. The engines been thoroughly tested, flown, tested again, flown, tested again, etc. Then refurbished for SLS and thoroughly tested and fired again. If Boeing doesn't know how the engine performs by now then God help them. The ironic thing is that because the sensor failed and they decided to fly without fixing it means they didn't need the damn part!
I don't think I'm imagining it but I think Elon said after one of SLS's many valve problems "well there's your problem, you have too many valves."
That goes to one of Elon's core rules. Engineers spend a lot of time designing and optimizing a part they may not have really needed. Elon tells a story about sleeping on the Tesla factory floor while trying to solve a production problem causing massive delays. A liner was installed between the battery and the floorboard but they had one helluva time designing the robots to do it fast so Elon spent a lot of effort trying to fix the problem. Then he went to the floorboard people and asked why they needed it and they said they didn't, the battery people said they needed it. So he went to the battery people and they said they didn't, the floorboard people needed it. Elon tells his Engineers to always ask the question is this part really needed? The metric that you are doing it right is that if you have to add parts back in 10% of the time then you are removing enough parts.
One of the big reductions made in going from Raptor 1 to Raptor 2 was getting rid of all the damn sensors it had. They were needed during development but for flight, they aren't needed. The SLS is flying used shuttle engines. The engines been thoroughly tested, flown, tested again, flown, tested again, etc. Then refurbished for SLS and thoroughly tested and fired again. If Boeing doesn't know how the engine performs by now then God help them. The ironic thing is that because the sensor failed and they decided to fly without fixing it means they didn't need the damn part!
- Aug 28, 2014
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The way I understand it was something like a temperature sensor. But they know from all the other physics going on that it had to be wrong. Since they would have to roll SLS back to the VAB to fix it they decided to just ignore it. At the very least it should have never been in the go/nogo decision tree.
