Dragon capsule parachute test

On 8/22/2010 7:09 AM, Jochem Huhmann wrote:


I fear this will happen shortly after they start to routinely recover
both first and second stages of the Falcon 9...

AFAIK, they never did have plans to recover the second stage, just the
first one.
IIRC, Kistler did have a plan to get stage two back as well.

Pat

On 8/22/2010 2:31 PM, Eddie Lyons wrote:


Why not make the assumption that Dragon would be as capable of landing under
adverse conditions as Soyuz is? There have been very few occasions when a
Soyuz departure from Salyut, Mir or ISS has been delayed because of weather
conditions, or targeted at a back-up landing area. Surely the American
southwest is big enough to be able to provide more than one landing area?


I always got a kick out of a water landing in The Great Salt Lake. The
weather never gets that bad on it, and due to the high density of the
highly saline water, the capsule would bob around like a cork.

Pat

On 8/22/2010 7:02 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:


It appears they propose to pick the capsule from the water using a
helicopter and carry it to land.

Done before; that's exactly how the Mercury capsule was intended to get
back to the recovery carrier.

Pat

On 8/23/2010 1:15 PM, wrote:

If digging a pond or using an existing body of water is a no-go,
you could always set out some airbags, or other cushioning
material, in the landing zone.

If you could guarantee that degree of landing accuracy, then you could
land it at three different places within fifteen miles of where I'm
presently living (Jamestown Reservoir, Pipestem Reservoir, and
Spiritwood Lake).
And of course, if you couldn't bring it down that precisely, there's all
of the Great Lakes.
You could miss your aim point by around fifty miles there, and still
come down on water.

Pat

On 8/23/2010 10:26 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:

Koalas? Stupid things look as if they're going to fall asleep most of
the time. The main risk from being near them is being eaten alive by the
parasites they carry.

Yeah... that's what you would have the gullible believe, isn't it?
Just like the cute little platypus...WITH THE VENOMOUS CLAWS ON THE
MALE'S REAR FEET!
I'll bet those koalas have some sort of fold-down fangs like a
rattlesnake...maybe even a sticky tongue that shoots ten feet out of
their mouth like a chameleon, and rips people's eyes out.
"Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree; killing everything it can see.
Laugh, kookaburra, laugh...but please don't murder me."

Pat

On 8/23/2010 11:47 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:

Kookaburras are actually quite cute, and become very tame if you feed
them meat regularly. Although they have a large beak, there's no force
behind it, and it isn't sharp. Being accidentally bitten by one is
nothing more than somewhat uncomfortable, and doesn't even break the
skin. The beak is quite pointed, and would make a decent stabbing
implement, but the birds don't seem aware of that.

Let's just put it this way...when the Kookaburras _did_ attack someone
in search of fresh meat, they made sure no one was around to see it,
then stripped them to the bone liked winged piranhas with their
razor-sharp beaks inside of five minutes - before taking the individual
parts of the predated skeleton in their claws and scattering them
far-and-wide over the landscape so as to avoid suspicion falling on them.
The Australian tourist board has known about this proclivity in their
behavior for near a century now, but has consistently not mentioned it,
as "Come And See How it All Got Started" beats the hell out of "Come And
Face The Threat Of Being Ripped Apart By Birds" as a means of getting
tourists to visit "Down-Under".
I will not mention their dishonesty in epoxy-gluing fake oversized goose
bills on beavers, and placing ping-pong balls near them in an attempt to
convince people that in Australia there are strange mutant beavers that
lay eggs.

Pat

On 8/24/2010 12:01 AM, Damon Hill wrote:
Pat wrote in news:74adnYGuQfXa-
hdakotatelephone:

On 8/23/2010 1:15 PM, wrote:

If digging a pond or using an existing body of water is a no-go,
you could always set out some airbags, or other cushioning
material, in the landing zone.

If you could guarantee that degree of landing accuracy, then you could
land it at three different places within fifteen miles of where I'm
presently living (Jamestown Reservoir, Pipestem Reservoir, and
Spiritwood Lake).
And of course, if you couldn't bring it down that precisely, there's all
of the Great Lakes.
You could miss your aim point by around fifty miles there, and still
come down on water.

In winter?

--Damon, throwing ice water on the idea

I'd have to check, but I don't think that any of the Great Lakes freeze
over entirely in winter, although the ice does extend quite a ways out
from shore.
The mass of water in them is so great that it acts as a moderating force
against the whole works rising or falling in average temperature summer
or winter.

Pat

Invid Fan wrote:
Wouldn't you need a helo as a backup in any case? If the sucker starts
to sink for some reason I have to imagine a helicopter would be able to
get to it (assuming it takes off from the recovery ship) faster then
the actual ship would.


If that sucker starts to sink you're going to need a really *big* helo
to pull it out. Water is very heavy....

Best to plan for the crew to jettision the hatch and get the h*ll out into a
life raft ASAP. I figure you can always salvage the capsule later, using the
same boat...

Dave

Sylvia Else wrote:
Kookaburras are actually quite cute, and become very tame if you feed
them meat regularly.

And when you don't?

Crickey, Aussies...

:-D

PS: I may have told this story here before, but my favorite Australia story
was told to me by a good friend who used to work for Ford Aerospace back in
the 60s. He was stationed in Australia's outback to maintain satcom ground
stations (dish antennas and assoc. gear). The electronics were installed in
something like a mobile home trailer, with a/c in a raised floor room.

Cardinal Rule #1:

When it becomes necessary to move or install cabling in the cable trough under
the raised floor. First go to the broom closet and grab a broom. Use handle
of broom to poke cabling first to make sure no cables move on their own....

Cardinal Rule #2:

NEVER place hand into cable trough without observing Rule #1 first...

Apparently people aren't the only ones with a preference for napping in cool
places...

:-D

Pat Flannery wrote:
On 8/24/2010 12:01 AM, Damon Hill wrote:
In winter?

--Damon, throwing ice water on the idea

I'd have to check, but I don't think that any of the Great Lakes freeze
over entirely in winter, although the ice does extend quite a ways out
from shore.
The mass of water in them is so great that it acts as a moderating force
against the whole works rising or falling in average temperature summer
or winter.

Another problem with the Great Lakes in the winter are 'bad seas'.
Storm driven waves are often worse on the Great Lakes than on the open seas. I
am not sure I recall why this is the case. It may be because of relative
shallowness of the lakes or from constructive interference from reflected
waves off nearby coastline or both.

Anyway, think Edmund Fitzgerald. Might want to take a pass on this in winter...

Dave