|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Reused Dragons to start flying this year
SpaceX to restore damaged Cape Canaveral launch pad to service in December November 1, 2017 Stephen Clark https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/11/0...-damaged-cape- canaveral-launch-pad-to-service-in-december/ From above: NASA said the Dragon spaceship assigned to the December launch is the same capsule that flew to the station in April 2015 and returned to Earth a month later. SpaceX launched a reused Dragon cargo craft to the space station for the first time in June, and the last newly-manufactured first-generation Dragon was launched in August. All future SpaceX resupply flights will use refurbished Dragon capsules until upgraded ships are ready to take over. So, the last of first generation Dragons was manufactured this year and the first reused Dragon is expected to fly this December. Jeff -- All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone. These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends, employer, or any organization that I am a member of. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Reused Dragons to start flying this year
"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
... SpaceX to restore damaged Cape Canaveral launch pad to service in December November 1, 2017 Stephen Clark https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/11/0...-damaged-cape- canaveral-launch-pad-to-service-in-december/ From above: NASA said the Dragon spaceship assigned to the December launch is the same capsule that flew to the station in April 2015 and returned to Earth a month later. SpaceX launched a reused Dragon cargo craft to the space station for the first time in June, and the last newly-manufactured first-generation Dragon was launched in August. All future SpaceX resupply flights will use refurbished Dragon capsules until upgraded ships are ready to take over. So, the last of first generation Dragons was manufactured this year and the first reused Dragon is expected to fly this December. Pretty interesting. Also I believe it appears they added another Falcon 9 flight on the schedule for this year (I'm pretty sure it was 19 and now I'm seeing 20). I'm still a bit skeptical they'll get Heavy off in December, but, they're SO close that a minor slip won't mean much. Jeff -- Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/ CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net IT Disaster Response - https://www.amazon.com/Disaster-Resp...dp/1484221834/ |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Reused Dragons to start flying this year
In message
Jeff Findley wrote: SpaceX launched a reused Dragon cargo craft to the space station for the first time in June, and the last newly-manufactured first-generation Dragon was launched in August. All future SpaceX resupply flights will use refurbished Dragon capsules until upgraded ships are ready to take over. So, the last of first generation Dragons was manufactured this year and the first reused Dragon is expected to fly this December. You misread, the first reused Dragon already flew in June. All the remaining Dragon 1 flights will be re-used capsules, and at least one will have to make a third flight. The December flight will also be re-using a first stage. Anthony |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Reused Dragons to start flying this year
JF Mezei wrote:
On 2017-11-04 11:43, Jeff Findley wrote: From above: NASA said the Dragon spaceship assigned to the December launch is the same capsule that flew to the station in April 2015 and returned to Earth a month later. So roughly 6-7 months turn around. Which isn't bad for a capsule that splashed down in salt water. Uh, something wrong with your math there. May 2015 to December 2017 is a little bit more than "6-7 months". There is no way to know what the 'turn around' actually was. I doubt it took 30 months. I wonder how this will pan out with crewed Dragons. Will they open the hatch in water to extract crews ASAP (like for Apollo) or will they want to lift it up and land it on a ship/barge before opening hatch (possible even rinsing it with fresh water before). Given that the intent is for it to be reusable, I would doubt they'll be opening hatches while it's in the water unless it's sinking and there's an emergency. Reentry accuracy of Dragon V2 is much better than old capsules and it will land virtually on top of the recovery platform. Unlike the government, SpaceX doesn't have the US Navy to manage the recovery. The contract requires them to provide all recovery facilities with the exception of SAR operations for emergencies, which will be provided by Detachment 3, 45th Operations Group, USAF. Once Dragon V2 starts to fly, I wonder how many SpaceX will need to build for each of the cargo and manned configs to meet NASA's needs and turn around times. Figure it out. It's not that hard. Take your shoes off if you need to. Figure six-ish resupply missions a year plus two to four crew exchange flights a year plus one docked as a 'lifeboat; call it a dozen capsules required a year. They can presumably use Dragon V1 'reflown' capsules for cargo until they have enough V2 hardware on hand to cycle it through. If they can refurbish a Dragon V2 capsule in less than two years, they'll need around another dozen of them to keep the pipeline full. As you shorten the refurbishment time the number of required 'additional' capsules goes down by around one a month for every month less than two years you can recycle them in. Or will SpaceX keep the assembly line going at slow rate because it is easier to do that than to build a batch of Dragons, produce none for 5-10 years, then get an order for new batch ? In 10 years their plan is to have shifted to BFR Spaceship for this stuff. However, they'll almost certainly keep the manufacturing line going, since they intend to use these for other things than just supporting NASA. Dragon V2 also isn't fully reusable. There are parts (like the service module) that you don't get back. Will crewed taxi flights be on a regular 3 month flight schedule (with some crews skipping the return to stay 6 months) or will there be variations in the launch schedule from 3, 4 and 6 months ? That's up to NASA. -- "Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar territory." --G. Behn |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Reused Dragons to start flying this year
JF Mezei wrote:
On 2017-11-06 23:05, Fred J. McCall wrote: Uh, something wrong with your math there. May 2015 to December 2017 is a little bit more than "6-7 months". oops my bad. Given that the intent is for it to be reusable, I would doubt they'll be opening hatches while it's in the water unless it's sinking and there's an emergency. For crewed flights, will SpaceX still do the recovery or will NASA insist on being involved with its (NAVY) ships ? The contract says SpaceX is responsible for recovery. I thought I said that down there somewhere. With men in capsule running on batteries and air reserves after splash down, will NASA tolerate they stay in capsule while recovery ship manoevers so its crane is within rech and attached ? Again, the capsule comes down practically on top of the recovery ship. They're safer in the capsule than out of it. Will NASA tolerate that men ramin in capsule as it is hoisted up on the ship? Again, they're safer staying in the capsule than leaving it. keep the pipeline full. As you shorten the refurbishment time the number of required 'additional' capsules goes down by around one a month for every month less than two years you can recycle them in. But planning production capacity/rate depends on knowning how quickly you turn around the flown Dragons. Otherwise, you end up producing too many dragons. Yes, but YOU don't need to know that number. supporting NASA. Dragon V2 also isn't fully reusable. There are parts (like the service module) that you don't get back. Non refurshibale items are simpler because you know excatly how many you need to produce according to contract before you start. You appear to be stuck in the paradigm that all flights are 'contracted' and then you worry about hardware. SpaceX mostly works the other way around; you produce hardware and then you manifest flights to use it. -- "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." --George Bernard Shaw |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Reused Dragons to start flying this year
|
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Reused Dragons to start flying this year
|
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Reused Dragons to start flying this year
Jeff Findley wrote:
In article , says... Unknown. That's up to SpaceX and NASA to negotiate based on NASA's needs. Also note that Dragon isn't the cargo craft going to ISS, so plans can always change based on unexpected events (failure of hardware on ISS, failure of a cargo mission, and etc.). I meant to say Dragon isn't the only cargo craft going to ISS. Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft will continue cargo missions to ISS. And it's possible that Sierra Nevada's Dreamchaser might start making cargo flights to ISS (if it ever finishes its test program). I'm really not fond of horizontal landing reentry vehicles. They're unnecessarily complex to design, build, and test. It's not just complexity. Horizontal landers require a lot more structure that is only used in order to get back down, so their dry mass tends to be higher. They need both actual landing gear and something to generate that horizontal lift (wings, a lifting body, or both). Those things are just parasitic weight during boost, having no purpose at all. All the machinery for retractable landing gear and the gear itself is heavy. So is support structure for wings, etc. Vertical landing legs are lighter and use the same machinery for getting down as they use for going up, so it's not wasted weight during boost. -- "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." --George Bernard Shaw |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Reused Dragons to start flying this year
On 11/5/2017 1:35 AM, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:
Pretty interesting. Also I believe it appears they added another Falcon 9 flight on the schedule for this year (I'm pretty sure it was 19 and now I'm seeing 20). I believe they did. It's the one they are about to launch later this month. The mysterious one called ZUMA. I'm still a bit skeptical they'll get Heavy off in December, but, they're SO close that a minor slip won't mean much. I agree. But they have to do some mods to 39C to get it ready for F9H. I presume minor. Dave |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Reused Dragons to start flying this year
"David Spain" wrote in message news
On 11/5/2017 1:35 AM, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote: Pretty interesting. Also I believe it appears they added another Falcon 9 flight on the schedule for this year (I'm pretty sure it was 19 and now I'm seeing 20). I believe they did. It's the one they are about to launch later this month. The mysterious one called ZUMA. I'm still a bit skeptical they'll get Heavy off in December, but, they're SO close that a minor slip won't mean much. I agree. But they have to do some mods to 39C to get it ready for F9H. I presume minor. I believe you mean 39A. (yes a 39C now exists, but not for this). I believe the changes are done. So there's a chance it'll get off in December as scheduled, but if not, January is looking REAL good. Now if it gets to ORBIT, that's another story. Let's just say I'd be standing FAR away when this thing lights up. Dave -- Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/ CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net IT Disaster Response - https://www.amazon.com/Disaster-Resp...dp/1484221834/ |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Private, uncrewed, suborbital test flights to start this year. | Robert Clark | Policy | 43 | June 18th 11 10:37 PM |
Private, uncrewed, suborbital test flights to start this year. | Robert Clark | History | 0 | June 18th 11 10:37 PM |
Private, uncrewed, suborbital test flights to start this year. | [email protected] | Astronomy Misc | 2 | May 15th 11 03:00 PM |
Private, uncrewed, suborbital test flights to start this year. | Robert Clark | History | 1 | May 15th 11 03:00 PM |
Let's Start The New Year Off Right For All Space Nuts... | spaceprojects.tk | Space Science Misc | 9 | January 27th 04 01:41 PM |