|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot?
In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote: Well, if nothing else, it's showing the on-time launch reliability demonstrated by the Shuttle in a privately funded booster. To be fair, they said right up front that multiple aborts were likely, given the extremely numerous (and probably erring on the side of paranoid) safety checks added since last year. It's not surprising if it takes a few tries to shake out all the unintended consequences. I still don't think that pre-launch test firing of a engine with an ablative combustion chamber lining is a good idea. I can see your point. But presumably you know how much it's going to ablate in the test, and how much you safely need for the real launch, right? Best, - Joe |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot?
Well, if nothing else, it's showing the on-time launch reliability
demonstrated by the Shuttle in a privately funded booster. I still don't think that pre-launch test firing of a engine with an ablative combustion chamber lining is a good idea. Pat |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot?
On Mar 20, 8:38 pm, Joe Strout wrote:
Pat Flannery wrote: Well, if nothing else, it's showing the on-time launch reliability demonstrated by the Shuttle in a privately funded booster. To be fair, they said right up front that multiple aborts were likely, given the extremely numerous (and probably erring on the side of paranoid) safety checks added since last year. To be fair, "numerous safety checks" and "probably erring on the side of paranoid" are precisely the reason that the shuttle launches get pushed back. If you are going to be cautious, sometimes you will stop a launch. -- Geoffrey A. Landis http://www.sff.net/people/geoffrey.landis |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot?
Did anyone else get creeped out by the sight of the second stage nozzle glowing orange hot? Yeesh! I hope they remembered that it gets less cooling in vacuum (that is, in use) than in air (during tests). |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot?
richard schumacher wrote in news:no-spam-
: Did anyone else get creeped out by the sight of the second stage nozzle glowing orange hot? Yeesh! I hope they remembered that it gets less cooling in vacuum (that is, in use) than in air (during tests). It's radiation cooled; looked perfectly normal to me. --Damon |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot?
On 21 Mar, 01:27, Pat Flannery wrote:
Well, if nothing else, it's showing the on-time launch reliability demonstrated by the Shuttle in a privately funded booster. I still don't think that pre-launch test firing of a engine with an ablative combustion chamber lining is a good idea. Pat Just woke up - read all this and can't decide whether the Falcon 1 flight was a success or whether it was a failure with a positive spin. "The second stage didn't achieve full orbital velocity, due to a roll excitation late in the burn, but that should be a comparatively easy fix once we examine the flight data." What's a roll excitation, and why doesn't the flight control software compensate for this? Perhaps this will mean more to me after a cup of coffee. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot?
Joe Strout wrote: To be fair, they said right up front that multiple aborts were likely, given the extremely numerous (and probably erring on the side of paranoid) safety checks added since last year. It's not surprising if it takes a few tries to shake out all the unintended consequences. Well, whether the satellite went into orbit or not, they did get the thing into space... and had a successful first-stage burn, which is more than the Soviet N1 ever did, and I applaud them for that. Pat |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot?
"Pat Flannery" wrote in message ... Well, if nothing else, it's showing the on-time launch reliability demonstrated by the Shuttle in a privately funded booster. You'd have to compare Falcon I flight 1 and 2 to STS-1 and STS-2. Here's a list of STS-1 anomolies (some of them damn scary): http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/news/columbia/anomaly/STS1.pdf These problems had to be addressed before STS-2. STS-1 launched on April 12, 1981 and STS-2 launched November 12, 1981. Falcon 1 demo flight 1 launched on November 25, 2005 and demo flight 2 on March 20, 2007. So it looks like Falcon 1 was a bit faster in getting to its second launch than Columbia, but that's apples and oranges since Columbia was "reusable". I still don't think that pre-launch test firing of a engine with an ablative combustion chamber lining is a good idea. If you've got enough margin in the design, it's really not a bad idea. Jeff -- "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919) |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot?
In article .com,
"Alex Terrell" wrote: What's a roll excitation, and why doesn't the flight control software compensate for this? Because the control system is not perfect. They'll fix it. This is why people test things. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot?
On Mar 21, 6:41 am, "Jeff Findley"
wrote: "Pat Flannery" wrote in message ... Well, if nothing else, it's showing the on-time launch reliability demonstrated by the Shuttle in a privately funded booster. You'd have to compare Falcon I flight 1 and 2 to STS-1 and STS-2. Here's a list of STS-1 anomolies (some of them damn scary):http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/news/columbia/anomaly/STS1.pdf These problems had to be addressed before STS-2. STS-1 launched on April 12, 1981 and STS-2 launched November 12, 1981. Falcon 1 demo flight 1 launched on November 25, 2005 and demo flight 2 on March 20, 2007. So it looks like Falcon 1 was a bit faster in getting to its second launch than Columbia, but that's apples and oranges since Columbia was "reusable". Either your math is off or there's a typo here - 11/2005 to 3/2007 is 16 months, while 4/1981 to 11/1981 is seven. -jake |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Falcon Sir Lauch-A-Lot? | Pat Flannery | Policy | 70 | March 29th 07 05:24 AM |
Defects Push Back Lauch of Europe's ATV Until May 2007 | Jim Oberg | Space Station | 9 | November 9th 05 07:49 AM |
Festivities in China and also pictures from lauch and some from space from Chinese space mission. | Jan Panteltje | Astronomy Misc | 0 | October 12th 05 10:40 PM |
Falcon 1 to Pad | [email protected] | Policy | 14 | October 23rd 04 02:10 AM |
launch/no lauch decision with crew? | Paul Hutchings | Space Shuttle | 50 | April 1st 04 05:57 AM |