|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon 1: Third Time Was ALMOST the Charm
Watching the webcast right before telemetry was lost, it looked like the
vehicle was going into a spiral - the guidance was chasing the trajectory and the oscillations were getting larger and larger. Too bad - first stage, staging and fairing sep looked clean. The webcast was pretty good too. -- You can run on for a long time, Sooner or later, God'll cut you down. ~Johnny Cash |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon 1: Third Time Was ALMOST the Charm
Herb Schaltegger wrote in
.com: Watching the webcast right before telemetry was lost, it looked like the vehicle was going into a spiral - the guidance was chasing the trajectory and the oscillations were getting larger and larger. Too bad - first stage, staging and fairing sep looked clean. The webcast was pretty good too. The pretty pictures will tell almost as much as the telemetry. I'd say it was unique that an orbital launch vehicle had an ignition abort and was launched in spite of that only an hour later. A full success would have been great, but SpaceX otherwise had a pretty good day. Hopefully their next launch will come in reasonably short order. --Damon |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon 1: Third Time Was ALMOST the Charm
Damon Hill wrote: Herb Schaltegger wrote: A full success would have been great, but SpaceX otherwise had a pretty good day. Company founder Elon Musk told reporters the Falcon I successfully reached space, "and retired almost all the risk associated with the rocket." Right. The investors are lining-up right now and soon, we'll all be living on Uranus. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon 1: Third Time Was ALMOST the Charm
"Bad Idea" wrote in message ups.com... Damon Hill wrote: Company founder Elon Musk told reporters the Falcon I successfully reached space, "and retired almost all the risk associated with the rocket." Right. The investors are lining-up right now and soon, we'll all be living on Uranus. I find his statement credible. True there is a 2nd stage problem to be resolved, but this was the first flight test of the second stage. The first stage failure of the fist flight test meant that the 2nd stage simply wasn't tested. 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) |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon 1: Third Time Was ALMOST the Charm
Jeff Findley wrote:
Company founder Elon Musk told reporters the Falcon I successfully reached space, "and retired almost all the risk associated with the rocket." Right. The investors are lining-up right now and soon, we'll all be living on Uranus. I find his statement credible. True there is a 2nd stage problem to be resolved, but this was the first flight test of the second stage. The first stage failure of the fist flight test meant that the 2nd stage simply wasn't tested. I suspect that if this was a NASA or Boeing or Lockheed-Martin test any claim by one of their representatives that they had "retired almost all the risk associated with the rocket" would be greeted by snorts of derision around here and in the alt.space community in general. That being said I hope Musk and company are as pleased as they claim to be about yesterday's test. Clearly progress was made. Jim Davis |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon 1: Third Time Was ALMOST the Charm
On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 10:11:02 -0500, Jim Davis wrote
(in article 6): Jeff Findley wrote: Company founder Elon Musk told reporters the Falcon I successfully reached space, "and retired almost all the risk associated with the rocket." Right. The investors are lining-up right now and soon, we'll all be living on Uranus. I find his statement credible. True there is a 2nd stage problem to be resolved, but this was the first flight test of the second stage. The first stage failure of the fist flight test meant that the 2nd stage simply wasn't tested. I suspect that if this was a NASA or Boeing or Lockheed-Martin test any claim by one of their representatives that they had "retired almost all the risk associated with the rocket" would be greeted by snorts of derision around here and in the alt.space community in general. That being said I hope Musk and company are as pleased as they claim to be about yesterday's test. Clearly progress was made. Jim Davis I hope so too. One thing that occurred to me watching the videos again this morning (they're available from the SpaceX site and on YouTube) is how much oscillation was induced by staging. It was as if one of the pneumatic pushers stuck or another pushed too hard. Clearly SOMETHING upset the orientation of the vehicle pretty severely. Same thing (to a lesser degree) with fairing separation. That seemed to get settled down pretty quickly after second stage ignition, but the oscillations started up again (probably unrelated) within a minute or so. You can watch the engine gimbaling further and further in a circular motion as it chases the trajectory and fights whatever the upset was. Too bad it didn't make it to orbit but this was still progress. Another slight aside - it was fun to watch the first stage engine plume expand with lower pressure as altitude increased. I hope SpaceX has done a LOT of CFD and wind tunnel testing to see how nine of those engines will interact on Falcon 9. -- You can run on for a long time, Sooner or later, God'll cut you down. ~Johnny Cash |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon 1: Third Time Was ALMOST the Charm
I hope so too. One thing that occurred to me watching the videos again this morning (they're available from the SpaceX site and on YouTube) is how much oscillation was induced by staging. It was as if one of the pneumatic pushers stuck or another pushed too hard. Clearly SOMETHING upset the orientation of the vehicle pretty severely. Same thing (to a lesser degree) with fairing separation. That seemed to get settled down pretty quickly after second stage ignition, but the oscillations started up again (probably unrelated) within a minute or so. You can watch the engine gimbaling further and further in a circular motion as it chases the trajectory and fights whatever the upset was. Too bad it didn't make it to orbit but this was still progress. Well, someone in this (or similar newsgroup) had said years ago that it was high time for some space agency or company to start blowing rockets up again. Like NASA did back in the late 1950's.... Looks like someone is doing this now. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon 1: Third Time Was ALMOST the Charm
"robert casey" wrote in message link.net... Well, someone in this (or similar newsgroup) had said years ago that it was high time for some space agency or company to start blowing rockets up again. Like NASA did back in the late 1950's.... Looks like someone is doing this now. Unfortunately these days, if a government-funded *experimental* rocket blows up, someone gets canned. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon 1: Third Time Was ALMOST the Charm
The latest is that the first stage bumped the second, @ sep.. Could
this be Pogo Showing up? Carl |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Falcon 1: Third Time Was ALMOST the Charm
"surfduke" wrote in
oups.com: The latest is that the first stage bumped the second, @ sep.. Could this be Pogo Showing up? No. Pogo stayed in the swamp with Albert and the rest of his friends. --Damon |
|
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 |
Falcon delayed again | Pat Flannery | Policy | 2 | November 17th 05 03:08 PM |
Falcon 9 questions | Iain McClatchie | Technology | 3 | September 15th 05 09:36 AM |
Falcon 1 to Pad | [email protected] | Policy | 14 | October 23rd 04 02:10 AM |
Falcon V sale | Herm | Policy | 2 | May 7th 04 11:50 PM |