Dragon capsule parachute test

Pat Flannery wrote:
On 8/24/2010 2:42 PM, Dr J R Stockton wrote:

Responding to another post : the best recovery site is not necessarily
near the launch site; it is near the refurbishment site.

Ideally, launch, recovery, and refurbishment site should all be the same
place.

Pat



I agree with you Pat, but JR's point is well taken.

For historical reasons the refurbishment point is probably not at the AFS on
the Cape. Maybe it could be moved there, eventually. But since I suspect
leasing space at the AFS might come at a premium, SpaceX is probably already
set up to do the refurb elsewhere. Now if the flight rate becomes high enough
that could change.

Rick Jones mentioned Hawthorne CA. Presumably that is where SpaceX will do the
refurb on Dragon initially? So that means continued landing ops in the Pacific
near San Diego and specifically the wharves around Long Beach?

Given the location of Hawthorne and surrounding environs, doesn't look too
promising for conversion to land landings anytime soon. Water landings
definitely at an advantage here not to mention capsule simplicity.

Dave

In sci.space.history message DaCdnTPyttq4-uvRnZ2dnUVZ_vWdnZ2d@giganews.
com, Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:07:48, David Spain posted:

For historical reasons the refurbishment point is probably not at the
AFS on the Cape. Maybe it could be moved there, eventually. But since I
suspect leasing space at the AFS might come at a premium, SpaceX is
probably already set up to do the refurb elsewhere. Now if the flight
rate becomes high enough that could change.

Rick Jones mentioned Hawthorne CA. Presumably that is where SpaceX will
do the refurb on Dragon initially? So that means continued landing ops
in the Pacific near San Diego and specifically the wharves around Long
Beach?

Given the location of Hawthorne and surrounding environs, doesn't look
too promising for conversion to land landings anytime soon. Water
landings definitely at an advantage here not to mention capsule
simplicity.

SpaceX seem to have worked out how to get a new Dragon from Hawthorne to
Florida. They should, therefore, be able to work out how to get a used
dragon from some flattish empty bit of the US South-West to Hawthorne.
There will be, indeed, a new spaceport in New Mexico or thereabouts.

And, at worst, they can recover it by helicopter from land as easily as
they can from sea, or more so.

--
(c) John Stockton, nr London, UK. Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms & links;
Astro stuff via astron-1.htm, gravity0.htm ; quotings.htm, pascal.htm, etc.
No Encoding. Quotes before replies. Snip well. Write clearly. Don't Mail News.

On Aug 21, 9:43*pm, Sylvia Else wrote:
On 22/08/2010 2:41 PM, David Spain wrote:

Pat Flannery wrote:
Unlike Orion, Dragon's parachutes actually work:
http://www.onorbit.com/node/2431

Pat

Says they are starting with water 'splashdowns' for the crewed version
with the intension of moving to land 'dustdowns' with addition of
deployable landing gear and thrusters at some point in the future.

That should help reduce costs. What are their landing options in case of
bad weather at the primary landing site?

Dave

Land somewhere else?

Sylvia.

Since they're flying on human blood as their fuel and everything else,
they get to land anywhere they like, as well as they get as many do-
overs as they like.

~ BG

On Aug 21, 9:47*pm, David Spain wrote:
Sylvia Else wrote:

Land somewhere else?

Sylvia.

Doesn't anyone sleep around here, or do you all live on the Left Coast or
Asia?

Droll Sylvia... Care to clue us in as to 'where' else is?
Central Park in Manhattan?

The other option is also to stay in orbit longer...

Dave

Or better yet is for them to go rogue so that we don't have to
continue paying.

~ BG

On Aug 21, 9:58*pm, Sylvia Else wrote:
On 22/08/2010 2:47 PM, David Spain wrote:

Sylvia Else wrote:

Land somewhere else?

Sylvia.

Doesn't anyone sleep around here, or do you all live on the Left Coast or
Asia?

I'm in Australia. Mid Sunday afternoon here.



Droll Sylvia... Care to clue us in as to 'where' else is?
Central Park in Manhattan?

It appeared to me that a craft that returns by parachute and descends
pretty much vertically onto shock absorbing landing gear doesn't really
have much in the way of requirements for its landing area, beyond being
reasonably large, moderately flat, and devoid of significant obstacles.

There would have to be plenty of suitable places, including most of
Australia (might not be reachable from the particular orbit, but that's
another matter).

Sylvia.

They could always land in central Antarctica rather than the Arctic
that's becoming open water. I bet Russia has a low cost landing fee.

A lot of land was recently cleared by Katerina.

~ BG

On Aug 21, 10:30*pm, Sylvia Else wrote:
On 22/08/2010 3:13 PM, David Spain wrote:



Sylvia Else wrote:
On 22/08/2010 2:47 PM, David Spain wrote:
Doesn't anyone sleep around here, or do you all live on the Left
Coast or
Asia?

I'm in Australia. Mid Sunday afternoon here.

...

There would have to be plenty of suitable places, including most of
Australia (might not be reachable from the particular orbit, but
that's another matter).

Sylvia.

I thought the ISS routinely passes over Australia? So what would you
charge SpaceX for landing rights to your back yard? Would they need
venomous snake and/or other large carnivorous reptile insurance?

:-D

Such risks are grossly overstated. The main concern would be that the
astronauts would be bundled into an off-shore immigration detention
centre and lost in the system before anyone considers the possibility
that they weren't actually claiming refugee status.

Sylvia.

Good one.

~ BG

On 30/08/2010 6:48 AM, Brad Guth wrote:
On Aug 21, 9:58 pm, Sylvia wrote:
On 22/08/2010 2:47 PM, David Spain wrote:

Sylvia Else wrote:

Land somewhere else?

Sylvia.

Doesn't anyone sleep around here, or do you all live on the Left Coast or
Asia?

I'm in Australia. Mid Sunday afternoon here.



Droll Sylvia... Care to clue us in as to 'where' else is?
Central Park in Manhattan?

It appeared to me that a craft that returns by parachute and descends
pretty much vertically onto shock absorbing landing gear doesn't really
have much in the way of requirements for its landing area, beyond being
reasonably large, moderately flat, and devoid of significant obstacles.

There would have to be plenty of suitable places, including most of
Australia (might not be reachable from the particular orbit, but that's
another matter).

Sylvia.

They could always land in central Antarctica rather than the Arctic
that's becoming open water.

Few orbits would extend that far south.

Sylvia.

On Aug 21, 12:23*pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
Unlike Orion, Dragon's parachutes actually work:http://www.onorbit.com/node/2431

Pat

Actually, the Orion parachutes worked quite well when they did the pad
abort test at White Sands recently.

In sci.space.history message 01a2a424-6eb4-422c-8ac9-70a593ae1b7d@n19g2
000prf.googlegroups.com, Thu, 9 Sep 2010 11:43:45, M
posted:

On Aug 21, 12:23*pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
Unlike Orion, Dragon's parachutes actually work:http://www.onorbit.co
m/node/2431

Pat

Actually, the Orion parachutes worked quite well when they did the pad
abort test at White Sands recently.

I expect that he has yet to learn the difference between a first stage
and a potentially orbital capsule.

--
(c) John Stockton, nr London, UK. Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms & links;
Astro stuff via astron-1.htm, gravity0.htm ; quotings.htm, pascal.htm, etc.
No Encoding. Quotes before replies. Snip well. Write clearly. Don't Mail News.

In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote:
On 8/24/2010 2:42 PM, Dr J R Stockton wrote:

Responding to another post : the best recovery site is not necessarily
near the launch site; it is near the refurbishment site.

Ideally, launch, recovery, and refurbishment site should all be the same
place.

That would cause too much accumulation of pork in one place.
Space programs are like deviled ham... spread the pork all over.




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