Dragon capsule parachute test

In sci.space.history David Spain wrote:
I'm speculating that the biggest driver in the cost to recover (the
capsule) is the accuracy of the landing in terms of how close to the
launch point this can be. Assuming a reusable capsule, getting it
back as close to the LP as possible can only help to reduce the cost
of handling and reprocessing.

But is Dragon built or even expected to be refurbished anywhere near
the LP? I would expect that for the forseeable future, the refurb
will hapen in Hawthorne and then the capsule would be trucked or flown
to Canaveral.

I suppose if they ever do get to landings on land they might target
one of the emerging U.S. S.W. "spaceports."

Now, sure, if they do get the rates up high enough, or feel they have
to cury sufficient political favor, they might decide to do the refurb
in FL. but until then, somewhere not too far from the SoCal coast is
where I'd expect Dragon to keep touching-down.

--
I don't interest myself in "why." I think more often in terms of
"when," sometimes "where;" always "how much." - Joubert
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

In article , Damon Hill
wrote:

David Spain wrote in
:


In either case, if the launch point is Cape Canaveral, it makes sense
to make that area the primary landing site as well. Florida is
suitable to either modes. And if their landing accuracy is as good as
their claims it might not be necessary to be totally devoid of
population. Besides a little space tourism/voyeurism is good for the
local economy...


If Dragon (or any other capsule) could reliably plunk down in the Indian
River estuary off Titusville, it would be fabulous for tourism. They'd
have to shoo off private boats, of course.

Somehow, though, I don't see that happening without some really precise
terminal guidance--steerable parafoils, for example.

I was just at the second Air and Space museum next to Dulles Airport in
DC and saw the (iirc) Gemini capsule with a glider attached. How
practical was that type of design?

--
Chris Mack "If we show any weakness, the monsters will get cocky!"
'Invid Fan' - 'Yokai Monsters Along With Ghosts'

In article , David Spain
wrote:

Sylvia Else wrote:

It appears they propose to pick the capsule from the water using a
helicopter and carry it to land. It's not clear whether that would be
acceptable with a crew inside. If you have to get the crew out first,
then everything becomes more complicated. Also, if you're going to do
water landings with a crew, then you presumably need to have a life
raft, etc, which you don't need for landings on land.


Yeah I wonder about that helo idea. In the long run wouldn't it be
better/cheaper to just build a recovery ship? Then haul it (the capsule) out
of the water with a marine crane? Might take a bit longer but ought to be
cheaper and simpler to operate and maintain than a helo, esp. in bad
visibility situations (aka fog).

Or will all capsule recoveries require VFR conditions?

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.

--
Chris Mack "If we show any weakness, the monsters will get cocky!"
'Invid Fan' - 'Yokai Monsters Along With Ghosts'

On 24/08/2010 6:52 PM, Pat Flannery wrote:
On 8/21/2010 8:58 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:


I'm in Australia. Mid Sunday afternoon here.

You can't fool me, "Sylvia Else"!
You're David Sander, and you've had a sex-change operation to try to
mislead the investors in "Man Conquers Space", like me!
Well...Ms./Mr. Else/Sander; I'll have know that their are still some
Aussies around who are _honest_; and they are disgusted with the likes
of you defaming their nation's reputation.

Dunno about defamed. It's a matter of public record that Australia
detained one of its own citizens in an immigration camp for an extended
period (OK, she was a nutter who spoke German and claimed not to be
Australian, which didn't exactly help), and that Australia deported one
of its own citizens (sheer incompetence).

As for most of Australia not being good for much except digging up, you
only have to look at its colour in Google Earth. Mars looks more hospitable.


Alan Erskine is going to hunt you down like the dingo dog you are!
He's been defamed on the internet in the past, and by God, he will not
tolerate any infamies being foisted on the good, and decent, reputation
of Australians by the likes of you!
By the time he's done with you, you'll be food for Goana lizards!
You go get him/her, Alan...and when you get him/her, beat that thing
within an inch of its life and throw it to the koalas to do with what
they please! :-D

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.

Sylvia.

On 24/08/2010 8:33 PM, Pat Flannery wrote:
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

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.

Sylvia.

Pat Flannery writes:

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.

Musk has more than once said things like “the goal for Falcon 9 is that
it ends up being the first fully-reusable launch vehicle�. Of course I
think this is nonsense, but nonetheless.



Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Invid Fan wrote in
:

In article , Damon Hill
wrote:

David Spain wrote in
:


In either case, if the launch point is Cape Canaveral, it makes
sense to make that area the primary landing site as well. Florida
is suitable to either modes. And if their landing accuracy is as
good as their claims it might not be necessary to be totally devoid
of population. Besides a little space tourism/voyeurism is good for
the local economy...


If Dragon (or any other capsule) could reliably plunk down in the
Indian River estuary off Titusville, it would be fabulous for
tourism. They'd have to shoo off private boats, of course.

Somehow, though, I don't see that happening without some really
precise terminal guidance--steerable parafoils, for example.

I was just at the second Air and Space museum next to Dulles Airport
in DC and saw the (iirc) Gemini capsule with a glider attached. How
practical was that type of design?


They certainly never tried it on a manned flight, and I'm not sure it
ever got past a test drop or two. Need to research that.

--Damon

Pat Flannery 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

On 8/21/2010 8:58 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:


I'm in Australia. Mid Sunday afternoon here.

You can't fool me, "Sylvia Else"!
You're David Sander, and you've had a sex-change operation to try to
mislead the investors in "Man Conquers Space", like me!
Well...Ms./Mr. Else/Sander; I'll have know that their are still some
Aussies around who are _honest_; and they are disgusted with the likes
of you defaming their nation's reputation.
Alan Erskine is going to hunt you down like the dingo dog you are!
He's been defamed on the internet in the past, and by God, he will not
tolerate any infamies being foisted on the good, and decent, reputation
of Australians by the likes of you!
By the time he's done with you, you'll be food for Goana lizards!
You go get him/her, Alan...and when you get him/her, beat that thing
within an inch of its life and throw it to the koalas to do with what
they please! :-D

Pat

On 8/22/2010 5:03 AM, Jeff Findley wrote:


Great Plains in the US. It's big, it's flat, and it's fairly devoid of
high concentrations of people.

....and is already an emergency landing site for the Soyuz under
international agreement:
http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/histind/Ugol/Ugol.html

Pat