SpaceX News

[Solo]

YUP, they are going to try it mid-Dec: nasaspaceflight.com article

[D Tibbets]

Mostly built ocean going landing pad, and at least one test flight of a booster with new aerodynamic controls which was flown presumably after the failure of one landing test vehicle last summer. They certainly are not wasting time. Meanwhile, the Boeing capsule may fly soon (limited test), after only ~ 8-10 years of work.

Dan Tibbets

[mvanwink5]

Brian at NBF has an article on the barge... no place for cows

http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/11/elon-m ... .html#more

[krenshala]

I forget which site I was on now, but it listed a tentative Dec 16 launch date (with Dec 19 or 20 as secondary windows) for the next F9. iirc, it quoted Elon as saying he gave it up to a 50% chance of successfully soft-landing the first stage on the barge.

[zapkitty]

... with new aerodynamic controls which was flown presumably after the failure of one landing test vehicle last summer.

A hop with the grids from last June complete with cows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgLBIdVg3EM

[D Tibbets]

... with new aerodynamic controls which was flown presumably after the failure of one landing test vehicle last summer.

A hop with the grids from last June complete with cows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgLBIdVg3EM

Good note, the grid controlled flight was in June, before the first flight attempt (?) of the new rocket. It was apparently a modified Grasshopper. I wonder if the new failed rocket had guide grid controls. The videos I have seen of the failure was too distant to show any detail.

Dan Tibbets

[GIThruster]

I just gotta hand it to Musk, the man has astonishing discipline and focus. A trial like this would turn most men into gibbering, drooling idiots:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P79E0-3LeW8

[krenshala]

Just saw that the next F9 launch has been moved back three days to 19 Dec. Hopefully they get better video of the attempted platform/barge soft-landing than they got of the two water landings.

[GIThruster]

Yeah. Sounds like they intend to land on the raft. If they do this, there will be little to stop them reusing all the first stages. That's a fantastical amount of revenue saved for them, and a chance to underbid anyone else on the planet in the future.

Musk is my hero.

[krenshala]

It will definitely increase their profit margins per launch, assuming the cost savings are more than the refurbishment costs, which it should be if they can avoid dunking the things in salt water.

[GIThruster]

Once they're demonstrated a bunch of safe landings I think what they want is clearance to land in TX near the refurbishment and launch facility. Then their costs drop hugely.

[GIThruster]

"epic!"

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/space ... day-party/

[GIThruster]

Here's the target. Expect the pretty logo to get pretty scorched!

https://www.facebook.com/SpaceX/photos/ ... =1&theater

[D Tibbets]

Once they're demonstrated a bunch of safe landings I think what they want is clearance to land in TX near the refurbishment and launch facility. Then their costs drop hugely.

I suspect the Texas site could only be used for first stage landing/ recovery if the launch site is in Texas or perhaps New Mexico. The First stage can not complete anything near an orbit of the Earth. I wonder if launch from Cape Canaveral would result in East Texas being a good site for second stage landing/ recovery, if they advance that far .

Dan Tibbets

[hanelyp]

There has been discussion of Falcon 9 first stage recovery by boostback, allowing it to land near the launch site. This does cut into the delta-V it can deliver to the upper stage.