Posted on 01/16/2016 8:32:03 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine
The Falcon 9 booster that dramatically flew back to Earth last month following a commercial satellite launch ignited again Friday in a hold-down test at SpaceXâs Cape Canaveral launch pad, days before the company is due to launch its next mission from California, officials said.
SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk tweeted that the âdata looks good overallâ but one of the Merlin engines â Engine No. 9 â showed thrust fluctuations during the test firing.
Officials did not say how long the nine-engine first stage fired at the Complex 40 launch pad at Cape Canaveral, where the Falcon 9 took off Dec. 21 with 11 Orbcomm communications satellites before its first stage descended back to a landing zone a few miles to the south.
Technicians first took the 156-foot first stage booster to launch pad 39A, an Apollo- and shuttle-era launch complex now leased by SpaceX at NASAâs Kennedy Space Center, then transferred the rocket back to pad 40 and hoisted it upright with a crane.
Musk said after the Dec. 21 launch that SpaceX would fire the rocket at pad 39A, but those plans changed.
SpaceX does not intend to fly the returned Falcon 9 booster, called Flight 21 in the companyâs nomenclature, but engineers hope to learn how the rocket fared on its brief flight into space.
Ground inspections and tests like Fridayâs hold-down engine firing are crucial for SpaceX to determine how easily the first stage could be refurbished and readied to launch again.
In a post to his Twitter account, Musk said the thrust fluctuations detected on Engine No. 9 could be caused by debris ingested into the engine.
âEngine data looks ok,â Musk tweeted. âWill borescope tonight. This is one of the outer engines.â
Musk aims to eventually refly Falcon 9 boosters with little refurbishment, a goal he says is vital to reducing the cost of space transportation and achieving his objective of sending people to Mars.
The Dec. 21 launch marked the first time an orbital-class rocket took off and had its first stage return to the launch site. The Falcon 9âs second stage continued into orbit to deploy the missionâs 11 refrigerator-sized Orbcomm satellite payloads.
Blue Origin, a rival space company founded by Amazon.comâs Jeff Bezos, became the first company to launch a commercial vehicle into space and return it to a vertical rocket-assisted landing in November, nearly a month before SpaceXâs achievement.
Blue Originâs New Shepard booster is smaller than the Falcon 9, and it carried no operational satellites.
Fridayâs engine firing at Cape Canaveral occurred at SpaceX teams in California prepare for the companyâs next flight, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Jason 3 oceanography satellite for an international consortium of weather and space agencies led by NOAA and Eumetsat, the European weather satellite organization.
SpaceX will use Sundayâs launch to conduct another experimental rocket landing attempt on a barge positioned in the Pacific Ocean south of the Falcon 9 launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceXâs vice president of mission assurance, said Friday that a landing platform named âJust Read the Instructionsâ â named for a starship in science fiction novels penned by Iain Banks â will be the destination for the Falcon first stage.
Like all of SpaceXâs rocket landing attempts, the objective is secondary to the delivery of the Jason 3 satellite into orbit, Koenigsmann said.
SpaceX officials said the company hopes to show the landing attempt on the live webcast of the launch.
âThe reason we donât land on land, or attempt to land on land like we did for the last mission at the Cape, is that we do not have environmental approval at this point time on this range,â Koenigsmann told reporters. âThat is something that we will do in the future.â
The Falcon 9 rocket set to launch Sunday is the last of SpaceXâs previous generation of boosters called the Falcon 9 v1.1. An upgraded version with higher-thrust engines, chilled propellants and enlarged fuel tanks debuted on the Dec. 21 flight from Florida and will launch on future SpaceX missions.
Koenigsmann said the Falcon 9 first stage launching from California on Sunday would have enough propellant left over after its approximately two-and-a-half minute firing to power its way back to the coast. The Jason 3 satellite weighs about 1,124 pounds, or 510 kilograms, much less than the Falcon 9âs maximum lift capacity.
The forecast calls for perfect weather for launch at Vandenberg, but waves of 10 to 13 feet are predicted in the recovery zone in the Pacific Ocean.
âCurrently, things are looking good,â Koenigsmann said. âThe sea state is good for surfing, and a little high for landing, but we donât anticipate that is going to be a major problem. Iâm pretty hopeful. We had a really good landing last time, so things are looking good at this point in time.â
SpaceX says they could land a capsule on Mars using the same rockets they used for the pad abort test. It would be the same as landing the capsule on land when returning from Earth orbit, which they plan to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_FXVjf46T8
Well, gravity had a part in there too. In fact, the first stage would have still landed without the rockets firing.
Harry who?
A glide test is one thing, but they really need to get that into orbit.
Reid!
Ideal weather predicted for Falcon 9 launch Sunday
http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/01/16/ideal-weather-predicted-for-falcon-9-launch-sunday/
I think that would be called "a crash" rather than "a landing". But good shot!
Elon Musk described one of their earlier landings as a “rapid unscheduled dissassembly”.
Landing on a barge is hard
SpaceX fails a third time to land its Falcon 9 on a drone ship in the sea
http://news.yahoo.com/spacex-fails-third-time-land-190856751.html
The barge/landing platform I am sure stays steady in the X and Y directions, but it’s the Z (vertical) direction that is the problem. I think the seas out there were about 10 to 13 feet at the time the booster landed. It’s difficult enough for US Navy pilots to land their aircraft on a pitching deck, but imagine trying to land a rocket!
What I have suggested to SpaceX via their youtube channel is to build another platform on top of their current one. Have that upper platform be equipped with hydraulic lifters beneath it that are computer-controlled that can move the deck up to 15 feet or possibly more and stay level. Once they do that their X, Y, and Z axes will all be rock solid still and allow a landing.
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