He has a decent lens, a decent viewing angle, good resolution, and does not have 28 minutes of venting before the main event. Best of all is the brief low-voiced commentary "I would say that was a success--vehicle is still there".
If you prefer to see many minutes of inactivity before the firing with some venting, this one may serve.
On that one the actual firing lights off just before 37:00
Elon has tweeted, suggesting he views the firing as successful. Regarding launch, most folks think nearly two weeks is about the minimum. In Elon standard time that comes from his tweet as "Launching in a week or so".
People chatting on mike assert that the first activity is water (presumably flame trench flood, not the much more modest "lawn birds"). If they are right, then the real burn time is considerably less than the forecasted 12 seconds.
No way that was 12 seconds. Maybe say five from light up to shut down. My guess is to light all 27 and then if that's good throttle them all up. The deeper sound gives me goosebumps. As I've asserted before I reckon there is much calibration* happening across individual engines and separate cores to know in advance of the real thing. So that it steers correctly and doesn't have convergent/divergent components ..... :-)))
Cheers, Mike.
* Ultimately what fuel flow rate settings yield what thrust value. You've seen this with multi-engine aircraft, the flight engineer is fiddling per engine so the pilot's throttle positions have equal dynamic meaning.
( edit ) IIRC the Merlin's have not been used at 100% of rated power in flight, say ~90. I wonder what values will be used for this launch ? This reminds me that the first ( ? ) SpaceX ISS resupply had a booster engine disintegrate :
.... which didn't affect the outcome. That one was in the outer ring of eight, not the central gimballed one. Naturally with so many engines cuddling together on the Heavy the risks from that type of failure are a totally different prospect.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
the flight engineer is fiddling per engine so the pilot's throttle positions have equal dynamic meaning.
You are dating yourself. It has been decades since newly designed aircraft had a flight engineer's position. If there were one, the FADECs would have eliminated that particular part of the job.
Quote:
I wonder what values will be used for this launch ?
I'm pretty sure an Elon quote has been mentioned, and think it said 93% or so. The trouble is, no one knows with respect to which reference point.
I'm pretty sure an Elon quote has been mentioned, and think it said 93% or so.
Folks posting at NSF say he said 92%. Some of them think that just meant that the non-final mod engines on the demo flight are not capable of the full thrust expected of the definitive engines, and that in fact this flight would be conducted at full thrust "for the engines installed". I'm not so sure.
Anyway, 100% seems to be more a reference level than anything else in the rocket business. Plenty of engines are specified as able to operate at levels above their 100%.
The visitor center at the cape has opened up selling for tickets to view the Falcon Heavy first launch. Four grades are mentioned, in rising order of proximity and price.
Close
Closer
Closest
Feel the Heat
Yes, that last one is at 3.9 miles, and the next two are listed at 7.5 miles. A bit of twisting of meaning of the labels here. The prices are far higher than usual.
ISLaunchReport claims the
)
USLaunchReport claims the first full fuel loading of all three boosters has occurred.
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
Candle lit, orbit made,
)
Candle lit, orbit made, payload delivered.
https://apnews.com/d2f52afdee994e4980f8246cd75418e8/Commercial-rocket-from-New-Zealand-deploys-small-satellites
Test fire
)
Test fire delayed.
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2018/01/17/updates-spacex-targeting-falcon-heavy-test-fire-ksc-florida-before-launch/1041353001/
Richard
Static fire carried out
)
Static fire carried out today, not long after the beginning of the (slightly delayed) six-hour window.
There are multiple non-SpaceX videos available. I like this one:
https://youtu.be/NuXHriwQB9g
He has a decent lens, a decent viewing angle, good resolution, and does not have 28 minutes of venting before the main event. Best of all is the brief low-voiced commentary "I would say that was a success--vehicle is still there".
If you prefer to see many minutes of inactivity before the firing with some venting, this one may serve.
https://livestream.com/accounts/20522137/spacexfalconheavytest/videos/169199075
On that one the actual firing lights off just before 37:00
Elon has tweeted, suggesting he views the firing as successful. Regarding launch, most folks think nearly two weeks is about the minimum. In Elon standard time that comes from his tweet as "Launching in a week or so".
Here's a closer one : the
)
Here's a closer one from SpaceX : the sound is awesome & seems to suggest two phases : a light up and then a throttle up.
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
Mike Hewson wrote:Here's a
)
Nice one.
Here is one shot, seemingly by folks a little bit in the know, from OSB II fifth floor observation deck at KSC.
https://youtu.be/jU7DmNp7vYk
People chatting on mike assert that the first activity is water (presumably flame trench flood, not the much more modest "lawn birds"). If they are right, then the real burn time is considerably less than the forecasted 12 seconds.
No way that was 12 seconds.
)
No way that was 12 seconds. Maybe say five from light up to shut down. My guess is to light all 27 and then if that's good throttle them all up. The deeper sound gives me goosebumps. As I've asserted before I reckon there is much calibration* happening across individual engines and separate cores to know in advance of the real thing. So that it steers correctly and doesn't have convergent/divergent components ..... :-)))
Cheers, Mike.
* Ultimately what fuel flow rate settings yield what thrust value. You've seen this with multi-engine aircraft, the flight engineer is fiddling per engine so the pilot's throttle positions have equal dynamic meaning.
( edit ) IIRC the Merlin's have not been used at 100% of rated power in flight, say ~90. I wonder what values will be used for this launch ? This reminds me that the first ( ? ) SpaceX ISS resupply had a booster engine disintegrate :
.... which didn't affect the outcome. That one was in the outer ring of eight, not the central gimballed one. Naturally with so many engines cuddling together on the Heavy the risks from that type of failure are a totally different prospect.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
Mike Hewson wrote:the flight
)
You are dating yourself. It has been decades since newly designed aircraft had a flight engineer's position. If there were one, the FADECs would have eliminated that particular part of the job.
I'm pretty sure an Elon quote has been mentioned, and think it said 93% or so. The trouble is, no one knows with respect to which reference point.
archae86 wrote:Mike Hewson
)
Absolutely ! :-)))
It was once quite a job to manually 'harmonise' a set of four radials ....
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
archae86 wrote:I'm pretty
)
Folks posting at NSF say he said 92%. Some of them think that just meant that the non-final mod engines on the demo flight are not capable of the full thrust expected of the definitive engines, and that in fact this flight would be conducted at full thrust "for the engines installed". I'm not so sure.
Anyway, 100% seems to be more a reference level than anything else in the rocket business. Plenty of engines are specified as able to operate at levels above their 100%.
The visitor center at the cape has opened up selling for tickets to view the Falcon Heavy first launch. Four grades are mentioned, in rising order of proximity and price.
Close
Closer
Closest
Feel the Heat
Yes, that last one is at 3.9 miles, and the next two are listed at 7.5 miles. A bit of twisting of meaning of the labels here. The prices are far higher than usual.