Just watched the launch/recovery video. Well done indeed. So when might we expect to see the first "recycled" flight? I am sure they are expending a lot of effort examining these recovered stages looking for metal fatigue, etc., but they should be approaching point at which they feel comfortable with testing a "recycled", even if it has no actual payload.
I watched the technical webcast - a camera view from OCISLY - and there was 'loss of signal' just as the flame appeared at top of screen. I thought "crap, it's crashed again and they were using the standard transmission delay + 'technical difficulties' excuse not to see the result". So I was very pleased when the Falcon was sitting nicely upright on the spot :
I know I keep saying it but : that is 30 tonnes from 8 km/s to zero within five minutes and one metre. This is a serious skill.
Cheers, Mike.
NB. I think I know what the dribbly flames from the bottom are all about. We see them with every landing. The 'hydraulic fluid' used in manoeuvering the rocket gimbal mechanism is flushed - it is an open circuit - from an outlet in the octaweb. That fluid is actually the RP-1 kero used to power the beast ..... an efficient choice !
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
Just watched the launch/recovery video. Well done indeed. So when might we expect to see the first "recycled" flight? I am sure they are expending a lot of effort examining these recovered stages looking for metal fatigue, etc., but they should be approaching point at which they feel comfortable with testing a "recycled", even if it has no actual payload.
A while ago there was either a news conference or info session with both Elon and Hans Koenigsmann ( engineer & Flight Reliability Team leader ). I'm sorry I can't remember the link. With the recycle aspect the main concern was not so much with the 'static' or 'passive' parts but down at the hot end. So the cylindrical barrels for instance should have the longest lives, say 100 missions. However the engines are pretty brutal in a materials engineering sense. There's alot of Niobium alloy used because that helps cope with both the range of temperatures required and the rate of change of temperatures experienced.
Basically Niobium has lazy atoms that love to stick together with other metals that have many outer shell electrons. In alloys it enhances 'creep resistance' which is the propagation of lattice defects ie. cracks. If you look at the infrared camera that is occasionally shown of the Merlin 1D vacuum engine ( second stage ) then across the space of a few feet is virtually the same material at 150 K and 1500+ K and at launch goes from the former to the latter very rapidly.
Also of interest is the iridescence of Niobium which explains ( I have read ) the unusual blue/green color for a few seconds when they first light the engines. At that moment you can't see the bells directly but the glow comes through the fog/mist of the sprayed water. That's the surface Niobium atoms briefly going through specific/typical excited radiative states before the pan-spectrum emissions with everything else. You don't see that color again because every surface carbonises quick slick. I found it hard to believe this when I first read about it, but apparently there is some lovely jewelry to be had with an electrolytically applied outer layer.
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
Elsbeth III and Go Quest have recently arrived at Port Canaveral. On the way in shore cam photos showed the first stage looking fine (vertical, centered...):
SpaceX has released a short clip of some high-speed footage. They must have had a seriously long lens to catch this re-light on the way back down :
So this is the bit where you run forwards ( super/hyper-sonic ) while operating the flamethrower pointing forwards, and need a wash down later on. Awesome ! :)))
Also the Veteran's report guys have indicated that the JC-SAT 16 launch included ( for the first time ) prolonged LOX flushing up until about 20 seconds before liftoff. This is in order to keep the tanks supercooled just that extra bit, and thus maximise density onboard before the cracker is lit. You can see that - compared with previous launches - by all the misty outflows from the various outlets. I am curious ( no doubt many are ) as to the degree of finesse happening here ie. just how much fuel is left in the bottom of the tank when landed. Or if you like : does this late circulation & venting contribute to extra payload KE or first stage return margin ?
( edit ) On the graphic sharp punters will note that the centre bell belching flame is closer to one margin than the other. This is gimballing or thrust vectoring in action. Now that I come to think of it, this will act to rotate the barrel in pitch ie. make it align more vertically by shoving the stage's backside more toward the ground. The red arrow symbolises the reaction onto the barrel of the non-longitudinal component of thrust. The longitudinal component slows the craft down of course.
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
Links for the webcasts for
)
Links for the webcasts for today's JCSAT-16 launch (or tomorrow if you are thinking UTC or living in a more up-to-date part of the globe)
technical webcast just launch pics and com loop chatter.
hosted webcast much more talking heads and Hawthorne pics
16.5 hours to intended launch time as I post
(edited long after the fact to fix the link display problem after Oliver clued me in on what was wrong with my original post)
It's one foot to the left of
)
It's one foot to the left of centre target. Do it again !
Awesome, right down the pickle barrel .....
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
Another successful landing of
)
Another successful landing of Falcon 9 onto OCISLY!!! :-)
This is AWESOME!!!!! :-)
TimeLord04
Have TARDIS, will travel...
Come along K-9!
Join SETI Refugees
Just watched the
)
Just watched the launch/recovery video. Well done indeed. So when might we expect to see the first "recycled" flight? I am sure they are expending a lot of effort examining these recovered stages looking for metal fatigue, etc., but they should be approaching point at which they feel comfortable with testing a "recycled", even if it has no actual payload.
That would have been a 10 in
)
That would have been a 10 in an archery competition.
I noticed the landing was not labelled "Experimental" this time.
I watched the technical
)
I watched the technical webcast - a camera view from OCISLY - and there was 'loss of signal' just as the flame appeared at top of screen. I thought "crap, it's crashed again and they were using the standard transmission delay + 'technical difficulties' excuse not to see the result". So I was very pleased when the Falcon was sitting nicely upright on the spot :
I know I keep saying it but : that is 30 tonnes from 8 km/s to zero within five minutes and one metre. This is a serious skill.
Cheers, Mike.
NB. I think I know what the dribbly flames from the bottom are all about. We see them with every landing. The 'hydraulic fluid' used in manoeuvering the rocket gimbal mechanism is flushed - it is an open circuit - from an outlet in the octaweb. That fluid is actually the RP-1 kero used to power the beast ..... an efficient choice !
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
robl wrote:Just watched the
)
A while ago there was either a news conference or info session with both Elon and Hans Koenigsmann ( engineer & Flight Reliability Team leader ). I'm sorry I can't remember the link. With the recycle aspect the main concern was not so much with the 'static' or 'passive' parts but down at the hot end. So the cylindrical barrels for instance should have the longest lives, say 100 missions. However the engines are pretty brutal in a materials engineering sense. There's alot of Niobium alloy used because that helps cope with both the range of temperatures required and the rate of change of temperatures experienced.
Basically Niobium has lazy atoms that love to stick together with other metals that have many outer shell electrons. In alloys it enhances 'creep resistance' which is the propagation of lattice defects ie. cracks. If you look at the infrared camera that is occasionally shown of the Merlin 1D vacuum engine ( second stage ) then across the space of a few feet is virtually the same material at 150 K and 1500+ K and at launch goes from the former to the latter very rapidly.
Also of interest is the iridescence of Niobium which explains ( I have read ) the unusual blue/green color for a few seconds when they first light the engines. At that moment you can't see the bells directly but the glow comes through the fog/mist of the sprayed water. That's the surface Niobium atoms briefly going through specific/typical excited radiative states before the pan-spectrum emissions with everything else. You don't see that color again because every surface carbonises quick slick. I found it hard to believe this when I first read about it, but apparently there is some lovely jewelry to be had with an electrolytically applied outer layer.
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
Very Nice ! Bill Mike
)
Very Nice !
Bill
Elsbeth III and Go Quest have
)
Elsbeth III and Go Quest have recently arrived at Port Canaveral. On the way in shore cam photos showed the first stage looking fine (vertical, centered...):
SpaceX has released a short
)
SpaceX has released a short clip of some high-speed footage. They must have had a seriously long lens to catch this re-light on the way back down :
So this is the bit where you run forwards ( super/hyper-sonic ) while operating the flamethrower pointing forwards, and need a wash down later on. Awesome ! :)))
Also the Veteran's report guys have indicated that the JC-SAT 16 launch included ( for the first time ) prolonged LOX flushing up until about 20 seconds before liftoff. This is in order to keep the tanks supercooled just that extra bit, and thus maximise density onboard before the cracker is lit. You can see that - compared with previous launches - by all the misty outflows from the various outlets. I am curious ( no doubt many are ) as to the degree of finesse happening here ie. just how much fuel is left in the bottom of the tank when landed. Or if you like : does this late circulation & venting contribute to extra payload KE or first stage return margin ?
And JC-SAT 16 being handled in port.
Cheers, Mike.
( edit ) On the graphic sharp punters will note that the centre bell belching flame is closer to one margin than the other. This is gimballing or thrust vectoring in action. Now that I come to think of it, this will act to rotate the barrel in pitch ie. make it align more vertically by shoving the stage's backside more toward the ground. The red arrow symbolises the reaction onto the barrel of the non-longitudinal component of thrust. The longitudinal component slows the craft down of course.
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