Launch News SpaceX Falcon 9 F3 COTS2+ Updates

[Urwumpe]

You know, you could scrub and reschedule, then it takes longer but it gets done properly.
Or you could go and have the chance of a great firework, then it's done, but not quite the way you intended it, also you would probably kill Commercial Spaceflight in the US...

First of all, you would kill SpaceX by that, since it has the full accountability for the risks in that launch. NASA is only responsible for the ISS and the 430 kg payload. Before the SSRMS grapples the Dragon and after the ISS releases the Dragon again, SpaceX is directly responsible for everything and will have to pay the fireworks.

So, not launching if a engine reports bad data and maybe having to tolerate a contract fine for late delivery is better than an expensive explosion.

 

[garyw]

Not many people have much excitement for them after the numerous cancelations and now an abort. It's great that the abort system worked, but it's still disappointing after so many tries.

You should all be cheering for SpaceX

There is no rushing. There is no panic. There is no management pressure saying 'JUST LAUNCH DAMMIT'.

Nope, they are going slow and steady. They've learnt from previous mistakes and if it takes an extra few days for this launch to come so be it.

As the Russian found out with the progress that docked in the mountains even when you've been flying a programme for many years something can still go wrong.

SpaceX will get there. If people here get bored with them then it's your loss. Let them do it their way.

 

[Codz]

You should all be cheering for SpaceX

There is no rushing. There is no panic. There is no management pressure saying 'JUST LAUNCH DAMMIT'.

Nope, they are going slow and steady. They've learnt from previous mistakes and if it takes an extra few days for this launch to come so be it.

As the Russian found out with the progress that docked in the mountains even when you've been flying a programme for many years something can still go wrong.

SpaceX will get their. If people here get bored with them then it's your loss. Let them do it their way.

It has been 7 months since this thing was originally supposed to go up. This starting to get ridiculous, especially when Musk goes on and on about Dragon Mars missions and Stratolaunch Falcon's and all that other rhetoric. It's all talk.

 

[Cras]

I certainly cheer for SpaceX. I very much want them to succeed ,for a variety of reasons. It is easy to get disappointed in the scrubs, and the fact that NASA astronauts have to continue to use the Soyuz to get to the ISS, and quite frankly the delays and scrubs make SpaceX an easy target for cracking a joke.

But I would not see this as a reason to abandon the commercial program and want NASA to return to LEO. I dont want NASA to have anything to do with LEO anymore. It is a waste of their time to fiddle about ferrying up to LEO anymore. Let the commercial parterns take over that part of the obligations. Let NASA and its vehicle take over where the private sector is unwilling and unable to go at this moment.

 

[N_Molson]

It has been 7 months since this thing was originally supposed to go up. This starting to get ridiculous, especially when Musk goes on and on about Dragon Mars missions and Stratolaunch Falcon's and all that other rhetoric. It's all talk.

Its a fact that Musk should better begin to learn humility.

 

[Artlav]

It has been 7 months since this thing was originally supposed to go up.

You can't schedule research&development. By very nature it's an unpredictable process.

 

[RGClark]

I read on Space.com that it was a sensor glitch, and that nothing appears to have actually gone wrong with the number 5 engine. So a Tuesday scrub....uh I mean launch attempt...seem very possible.

In the post launch press conference, Shotwell said it appears to be more than a sensor problem. Also, there were unexpectedly high heating problems with some of the engines during the Dec., 2010 flight, also due to oxidizer-rich conditions (equivalently, low fuel amounts):

Fri, 9 September, 2011
SpaceX Acknowledges Falcon 9 Engine Anomaly.
By Dan Leone
UPDATED Sept. 12, 12:45 p.m.
http://spacenews.com/civil/spacex-acknowledges-falcon-engine-anomaly-during-latest-launch.html

An Oxygen-Rich Shutdown Is Still a Shutdown.
By Jim Hillhouse
http://www.americaspace.org/?p=9044

The phrasing in these reports initially made it seem like these engines during that flight had to be shutdown prematurely because they were running oxidizer-rich. But what was meant was that all the engines did shut down at the planned time but they occurred under conditions where there was an excess amount of oxidizer, which can result in excessively high temperatures.


Bob Clark

 

[Harry]

You can't schedule research&development. By very nature it's an unpredictable process.

I agree 100%! Some people seem to forget what NASA went through in the late 50's and early 60's with rockets blowing up on the launch pad.

I don't think the families who lost their love ones in the Apollo 1 fire trust the so called Pro's in Nasa! Heck, before the fire started, they couldn't even communicate with Mission Control!!!!!!

 

[River Crab]

I don't understand why this scrub should have people calling SpaceX "amateur" and labeling their rocket as being inferior. Large rockets like Delta IV and Ariane V have had similar pad aborts recently, even in regular sevice. If anything, the scrub shows that they're smart enough to be cautious when testing the new system. I don't want an American GSLV!

 

[NovaSilisko]

In my opinion, I think they should have contracted some flights between C1 and C2/3, get more experience with the launch vehicle under their belt...

 

[FADEC]

Its a fact that Musk should better begin to learn humility.

Yes. He makes everything sound so easy and talks about going to Mars in 10-15 years. I'm always worried whether all that talk just is PR or if he has no real clue of what he actually predicts.

 

[Screamer7]

I went ice cold when I watched that launch abort. Brrrrrrrr!!!
Good luck next time.
I watched a previous launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, and what strike me the most is the sparks that flew around from the exhaust nozzle.
I never saw that on any other launch.....Delta, Saturn,Space shuttle etc.
And it quite unnerving to watch that second stage engine glow red hot.

 

[C3PO]

Its a fact that Musk should better begin to learn humility.

He's selling a product. Humility never worked in advertising.

If Libresse commercials showed how their product worked IRL, they wouldn't sell a single pack. :lol:

 

[Tacolev]

I don't understand why this scrub should have people calling SpaceX "amateur" and labeling their rocket as being inferior. Large rockets like Delta IV and Ariane V have had similar pad aborts recently, even in regular sevice. If anything, the scrub shows that they're smart enough to be cautious when testing the new system. I don't want an American GSLV!

I get a different impression from commentators on some large mainstream online communities (and a few small ones): They seem to think that it's a miraculous thing that a rocket can perform a pad abort without exploding and have invented some strange hype-fed narrative that this demonstrates SpaceX's superiority over "NASA" as some kind of evil establishment.

 

[Urwumpe]

It has been 7 months since this thing was originally supposed to go up. This starting to get ridiculous, especially when Musk goes on and on about Dragon Mars missions and Stratolaunch Falcon's and all that other rhetoric. It's all talk.

It is 7 months in which NASA requested SpaceX to literally certify that even the color for the SpaceX logo does not catch fire while docked to the ISS. Hardly SpaceX fault of the development, it is maximal just the difference between "another test of a capsule" and "Let us merge a few test objectives into a single mission to give a signal to the political decision makers".

 

[N_Molson]

Computer science and advances in electronics greatly reduced the catastrophic launch failures those 10-20 last years. The safety systems have become much more reliable than they were before 1995 (roughly).

 

[Urwumpe]

Computer science and advances in electronics greatly reduced the catastrophic launch failures those 10-20 last years. The safety systems have become much more reliable than they were before 1995 (roughly).

Rather 1980, the Shuttle main engine controllers had been also pretty reliable already, what changed a lot is actually the sensor end. You can now get much smaller sensors with much better accuracy even in high vibration environments - and that without actually needing to order special parts, most of this stuff is commercially available today for various applications.

Thus, you can today stuff the sensor payload of a test article into a flight model without significant mass penalty compared to previous stuff - and much lower costs.

 

[anemazoso]

Spaceflightnow is reporting a statement from SpaceX. A check valve was bad so they r swaping it out for a go on Tues.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/003/status.html

 

[N_Molson]

2155 GMT (5:55 p.m. EDT)

"Today's launch was aborted when the flight computer detected slightly high pressure in the engine 5 combustion chamber," SpaceX said in a statement. "We have discovered root cause and repairs are underway."

"During rigorous inspections of the engine, SpaceX engineers discovered a faulty check valve on the Merlin engine. We are now in the process of replacing the failed valve. Those repairs should be complete tonight. We will continue to review data on Sunday. If things look good, we will be ready to attempt to launch on Tuesday, May 22, at 3:44 a.m. Eastern."

 

[sorindafabico]

We must have patience. Nobody wants another Soyuz 1 or VLS disaster.