Launch News SpaceX Dragon Test 18/1/2020

[Notebook]

SpaceX is targeting Saturday, January 18 for an in-flight test of Crew Dragon’s launch escape capabilities from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This test, which does not have NASA astronauts onboard the spacecraft, is intended to demonstrate Crew Dragon’s ability to reliably carry crew to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency on ascent.

https://www.spacex.com/webcast

 

[Urwumpe]

Pushed back to Sunday:

[ame="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1218473546772430848"]SpaceX on Twitter: "Standing down from today’s in-flight Crew Dragon launch escape test attempt due to sustained winds and rough seas in the recovery area. Now targeting Sunday, January 19, with a six-hour test window opening at 8:00 a.m. EST, 13:00 UTC"[/ame]

 

[Urwumpe]

And a new T0 has been issued, because of the winds in the recovery zone:

[ame="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1218865768428974081"]SpaceX on Twitter: "New T-0 of 10:00 a.m. EST to optimize for decreasing winds in the recovery area"[/ame]

It sounds like they plan to launch today, just trying to make the best out of the current weather trends.

---------- Post added at 16:36 ---------- Previous post was at 13:02 ----------

What a fireworks - they destroyed the Falcon 9 booster by range safety during the test, after engine shutdown and Dragon separation.

 

[RisingFury]

Welp, SpaceX still knows how to blow up.

Nice show today. Congrats, SpaceX!

 

[francisdrake]

SpaceX is always good for a BOOM!

 

[mahdavi3d]

[ame="https://twitter.com/BrandonHSlam/status/1218923590260645889"]Brandon Wynn ??? on Twitter: "THAT. WAS. BONKERS!!!!!!!!!!

@SpaceX @HoverSlamSpace… "[/ame]

 

[kuddel]

What a fireworks - they destroyed the Falcon 9 booster by range safety during the test, after engine shutdown and Dragon separation.

It also didn't look like a breakup due to dynamic forces to me..., but can you give the source of that information? Thanks.

 

[Urwumpe]

It also didn't look like a breakup due to dynamic forces to me..., but can you give the source of that information? Thanks.

No confirmation yet, but the a number of factors suggest it. The press kit predicted a possible breakup either directly after separation or during reentry.

Following Crew Dragon’s separation, Falcon 9 is expected to aerodynamically break up offshore over the Atlantic Ocean. Expected breakup time will vary due toa number of factors, including winds and expected minor variations in vehicle attitudes and positions, but could occur shortly after separation or upon reentry from Earth’supper atmosphere. In either scenario, a dedicated team of SpaceX Falcon 9 recovery personnel will be staged and ready to begin recovering debris immediately after breakup.

The stage was flying stable after separation and showed no signs of tumbling or other instability. Even venting after engine shutdown appeared normal.



Also, destroying the stage controlled is a much better choice than letting it happen close to the capsule recovery site - but SpaceX has no control over the range safety devices anyway, the US Air Force has command there.



And finally the explosion cloud appeared too well mixed for a uncontrolled destruction. That is the weakest argument there, sure, but it is quite a gamble to get such a precise nice single explosion just by chance.



Its possible (in a conspiracy theory way) that SpaceX wanted to take some bit of gambling there to extract more engineering data for future landing technologies, while the Airforce was staunchly conservative and called for stage destruction as soon as it veered of the scheduled trajectory.





You'll get my excuse for the misinformation or the confirmation for the controlled destruction as soon as I have it.

 

[GLS]

It all looked like a range safety operation: engine shutdown and capsule sep, wait, boom. :shrug:

 

[Urwumpe]

Also, one big fragment that was photographed from the ground looks a lot like the second stage - which makes aerodynamic destruction again less likely.

[ame="https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/1218932810007879683"]Chris G - NSF on Twitter: "That, my friends, is the intact 2nd stage with part of the interstage about to impact the ocean!!! #SpaceX #Falcon9 #Dragon #InFlightAbort

Relive the launch: https://t.co/xvJXjnox3F

Updates: https://t.co/ZMtr6Ux6bL… https://t.co/Xe8ZK8wkON"[/ame]

 

[kuddel]

Wouldn't range-save detonations also blast the second stage?

 

[Urwumpe]

Wouldn't range-save detonations also blast the second stage?

Not sure - at least the first stage should have it, according to older articles even autonomous systems there.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

A fitting end to a great core. Salutes to B1046

 

[kuddel]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-HOQrinzlY"]SpaceX Explodes A Rocket To Show That It's Safe - YouTube[/ame]