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  SpaceX Falcon 9/Thaicom 8, droneship landing

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Author Topic:   SpaceX Falcon 9/Thaicom 8, droneship landing
Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-25-2016 08:50 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
SpaceX Falcon 9 with THAICOM 8 satellite

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket will deliver THAICOM 8, a commercial communications satellite, to a supersynchronous transfer orbit.

The THAICOM 8 satellite, built by Orbital ATK, will provide Ku-band communications coverage for South Asia and Southeast Asia.

SpaceX is targeting launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on May 26 with a backup date of May 27. The approximately two-hour launch window opens on May 26 at 5:40 pm EDT (2140 GMT). A backup launch window on May 27 opens at approximately the same time. The satellite will be deployed about 32 minutes after liftoff.

Following stage separation, the first stage of Falcon 9 will attempt an experimental landing on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship. As with other missions going to geostationary orbits, the first-stage will be subject to extreme velocities and re-entry heating, making a successful landing challenging.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-26-2016 04:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
SpaceX on Twitter:
Launch team finalizing review of vehicle data and check outs. Will move T-0 into the 2 hour window.
Now targeting a T-minus 0 at 7:36 p.m. EDT (2336 GMT).

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-26-2016 05:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
SpaceX on Twitter:
Out of an abundance of caution, launch postponed until no earlier than tomorrow for additional data review — Falcon 9 and spacecraft remain healthy.
Elon Musk on Twitter:
There was a tiny glitch in the motion of an upper stage engine actuator. Probably not a flight risk, but still worth investigating.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-27-2016 04:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
SpaceX's Falcon 9 successfully lifted off with the THAICOM 8 satellite at 5:39 p.m. EDT (2139 GMT) on Friday (May 27) from Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

SpaceX on Twitter:

Falcon 9 second stage and THAICOM 8 spacecraft in nominal orbit and coast. First stage has landed on the droneship.

THAICOM 8 spacecraft has been deployed into a nominal supersynch transfer orbit.

butch wilks
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Posts: 333
From: Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 05-27-2016 05:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for butch wilks   Click Here to Email butch wilks     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nail'd it!

I think SpaceX has got this landing thing down pat now. Way to go SpaceX!

Headshot
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Posts: 864
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 05-27-2016 05:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Headshot   Click Here to Email Headshot     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Yes, but they need to start reusing these things soon. SpaceX's barn is getting too full of used Falcon 9 first stages.

butch wilks
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Posts: 333
From: Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 05-27-2016 06:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for butch wilks   Click Here to Email butch wilks     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
They will have to get one out of the barn and do that test firing soon on Pad 39A to make room for this one. If they get a move on and fire one up, been looking forward to that test from December.

I've seen no update or photos on the test or how work on the pad is going to make it fit a Falcon 9 or the Falcon Heavy.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-27-2016 06:17 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
You can find updates on SpaceX's use of 39A here and discussion of it here. Since the last posts, there has been some infrastructure work (i.e. adding water suppression system rainbirds) but no major changes (the FSS and RSS still stand).

SpaceX is shipping its first recovered stage back out to Hawthorne to become an outdoor display. Of the other stages, the JCSAT-14 stage will be used for ground qualification tests due to the damage it sustained on landing.

Back to today's landing, it sounds as though Elon Musk (on Twitter) isn't positive it will make it back to shore intact.

Rocket landing speed was close to design max and used up contingency crush core, hence back and forth motion. Probably okay, but some risk of tipping.

Crush core is aluminum honeycomb for energy absorption in the telescoping actuator. Easy to replace (if Falcon makes it back to port).

SkyMan1958
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Posts: 867
From: CA.
Registered: Jan 2011

posted 05-27-2016 07:05 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SkyMan1958   Click Here to Email SkyMan1958     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I particularly enjoyed the video from the first stage during the entry burn, roughly 6:15 after launch. I don't remember seeing images FROM the re-entering first stage before this mission.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
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posted 05-27-2016 09:26 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Elon Musk on Twitter:
Fast replay of today's rocket landing on SpaceX droneship OCISLY.

Headshot
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Posts: 864
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 05-31-2016 07:59 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Headshot   Click Here to Email Headshot     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Has the first stage made it back to land? I haven't seen it on the Port Canaveral cam yet.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-31-2016 08:10 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here's a map tracking the droneship back to shore.

It is not expected, however, to appear on the Port Canaveral webcam as the owners of the camera didn't take nicely to SpaceX fans circumventing their ads to view the feed and subsequently swore off showing the recovery operations.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 06-02-2016 08:46 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Headshot:
Yes, but they need to start reusing these things soon.
On Wednesday, Elon Musk spoke about the schedule:
Musk said that SpaceX would attempt to refly a recovered Falcon 9 first stage within the next three months. "We plan to refly one of the landed rocket boosters hopefully in about two or three months," he said. "We want to start reflying them before the end of the summer."

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 06-02-2016 10:13 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The recovered (leaning) first stage is now slowly making its way back to the port, as visible (for now) on the Jetty Park Surf Cam:

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 06-02-2016 12:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
SpaceX on Twitter:
Rocket back at port after careful ocean transit. Leaning back due to crush core being used up in landing legs.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 06-02-2016 03:48 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
SpaceX photos of the first stage landing:

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 06-02-2016 03:48 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
SpaceX photos of the first stage landing:

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 06-06-2016 09:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Thaicom 8 recovered stage joined SpaceX's three earlier landed stages inside the company's LC-39A Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) on Monday (June 6).

One of the stages, thought to be the first landed, appears to have been cleaned/painted in preparation for its departure to Hawthorne, California. The hangar can house five stages at a time.

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