Falcon 9 launch thread II

[Dr Mordrid]

Starting a new thread because the first ones load times were getting long - my fault for all the pictures etc. Anyhow, the latest update is below.

Make sure you click one of the images and watch the time lapse video of it going vertical. Cool....

I'd love to be able to get an aerial shot of Cape Canaveral now; it looks like the old Missile Row because of the number of pads that are occupied. Missile Row was a time in the 60's when there was also pretty much a full house at the Cape. Here's the current list;

LC 17: Delta II (NOAA weather satelllite)
LC 37: Delta IV Heavy (MASSIVE! goes up Tuesday with a US spy satellite webcast here, maybe NASA TV)
LC 39A: STS-125 (last Hubble repair & last non-ISS mission)
LC 39B: STS-127 (Japanese Experiment Module and SpaceHab pallet)
LC 40: Falcon 9 (maiden flight - cargo not released)
LC 41: Atlas V (SATCOM military communications satellite)

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Falcon 9 is now vertical at the Cape!

After a very smooth vehicle mating operation yesterday, we began the process of raising Falcon 9 at 12:45pm EST and approximately 30 minutes later, Falcon 9 was vertical at the Cape.

The process of taking Falcon 9 vertical was a critical step in preparation for our first Falcon 9 launch later this year. This accomplishment culminates several months of rapid progress, made possible only through the hard work and dedication of the entire SpaceX team. We will continue to post more photos as available but in the meantime, click the image below for some great time lapse video of the operation:


The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket standing vertical on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, FL.
Click any photo for time lapse video of the operation.

[Nowhere]

Now it looks even more like Bajkonur - I'm not used to seeing even such a small "mess" and huge paths of land without "proper" grass/vegetation in NASA released photos

[Dr Mordrid]

It should look pretty much the way it did when they were launching the Titan IV there at LC 40. All SpaceX did was build the erector, lay concrete for the hangar (still to be built) and tear down the huge service tower - which their system doesn't need.

SpaceX's system is very much like what the Russians: horizontal integration, truck it to the pad on rails, erect it then shoot. The goal is from hangar to liftoff in an hour or two.

BTW: for those curious about US dimensions - Falcon 9 is 188' tall and the payload fairing is 17' wide, just short of 46' long and constructed of carbon composites.

[Dr Mordrid]

Update:

the timing of this launch is apparently depending on its cargo and not so much the readiness of the Falcon 9.

It had been assumed that it would be a 'DemoSat", just a dummy cargo to test the lift capabilities of the F9, but it's leaking out that the actual cargo is a US Air Force satellite that is still being prepped.

We'll see.

[Fat Tone]

So before launch they have to lower the rocket back down to integrate a payload? Presumably that means taking away the entire top end to a clean facility?

Any thoughts on the robustness of the hydraulic lifting arms? Are those seals gonna like 9 rockets engines in close proximity?

[Dr Mordrid]

No, no need for a clean facility. Their system will allow them to integrate the satellite in the hangar they're building near the pad - in fact it'll be where the slab is shown in pics earlier in the other thread. They've done this with Falcon 1.

Lots of interesting methods at work with SpaceX. ex: already the Falcon 9 is one of the largest friction-stir welded units in the world. They do all their tankage that way. Only rocket tanks bigger is the main tank of the shuttle, and it's going out of service next year.

Yes, their hydraulics will handle it. There is a huge flame trench that'll redirect the exhaust to the opposite side. You can see its outlet as the square opening on pic #3. It's the size of a subway tunnel. In addition to that there is a huge water spray shot into the area under the rocket to quench a lot of the flames and cool the area around the pad, incuding the hydraulics.

Other very interesting stuff came out duing Musk's speech at the AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting;

1. Falcons are to be almost totally reusable - this includes both the first and second stages. The first stage needs some thermal protection work and will evolve this capability over the first few flights. The second stage system will come after, but will include a heat shield on its upper end allowing it to come in nose first.

The Falcon 1 will be the testbed for these capabilities.

2. They plan on developing 'fly-back' capability - meaning after boosting the first stage would turn around and fly itself back to a landing strip. They'll probaby have to wait until after an IPO to have the money (that's a very expensive thing to develop), but such a feature would be amazing.

3. Dragon is to get both land and sea landing capability. It'll start out landing on water, but later it'll get air bags around its base and other gear for landing on land.