Falcon 9 & Dragon assembly at the Cape...(pics)

[Dr Mordrid]

Full article: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon...val/index.html

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/100129gallery/

Business end of the Falcon 9; a 9 engine beast of a first stage. Now imagine 3 of these side-by-side
and launched together. That 27 engine monster will be the Falcon 9 Heavy. Add a LOX/Liquid Hydrogen
2nd stage and you have the Falcon 9 Heavy H. With these Merlin engines SpaceX will be the largest
producer of large rocket engines in the world, surpassing both Russia and the other US makers.




Second stage. LOX/kerosene in the F9 and F9 Heavy, but LOX/liquid hydrogen in the Heavy H.


The qualification Dragon test capsule, its cargo "trunk" and nose cone. This test flight is mainly for
the Falcon 9, but adding this to the mix gives them important data for the upcoming NASA test flights
for ISS cargo missions. If as expected Obama announces Monday that private space will also be
hauling US astronauts this is the capsule furthest along the development trail....years ahead of the
others in the race. Up to 7 passengers, same as the shuttle.


Launch Complex 40 (LC40) at Cape Canaveral; former home of the mighty Titan IV


Launch gantry/erector. Falcon 9 is assembled horizontal then raised vertical with this just before launch.
Could be <1 hour before launch as with the Falcon 1.

[Evildead666]

Sweet.

I can't imagine the noise and vibrations 27 engines would make

[Dr Mordrid]

Last year they did a full launch length 3+ minute firing of the F9 first stage on their test stand at McGregor, Texas and it caused quite a stir. It could be heard 40+ miles away and broke windows well over 10 miles away. One news report said that it bounced babies in their cribs and shook houses like a small earthquake for over 20 miles.

This convinced both SpaceX and the govt. that the Falcon 9 Heavy and Heavy H will have to be tested at NASA's Stennis rocket engine test center in far rural Mississippi on the Louisiana border, far from civilization and 13,500 acres (55 km2) in size.

Still, those along Florida's Space Coast are going to get one helluva show when the F9H series gets launched, which with the new space policy could be a lot sooner than previously thought what with the coming need for heavy lifters of various sizes. Better tape up the windows

[Evildead666]

I remember you posted the vid of the F9 test.

Three times more noise and power is going to be exceptional

[Dr Mordrid]

"After the engine test, which is expected to last a few seconds, SpaceX will move the rocket back to the hangar for the final installation of the the vehicle's self-destruct system that would terminate the flight if problems developed during launch.

When the Falcon 9 reaches the pad again, some time no earlier than the first week of March, it will be ready for flight. Liftoff is currently set for around March 8 during a four-hour launch window that opens at 11 a.m. EST. "

Given the recent decision to scrap NASA's Ares I and IV rockets and the Orion spacecraft in favor of commercial spacecraft and launchers, and therefore the increasing importance of this flight, one would think it would be shown on NASA TV, but I guess that's too much to hope for :-P

Also given a boost in the budget are the SpaceDev Dream Chaser spaceplane and the Bigelow Aerospace Orion Lite (same capsule pressure hull as NASA's but lighter - both in cooperation with Lockheed Martin), and of course the VASIMR plasma rocket/deep space drive.

[Dr Mordrid]

New update from Elon Musk:

mostly historical and rah-rah, but the big news from the images is the the Dragon will carry cargo packs. If these are just mass simulators or if some have instrumentation is up for discussion (I'd guess the latter).

For those who wonder just how large Dragon is compare the size of the guys loading the cargo packs and that this thing will have 2 decks in crew mode - 3 on the lower deck and 4 on the upper + both pressurized and unpressurized cargo. Total up-mass (crew + cargo): 6,000 kg (13,228 lbs) with this block of the Merlin engines, much more with the next build.

http://www.spacex.com/updates.php

Inaugural Falcon 9 / Dragon Flight Hardware Update

Monday, January 4, 2010

The SpaceX team kicked off 2010 with the successful full duration orbit insertion firing of the Falcon 9 second stage at our Texas test site (details below). This was the final stage firing required for launch, so the second stage will soon be packaged for shipment and should arrive at Cape Canaveral by end of month. Depending on how well full vehicle integration goes, launch should occur one to three months later.

2009 was an exciting year for SpaceX. In July, with the successful launch of RazakSAT, Falcon 1 became the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to put a commercial satellite in orbit. That same month, DragonEye — SpaceX's Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor — launched on NASA's STS-127 shuttle mission and successfully completed flight system trials in preparation for guiding the Dragon spacecraft as it approaches the International Space Station. We also hosted the first astronaut training day at our Hawthorne headquarters in preparation for flights to the Space Station.

Last year also saw the successful arc jet testing of PICA-X, SpaceX's high performance heat shield material developed in collaboration with NASA, which will be used to protect our Dragon spacecraft on reentry. And our Merlin Vacuum engine demonstrated the highest efficiency ever for an American hydrocarbon rocket engine. SpaceX also signed deals with several key customers, including CONAE (Argentina's National Commission on Space Activity), Astrium and Orbcomm.

The ongoing evolution of the commercial space industry was recently featured as the cover story (“The New Space Rush”) in Popular Science magazine. The article provided a great perspective on the industry as a whole, but I disagree with the subheading, “Who Needs NASA?”. If you read the article, it's clear their intent was just to convey excitement for the developments in commercial space, but obviously NASA is and always will be critical to the future of space exploration, particularly at the outer edge where there is no commercial market. Without NASA, SpaceX certainly would not be where it is today.

As we get closer to our first Falcon 9 launch, SpaceX would like to thank NASA, the Air Force, the FAA, and our commercial customers for their continued support. And, of course, I would like to thank the whole SpaceX team for their unwavering commitment to our company and our mission, especially over these last few months. Through their hard work and dedication, 2010 promises to be another great year.

--Elon--


Loading a large M03 standard cargo module into the Dragon spacecraft
via the overhead hatch (top of capsule). Credit: SpaceX


A SpaceX engineer installs a Single Cargo Transfer Bag into a storage
compartment aboard the Dragon spacecraft. Credit: SpaceX