SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon updates: launch date/time

[Dr Mordrid]

The launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster with a Dragon spacecraft is due to happen within the next few weeks. They are assembling the 9 engine first stage, interstage, single engine second stage and Dragon spacecraft this week (pic below) and should finish within a few days. The assembled bird is set to go to the pad for tests, hopefully sometime this week.

Perfect opportunity for photo-ops and impressing congressmen

This is a very big deal as Dragon is the first of several spacecraft that NASA wants replace the Shuttle for taking crew and cargo to the ISS. It's less well known that its heat shield is massively over-designed and could be modified for deep space or lunar missions which would return at higher speeds. The other spacecraft are still in the early to middle stages of development and not ready for launch.

Schedule

•Feb. 18: tanking test - fill the tanks, check for leaks, fix if necessary.

•Feb 22: engine test - a 4 second full thrust test of the 9 engine first stage

•March 8: tentative launch - could be delayed a bit, depending on how tests progress

Once everything is ready SpaceX doesn't usually waste time as their system lets them take the F9 out of the hangar horizontally, raise it up, load the fuel and launch on 1 hours notice. They also provide a live webcast on their website starting 1 hour before launch: http://spacex.com/

I'll put up an exact link to the webcast when they post it.

[Dr Mordrid]

All flight hardware is now at LC-40 and vehicle integration has commenced.

Large bit between the 2nd stage and interstage that looks to be covered by a sheet is actually the 2nd stage Merlin engines nozzle - huge because it being made for use in a vacuum. The 'pancake' at the top of the 2nd stage is its prototype recovery system; both stages and their engines are designed to be recovered and re-used to lower flight costs.

From left: Dragon spacecraft, 2nd stage and joined interstage and first stage

[Fat Tone]

These guys are the definition of 'agile'. They don't hang around. Imagine the multipliers involved for every aspect of this if NASA were doing it

[Dr Mordrid]

I remember during one of the Falcon 1 test launches they had a fuel line freeze up due to cold of the liquid oxygen lines and the high humidity at their Marshall Islands test site. They just unloaded the fuel, thawed the lines out, reloaded the fuel and launched the bird in less than an hour - 40-50 minutes IIRC.

With another Falcon 1 they had a sensor trip after the engine had fired but before the release clamps had let go. It shut down, they checked their systems and when they were found to be OK they went into their 1 hour drill again. 1 hour later up she went.

If either happened during NASA launch it would have been delayed at least a week, and for the second more likely a month.

Another thing about their Marshall Islands test site: the whole launch control room consists of 11 laptops, yet they can do just as much as NASA's control center...and in some cases more. If the rocket needs parts they can remotely de-fuel, lower the gantry to horizontal and take it back into the hangar next to the pad, where it can be worked on easily, in just a few minutes . Try that with an Atlas or Delta. How? The gantry is wheeled and on rails and the rocket can be raised/lowered using a huge hydraulic ram.

[Dr Mordrid]

Fully assembled, painted and the decals are applied. Should be going on the gantry soon then on to the pad for the tanking tests within a couple days.

Note the covered tracks on either side of the Falcon 9.....obviously intended for the Falcon 9 Heavy/Heavy H which will have a cluster of 3 1st stage cores and 27 engines.

Interesting graphics on the interstage....we'll see what they are when it rolls out.

[Dr Mordrid]

Falcon 9 is now fully integrated and should be heading to the pad for fueling and engine tests TODAY.

Below is a graphic put out by space.com showing the vehicle components and a comparison between it, Soyuz and the shuttle.

[VJ]

I just started to wonder: sometimes NASA picks up satellites from orbit for maintenance or hardware upgrade. But if the Space Shuttle is retired, they will have no adequate vehicle for this...

The Falcon9 looks impressive though...

[Dr Mordrid]

Repair missions will still be possible with DragonLab, the orbiting lab version of Dragon, both manned and flown remotely.

Last summer SpaceX announced that DragonLab can be outfitted with a grapple arm to hook up to a satellite or whatever. 14 cu/m of parts can be carried in its trunk (unpressurized storage) and another 10 cu/m of parts inside the spacecraft in cargo mode. Larger parts or modules can be launched separately then rendezvoused with for the repair. And, of course, more than one DragonLab could be used: one for mostly crew and some parts and the other in cargo mode with a full load of 6,000 kg worth of stuff.

Needless to say DoD is very interested in DragonLab for rendezvous and inspection missions. Many satellite companies are also interested as is NASA. So far there have been 2 big international conferences discussing the possibilities and SpaceX has recently placed 2 DragonLab missions on its manifest.

What helps for long duration unmanned experimental missions is that DragonLab's on-station time is up to 2 years. Yeah, you read that right. That pup carries a s***load of fuel - 1,290 kg.

[Dr Mordrid]

Picture day


Sweetness with a Dragon on top. 1 of 4 lightning towers at the right. The rocket is assembled
horizontal, craned onto the transporter/erector then wheeled out and raised up for launch. That way no
need for a huge assembly building, launch tower and crawler like the shuttles.


Wide shot of LC-40. Assembly/integration hangar to the left, flame trench right. Spherical liquid
oxygen tank at left-lower center.


Pretty ladies always look their best at sunset

[Dr Mordrid]

A couple more released at this months AIAA meeting by SpaceX astronaut Ken Bowersox and VP Max Vozoff

SpaceX Mission Control


2nd stage and Dragon integration


9 engine cluster & skirt


Falcon 9 roadmap (note: the cargo shroud can hold a 30' GM Transit bus &
F9 Heavy in H trim can put >45 mT in orbit)

[Dr Mordrid]

Rollout on the launch gantry....


Business end with gantry hold-down mechanism. When those claws let go at full thrust 'Up is GO!'


Just before putting her up....

[Dr Mordrid]

Wet tank and countdown test successful. Full fire test after the first of the month.

0215 GMT (9:15 p.m. EST)
Today's wet dress rehearsal was successful, according to a SpaceX spokesperson.

The launch team flowed liquid oxygen and kerosene into the Falcon 9 rocket on Friday afternoon, the first time propellants have been loaded into the 15-story rocket at Complex 40. The test included a simulated countdown and exercised many of the rocket's systems for launch.

SpaceX says the next milestone will be a 3.5-second ignition of the Falcon's nine first stage Merlin 1C engines. The engine test will occur some time next month.

[Dr Mordrid]

News today is that Elon Musk told NBC that the crew Dragon will have an internal launch abort system (LAS), not a tower like Apollo or a 'pusher' mini-3rd stage mounted below the spacecraft.

What they plan on is using the same hypergolic fuel the RCS (orbital reaction control system) would otherwise use but mount larger flow pipes and additional more powerful LAS thrusters inside the Dragon's walls for doing aborts.

Logic is that if you need the LAS you won't need the RCS and vice-versa, so they can use the same fuel. Putting them internal, and removable for cargo launches, means less additional structure mass too; no huge tower with a cone covering the capsule and no mini-3rd stage in the case of a 'pusher'. Hell, the tower/cover Orbital designed for Orion is almost as heavy as the damned capsule.

A HUGE advantage to this system is that it gives them abort capability from the pad all the way to orbit. By comparison: the shuttle has ZERO abort capability from the time the solids light until they're jettisoned (return to launch site abort after). Once the solids light if something happens on the pad the crew is basically dead.

The Dragon already has 100 lb/f Draco thrusters for RCS, but LAS thrusters would have to be much more powerful, enough to accelerate the capsule at 15g's, meaning a longer and wider chamber fed at a higher pressure but with a shorter nozzle. With a similar overall length they would probably fit using mounts very similar to Draco's but stronger.

An elegant solution to a complex problem.

[Dr Mordrid]

Live webcam feed of the activity at LC-40 24/7 that'll hopefully continue until launch day's webcast.

http://kscwmserv1.ksc.nasa.gov/ae%20video%20channel%201

Tanking went well save for the peeling off of some of the painted cork tiles on the first stage - they hadn't left enough of a gap for thermal contraction caused by the liquid oxygen. Problem fixed now. The cork tiles are to protect the first stage during descent after separation - necessary if you want to re-use the stage. Cork is also used on the outside of the shuttle's solids and parts of the Delta IV rocket.

Time-lapse video of the F9 being raised vertical (YouTube)....

4 second hotfire test of the 1st stage likely tomorrow or this weekend.

I'll post soon as or if I get word of the schedule.

[Dr Mordrid]

Looks like sometime Saturday for the hot fire test of F9's engines....

A preflight test of the Falcon 9 rocket's nine Merlin engines could occur as early as this weekend.

SpaceX hoisted the 15-story rocket back vertical on its launch mount at Complex 40 late Wednesday afternoon. The next step in ground testing will be a hotfire of the Falcon 9's first stage engines. The launch team will ignite the nine Merlin 1C engines for three-and-a-half seconds during the test.

The hotfire is booked for Saturday on the Eastern Range, the military-run network of communications and tracking assets responsible for every launch from Cape Canaveral.

The timing of the countdown and engine test is expected to mirror a real Falcon 9 countdown.