SpaceX Dragon COTS Flight 1: Wed. Dec. 8, 2010

[Rakido]

so that's where the multi-million dollars go ....

CHEEEESSSSEEEE ...

During Wednesday’s post-flight press conference, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed the rumor of a secret payload on board the Dragon spacecraft, but said he wouldn’t reveal what it actually was until Thursday. He did say, however that if you liked Monty Python, you would like this payload.

True to his word, SpaceX just issued a press release on what was inside this container, above, that was bolted to the floor of the Dragon spacecraft.

http://www.universetoday.com/81586/s...ecret-payload/

[Dr Mordrid]

You gotta love a rocket company who loves Monty Python & fixes a problem with a $100 million missile with a pair of tin snips and an intrepid handyman. He rode a cherry picker up the rocket & crawled inside the interstage to trim that nozzle - on the pad no less.

[Evildead666]

Wow. Brilliant.

These people really deserve all the success they're going to get

I'll have some Cheddar or Brie please

On another note, it also allowed them to see if it melted.

[KRSESQ]

I couldn't tell what kind of cheese it was. My guess is chedder.

Hopefully there will be a full description when it goes up on eBay.

Kevin

[Evildead666]

It was "La Brouere" Cheese apparently.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/09/spacex.mystery.cargo/index.html

[KRSESQ]

That's what it was! I tried to google the name on the label of the cheese wheel but I couldn't get the spelling quite right.

Kevin

[Dr Mordrid]

Back to space for a bit:

the ISS partners have just approved a new universal docking adapter, which will simplify things quite a bit. As it is now you have the US and Russian systems in use and they're incompatable with each other. The first ISS universal adapter goes up on an HTV cargo ship in 2014 and another in 2016.

Cargo berthing for Dragon, HTV, ATV etc. will still use the common berthing mechanism (CBM) adapter because of the larger opening, but it takes a long time to attach & disengage, its a manual operation vs autonomous & someone has to be inside during the disconnect which is not good for lifeboat situations. They also want commonality to reduce costs & increase flexibility.

Dragon has CBM by default but the US, Russian, universal adapter or whatever can attach to it making it capable of going about anywhere.

Also; Musk said in the post-flight presser that Dragon's heat shield performed so well that parts of it barely rose above room temperature. He also made it clear that it's fully capable of lunar or Mars missions, which means asteroid missions are also possible.

[Dr Mordrid]

A note on Dragon's landing accuracy, which is causing quite a stir in the aerospace community.

Dragon's NASA designated landing zone was a 60x20 mile ellipse. It came down just 800 meters from the aim point.

The average accuracy for Soyuz is 13.1km from the aim point, with the closest landing 2.7 km out. SD is 10.1km (although SD probably isn't ideal for this)

We'll see if they can maintain this, but the fact that Dragon uses its thrusters during re-entry to adjust its trajectory gives it a distinct advantage.

Also of interest, in the post-flight news conference Elon Musk said the crew version will be able to land on a helipad using thrusters & landing gear that are said to already be under development.

The guy leading this team is Ken Bowersox, who is an aerospace engineer, has been a USAF test pilot and has 5 shuttle missions (including a Hubble repair), 1 Soyuz mission and a long stint on the ISS under his belt.

[Dr Mordrid]

HOLD THE PHONE!!!

Two images from the new update @ SpaceX make me think a new GC image shows something new. Compare the Draco cluster arrangement between recovered COTS-1 and the new CG. My eye sees that in the CG the Draco cluster has been spread into pairs with a big panel between them. The LAS (launch abort system)/landing engines fairing/cover? The placement's right for propellant feeds.

Now....where will they stick the retractable landing gear?....