Quote I can't speak for Ed, but the numbers look very plausible to me for the SpaceX claimed capacities of 22.8t to LEO and 8.3t to GTO. (Edit: envy887 says the calculator link above has been posted here elsewhere before. If there was some way to aggregate his posts and summarize them here, that would be useful. I'll also mention LouScheffer who has done excellent work estimating F9 performance on various recovery missions and the marginal differences in propellant usage based on payload mass and trajectory differences between missions. But if the creator of the calculator keeps updating it with actual mission data, it should improve with time. On a typical supersync GTO mission with ocean recovery of stage 1, the 95% confidence level for payload mass gives a range of about 1500 kg, so there's still a good bit of uncertainty. I've just started experimenting with it and don't know how accurate it is, but it seems to be in the right ballpark. To kick off the thread, envy887 just brought this Falcon 9 performance calculator to our attention: Note that it can calculate max payload to orbit with or without stage 1 recovery. I thought the subject deserved its own thread. We've had lots of performance calculations scattered about in mission threads, but no central place to collect and discuss them. Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, " Out There " (Grand Central Publishing, 2018 illustrated by Karl Tate ) is out now. They're actually located near the top of the boosters. 13.Įditor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that grid fins are installed near the base of Falcon 9 first stages. (2,540 kilograms) of food, supplies and scientific gear to the orbiting lab. If all goes according to plan, Dragon will arrive at the space station on Saturday morning (Dec. (The Falcon Heavy basically consists of two Falcon 9 first stages strapped to a central core, which is itself a modified Falcon 9 first stage.) The other two boosters did ace their landings that day, however. Today's incident was the first such miss by a returning SpaceX booster since February, when the core of a Falcon Heavy just missed its attempted droneship touchdown during the giant rocket's maiden flight. Musk was a bit more bullish, saying via Twitter, "We may use it for an internal SpaceX mission." Koenigsmann said that it's too early to know if the first stage can fly again. The company will study the first stage and its data in depth to make sure the cause of today's landing anomaly is understood. Today's failed landing shouldn't affect upcoming SpaceX launches, Koenigsmann added.Īs Musk noted, SpaceX plans to recover the booster. "And, as much as we are disappointed in this missed landing - or landing in the water, rather, instead of land - it shows the system overall knows how to recover from certain malfunctions." "So, public safety was well-protected here," Koenigsmann said. In addition, Koenigsmann said, Falcon 9 first and second stages both feature autonomous "flight termination systems," which would step in if the above safeguards somehow fell short. Given this event, we will likely add a backup pump & lines," he tweeted. Some landing systems are not redundant, as landing is considered ground safety critical, but not mission critical. Each Falcon 9 first stage sports four of these waffle-iron-looking things, which are installed close to the top of the booster.įalcon 9 first stages don't have backup systems to bail out malfunctioning grid-fin pumps, though that will probably change in the future, Musk said in another tweet. Hypersonic grid fins help the booster steer its way back for a precision touchdown. Recovery ship dispatched," Musk said via Twitter today. Appears to be undamaged & is transmitting data. "Grid fin hydraulic pump stalled, so Falcon landed just out to sea. The horizon is vertical, at right the waffle-iron-looking things are two of the booster's "grid fins." The Falcon 9 successfully completed its main mission that day, sending a robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station for NASA. The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket topples onto its side after splashing down in the ocean during a failed landing attempt on Dec.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |