SpaceX News

[polyill]

Published on Jul 22, 2014

Video of the Falcon 9 first stage reentry and landing following successful delivery of six ORBCOMM satellites to orbit. This test confirms that the Falcon 9 booster is able consistently to reenter from space at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at near zero velocity.

After landing, the vehicle tipped sideways as planned to its final water safing state in a nearly horizontal position. The water impact caused loss of hull integrity, but we received all the necessary data to achieve a successful landing on a future flight. Going forward, we are taking steps to minimize the build up of ice and spots on the camera housing in order to gather improved video on future launches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQnR5fhCXkQ

Edit: Link to the full SpaceX update article

http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/07/22/s ... irst-stage

[Skipjack]

At this point, we are highly confident of being able to land successfully on a floating launch pad or back at the launch site and refly the rocket with no required refurbishment.

]We will attempt our next water landing on flight 13 of Falcon 9, but with a low probability of success. Flights 14 and 15 will attempt to land on a solid surface with an improved probability of success.

This is very exciting!

[Maui]

So which flight is flight 13?

[Skipjack]

So which flight is flight 13?

CRS4

[zapkitty]

spacex f9 launches by flight number:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fa ... d_manifest

13 NET September 12, 2014
SpaceX CRS-4 NASA

... another dip.

14 NET October 2014
OG2 Mission 2 Orbcomm

... a barge?

15 December 1, 2014
SpaceX CRS-5 NASA

... barge attempt 2?

[Skipjack]

spacex f9 launches by flight number:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fa ... d_manifest

13 NET September 12, 2014
SpaceX CRS-4 NASA

... another dip.

14 NET October 2014
OG2 Mission 2 Orbcomm

... a barge?

15 December 1, 2014
SpaceX CRS-5 NASA

... barge attempt 2?

I think SpaceX will only try a landing on a barge if they absolutely can not get a license to land the stage on land.

[jcoady]

From this article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... OCEAN.html

"Amazon’s Jeff Bezos holds a patent for landing rockets on barges, though, so it is not known if he will challenge Elon Musk over this."

[Maui]

Why did he stop there? Might as well have patented inexpensive space launch systems in general...

[D Tibbets]

A barge has advantages in positioning along the flight path of the booster- minimum burn maneuvering for touchdown. It is also isolated , not near potential safety concerns. Disadvantages is needing to be towed to shore, and complete vulnerability to any adverse weather.

Dan Tibbets

[zapkitty]

As I understand it the barge landing(s) are just a step towards RTLS landings.

And if successful it would not only demo a landing away from NASA assets it would show that it can be done even on a floating platform.

That thing about the Bezos patent sounded like the writer was trolling for something controversial.

[Skipjack]

From this article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... OCEAN.html

"Amazon’s Jeff Bezos holds a patent for landing rockets on barges, though, so it is not known if he will challenge Elon Musk over this."

There is lots of prior art to the patent. Just to give one example, Gary Hudson described the idea of landing on a barge in his book, The Rocket Company years earlier.
Also want to point out that the only reason why SpaceX would want to land on a barge, is to demonstrate landing on a solid surface without needing the permission to land on land. I think that SpaceX will try to avoid that at all cost. The cost of purchasing and maintaining the barge which also needs to be transported to the downrange position on the trajectory and transporting the stage back to the launch site, combined with the much increased logistics pretty much diminish the returns they would get from 15% more payload.

[AcesHigh]

really, I doubt Bezzos has a patent for ANY LANDING OF ROCKETS ON ANY BARGE.

His patent is probably specific. Like, you want to land on a barge? Use my system, which is already developed and safe, but then you pay me.

otherwise someone could register the idea of "landing on Mars"

[Skipjack]

really, I doubt Bezzos has a patent for ANY LANDING OF ROCKETS ON ANY BARGE.

His patent is probably specific. Like, you want to land on a barge? Use my system, which is already developed and safe, but then you pay me.

otherwise someone could register the idea of "landing on Mars"

Read the patent! It is pretty much like that and lots of people from the industry are complaining about it.
Also want to point out that Bezos does not have any such system, nor do I think that it would matter for patentability.

[zapkitty]

Also want to point out that the only reason why SpaceX would want to land on a barge, is to demonstrate landing on a solid surface without needing the permission to land on land.

I just said that... a demo

I think that SpaceX will try to avoid that at all cost. The cost of purchasing and maintaining the barge.

A rental

If barge touchdowns for an R&D demo or two really are in the works then a lease or rental would make sense.

[Skipjack]

Also want to point out that the only reason why SpaceX would want to land on a barge, is to demonstrate landing on a solid surface without needing the permission to land on land.

I just said that... a demo

I think that SpaceX will try to avoid that at all cost. The cost of purchasing and maintaining the barge.

A rental

If barge touchdowns for an R&D demo or two really are in the works then a lease or rental would make sense.

I don't want to see the renter insurance on that. Plus the problem is not just having it and modifying it to be suitable, it also needs to be transported to be on the launch trajectory, which naturally differs from mission to mission and then it adds complexity to the launch itself. You have to consider the conditions both at the launch pad and at the landing barge/platform/ whatever it may me. If the waves are too high the thing is not stable enough, it will be impossible to land the booster safely on it. Then you need cranes for the recovery of the booster on the barge/platform to secure the booster. If the waves are high, you have a lot of safety issues for people operating the cranes. And all that is only a small part of the issues. Unless the FAA absolutely requires it (which would make no sense), it is not going to happen.