Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

SpaceNut · 2006-03-07 18:06:58

Ask and ye shall recieve from the other thread....

It appears that the face of the altern-x group is about to change for Rocketplane's Majority Owner Buys Kistler . They have the cash to finish Kislter`s ship and to improve on its design.

publiusr · 2006-03-08 15:03:09

Or they may wind up placing those NK-33/43 engines on a 727--with a lox tank in the fuselage and burning kero out the wings...

NF-727

PurduesUSAFguy · 2006-03-08 22:21:03

Or they may wind up placing those NK-33/43 engines on a 727--with a lox tank in the fuselage and burning kero out the wings...
NF-727

I sort of like that idea, same thing they are doing with the Lear....only big, lol, sub orbital tourism with 30 people at a time.

SpaceNut · 2006-03-14 09:03:14

Here is a follow on story for the Rocketplane Kistler deal...

Two Commercial Space Companies Join Forces

Rocketplane Kistler May Offer ISS Flights As Soon As 2008

This would even beat the CEV to the ISS if they can either finish Kistlers design, merge Rocketplanes winged vehicle to a modified carrier or come up with another way to get it done...

SpaceNut · 2006-03-24 20:58:20

News has it that the Falcon blew up shortly after it cleared the tower only some 40 seconds later to end up in the ocean...

GCNRevenger · 2006-03-24 21:07:04

Thats a let down...

Elon better have another bird on the way though

SpaceNut · 2006-03-24 21:14:12

Lots of articles on the Spacetoday at least one was indicating that they had another launch from vandenburg. Details as to cause still coming...

PurduesUSAFguy · 2006-03-24 22:37:01

And my AltSpace hopes and dreams die today....

Rxke · 2006-03-25 04:49:08

That isolation-blanket, flapping wildly... Would it have caused this? wrapping itself around -or hitting hard into fuel-lines, nozzle side etc?

Look on the bright side: At least it didn't blow up immediately, from the videofeed it looks like they will have quite some telemetry, tens of seconds of hard data, not to be sniffed at.

GCNRevenger · 2006-03-25 08:13:01

If its just a thermal blanket that ripped loose, just the drag from it at supersonic speeds could make the rocket uncontrollable. But, it would also be easy to fix.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2006-03-25 19:38:31

What did it cost $4-8 million and what will the next one cost ?? Are the ashes of StarTrek Doohan ( Beam me up Scottie ) still going up in the next launch ?
It was kind of strange that they had a real payload on their first launch attempt. I had suspects about privately funded rockets because government funding is responsible for a lot of cutting edge research. Those Musk Falcon boys bragged about how great their computer models of rockets were or how their high reliability was so high but it is all on paper or some power-point show. If Elon doesn't get things moving quick he will learn firsthand why for some spaceflight has been so darn difficult and expensive.

SpaceNut · 2006-03-25 20:55:18

Does not seem to be a blanket issue for at T+25s, a fuel leak caused a fire around the top of the main engine that cut into the first stage helium pneumatic system. On high resolution imagery, the fire is clearly visible within seconds after liftoff.

There are some more articles detailing where the rocket and satelite came down available on spacetoday.net. There has been reference to the next launch carrying the ashes of "StarTrek Doohan ( Beam me up Scottie )".

GCNRevenger · 2006-03-25 22:18:01

The USAF satelite was actually a product, or at least in part, of the USAF academy, so it is basically a university project... which just happens to be the air forces' university.

A fuel leak from the tankage is a pretty serious issue... why didn't it happen before during the pad firings though? Maybe this was damage from when they drained the LOX tank and caused a vacuum?

ftlwright · 2006-03-25 22:49:51

That would be be my guess; the fact that the thing crumbled like an aluminum can and still managed fly for 40 seconds or so hopefully bodes well for a "clean" rocket straight off the line. This particular rocket has been exposed to the elements, moved numerous times and be decompressed/recompressed. I sincerely hope this represents a "worst-case senario" for the Falcon I. We are in desprerate need for a low cost alternative to space, and hopefully Elon will be able to provide it. Otherwise, we will be depending one ULA for a long time to come.

publiusr · 2006-03-29 15:25:35

IIRC, the LV was a semi-balloon tank design. I wonder how much the blanket had to do with it. The engine is exposed to the elements (which allowed us to at least see a bit.), and it is possible that the craft just cracked and spilled fuel atop the powerhead.

Space X

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/forums … 302#M27136
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/forums … 49&start=1

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2006-08-28 20:48:14

Yeah, years ago he let slip his rockets were man-rated by default. But never wanted to come back to that statement later...
Amazing what you can keep under wraps for so long these days...

Musk says: $8 million for a trip to the red Planet ?
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/682/1
Or was he just blowing hot air to make an impression at the Mars Society Conference ?
“I think there’s some number of people in the US and other countries that would pay to move to Mars,” he claimed. “They would sell everything that they’ve got, and they would move to Mars.” If the cost of a one-way journey to Mars could be lowered to the “single-digit millions” of dollars, he said, “I think enough people would pay that to actually make the business plan quite viable. I think thousands of people a year would pay that.”...“Next year SpaceX will manufacture more rocket booster engines than the entire rest of the US industry combined,” Musk claimed.
He admitted later in the talk, though, that to some people such a vision “sort of sounds like a ludicrous aspiration. So, if we can lay a few stones on that road, then I’ll be pretty happy.”

publiusr · 2006-10-27 12:41:11

Falcon 9 pix are out there now.

Look out Delta II and Dnepr.

GCNRevenger · 2006-11-16 08:18:25

Where is the Falcon-I test flight? Wasn't it scheduled for early November?

SpaceNut · 2006-11-16 09:21:53

Falcon 1

The current schedule calls for a late November launch of Demo Flight 2 for DARPA. However, given that we have increased the number of system aborts by a factor of 30, there is a high likelihood of false alarms in the countdown process pushing our actual launch into December.
The third and fourth Falcon 1 vehicles are already in production at our Los Angeles plant for the Defense Dept (OFT/NRL) and Malaysian missions next year.

John Creighton · 2006-11-27 00:14:17

Falcon 1
The current schedule calls for a late November launch of Demo Flight 2 for DARPA. However, given that we have increased the number of system aborts by a factor of 30, there is a high likelihood of false alarms in the countdown process pushing our actual launch into December.
The third and fourth Falcon 1 vehicles are already in production at our Los Angeles plant for the Defense Dept (OFT/NRL) and Malaysian missions next year.

Sounds like they need two out of three voting or something.

SpaceNut · 2006-12-06 22:34:14

Next Falcon 1 Launch Could Slip to February a demonstration flight funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Musk offered no explanations for the possible delay until February but had previously said that launch range conflicts were likely to push the launch out of December.

SpaceNut · 2006-12-27 08:46:43

Minor Update December 8, 2006

All Falcon 1 parts have been shipped to the launch site to prepare for next flight. Our current schedule calls for a static fire in mid January and first flight countdown in late January. Given the many upgrades to Falcon 1, there may be many countdowns before launch occurs.

Grypd · 2007-01-20 07:47:16

The Falcon was due to launch on the 21st but due to a minor technical glitch the flight has now been delayed to mid february.

Space X quote.

DemoFlight 2 Launch Update
During our final check-outs prior to static fire, we uncovered an anomaly with the thrust vector control (TVC) pitch actuator on the second stage that will result in launch being pushed to February. Since this is not used during the static fire, we have decided to push forward with that test in order to acquire valuable data on engine ignition, pad acoustics, and the overall system response. The static fire is now planned to occur between Saturday and Tuesday (California time). This test will proceed very slowly and then only burns for about four seconds, so will not be webcast to avoid boring people silly. We will post a video afterwards.

Upon completion of the static fire, we will take the rocket back into the hangar to thoroughly investigate the TVC issue. With the range available to us only until January 23 (Kwaj needs to reconfigure for an incoming Minuteman mission), this means launch is now planned for mid-February. As I’ve mentioned previously, don’t hold your breath for this launch. Given the large number of robustness improvements and the fact that our vehicle/pad health verification system has increased from about 30 checks to almost 1000, shifts in the launch date are to be expected. Overall, the SpaceX team is quite happy with the smooth progress so far.

--Elon--

Mars_B4_Moon · 2007-03-01 06:31:54

Where is the Falcon-I test flight? Wasn't it scheduled for early November?

Still no launch

Grypd · 2007-03-01 13:57:01

The Kwajalein army rocket range which spaceX is launching from has a shortage of some key army personel until after march the 9th. So SpaceX cannot launch until after that time.

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#201 2006-03-07 18:06:58

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#202 2006-03-08 15:03:09

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#203 2006-03-08 22:21:03

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#204 2006-03-14 09:03:14

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#205 2006-03-24 20:58:20

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#206 2006-03-24 21:07:04

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#207 2006-03-24 21:14:12

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#208 2006-03-24 22:37:01

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#209 2006-03-25 04:49:08

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#210 2006-03-25 08:13:01

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#211 2006-03-25 19:38:31

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#212 2006-03-25 20:55:18

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#213 2006-03-25 22:18:01

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#214 2006-03-25 22:49:51

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#215 2006-03-29 15:25:35

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#216 2006-08-28 20:48:14

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#217 2006-10-27 12:41:11

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#218 2006-11-16 08:18:25

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#219 2006-11-16 09:21:53

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#220 2006-11-27 00:14:17

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#221 2006-12-06 22:34:14

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#222 2006-12-27 08:46:43

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#223 2007-01-20 07:47:16

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#224 2007-03-01 06:31:54

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

#225 2007-03-01 13:57:01

Re: Falcon 1 & Falcon 9

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