What "weed need" is a space mission!

[fivemack]

Any idea what the green flashes at the end were? My guess is drips of triethylborane from the engine-relighting system, but I'm surprised there was enough to make such bright flashes.

[Dubslow]

Originally Posted by fivemack

Any idea what the green flashes at the end were? My guess is drips of triethylborane from the engine-relighting system, but I'm surprised there was enough to make such bright flashes.

It is definitely from the TEA-TEB ignition system, but exactly why isn't quite known. Best guess anyone has is some sort of post-flight safing (though IIRC the first such flash came very shortly after touchdown).

[only_human]

Six minutes of panning over the returned stage at Port Canaveral. Not much to glean from it though. The painted flag took a beating. The little pop out T-rex guidance hands are not indicative of any kind of over-compensation, thankyouverymuch.
https://youtu.be/nPlt56HckRI


The Dragon cargo capsule returns home tomorrow. Need more cameras.
NASA TV to Broadcast Dragon Departure from International Space Station

After delivering almost 7,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station, including the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is set to leave the orbital laboratory with valuable science research and return to Earth on Wednesday, May 11. NASA Television will provide live coverage of Dragon's departure beginning at 9 a.m. EDT.

The Dragon capsule, which arrived at the station April 10, will be detached from the Earth-facing side of the station's Harmony module using the Canadarm2 robotic arm, operated by ground controllers. Robotics controllers will maneuver Dragon into place and Expedition 47 robotic arm operator Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency) will execute the command for its 9:18 a.m. release.

Dragon will fire its thrusters three times to move to a safe distance from the station before being commanded to begin its deorbit burn about 2 p.m. The capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean about 2:55 p.m. The deorbit burn and splashdown will not be broadcast on NASA TV.

A recovery team will retrieve the capsule and its more than 3,700 pounds of return cargo, including samples from ongoing space station research, which ultimately will be shipped to laboratories for further study. This cargo includes samples from human research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities sponsored by NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization that manages research aboard the U.S. national laboratory portion of the space station. The spacecraft also will return the final batch of human research samples from the one-year crew mission.

In the event of adverse weather conditions in the Pacific, the backup departure and splashdown date is Saturday, May 14.

Dragon, the only space station resupply spacecraft able to return to Earth intact, launched April 8 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, for the company’s eighth NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission to the station.

For NASA TV scheduling and video streaming information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

[only_human]

Three little rockets, slightly used, sitting in a hanger, the first one says....

SpaceX transports its landed Falcon 9 rocket to its temporary home in Florida

SpaceX Stuns the Cynics

What comes next

The easy answer to this question is: Thaicom 8.

On May 26, SpaceX is scheduled to fly a Falcon 9 rocket out of its Space Launch Complex 40 installation at Cape Canaveral, carrying the Thai communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit (GSO) roughly 23,000 miles above Earth. After that, SpaceX has three launches scheduled to take place in June, two flying out of Cape Canaveral and one leaving from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

SpaceX may or may not choose to relaunch the same Falcon 9 that landed at sea on April 8 for one of these missions -- or for another mission yet to be announced. Elon Musk has said he's "aiming for relaunch around May or June," depending on whether SpaceX can find a customer willing to take a ride on a used rocket.

What comes after next

It's after SpaceX finds that guinea pig, though, that things really get interesting. According to the company's chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX plans to cut its usual advertised price for a space launch by about 30% when reusing a rocket. That should shave $20 million off the company's usual launch price of roughly $60 million.

At $40 million a rocket ride, it's going to be very difficult for any other space launch company to compete with SpaceX. Currently, Boeing and Lockheed Martin's space launches cost $125 million and up. Arianespace has a plan in place to launch satellites two at a time aboard its new Ariane 64 rocket (once it's built), for an average launch cost of $63 million -- but even this won't compete with a $40 million price, if SpaceX is able to offer that consistently.

The key, though, is consistency. SpaceX has launched and landed three rockets -- and deserves all possible kudos for that. But can it re-launch and re-land a rocket? Can it rere-launch it and rere-land it? Because if it can, SpaceX will be able to underprice all comers, and change the economics of space exploration forever.

And in as little as a month and a half -- or less! -- we'll know the answer.

[only_human]

Orbital ATK uses decommissioned ICBM motors for government satellite launches.
What they want to do is get permission to use them for commercial payloads also.
MISSILES TO MINOTAURS: ORBITAL ATK SEEKING TO USE FORMER ICBM PARTS

In an interesting turn of events, commercial aerospace companies, who once fought to open the launch service provider market to others, appear to be now opposing this latest effort to commercialize space assets.

According to a report appearing on BloombergView, Congress has banned the use of decommissioned ICBM components on national security grounds.

Similar national security concerns have been raised about the RD-180 rocket engine. Ever since the United States’s former Cold War rival carried out military actions in Ukraine in 2014, loud calls have been made to cease the import of these engines.

In the case of these excess Peacekeeper and Minuteman motors, it would seem that Congress would have a plausible way to not only alleviate some of those concerns, but also, as BloomBergView put it, give taxpayers some return on the billions of dollars the Pentagon has already spent in storing them and save the cost of destroying them.

“Currently, the Air Force maintains around a thousand excess ICBMs, which are stored in bunkers at two military bases in the United States,” Pieczynski said. “We and other companies would like to purchase those at a fair market price and bolster the U.S. market.”

ULA is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and they currently use Russian RD-180 rocket motors which are a fierce bone of contention in Congress. Aerospace giants are taking aim at emerging upstarts.

ULA could continue to compete with SpaceX if it is allowed to increase its purchase of Russian rockets, from nine to as many as 18, as proposed in the defense-bill amendment approved by the House committee late last month. The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., whose congressional district includes ULA's headquarters.
During the bill markup, Coffman said a "hasty" prohibition on Russian rocket engines would harm national security and launch competition and raise concerns about fiscal responsibility.

"The Air Force has asked for 18 Russian-made engines to ensure a safe, practical and responsible transition away from RD-180 powered Atlas V rocket, and that is exactly what my amendment does," he said. "Ending our reliance on Russian engines is clearly in the national security interest of the United States, but not at the expense of the paramount requirement of assured access for national security missions."

Yesterday the house passed a bill increasing the allowed purchase from 9 motors to 18. House Passes FY2017 NDAA - UPDATE

The House passed the bill by a vote of 277-147, with most Democrats voting against it (142 against, 40 in favor). If the President were to veto the bill, there would be enough votes to sustain it. A two-thirds vote of both chambers is required to overturn a veto. When the House has its full complement of 435 members, that means 290 votes are needed to overturn, 13 more than voted in favor of the bill. The bill has a long way to go, however. In addition to the RD-180 issue, there are many differences with the SASC version, which is expected to be debated by the Senate next week.

It will be interesting to see if SpaceX will be able to get enough launches to make rocket core relaunches an economically viable path forward.

Here is a combined list of upcoming launches: Launch Schedule

It looks like lawyers will have a role in private enterprise's Mars ambitions also. SPACEX CALLS IN THE LAWYERS FOR 2018 MARS SHOT

[only_human]

Tomorrow morning (Thursday) Bigelow inflation. With Nasa TV follow-up
Tomorrow evening another SpaceX Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit satellite launch.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by only_human

Tomorrow morning (Thursday) Bigelow inflation. With Nasa TV follow-up
Tomorrow evening another SpaceX Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit satellite launch.

Not a lucky day for space geeks... The BEAM didn't inflate properly, and tonight's launch of Falcon 9 has been delayed until tomorrow....

[only_human]

Elon Musk's Most Unexpected Success Is the SpaceX Live-Stream

The palpable excitement emanating from within SpaceX is part of what makes the webcasts so engaging for so many people. In April, when Falcon 9 nailed its first droneship landing, the webcast hosts could barely contain their enthusiasm. Kate Tice, a process improvement engineer wearing an "Occupy Mars" T-shirt, was so elated that she told roughly 80,000 viewers "My face hurts so much right now, I can't believe it." The 36-minute webcast that included the first droneship landing has been viewed 1.53 million times on YouTube. A separate clip featuring a 360-degree view of that same landing has garnered more than 1.9 million views.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zBYC4f79iXc

[chalsall]

They're making this appear easy....

[only_human]

Hard landing; some risk of tipping.
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...ing_speed_was/

Elon Musk on Twitter: "Rocket landing speed was close to design max & used up contingency crush core, hence back & forth motion. Prob ok, but some risk of tipping."

[only_human]

First stage landing time-lapse video from first stage camera.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BF7sxM9QES7/?hl=en

I think I've seen this scene before when Luke damages Darth Varder's spacecraft but he tumbled away to safety.

Or maybe this was the part just before Luke ran around a swamp with a Muppet on his back.