The Pod Bay - 2015-01-06

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1:59 AM

Hi guys. Am I the only one who sees a white space in the middle of the answer?

2

A: Mars Semi Direct

Not really a good question. So not really a good answer. Here is a great presentation Zubrin did, where discusses Mars Direct/Semi Direct. Very compelling discussion. ...

I flagged it, but a mod declined as "no evidence found to support it." Could just be my computer, but I'm curious, because videos are being inserted in, and this answer seems like it is supposed to contain a video . . .

2:57 AM

@HDE226868 - yes, i get the video. Yay for new feature. Maybe an update to Flash?

3:10 AM

So Reddit AMA takeaway: Raptor thrust ~500klbs not 1.5Mlbs. Interesting.

Once landed on the ASDS barge "We are going to weld steel shoes over the landing feet as a precautionary measure."

Seriously? Wild.

MCT" Goal is 100 metric tons of useful payload to the surface of Mars. This obviously requires a very big spaceship and booster system.

1 hour later…

4:28 AM

@HDE226868 I also see the video

5:09 AM

@HDE226868 Do you still have problems displaying the video? Have you tried refreshing the page? It could be that you opened it just as the new feature was being implemented, and there were some dependencies missing. It works for me. Interesting choice from Stack Exchange devs, now I'll really have to watch it. AGAIN! :)))

(it's only an hour long LOL)

5:31 AM

I figured out what's the problem, it's the mixed contents warning that displays when you use HTTPS to display SE pages, because the embed code uses HTTP. I asked for this to be fixed, it's really simple to do (by just dropping the protocol part of the URL and starting with //). For now, please enable mixed contents for SE if you get this warning. Say, in Firefox, click on the gray shield icon in the address bar and then there's a button.

1 hour later…

6:36 AM

@geoffc Wanna update your answer here space.stackexchange.com/questions/6403/… with what Musk said during AMA?

> How will you secure the first stage of the Falcon 9 to the barge when it lands? Gravity or some mechanism?

> Mostly gravity. The center of gravity is pretty low for the booster, as all the engines and residual propellant is at the bottom.

We are going to weld steel shoes over the landing feet as a precautionary measure.

And you add some pic of those "steel shoes" that you found before?

link for that AMA question: reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2rgsan/…

3 hours later…

9:33 AM

SpaceX Mission CRS-5 consisting of Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft livestream starting 1h 30m from now - youtube.com/watch?v=Ohnnl4nOcGU

9:59 AM

Coverage of the Launch of the SpaceX/Dragon CRS-5 Cargo Ship to the ISS is now webcast live on NASA TV and SpaceX on Livestream. Launch at 11:20 GMT (6:20 a.m. EST)

10:38 AM

good morning @geoffc :)

coffee?

good morning all - looking forward to the attempted landing

my machine at work will now stream the video

(at least I can test the NASA TV one - I'll test SPaceX's one just after 11

morning @RoryAlsop

@TildalWave exciting day

not sure which would be most exciting - a successful landing on that barge, or falcon smashing down through it :-)

@Tildal - did you manage to see Comet Lovejoy

@RoryAlsop yup two days in a row now

@TildalWave hoping for clear skies tonight. Could see it with telescope the other night but not naked eye

10:53 AM

I couldn't make it out looking directly towards it but with a bit of averted vision I managed and it still looked different than the stars in the region do

it's good to know exactly where to look for it tho, there's quite a few stars of similar apparent magnitude where the comet currently is

@TildalWave It should have been visible here last night, but was low on the horizon when we had visibility

@RoryAlsop full moon probably doesn't help either

and it's kinda following it close

IIRC they calculated it's gonna be the brightest for us on 7th but they forgot to include the moon in their equations because it's gonna be nearly exactly over it and about 95% full LOL

I was like ....erm, ma'am, I haven't xray vision!!

@TildalWave oh, dammit - I'll need to look at timings. I thought the moon was going to be further round

SpaceX/Dragon CRS-5 launch is now live also via SpaceX Livestream channel

user image

This is for tonight at about your midnight

I marked whereabouts the comet should be with the red dot

so not really over it but still ... by the time it gets dark enough to see the comet the moon rises

T-11 minutes

11:10 AM

@TildalWave Why yes, coffee indeed. Getting ready to hit the bus for the ride into Manhattan in a few minues.

@geoffc you're not gonna watch the launch?

T-7 min.

Watching now.

user image

this ^, on this:

user image

godspeed!

T-2 min.

hold

I do not have audio on.

Instant launch window to ISS, so hold means tomorrow?

I guess so

there was no launch window

11:21 AM

Window is 1 sec wide.

:P

what I said! :)))

user image

here

what's happened

I'm getting no audio, so am confused

With an instantaneous launch window, a hold means #Falcon9 will not go to space today. Next attempt NET Friday 1/9. http://t.co/TiVoM0a7Y3

Tweeted by JPMajor on January 6, 2015 at 11:22 AM

Issue with the second stage, per the SpaceX webcast, which is now ending.

Tweeted by jeff_foust on January 6, 2015 at 11:23 AM

@geoffc apparently, that 1 second is called "instantaneous launch window" :)

I highly doubt that Russians bother with such nomenclature, they just launch and scream at it "fly now!" in Russian LOL

kinda like when my father watches ski jumping on telly :)))

sadface

why are they landing it on a barge? just to prove they can?

reusability

as per Elon Musk's words, rephrased: Would you be able to afford air tickets if the Jumbo Jet you fly on was discarded after each flight?

11:34 AM

@Tombull They are not yet allowed by the FAA to try and land on land. they need to prove they can safely land, before risking peoples lives. So land on a barge in the ocean is an easy permit to get. Do it a few times, make the FAA warm and fuzzy it works.

On the bus now.

They'll have to land downrange with F9H anyway

So they need the barge, just use it earlier than expected.

aye ... they'll need more than one then and make it as autonomous as possible

Also gives them a range of payload options. Full F9 expendable for max mass to orbit. F9R for RTLS if your payload is small enough. But with the barge system, there are now smaller payload hit options for recovery. How far downrange is the barge? Saves fuel not boosting back to base.

This is how SpaceX seems to work. Build first one, test it, iterate, build second one better and so on. :) So I expect ASDS 2 to be more advanced.

well yes get this working first that you already built, build new as you test and learn, plan for expansion and think for a few years in advance

I wonder if they already started drafting business plans for ~~F9H~~ sorry, meant the BFR

and MCT

11:46 AM

Has there been any Falcon Heavy launches yet?

Heavy test site is in McGregor and no reports of a 3 core test fire yet.

Heavy was supposed to test flight in 2014, now delayed to 2015. No dates.

If a F9 test at McGregor gets a "louder than usual" test event warning to the natives, what will a F-H test get? (Louder than hell?)

Wonder what the cows will think of the F-H test. :) Yawn, another day, another rocket test.,

FH: "here's some free earplugs"

Hehe.

Actually, earplugs, and popcorn, with a viewing stand. You like fireworks? This will top anything you have ever seen! 3 million lbs of thrust!

wasn't a F9 something like 192db?

(3.9 million lbs at full throttle?)

Rockets are loud by definition.

Saturn V and Shuttle redefined 'loud'.

Actually, wasn't Saturn V the loudest thing outside a nuclear detontaion?

(manmade thing. Lightning/volcanos exluded).

12:49 PM

I didn't hear a thing :)

Mind, I was born about a year after its last flight, so I couldn't have

1:23 PM

I was born in 1974, so I was before the last Saturn 1B, but I missed the Skylab Saturn V launch I think. Never saw one, nor a shuttle launch. Which is agreat regret in my life.

1:35 PM

oh shoot I forgot that one, I'm 74 too

I mean I was born then :)

1:46 PM

I knew what you meant.

I knew the Saturn 1B was 'small' compared to a S-V. But when you see the milkstool, for launching a 1B, holy crap you realize how big a S-V was!

I visited the Rocket museum in Huntsville, Alabama. S-V model standing upright, and real S-V never used on its side.

AWE insprining.

Worth the trip. They have Pathfinder shuttle model, with the carbon composite SRBs and a real ET (I forget where it is from) mounted on a huge stand. Had a real SSME. (might be moved to SLS storage now, dunno). Had a S-1B and lots more.

Truly worth it. I need to get back there.

2:25 PM

@Ti

@TildalWave Thanks for the edit.

@TildalWave @geoffc - youngsters! I didn't see them either, but that's cos we didn't have a TV until I was 10...

@geoffc sure, just had to remove the part about landing legs as aerodynamic surfaces ... that might still be true, I just wasn't able to find any good quote on that

anyway, you might wanna add that back, if slightly reworded now with additional info

That is why I suggested it was 'thought' they might. But probably not.

yeah I'm not sure either

I kinda doubt it, because I vaguely remember something about legs deploying during final descent

@RoryAlsop I meant, living in North America (Canada) and driving down to Florida to see the grandparents each winter, I always wanted to see a launch, but timing never ever worked out.

2:29 PM

but am not sure where I heard that

The image shows the legs deploying in the midst of the final engine burn. Which seems wrong.

But what do I know?

i.e. seconds before landing, not in the hypersonic regime

dunno

they were deployed during previous "soft splash" earlier

But even after hypersonic, once hit terminal velocity, subsonic, would make sense to deploy then for additional drag, and slower TV

Why not reduce V sub T? Makes for a simpler final burn. Less fuel, etc.

yes but it's questionable how much control you lose on eddies before the stream hits the fins

and how long the legs can withstand that burn ahead of their path

Yep. Beyond our pay grade. :)

Grid fins are gonna be so cool. Especially if someone of the tac net says "Lock S-foils in attack position". Ultimate nerdity...

2:35 PM

BTW I wanted to post an answer but thought neah, @geoffc is around and this one is tagged with spacex :))

I also noticed that I could have done a bit better with my edit, some links could be moved up when you mention things first, and I didn't format the first N2 either

Blah. Perfectionist.

I do not need more SpaceX answer points, I need more questions asked to get the tag. :) I will get enough votes naturally enough on these.

Silver tag badge, how many Q's needed? Not points for us that is 400 I think, but the 100Q requirement was a surprise to me on the bronze badge.

looks like we identified at least one more question about this just now, didn't we? :P

"are the landing legs aerodynamic surfaces"?

Go for it? :)

4

Q: Are the Falcon 9 landing legs aerodynamic surfaces as well?

With the CRS-3 (SpaceX-3) launch of a Falcon 9 v1.1 with a Dragon capsule to the ISS the F-9 will launch with landing legs for the first time. Elon Musk Tweeted an image of the legs mounted on the first stage. You can see a bit better detail from an earlier tweet. The bottoms look sculpt...

spacex falcon-9 reusability

blah

I should go for it? You already asked it and you forgot about it? LOOL

BTW you still have "Legs 1.0" on those photos :)

I always forget it. :)

Have you see Legs 2.0 pics? I have not!

Or did not notice an uprgade.

2:42 PM

there were some shared on twatter

IIRC they used one for a display in their lobby

wait let me find it

That is an even earlier design in their lobby, I thought.

Unpainted, black carbon fibre look.

they put a new leg (just one) there and included some photo wall behind it

previous one wasn't in the lobby, it was already inside

this is the old one

user image

and this is the new one

user image

"spot the difference" LOL

(hint: there's a red arrow pointing to it :P)

That just looks an end cap. Do you see a major difference.

That bloody Jurvestson guy...

hehehe

still, it's "Legs 2.0"

That just looks like the enclosed the hinge, on the inside.

You see that as major? First one was an engineering prototype, which is why it was not flown.,

2:51 PM

hey, I never said there was a major change

Actually, how many legs have flown now? 3X4 + 4 on friday?

also

12 mins ago, by geoffc

Blah. Perfectionist.

you said it :P

@geoffc I think so yes

the new ones are IIRC since CRS-3

anyway, Elon said something about the need for new legs somewhere ... in some video ... god knows where ... but I'd presume there's a lot more to it than what meets the eye there

I doubt he'd say that if all they needed was a cap to protect a hinge

3:52 PM

NASA Image of the Day: Hubble’s High-Definition Panoramic View of the Andromeda Galaxy

posted on January 06, 2015

The largest NASA Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled, this sweeping bird’s-eye view of a portion of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) is the sharpest large composite image ever taken of our galactic next-door neighbor. Though the galaxy is over 2 million light-years away, the Hubble Space Telescope is powerful enough to resolve individual stars in a 61,000-light-year-long stretch of the galaxy…

4:04 PM

Nice when a major news outlet takes notice of even a scrubbed launch

bbc.com/news/science-environment-30696895

maybe they will properly cover the real thing.

4:37 PM

astrobites: Astrobites at AAS 225: Day 1

posted on January 06, 2015 by Astrobites

We report on Day 1 of the Winter AAS meeting in Seattle, WA.

@Stu hey, thanks for putting up that bounty. I've been hesitating to try to self-answer, feel like i can't be specific enough or back stuff up enough.

4:54 PM

Blog - Stack Exchange: So long Winter Bash 2014

Jon Ericson on January 06, 2015

While testing hats before the start of Winter Bash 2014, a snowflake notification told me I’d earned the Treasure Hunter hat. After adjusting pirate paraphernalia to fit my head, I tried to remember what triggers this particular hat. As it happens, I’d just received a gold badge on Cooking that I would’ve totally ignored if not for the associated hat. Suddenly I understood why this time of year resonates with our most accomplished users. Earning cosmetic items, as silly as they are, temporarily reminds us of what it was like to begin participating on Stack Exchange months or years ago. Plus, hats look really cool. …

5:47 PM

Didn't we have a question to ask whether Eagle actually landed?

6:20 PM

@Everyone yup

this one?

16

Q: Why the Apollo 11 spaceflight didn't (or why looks like it didn't) blow the dust away?

In this picture, we can see the footprints near the Apollo 11. Shouldn't the dust have been blown away when Apollo 11 landed?

the-moon apollo-program lunar-landing myth-busting dust

5 hours later…

11:11 PM

Blimey someone was busy upvoting everything tagged spacex :) I'm not sure those votes will stick, if the SE system against targeted voting kicks in. :O

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Jan '156

The Pod Bay

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