Following an official green light from NASA managers, the approved the combination of the Dragon C2/C3 (D2/D3) Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) missions was set to launch from Cape Canaveral on February 7 – as much as the potential for a further slip was referenced during the launch date announcement.

Dragon will only arrive at the ISS if all of the requirements under the initial C2 demo objectives receive the joint approval from SpaceX controllers and NASA controllers – the latter located at the Mission Control Center (MCC) in Houston. Any major problems during the C2 flight phase will end the mission.

The first commercial spacecraft to attempt a docking at the ISS will also conduct a series of check-out procedures that will test and prove its systems in advance of the rendezvous with the station.

The primary objectives for the flight include a fly-by of the space station at a distance of approximately two miles to validate the operation of sensors and flight systems necessary for a safe rendezvous and approach.

The spacecraft also will demonstrate the capability to abort the rendezvous, if required. Crewmembers on the ISS will also have a level of manual control via the COTS UHF Communication Unit (CUCU), which includes orders to abort the approach.

All three crewmembers on the ISS have previously been hands-on the hardware associated with the CUCU during a visit to SpaceX back in September. Dragon also requires two trained crewmembers to berth it, with Dan Burbank and recent arrival Don Pettit tasked with the docking.

Dragon will perform the final approach to the ISS ahead of the station crew grappling the vehicle with the Station’s robotic arm.

The capsule will be berthed – by the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to the Earth-facing side of the Harmony node.

At the end of the mission, the crew will reverse the process, detaching Dragon from the station for its return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific off the coast of California.

If the rendezvous and attachment to the station are not successful, SpaceX will complete a third demonstration flight in order to achieve these objectives as originally planned.

Next up in preparation for the launch was the Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) for the Falcon 9 at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, which was expected to take place last week, or early this week. However, that has been postponed, along with the launch date.

The specific reason for the delay has not been revealed, as much as the slip is is expected to be only a matter of weeks.

It is not known if the due diligence checks are related to the launch vehicle. However, the mission profile had passed through the ISS Post Qual Review board before Christmas, allowing SpaceX to enter the final steps toward launch.

“In preparation for the upcoming launch, SpaceX continues to conduct extensive testing and analysis. We believe that there are a few areas that will benefit from additional work and will optimize the safety and success of this mission,” noted SpaceX in a press release on Monday.

“We are now working with NASA to establish a new target launch date, but note that we will continue to test and review data. We will launch when the vehicle is ready.”

Click here for other Dragon News Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/dragon/

The comment about launching only when the vehicle is ready is an absolute standard throughout the launch industry, yet the language of the SpaceX release matches the recent heritage of NASA managers tasked with providing a green light for a Space Shuttle launch.

The post-RTF era for the Shuttle earned a large amount of respect for NASA, as Flight Readiness Reviews (FRRs – L2 Link to Presentations) and Mission Management Team (MMT – L2 Link to Presentations) meetings often slipped a launch or delayed the target date late into the flow, avoiding the obvious strain of “schedule pressure” – something which can cause a negative outcome.

One such example of only launching when the vehicle is ready from the Shuttle era was seen ahead of STS-133, via deputy Space Shuttle Program (SSP) manager LeRoy Cain, when he made an internal address to his teams relating to the cracked stringer troubleshooting and mitigation on ET-137. (L2 Link to Presentations).

“If there is a way to make that launch period at the end of all of our work, where we have a very thoughtful and complete assessment of where we think we are as it relates to the risk associated with these anomalies, and we can do something within this launch period, then we will,” noted Mr Cain in November, 2010.

“If we can’t – then we won’t, and we are not going to do anything until we are ready to go fly safely.”

This alignment from a relatively new commercial company to the due diligence of seasoned shuttle managers should impress, as much as SpaceX are clearly fully aware of what they class as a sense of responsibility.

That responsibility is not only to re-establish the domestic cargo supply line to the orbital outpost for the first time since STS-135, but also to lay the foundations of the ultimate Low Earth Orbit goal of transporting US astronauts back to the ISS via an American launch vehicle and spacecraft.

“After the last Shuttle flight we were struck with an enormous sense of responsibility,” noted SpaceX communications director Kirstin Brost Grantham to NASASpaceFlight.com. 

“For 30 years the Space Shuttle provided our country’s only means of carrying astronauts to low-Earth orbit. We are determined to get that capability for our country back just as soon as possible.”

SpaceX are currently part of the CCDev2 (NASA’s Commercial Crew Development) process, which is aiming to re-establish domestic crew transport to the ISS by 2015-2017.

(Images via SpaceX, NASA and L2).

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A Rocket Is For Life, Not Just For Launch:

SpaceX are currently closing in on the February launch of their third Falcon 9 flight, tasked with the historic mission to loft an unmanned Dragon spacecraft on a recently approved combined D2/D3 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Should the spacecraft successfully pass both its D2 and D3 demonstration test requirements, Dragon will be the first commercial vehicle to dock with the orbital outpost.

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle, however, will not live to see the historic event, following its staging and return to Earth – at least for the First Stage (the second stage may conduct restart/reboost tests) - shortly after the ride uphill.

This is the standard approach for expendable launch vehicles, even for large elements of technically reusable space vehicle systems – such as the Space Shuttle, which saw her giant External Tank (ET) destroyed via a destructive re-entry over the Indian Ocean, after each successful ascent to orbit.

Attempts have been made to design Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) vehicles – where the entire vehicle avoided any form of staging and returned to Earth “as launched” – such as the infamous X-33/VentureStar, which failed to overcome extensive design challenges prior to its cancellation.

However, SpaceX aren’t looking to redesign the wheel with their reusable ambitions. Instead, they are looking to keep their Falcon 9 launch vehicle design, along with its staging profile, whilst making revolutionary changes to what the expended stages do once they have completed their ascent roles – in essence, a highly advanced and wider-ranging version of the flyback booster concept.

These plans were unveiled by SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk back in September of last year, plans which called for an improved Falcon 9, featuring first and second stages that would fly back to the launch site under their own power – something no other aerospace company has achieved. Mr Musk had previously hinted at such an ambition in 2009.

“This is a very difficult thing to do. Even for an expendable launch vehicle, where you don’t attempt any recovery, you only get maybe two to three percent of your lift-off weight to orbit. That’s not a lot of room for error,” noted Mr Musk during a speech to the National Press Club (*Video Snippet*).

“Now you say ‘OK, now let’s make it reusable’. You have to strengthen the stages, add a lot of weight, a lot of thermal protection – a lot of things that add weight to that vehicle – and still have a useful payload to orbit. You’ve got to add all that’s necessary to bring the stages back to the launch pad to be able to re-fly them and still have useful payload to orbit.

“This has been attempted many times in the past and generally what’s happened is people have concluded that success was not one of the possible outcomes, and the project has been abandoned. It’s a very tough engineering problem.”

During the announcement, a video simulation of the concept – if not entirely accurate – outlined how the Falcon 9 would return back to the launch site, ready for safing ahead for reuse on a latter mission. (*Video Here*)

With a slightly controversial, slightly clever, yet entirely apt use of British band “Muse” – well-known to be space flight fans – and their track “Uprising” as the soundtrack to the video, a visibly modified version of the Falcon 9/Dragon combination can be seen launching uphill, prior to a nominal First Stage MECO (Main Engine Cut Off) and staging.

However, this is the point where “nominal” turns into “fascinating” as the entire first stage rotates 180 degrees via Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters, and then reignites three of its nine engines to “boost back” the near-empty stage back to the launch site.

Descending back to the launch pad, the First Stage is seen firing one engine to decelerate to a pinpoint landing on its specially made landing legs, in an area depicted in the video as the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) Skid Strip runway complex.

“We have a design that on paper – doing the calculations and simulations – that does work. Now we have to make sure those simulations and reality agree. Because generally when they don’t, reality wins. So that’s to be determined,” noted Mr Musk.

“The simulation shows a general idea of what we plan to do, which is to basically put a First Stage out to stage separation, turn the stage around, relight the engines, boost back to the launch pad – and land propulsively on landing legs.”

With the Upper Stage completing its orbital insertion burn, prior to spacecraft separation, thrusters once again rotate the stage 180 degrees, aft forward, ahead of engine restart for another burn to deorbit the Upper Stage.

Protected by what appears to be a version of the PICA-X (a proprietary variant of NASA’s phenolic impregnated carbon ablator (PICA) material) heat shield used by the Dragon spacecraft, the Upper Stage dives back to Earth, protected against the heat and force of re-entry, prior to using what is depicted as four thrusters to decelerate and land on its landing legs.

During the sequence, the landing legs are shown in several configurations, both extended – to allow for the Upper Stage Nozzle to complete its burn, as well as folded inwards – to protect against the forces of re-entry.

“With the Upper Stage, after dropping off the satellite or spacecraft, we do a deorbit burn, re-enter – you need a quite powerful heat shield - and steer aerodynamically back to the launch pad, landing propulsively on landing legs,” added Mr Musk. “(Also worth noting,) you don’t need wings to steer aerodynamically, you just need some lift over drag numbers and lift vector.”

Click here for recent Dragon Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/dragon/

With Dragon completing its mission, the capsule re-enters as expected – as much as Dragon still has one unique feature to present via its propulsive landing system, an integrated hardware element which also provides the launch abort capability during ascent.

While a backup parachute system will be available in the event of any issues, the sum total of the overall changes results in the entire launch vehicle and spacecraft hardware – minus fuel and original upmass payload – returning to Earth to be reused.

“I wasn’t sure it could be solved, but relatively recently – in the last 12 months or so – I’ve come the conclusion it can be solved and SpaceX is going to try and do it,” Mr Musk claimed. “We could fail, I’m not saying we’re certain of success, but we’re going to try to do it.”

Upcoming Development For F9r And Merlin 1D:

The first element of testing the simulations with real hardware will begin via a technology test bed called “Grasshopper”. This concept – per Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) information – points to a single-engine Falcon 9 First Stage with its own landing legs.

As confirmed by SpaceX in a response to NASASpaceflight.com, the company will begin testing on their vertical propulsion landing system for the Falcon 9 Reusable project later this year – a project they acknowledge is a long-term effort.

“We will begin testing our vertical propulsion landing system later this year. This is the research and development effort designed to help us learn more about propulsive landing systems to advance plans for producing reusable rockets,” noted SpaceX.

“This is a long-term project. SpaceX must successfully complete extensive testing before we will see reusable vehicles.”

The long-term nature of the project should place SpaceX in a good position for success, especially as they are continuing to advance and improve the performance of their in-house hardware, most notably their engines.

The Falcon 9 currently employs nine “SpaceX designed and built” Merlin main engines on the First Stage – sporting a single shaft. propellent fed, dual impeller turbo-pump, operating on a gas generator cycle which also provides the high pressure kerosene for the hydraulic actuators, which then recycles into the low pressure inlet.

The turbo-pump also provides roll control by actuating the turbine exhaust nozzle on the single second stage MVac engine.

In a response to NASASpaceflight.com, SpaceX note that an upcoming upgrades to the engine (Merlin 1D) will provide a vast improvement in performance, reliability and manufacturability – all of which could provide a timely boost to aiding the potential for success for the fully reusable Falcon 9.

“Increased reliability: Simplified design by eliminating components and sub-assemblies. Increased fatigue life. Increased chamber and nozzle thermal margins,” noted SpaceX in listing the improvements in work.

“Improved Performance: Thrust increased from 95,000 lbf (sea level) to 140,000 lbf (sea level). Added throttle capability for range from 70-100 percent. Currently, it is necessary to shut off two engines during ascent. The Merlin 1D will make it possible to throttle all engines. Structure was removed from the engine to make it lighter.

“Improved Manufacturability: Simplified design to use lower cost manufacturing techniques. Reduced touch labor and parts count. Increased in-house production at SpaceX.”

No specific date has been given for when such improvements will come on line, or if they would require debuting on a satellite launch, as opposed to a mission under NASA’s commercial contract.

A Breakthrough For Humans:

With the obvious challenge of potentially trading some of the vital upmass ratios, via the extra mass required for the additions to enable the launch vehicle to become reusable, Mr Musk pointed out just how important a breakthrough of this nature would be, by reducing the costs of a launch vehicle system, to a point it provides an enabler for the viability of a human settlement on Mars.

“The pivotal breakthrough that some company has to come up with (to make life multi-planetary), is a fully and rapidly reusable orbit class rocket. We’ll see if this works, but it’ll certainly be an exciting journey – and if it does work, it’ll be pretty huge,” noted Mr Musk at the September presser, before providing an example of the cost differential between expendable and reusable vehicles.

“If you look at the cost of a Falcon 9 rocket – which is a big, one million pounds of thrust rocket, yet the lowest cost rocket in the world, it’s still 50-60 million dollars. But if you look at the cost of the fuel and oxygen and so forth, it’s only about 200,000 dollars. So obviously if we can reuse the rocket, say one thousand times, then that would make the capital cost of the rocket per launch only about 50,000 dollars.

“(Bar) maintenance costs (etc), it would allow for a hundred fold reduction in launch costs.”

With commercial space now preparing to take over the access to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), many people have compared the current transition for the United States in space to that of the commercialization of other transportation sectors.

Mr Musk used a similar example when referring to the reusability of hardware for one of the more common modes of transport.

“This is a pretty obvious thing when applied to any other mode of transport. You can imagine if planes were not reusable, very few people would fly. A 747 is about $300 million, you’d need two of them for a round trip, yet I don’t think anyone has paid half a billion dollars to fly.

“These planes can be used tens of thousands of times and all you’re really paying for is fuel, pilots and incidentals – so the cost is relatively small. That’s why it’s such a giant difference, and that’s why I think a full reusable rocket is fundamentally required for life to become multi-planetary, for us to establish life on Mars.”

Click here for SpaceX News articles: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=21862.0

While Mars remains a stated intention for SpaceX’s future aspirations, near-term success with their Falcon 9 and Dragon systems – not least under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) and CCDev (Commercial Crew Development) contracts – will provide the experience and the confidence for a company which has successfully become a household name in the global space flight arena.

(Images via SpaceX, National Press Club and NASA)

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Combining COTS 2/3:

The plan to combine the second and third of three planned Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration flights (C2 and C3) for SpaceX’s Dragon has already been agreed in principle, with a preliminary launch date target at the end of November.

Thanks to the success of Dragon’s debut trip into space – carried out on only the second Falcon 9 launch – there is a large amount of confidence SpaceX can take the next step, the final stage of testing ahead of starting Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) runs to provide the ISS with a small – but important – part of the upmass capability that has been lost since the retirement of the shuttle fleet.

However, as with all “Visiting Vehicles”, even approaching the ISS requires numerous safety requirements to be passed, procedures which protect the $100 billion Station from undesirable incidents which could threaten both the ISS and it’s crew.

Highlighted as the main item of interest currently being worked by both NASA and SpaceX, engineers are evaluating a “concern” relating to “Secondary Payloads” riding with the Falcon 9 into orbit.

Ranging back to an an agreement to launch 18 ORBCOMM Generation 2 (OG2) satellites as early as the fourth quarter of 2010 through 2014, the delivery of the second-generation satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) was set to be carried out on the Falcon 1e launch vehicle.

The Falcon 1e sports upgraded propulsion, structures and avionics systems when compared to the Falcon 1 – in order to further improve reliability and mass-to-orbit capability.

However, SpaceX – working to further maximize the cost-effectiveness of their COTS/CRS missions – decided to included the additional payloads as passengers on the Falcon 9′s second stage, allowing them to be deployed after the Dragon separates from the Falcon 9.

It is currently understood that two ORBCOMM satellites will ride uphill with Falcon 9 during the C2/C3 flight, which caused ISS managers some interest from the standpoint of a potential collision risk with the ISS. As such, NASA are using their experienced Monte Carlo analysis methods to clear this concern.

“SpaceX Second Stage Payloads Collision Risk: NASA is now receiving necessary data for orbital plane impacts, but it is still uncertain how the analysis will fallout,” noted one MOD ISS presentation from August 10 (available on L2). “Generic policy has not yet been developed.”

SpaceX also acknowledged this ongoing work, citing they were working with NASA to resolve the potential risks associated with the secondary payloads.

“Over the last several months, SpaceX has been hard at work preparing for our next flight – a mission designed to demonstrate that a privately-developed space transportation system can deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS). NASA has given us a Nov. 30, 2011 launch date, which should be followed nine days later by Dragon berthing at the ISS,” noted SpaceX.
 
“NASA has agreed in principle to allow SpaceX to combine all of the tests and demonstration activities that we originally proposed as two separate missions (COTS Demo 2 and COTS Demo 3) into a single mission. Furthermore, SpaceX plans to carry additional payloads aboard the Falcon 9′s second stage which will deploy after Dragon separates and is well on its way to the ISS.

“NASA will grant formal approval for the combined COTS missions pending resolution of any potential risks associated with these secondary payloads. Our team continues to work closely with NASA to resolve all questions and concerns.”

With safety reviews a standard for NASA, the procedures are already being lined up through their respective phases, with phase 3 expected to be completed early next year – likely relating to a green light for the opening CRS flight for the Dragon in 2012.

Click here for recent SpaceX News Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/spacex/

“SpaceX/Dragon: Phase 3 part 1 safety review tentatively scheduled for end of September 2011. Starting to see easy phase 3 level hazard reports,” added the MOD ISS Presentation. “Some phase 2 level work pushed off to phase 3 (not unusual). Estimate phase 3 complete 2/2012.”

Known also as Falcon 9′s Flight 4, the CRS-1 flight hardware is already well into production, an in-house process which is undergoing a ramp up in the fabrication of the Falcon 9s – three of which will be required for the 2013 debut of the Falcon Heavy at USAF Vandenberg in California.

“Significant additional tooling and automation will be added to the factory, as we build towards the capability of producing a Falcon 9 first stage or Falcon Heavy side booster every week and an upper stage every two weeks. Depending on demand, Dragon production is planned for a rate of one every six to eight weeks.

As SpaceX rightly note, the arrival of the C2/C3 Dragon at the ISS this year – as much as the mission may slip into 2012 due to a tight schedule from the ISS side, per sources – will be a key milestone for commercial space flight, as the cargo Dragon docks and is ingressed by the crew of the ISS, marking a historic first.

“This next mission represents a huge milestone not only for SpaceX, but also for NASA and the US space program. When the astronauts stationed on the ISS open the hatch and enter the Dragon spacecraft for the first time, it will mark the beginning of a new era in space travel,” noted SpaceX.

The most recent milestone for this potential combination demo mission was carried out at SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida, with a successful Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) carried out on the Falcon 9 Flight 3 vehicle.

(Images: Space X) (As the shuttle fleet retire, NSF and L2 are providing full transition level coverage, available no where else on the internet, from Orion and SLS to ISS and COTS/CRS/CCDEV, to European and Russian vehicles. 

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Falcon Heavy:

The Falcon Heavy’s kerosene-driven first stage will be made up of three nine-engine cores, a core which has performed without issue on the opening two Falcon 9 flights. In total, 27 of SpaceX’s upgraded Merlin engines – currently being tested at the SpaceX rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas – will generate the 3.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff for the new vehicle.

The Falcon Heavy’s performance stats are impressive, with a Mass to Orbit (200 km, 28.5 deg) of 53 metric tons (117,000 lbs), with its 3.8 million lbs of thrust lifting the 1,400 metric tons of vehicle off the pad. The FH will be 69.2 meters (227 ft) in length, with a max stage width of 5.2 m (17 ft), resulting in a total width of 11.6 meters (38 ft).

“Falcon Heavy will carry more payload to orbit or escape velocity than any vehicle in history, apart from the Saturn V moon rocket, which was decommissioned after the Apollo program. This opens a new world of capability for both government and commercial space missions,” Mr Musk told a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

Falcon Heavy will be the first launch vehicle to employ a propellant cross-feed system from the side boosters to the center core, thus leaving the center core with most of its propellant after the side boosters separate. The net effect results in performance comparable to a three stage rocket, even though only the upper stage is airlit, further improving both payload performance and reliability.

“Depending on what the final performance numbers look like, it’s looking like at least 117,000 lbs, maybe even above 120,000 lbs. This is a rocket of truly huge scale,” noted Mr Musk. “117,000 lbs is more than a fully loaded Boeing 737… in orbit. It opens up possibilities with customers that aren’t currently present.

“If you compare the capacity with either the Space Shuttle or the Delta IV-Heavy – which are the two most capable vehicles in the world today – we’re (Falcon Heavy) more than twice the payload capability of those vehicles.”

Mr Musk noted that the Falcon Heavy will debut at Space Launch Complex 4 (SLC-4) at the Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California, before eventually setting up its primary home at Cape Canaveral in Florida. This plan will allow the new vehicle to play tag team with the Falcon 9, with both vehicles sharing the launch manifest for their larger passengers.

“Falcon 9 can address about half the market, whereas Falcon Heavy can address the other half for the larger government and commercial satellites, as well as opening up new market opportunities for spacecraft that can’t be launched into space by the currently available rockets.”

Noting that launch costs have been steadily rising over recent history, Mr Musk emphasised one of the major advances his vehicles will bring to the marketplace, citing the magical milestone of $1000 per pound to orbit.

“Falcon Heavy represents a huge economic advantage. It costs about a third as much per flight as a Delta Heavy, but carries twice as much to orbit, so is effectively a six fold improvement (in respect to) per pound to orbit. Falcon Heavy sets a new world record for the cost per pound to orbit – around about $1000.”

The debut launch is currently without a primary customer, as much as SpaceX hope for late interest at a reduced cost. However, it is likely to launch with several smaller secondary payloads on the opening flight. SpaceX are confident they will be able to soon announce primary customers for the second and subsequent flights of the Falcon Heavy.

The vehicle is also designed to comply with the NASA Human Rating Standards  – no mean feat given the highly strict set of parameters laid out by Agency on safety.

“(Falcon Heavy) is designed to handle structural margins which are 40 percent above the flight loads it expects to encounter. This is opposed to normal satellite launches, which are designed to 25 percent. It also has engine out capability, allowing for it to lose multiple engines and still complete the mission. It also has triple redundant avionics,” added Mr Musk. “All of this is designed to allow it to launch people and do so safely.

“Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are designed to meet with all of the published NASA Human Rating standards. It would only be some unpublished or new standard that we wouldn’t be in compliance with.

Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) Applications:

Citing the future missions which could be undertaken with such a large vehicle, Mr Musk believes the barriers are being taken down for flagship missions, by a vehicle which will be flying by the first half of this decade.

While such unmanned and manned flagship missions are part of NASA’s future goals, the Agency continues to show no signs of being able to carry out Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) missions – with a Human Rated vehicle – until at least the next decade.

The first example noted by Mr Musk was the potential of carrying out a single FH-baselined Mars Sample Return mission, which would utilize a quarter of the vehicle’s upmass capability when compared to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) missions, around 30,000 lb to Trans Mars Injection (TMI).

“It (FH) has so much capability, I think we can start to realistically contemplate a (unmanned) Mars sample return mission. This requires Falcon Heavy’s capability, as you’ve got to send a Lander to Mars which still has enough propellant to return to Earth. You could potentially do that with a single FH flight.

For Lunar missions, the Falcon Heavy would achieve around 35 percent of its upmass capability to LEO, somewhere over 35,000 lbs. And while the business plan for SpaceX is to utilize their large vehicles for unmanned customers – at least in the opening salvo of missions – the FH opens new doors for BEO operations for both unmanned and manned missions.

“The Falcon 9 is capable of transporting humans to LEO, such as to the International Space Station (ISS) and back, but doesn’t quite have the power to go beyond the Station. Whereas Falcon Heavy could go much further than Low Earth Orbit,” continued Mr Musk.

“FH is about half the lifting capability of the Saturn V, so in principle you could do another mission to the moon just by using two launches of the Falcon Heavy – one delivering the return vehicle to the moon and one delivering the Lander to the surface of the moon.

“If you had a small enough spacecraft you could conceivably do it with one Falcon Heavy, so it depends on how big of a spacecraft and how many people you want to send, but you could slim it down to just one Falcon Heavy. With the spacecraft carrying some propellent – which I assume you’ll need – I’m confident you could achieve (the moon mission) with two Falcon Heavy launchers.”

The potential schedule for launching humans on the Falcon Heavy would likely be achievable after the first few flights of the vehicle. With F9 and Dragon already technically capable of manned missions – minus the need for a Launch Abort System (LAS) to be integrated into the manned vehicle – FH would then being used as a baseline for what is effectively three F9 cores.

“There are no changes that we are aware of that we’d make to Falcon Heavy able to launch people,” Musk noted. “There may be changes to the spacecraft it carries, but not the launch vehicle itself – or if there are, they would be very minor. This certainly opens up a wide range of possibilities, such as returning to the moon, conceivably even going to Mars, although that would require twice as many launches.”

Click here for recent SpaceX News Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/spacex/

Engine Production and Flight Rate:

The main engine on the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy is called the Merlin, an engine which was developed internally at SpaceX.

The engine’s power comes from a propellant fed, single shaft, dual impeller turbo-pump operating on a gas generator cycle. The turbo-pump also provides the high pressure kerosene for the hydraulic actuators, which then recycles into the low pressure inlet. The turbo-pump also provides roll control by actuating the turbine exhaust nozzle (on the second stage engine).

With a need for nine of these engines on the Falcon 9 and 27 on the Falcon Heavy, the Merlin – which is undergoing a performance upgrade – is set to become part of a major ramp up in production to satisfy the projected flight rate.

“We have an upgrade for our Merlin engine, from 95,000 lbs of sea level thrust to 140,000 lbs of sea level thrust, so a pretty substantial upgrade. And we’re also making some design improvements to our manufacturing ability to allow us to go to a higher rate of engine production,” added Mr Musk.

“We’re anticipating – if launch demand ends up like we think it is – we’ll have production rate of around 400 booster engines a year, which I think would be more than the rest of the world combined, certainly more than the rest of the US, though that’s not saying much, unfortunately.”

With the ramping up of production noted as SpaceX’s number one focus, achieving the production of 400 engines per year will result in over 40 cores, needed in order to sustain a flight rate expected to be around 20 flights per year, as Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy tag team on customer contracts.

“That’s what’s needed in order to do 10 Falcon 9s and 10 Falcon Heavys in a given year,” noted Mr Musk. “If you look at our launch manifest, just based on the existing contracts that we have, we already have on the order of 10 launches booked for Falcon 9 – and we’ve only done two Falcon 9 launches.

“20 launches a year is not a crazy number. We expect that to happen without any miracles. We must make sure that we are holding our production and launch capability to meet that demand.”

Noting experience from the automotive industry, Mr Musk added that achieving high volume engine production is more than possible, to the point 400 per year is not the ceiling on yearly output.

“Right now our engine production rate is around 50-60 a year with the Merlin I-C. Merlin I-D – in addition to a thrust and performance upgrade – its really designed for manufacturing ability as well. I’m very confident we can build 400 engines a year, or even 500-600 engines per year if we need to.”

Mr Musk added the increase in production of the friction stir welded aluminum lithium alloy core stages is also achievable.

Launch Sites:

As initially noted, Falcon Heavy will debut out of the West Coast via the VAFB, prior to the focus switching to the Eastern Range – which is primarily desired by SpaceX’s main group of existing and potential customers for GTO missions.

The build-up of SLC-4 at VAFB can be seen via images from the promotion videos for the FH launches, showing it will be no small feat to achieve, whereas plans to build on existing property at Cape Canaveral will allow for the dual use of Space Launch Complex 40 by the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.

“We’re starting off at Vandenberg, before transitioning to the Cape,” noted Mr Musk. “We will be upgrading our launch pad at the Cape so we can process both a Falcon 9 and a Falcon Heavy simultaneously for them both to roll out to the pad.”

SLC-40 was built in the 1960s as a Titan IIIC launch complex. The first launch from the complex, in June 1965, was the maiden flight of the Titan IIIC.

During the late 1960s, the complex was converted to support the MOL programme, with the mobile service structure being modified to include an environmental shelter. When MOL was cancelled, LC-40 resumed normal operations.

The last Titan IIIC launch occurred from LC-40 in 1982, and shortly afterwards by the Titan 34D began using the complex. It was then used by the Commercial Titan III before the complex was completely rebuilt for the Titan IV. In 1997 the Cassini spacecraft was launched from LC-40 on its mission to Saturn.

The final Titan launch from the complex occurred on 30 April 2005. In April 2007 SpaceX leased the site and began to convert it to accommodate the Falcon 9. The complex was used for both of the opening Falcon 9 launches.

Surprisingly, Mr Musk added that there is a possibility being explored in using one of the Shuttle launch pads (39A and 39B). However, the current use of SLC-40 is their default plan.

However, NASA’s “current” plan – should they decide to press forward with an evolvable Shuttle Derived Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (SD HLV) as the Space Launch System (SLS) – would preclude such a possibly, given the Block 0 SD HLV would use 39A, prior to the larger, evolved vehicles using the clean pad of 39B.

“We’re also investigating the possibility of using one of the old Shuttle pads for Falcon Heavy,” Mr Musk added, likely referencing Pad 39B, which is currently being demolished into a clean pad, as per the plans still in effect from the Constellation Program (CxP).

SpaceX noted that they expect Falcon Heavy to debut from Cape Canaveral in late 2013, or sometime in 2014. Using the Cape Canaveral SLC-40 plan, another hanger would be built at 90 degrees from the Falcon 9 hanger, so as to allow for dual processing to take place.

“We expect to see the vehicle on the pad (at VAFB) in November or December of next year,” added Mr Musk. “The launch itself is a little more difficult to predict as we have to go through final regulatory approvals, there could be things we have to debug with the launch integration. Expecting to see a launch sometime in 2013.”

Mr Musk noted that a couple of hundred jobs would be created on the East Coast, depending on customer demand/flight rate.

Price Competition:

SpaceX are no strangers to criticism, mainly from some of the established launch services providers, who note scepticism over the Falcon costs and lack of a notable track record. However, SpaceX are fighting back, targeting the EELV launch program with their low-cost heavy lift capability.

“Falcon Heavy, with more than twice the payload, but less than one third the cost of a Delta IV Heavy, will provide much needed relief to government and commercial budgets. This year, even as the Department of Defense budget was cut, the EELV launch program, which includes the Delta IV, still saw a thirty percent increase,” noted SpaceX’s own release announcing the Falcon Heavy, coupled with a pdf focusing on the EELV market.

“The 2012 budget for four Air Force launches is $1.74B, which is an average of $435M per launch. Falcon 9 is offered on the commercial market for $50-60M and Falcon Heavy is offered for $80-$125M. Unlike our competitors, this price includes all non-recurring development costs and on-orbit delivery of an agreed upon mission.

“For government missions, NASA has added mission assurance and additional services to the Falcon 9 for less than $20M.”

Mr Musk also referenced the differences between how his operation acts in the marketplace, compared to other launch providers, citing the major difference in costings and transparency.

“I think there’s a lot of wishful thinking on the part of our competitors that our costs must be higher, but they are not. In fact, I think we’re unique in the business of publishing our launch costs on our website, whereas other providers treat it like a bazaar – they’ll charge you what they think you can afford.

“We believe in everyday low prices and we’ve stuck to our guns on that. Falcon 9 costs $50m and it’s been that way for a while, whereas Falcon Heavy will cost around $100m, so we’re very confident on being able to maintain those prices and let history be the judge.”

The next launch for SpaceX will come via their Falcon 9 launch vehicle, although it is yet to be decided by NASA managers if they will allow SpaceX to combine their COTS 2 – currently the next launch, scheduled for July 2011, with the COTS 3 mission – currently on the books for January 2012.

Should the decision prove to be positive, is it likely SpaceX will schedule the combined mission for November or December of this year.

(Images via SpaceX, USAF, L2).

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Key Events:

The opening target of a T-0 at 15:09 UTC was enjoying a smooth count heading into the terminal count. However, at T-2 minutes 50 seconds an abort was called. The second opportunity being aimed for is at 10:43am Eastern (15:43 UTC).

Sources note the abort was caused either by an issue with intermittent drop outs in range-critical telemetry, an off-nominal condition with the Dragon computer was also noted. SpaceX are currently classing the abort as related to a false abort on the Ordnance Interrupter (OI) ground feedback on the Flight Termination System (FTS) showing relation to the range critical note.

Following countdown for the second window was faultless, as was all the major milestones of the launch and ascent into orbit, with nominal first stage, staging, second stage flight and deployment of the Dragon all appearing to be flawless.

On orbit, Dragon appears to be very stable. One of the Draco thrusters has failed, sources note, which is within tolerance. All cubesats were deployed and have communicated good status. Deorbit burn was stable, with Dragon heading towards Entry.

Dragon – as expected – deployed its Drogue and three Main parachutes, ahead of a splashdown in the Pacific ocean at  around 19:00 UTC.

Follow post flight coverage on the live update page. Further articles will follow via L2 post flight notes.

SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon Preview:

The Dragon spacecraft has been developed by SpaceX to transport cargo to the International Space Station. In June 2006 it was selected, along with the Rocketplane Kistler K-1, for development under the COTS programme.

The contract with Rocketplane Kistler was subsequently cancelled in October 2007 after the company had been unable to meet targets, and a replacement contract was awarded to Orbital Sciences Corporation in February 2008, to develop the Cygnus spacecraft.

Development of the Dragon spacecraft began in 2005, and in March 2006 it was submitted for the COTS programme. The spacecraft was designed to be able to transport crew eventually, as well as cargo, however a number of modifications would be required before it could be flown manned. 

Its pressurised cargo module has a volume of ten cubic metres, whilst its “trunk” section, which can be used to transport unpressurised cargo or deploy small satellites, has a volume of fourteen cubic metres. In terms of mass, three tonnes of payload can be transported in each section.

Attitude control will be provided by 18 Draco thrusters, burning monomethylhydrazine oxidised by dinitrogen tetroxide. These thrusters will also be used to deorbit the spacecraft at the end of its mission. The Dragon spacecraft, excluding the unpressurised trunk section, is 2.9 metres long, with a diameter of 3.6 metres. It carries a Common Berthing Mechanism, and on flights to the International Space Station it will be berthed at the station using Canadarm2, in a similar way to the HTV spacecraft. 

Click here for SpaceX News Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/spacex/

Unlike the existing unmanned spacecraft used to resupply the International Space Station, Dragon is designed to return to Earth and be recovered at the end of its mission.

To do this, it is equipped with a heat shield made of PICA-X, or Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator, which can reach up to 2,200 degrees Celsius. The heat shield has a diameter of 3.6 metres, covering the bottom of the spacecraft, and took four years to develop. SpaceX believe that it will not be damaged by reentry, and will be able to be reused for many flights. Following reentry, the spacecraft will descend into the Pacific Ocean under parachutes.

If successful, this will be the first time a commercial organisation has recovered a spacecraft from orbit. The only previous attempt was made in 1995 by Space Systems Incorporated using the Multiple Experiment Transporter to Earth Orbit and Return, or METEOR, spacecraft.

This was launched from Wallops Island on the only flight of the Conestoga 1620 rocket, and ended in failure when the rocket was destroyed by range safety after its guidance system malfunctioned.

One or two more missions will be conducted to test the Dragon spacecraft. Dragon C2 (large amount of NASA presentations available on L2) is expected to rendezvous with the International Space Station, whilst Dragon C3 is planned to become the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the outpost.

SpaceX are reported to be considering merging the C2 and C3 missions into a single flight, however they will need approval from NASA to do so. SpaceX has also been awarded twelve Commercial Resupply Systems (CRS) missions to transport cargo to the ISS, which will be conducted once the demonstration missions are complete. Two free-flying DragonLab missions, carrying scientific payloads, are also planned.

Dragon C1 will be launched by a Falcon 9 rocket. The Falcon 9 made its maiden flight earlier this year carrying a mockup of the Dragon spacecraft, and this will be its second flight. Falcon 9 is a two stage rocket, with both stages burning RP-1 propellant with liquid oxygen oxidiser. The first stage is powered by nine Merlin 1C engines, whilst the second is powered by a single Merlin Vacuum engine. The previous launch was considered successful, however several problems occurred during the flight which SpaceX are hoping to resolve, including roll problems during the second stage burn.

The countdown for the launch of Dragon C1 will begin two hours and thirty five minutes before launch, with flight controllers being polled to begin the fuelling of the rocket. The strongback, a structure used to transport the rocket to the pad, raise it to vertical, and support it, will be lowered 100 minutes before launch. Fuel and thrust vector control bleeding on the second stage will be performed at T-1 hour. At T-13 minutes, a final flight readiness poll will be conducted, which will be followed by the final hold point at T-11 minutes.

The terminal count will begin ten minutes before launch. Four minutes and forty six seconds before launch, the rocket will transfer to internal power. The flight termination system, used to destroy the rocket in the event of a problem, will be armed three minutes and eleven seconds before launch, and seven seconds later oxidiser topping will end. The flight computer will be started sixty seconds before launch, and the pad water system will be activated. Forty seconds before launch, the propellant tanks will be pressurised.

Ignition of the first stage engines will occur three seconds before launch. Assuming checks are nominal, the rocket will then lift off at T-0, and begin its climb towards orbit. Seventy six seconds into the flight the rocket will experience max-Q, the portion of the flight when maximum aerodynamic pressure is exerted on the vehicle. At around 155 seconds after launch, two of the first stage engines will be shut down to limit the load on the rocket due to acceleration. About twenty three seconds later, the remaining engines will also cut off. Stage separation will occur four seconds later, followed after another seven seconds by ignition of the second stage.

The second stage will burn for five minutes and fifty one seconds before cutting out. At this point, the vehicle should be in its target orbit; a circular low Earth orbit at an altitude of 300 kilometres, and an inclination of 34.5 degrees. Thirty five seconds after the end of the second stage burn, and 665 seconds after launch, Dragon C1 will separate from the rocket.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 was designed to be reusable, however on the previous launch it was discovered that it could not survive reentry. Some modifications have been made to try and improve its chances of survival; however it is not expected to be recoverable. Despite this, recovery will be attempted, with the M/V Freedom Star, one of NASA’s SRB recovery ships, on standby to collect the spent stage should it come down intact.

Following launch, the Dragon C1 spacecraft is expected to complete a single orbit of the Earth, before being deorbited during its second orbit. If a problem prevents reentry on the second orbit, it can be waved off until the third orbit. Whilst in orbit the Dragon will manoeuvre to test its propulsion system. Assuming the flight proceeds nominally, then about two hours and thirty two minutes after launch, the spacecraft will jettison its trunk section, and fire its Draco thrusters to deorbit.

The deorbit burn will last six minutes, and will be followed 20 minutes later by entry interface. Eleven minutes after entering the atmosphere, with the spacecraft at an altitude of 13.7 kilometres, the drogue parachutes will deploy to begin slowing the spacecraft down.

The main parachutes will be deployed a minute later, as the spacecraft passes through an altitude of three kilometres. Three hours and 19 minutes after launch Dragon C1 will land in the Pacific Ocean. The target landing site is about 800 kilometres off the coast of Mexico.

Dragon C1 will be launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. SLC-40 was built in the 1960s as a Titan IIIC launch complex. The first launch from the complex, in June 1965, was the maiden flight of the Titan IIIC. During the late 1960s, the complex was converted to support the MOL programme, with the mobile service structure being modified to include an environmental shelter. When MOL was cancelled, LC-40 resumed normal operations.

The last Titan IIIC launch occurred from LC-40 in 1982, and shortly afterwards by the Titan 34D began using the complex. It was then used by the Commercial Titan III before the complex was completely rebuilt for the Titan IV. In 1997 the Cassini spacecraft was launched from LC-40 on its mission to Saturn.

The final Titan launch from the complex occurred on 30 April 2005. In April 2007 SpaceX leased the site and began to convert it to accommodate the Falcon 9. The complex was used for the first Falcon 9 launch earlier this year.

The next Dragon mission, Dragon C2, is currently scheduled for launch on 12 April next year; the fiftieth anniversary of the first manned spaceflight and the thirtieth anniversary of the first Space Shuttle launch. This will also be the next Falcon 9 launch. Dragon C1 is also the fifteenth and final orbital launch of the year to be made by the United States.

If the launch of Compass I2, currently believed to be scheduled for 20 December, goes ahead as planned then China will have conducted as many launches as the United States for the first time. The next American orbital launch is expected to be that of NRO L-49 on a Delta IV, which is currently scheduled for 11 January.

(Images: Larry Sullivan, MaxQ Entertainment. Space X).

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Static Fire:

The rehearsal involves the firing of the Falcon 9 main engines at full power for two seconds, with only the hold-down system restraining the rocket from flight SpaceX engineers are then tasked with a thorough review of all data as part of the final preparations for the upcoming launch on Wednesday or later.

Although it was known within minutes that Friday’s 1pm Eastern attempt had been aborted via sources – listed in NASA memos soon after – SpaceX refused to comment for several hours.

“Aborted between 1 and 2 seconds on HIGH chamber pressure on one engine. Trying to recycle for one more attempt today,” noted a NASA memo (L2). ”Will need partial reload and recondition of propellants. Range limit is 3pm local for the last attempt.”

With a range extension to 3:15pm granted, SpaceX attempted to prepare for a second static fire on Friday, before deciding to scrub for 24 hours.

With numerous media outlets claiming the static fire was a success, mainly due to a lack of a problem being noted by SpaceX, the company finally informed the media at 5:12pm Eastern that the test was aborted at 1.1 seconds, due to the aforementioned problem with Engine 6, with a second attempt to take place at 9:30am on Saturday.

That second attempt was also aborted ahead of ignition, prior to efforts to recycle for another attempt for a T-0 of 10:50 Eastern. That third attempt was a full firing and is being classed as successful – pending full data review.

The Falcon 9 on the pad is the second of SpaceX’s new medium lift launch vehicles, following the debut success on June 4, where the maiden flight of the F9 carried a prototype Dragon spacecraft into space. The primary mission parameters of the test launch were deemed a success.

Preparations for its COTS-1 launch are also utilizing assets normally used for the space shuttle, including the recovery ships used to return the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs).

“Both ships are headed out from Hanger AF on Thursday. Liberty will head out to sea today to support Space X, and Freedom Star will head out tomorrow to support Space X with retrieval operations,” noted the latest Shuttle Standup/Integration report (L2).

A Flight Operations Review (FOR) is also being worked this month for the second COTS flight of the Dragon spacecraft, although the final meeting may be delayed if it is deemed to conflict with the COTS-1 launch.

“SpaceX FOR is scheduled, but that may conflict with their currently scheduled launch, so discussing for FOR in February,” added NASA managerial notes (with associated resources available on L2).

Click here for SpaceX News Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/spacex/

Falcon 9/Dragon:

Dragon is a spacecraft which SpaceX has been developing for NASA’s COTS programme, which is intended to allow for commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station following the retirement of the Space Shuttle.

SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler were awarded contracts to develop their proposals in 2006, however in 2007 the contract with Rocketplane Kistler was terminated, and a new contract was awarded to Orbital Sciences Corporation in 2008, which has led to the development of the Cygnus spacecraft that is expected to fly next year.

A total of three Dragons will be launched on COTS demonstration missions, followed by up to twelve operational resupply missions under the Commercial Resupply Services contract, signed in late 2008. Two independent DragonLab scientific flights are also scheduled.

Despite only being contracted for unmanned missions, the Dragon spacecraft was designed to be capable of manned flight, and SpaceX claims that a manned launch could be made with a lead time of approximately three years.

This second Falcon 9 will be the seventh overall flight for the Falcon family of rockets. Five previous flights have been made using the smaller Falcon 1, and have resulted in three failures and two successes.

The first launch, in March 2006, failed shortly after liftoff due to a fuel leak caused by corrosion. A number of problems, including an incorrect first stage fuel ratio and second stage fuel slosh, prevented the second test flight from reaching orbit.

The third launch failed after unexpected residual thrust in the first stage engines caused recontact during staging. Following these failures, two successful launches were conducted; the first in September 2008 with the RatSat demonstration payload, and the second in July 2009 with the RazakSat imaging satellite for ATSB of Malaysia.

The Falcon 9 is a medium capacity partially reusable carrier rocket, which has been developed by SpaceX. It consists of two stages; both powered by Merlin engines burning RP-1 propellant in liquid oxygen oxidiser. The first stage, is powered by nine Merlin-1C engines, can generate 5 meganewtons (1.125 million pounds) of thrust at sea level.

The second stage, which is powered by a single Merlin engine modified for optimum performance in a vacuum, can produce 445 kilonewtons (100,000 pounds) of thrust. Attitude control for both stages will be provided by thrust vectoring; with four Draco thrusters augmenting this after the first stage has separated. For this launch, the rocket will fly without a payload fairing.

A regular Falcon 9, with a payload fairing rather than the exposed Dragon spacecraft, would stand 54.9 metres (180 feet) tall, with a diameter of 3.6 metres (12 feet). It has a mass of 333,400 kilograms (735,000 pounds), and according to SpaceX figures, it is capable of placing up to 10,450 kilograms (23,050 pounds) of payload into low Earth orbit, or up to 4,680 kilograms (10,320 pounds) into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.

A proposed heavy-lift derivative, the Falcon 9 Heavy, would feature two additional first stages to be used as booster rockets, and would be able to place 32,000 kilograms (70,548 pounds) of payload into Low Earth orbit, or 19,500 kilograms (42,990 pounds) of payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

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Launch Overview (REFER TO LAUNCH UPDATE PAGES for full coverage):

The payload for this launch is the Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit, which is a prototype Dragon spacecraft similar to the boilerplate Apollo spacecraft launched on Saturn I rockets in the mid 1960s. It was originally built as a ground test article, but was converted to a flight test article late last year.

Its main objective is to allow the aerodynamics and performance of the rocket, whilst carrying a Dragon spacecraft, to be evaluated prior to the first launch of an operational Dragon spacecraft.

Dragon is a spacecraft which SpaceX has been developing for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, which is intended to allow for commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station following the retirement of the Space Shuttle.

SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler were awarded contracts to develop their proposals in 2006, however in 2007 the contract with Rocketplane Kistler was terminated, and a new contract was awarded to Orbital Sciences Corporation in 2008, which has led to the development of the Cygnus spacecraft that is expected to fly next year.

In addition to the prototype on this launch, three Dragons will be launched on COTS demonstration missions, followed by up to twelve operational resupply missions under the Commercial Resupply Services contract, signed in late 2008. Two independent DragonLab scientific flights are also scheduled. Despite only being contracted for unmanned missions, the Dragon spacecraft was designed to be capable of manned flight, and SpaceX claims that a manned launch could be made with a lead time of approximately three years.

Although the Dragon spacecraft is yet to fly, several components have been tested under flight conditions, and the DragonEye LIDAR sensor flew aboard STS-127. DragonEye is expected to be reflown on STS-133, and will subsequently be used on operational Dragon missions to determine the spacecraft’s distance from the ISS during rendezvous operations.

The first Falcon 9 launch is the sixth overall flight for the Falcon family of rockets. The previous five flights have been made using the smaller Falcon 1, and have resulted in three failures and two successes. The first launch, in March 2006, failed shortly after liftoff due to a fuel leak caused by corrosion. A number of problems, including an incorrect first stage fuel ratio and second stage fuel slosh, prevented the second test flight from reaching orbit.

*Click here for the full list of SpaceX articles*

The third launch failed after unexpected residual thrust in the first stage engines caused recontact during staging. Following these failures, two successful launches were conducted; the first in September 2008 with the RatSat demonstration payload, and the second in July 2009 with the RazakSat imaging satellite for ATSB of Malaysia.

The Falcon 9 is a medium capacity partially reusable carrier rocket, which has been developed by SpaceX. It consists of two stages; both powered by Merlin engines burning RP-1 propellant in liquid oxygen oxidiser. The first stage, is powered by nine Merlin-1C engines, can generate 5 meganewtons (1.125 million pounds) of thrust at sea level.

The second stage, which is powered by a single Merlin engine modified for optimum performance in a vacuum, can produce 445 kilonewtons (100,000 pounds) of thrust. Attitude control for both stages will be provided by thrust vectoring; with four Draco thrusters augmenting this after the first stage has separated. For this launch, the rocket will fly without a payload fairing.

A regular Falcon 9, with a payload fairing rather than the exposed Dragon spacecraft, would stand 54.9 metres (180 feet) tall, with a diameter of 3.6 metres (12 feet). It has a mass of 333,400 kilograms (735,000 pounds), and according to SpaceX figures, it is capable of placing up to 10,450 kilograms (23,050 pounds) of payload into low Earth orbit, or up to 4,680 kilograms (10,320 pounds) into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.

A proposed heavy-lift derivative, the Falcon 9 Heavy, would feature two additional first stages to be used as booster rockets, and would be able to place 32,000 kilograms (70,548 pounds) of payload into Low Earth orbit, or 19,500 kilograms (42,990 pounds) of payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

The rocket and spacecraft arrived at Cape Canaveral early this year, and were integrated in the hangar before being rolled out to the launch pad on 19 February, and erected on 20 February. SpaceX then conducted a wet dress rehearsal, before attempting a static firing on 9 March.

The first attempt at conducting the static firing was aborted two seconds before ignition after the ground isolation valve failed to open, preventing the first stage turbopumps from starting. The test was successfully completed four days later, with the engines firing for three and a half seconds.

Since the static firing, the launch has been delayed several times due to issues with the qualification of the flight termination system, which is used by the Range Safety Officer to destroy the rocket in the event that it goes off course. Falcon 1 launches have not required an active flight termination system as the requirements for launching from Omelek Island are less stringent than those for Cape Canaveral. The last time Range Safety destroyed a rocket launched from Cape Canaveral was the maiden flight of the Delta III, in August 1998, however such systems have been used elsewhere more recently.

There is a forty percent chance that bad weather will prevent the launch tonight, with the main concerns being rain and anvil clouds. The launch window for tonight’s attempt will open at 15:00 GMT (11:00 local time), and close four hours later at 19:00 GMT (15:00 local). In the event of a scrub, a 24 hour delay is possible, using the same window on 5 June.

About seventy five seconds into the flight, the rocket will pass through the area of maximum dynamic pressure, or max-Q. As the rocket ascends, and fuel is depleted, its acceleration will increase. Around 155 seconds into the launch, two engines will be shut down to reduce the acceleration, limiting loads on the vehicle. About three minutes into the flight, the remaining first stage engines will shut down, and five seconds later stage separation will occur, with pneumatic actuators pushing the first and second stages apart.

Assuming that the first stage flight and separation are nominal, the second stage will ignite four seconds after separation to begin the first of two planned burns. This burn is expected to end after eight minutes and thirty seven seconds of flight. At this point, its engine will be shut down, and the spacecraft will probably separate shortly afterwards. The target orbit for the spacecraft after today’s launch is understood to have an altitude of approximately 250 kilometres (155 miles), and 34.5 degrees of inclination.

After spacecraft separation, the rocket will continue to coast until fifty four minutes and thirty three seconds after launch. Once the coast phase is complete, the second stage is expected to restart and burn for around sixty eight seconds, a burn which it is understood is intended to place the upper stage into a heliocentric orbit, however this has not been officially confirmed, and some reports suggest SpaceX may have changed their plans and opted for a longer first burn instead.

Following today’s launch, SpaceX plans to recover the first stage. This has been attempted before on the first three Falcon 1 launches, however it has not yet been successfully demonstrated; in two cases it was precluded by launch failures, and in the third it was unsuccessful. MV Freedom Star, the ship which will be used for the first stage recovery, departed Port Canaveral in the early hours of 24 May.

Freedom Star, along with her sister ship MV Liberty Star, are operated by NASA, and are usually used to recover Solid Rocket Boosters after Space Shuttle launches. Freedom Star also recovered the first stage of the Ares I-X rocket after its launch last year.

SpaceX have announced that they intend to evaluate the outcome of this launch based on how many test objectives are met, rather than on the performance of the rocket, or the orbit achieved. This could lead to the same confusion that occurred after the second Falcon 1 launch, when SpaceX claimed the launch had been successful despite it failing to achieve orbit. In retrospect, that launch is now generally seen as a failure.

Today’s launch will take place from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This is a former Titan launch complex, which was built in the 1960s to support the Titan IIIC, which made its maiden flight from the complex on 18 June 1965.

The third launch from the complex, which occurred in November 1966, placed the OPS 0855 spacecraft, a mockup of the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL), into orbit. The Gemini spacecraft used for the Gemini II test mission was also relaunched on this flight, onto a suborbital trajectory. Three secondary Orbiting Vehicle payloads were also launched.

Launch Complex 40 was to have been the primary East Coast launch site for MOL missions, and as a result underwent conversion to accommodate it. An environmental shelter was installed in the mobile service structure, and following the cancellation of MOL in 1969, this was converted for use with regular payloads. As a result of MOL requirements, no launches were made from LC-40 between 1967 and 1969.

When it resumed operations in 1970, it became the primary East Coast Titan III launch complex, and the other complex, LC-41 was converted to accommodate NASA missions using the Titan IIIE.

The last Titan IIIC was launched from LC-40 in 1982, followed shortly afterwards by the first Titan 34D; an interim rocket designed to launch heavy military payloads until the Space Shuttle was fully operational. Eight were launched from LC-40, including the maiden and final flights; another seven flew from Vandenberg.

After the Titan 34D, LC-40 was next used by the Commercial Titan III, a short-lived variant of the Titan 34D designed to launch commercial spacecraft. The first launch of the Commercial Titan III occurred in the early hours of 1 January 1990 GMT, although due to US time zones being behind GMT it was still 31 December at the launch site.

Four Commercial Titan IIIs were launched; the first carried two independent commercial communications satellites, the second and third each carried a single Intelsat communications satellite, and the fourth carried NASA’s Mars Observer spacecraft. The second flight placed Intelsat IV F3 into a lower-than-planned orbit, from which it was later reboosted by Space Shuttle Endeavour on its maiden flight, STS-49.

Between the third and fourth Commercial Titan III launches, the complex was completely rebuilt, and from 1994 onwards it supported Titan IV launches. The Titan IVB made its maiden flight from the complex in 1997, and later that year the Cassini mission to Saturn was launched from the complex. The final Titan launch from the complex occurred on 30 April 2005, when the penultimate Titan IVB placed the USA-182, or Lacrosse-5, radar reconnaissance satellite into orbit.

In April 2007, SpaceX signed a contract to lease the complex for Falcon 9 operations. Shortly afterwards work began to dismantle the launch tower. On 27 April 2008, the Mobile Service Structure was demolished in a controlled explosion. Work then began to construct Falcon 9 support equipment at the site. The pad was refurbished, and facilities for fuelling the rocket with liquid oxygen and RP-1 were added.

In late 2008, the first Falcon 9 was delivered to the launch site for facility tests, and by early January 2009 it had been assembled. The launch mount and erector were subsequently assembled, and on 10 January, the rocket was erected on the pad. Once facility checks were complete, the rocket was disassembled and returned to the factory to be completed. By June 2009, a hangar for integrating the rockets and payloads had been constructed at the pad. The RP-1 tanking system had also been completed, and work on the liquid oxygen system was nearly complete.

Two other launch sites for the Falcon 9 are under evaluation. These are Kwajalein Atoll, from where all five Falcon 1 launches have taken place, and Space Launch Complex 4E at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Like Space Launch Complex 40, Space Launch Complex 4E was previously used by Titan rockets, specifically the Titan IIID, 34D and IV. It was also used by Atlas-Agena rockets.

These launch sites will allow higher orbital inclinations to be reached than are possible from Canaveral; such orbits will be required by SAOCOM satellites which are scheduled for launch on Falcon 9 rockets in 2012 and 2013.

According to SpaceX plans, another Falcon 9 launch will be made later this year, with the Dragon C1 spacecraft. This will be the first demonstration flight as part of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services programme. If that is successful, the second demonstration mission will be launched in March next year.

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STS-129′s Dragon Payload:

The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Communication Unit will be riding in a middeck stowage locker on Atlantis, before being handed over to ISS crewmembers for the 2010 demonstration flights – although SpaceX’s schedule is deemed fluid.

Developed by SpaceX, in collaboration with NASA, the unit allows for communication between the ISS, Dragon and ground-based mission control. The system also allows the ISS crew to monitor an approaching or departing capsule.

Led by SpaceX’s yet-to-launch Falcon 9 launch vehicle, the Dragon spacecraft has three demonstration flights planned for its cargo supply version.

According to NASA documentation at the end of October, Demo 1 is currently classed as a January, 2010 flight, though it is expected to slip to February.

This flight will be based around Dragon carrying out three orbits of the Earth – which will be solely aimed at testing the capsule’s abilities.

This demonstration won’t involve communications with the ISS, and as a result may be classed only as a Dragon test – as opposed to a specific COTS related demo – which might explain why SpaceX are classing the upcoming F9 launch as unrelated to their COTS commitments.

Demo 2 – currently scheduled for June, 2010 – will ramp up the testing of Dragon, including the first test relating to the ISS, as the capsule establishes communication and relative GPS with ISS at 23 km, before carrying out a fly-by at 10km below the Station.

Demo 3 – currently scheduled for August, 2010 – will mark Dragon’s debut rendezvous and capture at the ISS, with the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) transitioning the capsule for mating to the Node 2 Nadir port. Demo cargo is yet to be manifested for transfer to/from ISS during its 14 day stay on Station.

Due to the communication’s system ride on Atlantis, notes on the SpaceX hardware were included in STS-129′s ISS Agency level Flight Readiness Review (FRR) presentation – available on L2.

“CUCU was developed by SpaceX through Space Act Agreement (SAA) to demonstrate proximity communication between Dragon and ISS,” noted the presentation. “First component launching to initiate set up of SpaceX Dragon to ISS interface in order to support the SpaceX Dragon missions.

“CUCU provides a bi-directional, half-duplex communications link between Dragon and ISS using existing ISS UHF Space to Space Station Radio (SSSR) antennas, which provides a communication path between MCCX (SpaceX) and Dragon during proximity operations and a command security between ISS and Dragon.

“Unit packaged in a locker to be mounted inside a rack on ISS and connected to ISS data, audio, and UHF antenna resources – provides a separate Crew Command Panel (CCP) for crew interface to Dragon.”

As with all new vehicles that have aspirations to approach to the ISS, strict rules and certifications need to be approved and constantly reviewed. SpaceX were well aware of this requirement, as noted by Gwynne Shotwell, President, SpaceX.

“The unit had to pass NASA’s strict ISS safety standards and reviews, demonstrating our progress under the COTS program and laying the groundwork for future F9/Dragon flights to resupply cargo and possibly crew to the ISS when Shuttle retires.”

From NASA’s standpoint, the system is ready for its role on the ISS, following a year of qualification and certification reviews, prior and after its arrival at the Kennedy Space Center in September.

“Hardware/Software is designed, built, and verified as per the requirements of: CUCU Interface Requirements Document (IRD). CUCU EXPRESS Rack Interface Control Document (ICD). CUCU Software Requirements ‘derived’ from COTS IRD,” added the FRR presentation.

“Post Qualification Review (PQR) conducted in July 2009. Board concurred with closure of the CUCU IRD and ICD verification requirements. CUCU software functionality checkout September 2009. Supports CUCU checkout and CUCU End-to-End test. Supports the on orbit checkout.”

With cabling and seat track brackets – part of mod kit 1 – already delivered to the Station via the Russian Progress resupply ship 35P, integration and checkout of the communication unit is scheduled to take place in January of next year.

“SpaceX is providing the CCP Cable, connectors and RF couplers (4 qty). To launch with hardware on ULF3. ISS to CUCU cables (NASA/Boeing provided hardware),” added the FRR presentation.

“Mod Kit I: Four cable harnesses: 1553 (2 qty), RF (1 qty), Redundant Power (1 qty) and RF Coupler Assembly (1 qty). (Already launched on 35P flight): two cables provided by Express Rack (primary power, Ethernet), already on-orbit.

“Mod Kit II: Audio Cable and 1 Audio switch box. Delivery Date: Nov 09. Installation and routing of all CUCU cables during Increment 22 (Jan. 2010).”

Click here for NASASpaceflight.com’s list of SpaceX Articles:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?s=SpaceX

This will the second time an orbiter has provided assistance to SpaceX, following Endeavour’s role with the DragonEye (DE) Detailed Test Objective (DTO) box – with flash LIDAR and data acquisition unit – during STS-127.

The DragonEye DTO was mounted to the Trajectory Control System-1 (TCS-1) carrier assembly on Endeavour’s ODS (Orbiter Docking System) starboard location.

DragonEye provided three-dimensional images based on the amount of time it takes for a single laser pulse from the sensor to the reach a target and bounce back, providing range and bearing information from the Dragon spacecraft to the ISS.

L2 members: Documentation – from which the above article has quoted snippets – is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4000 gbs in size.

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Musk was speaking to an audience at the AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting a few days ago, in a speech entitled “The Future of Space Launch: Where We’re Going and How to Get There.”

SpaceX is coming off the back of an encouraging conclusion to 2008, with the successful Flight 4 of their Falcon I launch vehicle, and progress towards the 2009 flight of their Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Space X also won 46 percent of NASA’s $.3.5 billion dollar Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.

“2008 was a pretty busy year for SpaceX,” said Musk, using videos and slides ahead of a Q&A session. “We finally got into orbit and we’ve completed most of our development of our Falcon 9 schedule – which to give you a comparison; Falcon I can carry half a ton payload to orbit and Falcon 9 can carry 11 tons. It’s a pretty big step up in scale.”

The Falcon 9 vehicle will make its debut launch from Cape Canaveral, lifting off from a pad that was formerly used for the Titan 4 launch vehicles. Although it will take a number of flights, Musk has a goal of being able to roll out the F9, erect at the pad, tank, complete checkouts of the vehicle and launch in under 60 minutes. (Image left: SpaceX Falcon 9 Manned)

“The Falcon 9 tanks are all friction stir weld – and the F9 is largest fully friction stir welded structure in the world. The 180 feet long vehicle is assembled horizontally and the rolls out to the pad to be placed vertical for launch,” he noted.

“One of the goals I have for the Falcon 9 – which will take us many launches to achieve – is to have the vehicle out of the hanger and into the air in under 60 minutes.”

The launch date for Falcon 9′s debut remains fluid, although the vehicle itself is not the determining factor in trying to make a summer launch, claims Musk.

“We’re hoping for a summer launch of the Falcon 9, though I predict that is pending (based on) the development of its payload.”

Musk went on to speak about the Dragon capsule that will fly with the manned version of the Falcon 9, noting that SpaceX are looking to enable the vehicle to land anywhere in the world, by adding land landing capability. (Image Left: SpaceX Dragon splashdown).

NASA’s Orion lost nominal land landing capabilities via one of its numerous mass saving exercises – causes by performance shortfalls with the Ares I launch vehicle.

“There’s no major difference in appearance between the manned and unmanned version of Falcon 9, apart from the Launch Escape Tower (and the Dragon spacecraft for human passengers),” Musk noted.

“Dragon is designed for water landing, but could go to land landing later via airbags or a pneumatic piston that pulls on the chute. With that capability you can land almost anywhere, but currently the nominal landing site is just off the coast of California.”

A large part of the speech – the audio (50 minutes) and over 50 slides from the presentation are available on L2′s SpaceX subsection (only click if you are a L2 member) - was dedicated towards SpaceX’s full reusability ambitions, with hints towards using Falcon 1 as a test bed for “beefing up” protection on the stages to allow for reuse, before the full capability is added to the Falcon 9.

“The big thing that has to happen in space transportation is reusability. People sometimes use the Space Shuttle as an example, and say well gee, the Space Shuttle is so expensive and that was intended to be mostly reusable and doesn’t that prove that reusability is a bad idea?  I think that it’s really silly to extrapolate on a single data point.”

“If you look at any other mode of transportation like a bike or a horse, how many people would use that mode of transportation if it wasn’t reusable?

“Even if you make the vehicle very efficient, and create the most optimal trajectory, you are still only getting two to three percent of your launch mass to orbit.

“You have to make recovery systems robust enough to withstand re-entry and that is a very difficult problem – no one has really solved that problem yet. At SpaceX we’re trying to make the first stage reusable.

“With Falcon I’s fourth launch, the first stage got cooked, so we’re going to beef up the Thermal Protection System (TPS). By flight six we think it’s highly likely we’ll recover the first stage, and when we get it back we’ll see what survived through re-entry, and what got fried, and carry on with the process.

“That’s just to make the first stage reusable, it’ll be even harder with the second stage – which has got to have a full heatshield, it’ll have to have deorbit propulsion and communication.”

Musk also spoke about his wish to enable the first stage with flyback capability, but added that he would require a large sum of cash to achieve that goal.

“Any pound you use for reusability and re-entry (on the second stage) is a pound subtracted directly from payload, whereas first stage it’s a five to one ratio. This is a problem we’re trying to solve incrementally, but most exciting thing I’ve love to do is a flyback first stage. We’re just missing the billion dollars of capital it would take to try to do that.

“But that’s what SpaceX is aspiring to try and make this work, and I think if we show some progress and success, it would inspire other companies and other countries to try it as well.

“However, the goal for Falcon 9 is that it ends up being the first fully-reusable launch vehicle.” (Image Left: Inside Dragon capsule during ascent and Falcon 9 injecting Dragon into orbit).

Part 2 of Elon’s speech will follow in the coming days, in which he speaks on SpaceX’s association with NASA, the colonization of Mars, downstream satellite contracts, how suborbital is “little league”, and how he “wishes to affect the world in a positive way.”

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