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2 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

Falcon 9 definitely can't pull RTLS for any LEO flight. If you'll recall, the very first booster to be reflown was from a CRS mission, and it landed on OCISLY. I don't know the exact number, but I think it's somewhere around 7 tonnes to LEO; anything below that can reserve enough propellant for RTLS; anything above that needs an ASDS. An Iridium constellation launch weighs in at 9.6 tonnes. Also, the Iridium sats go a bit higher than most LEO payloads, and the polar inclination doesn't help.  

CRS 7 could have been RTLS but they choose to have it landed on OCISLY to gain experience landing on the droneships as all other droneship landings had failed at that time

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1 minute ago, insert_name said:

CRS 7 could have been RTLS but they choose to have it landed on OCISLY to gain experience landing on the droneships as all other droneship landings had failed at that time

Elon said that RTLS would have been pushing the envelope (since CRS-7 was carrying BEAM, which weighed down Dragon a bit), while they were much more optimistic about an ASDS landing in comparison. In any case, somewhere between 7 and 10 tonnes is probably the cutoff.

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1 hour ago, sevenperforce said:

Elon said that RTLS would have been pushing the envelope (since CRS-7 was carrying BEAM, which weighed down Dragon a bit), while they were much more optimistic about an ASDS landing in comparison. In any case, somewhere between 7 and 10 tonnes is probably the cutoff.

Slight correction, CRS-7 exploded. CRS-8 carried BEAM.

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The launch is not yet scheduled at spaceflightnow, but listed as July. So it might happen the very beginning of the month, on the same 2 week schedule (though it won't necessarily happen Thursday, it's Not Earlier Than, after all. Still, awesome cadence.

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Just now, tater said:
11 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

Amusing thought I saw on another forum:

Now SpaceX only needs two sets of grid fins, one set for each coast.

At least until FH flies.

4 sets, unless they can make a new set in under 2 weeks---just to have a spare in case of a failed landing.

The joke being that they won't have failed landings.

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1 hour ago, tater said:

Heh. Still, effectively true with a spare.

However they are unlikely to swap the fins between rockets who is under testing and re-qualification for next launch.  
They might do if they run short who is  standard equipment cannibalism 

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They're all the same part. The previous versions needed cleaning and repainting every time, and were removed for this anyway. It makes no sense not to at the very least pull them off of any expendable vehicle, for example, then reuse them. or when the time comes, decommission a given core, and take the fins if they are still fine.

Intelsat 35e launch from 39A is static fire Thursday, and Launch NET July 3 (Monday).

Edited by tater
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On 26.6.2017 at 11:47 AM, KSK said:

Sooo - is a tardigrade burn one that was too late to have the desired effect?

Alternate interpretation:

  • Prograde burn - burning to accelerate in the direction you're heading.
  • Retrograde burn - burning to accelerate in the opposite direction of where you're heading.
  • Tardigrade burn - sterilizing your spacecraft.
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1 hour ago, tater said:

Those usually appear when the ASDS returns. I think OCISLY is due later in the week.

So the Falcon spends quite a while at sea, huh? Do ground crews have to repair any ocean-related damage done to the booster due to this time in transit back to port?

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10 hours ago, Codraroll said:

Alternate interpretation:

  • Prograde burn - burning to accelerate in the direction you're heading.
  • Retrograde burn - burning to accelerate in the opposite direction of where you're heading.
  • Tardigrade burn - sterilizing your spacecraft.

As far as I know about tardigrade's ability to survive in extreme conditions the last must be a flyby through Sun's photosphere.

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4 hours ago, TheEpicSquared said:

http://spacenews.com/spacexs-final-falcon-9-design-coming-this-year-two-falcon-heavy-launches-next-year/
So a methalox Falcon series could possibly maybe be a thing? Interesting.

That seems well after a "final" Falcon 9 design.  Also if they are building 20 falcons and have nearly a dozen used boosters in storage, just what do they plan on launching?

I another thread (probably a SLS-bashing one) someone pointed out that the Saturn V was built to go to the moon, not the moon chosen because we built the Saturn V [note: Kennedy originally wanted Mars, but was told that it was beyond our capabilities].  Does Musk really have that many satellites to launch?

Edited by wumpus
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16 minutes ago, wumpus said:

Does Musk really have that many satellites to launch?

Yep.

Spoiler

AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
ARABSAT (ARABSAT 6A)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    FALCON HEAVY
BANGABANDHU-1    CAPE CANAVERAL    FALCON 9
BIGELOW AEROSPACE    CAPE CANAVERAL    FALCON 9
CONAE (ARGENTINA)    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
CONAE (ARGENTINA)    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
ES'HAILSAT    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    FALCON 9
FALCON HEAVY DEMO    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    FALCON HEAVY
GLOBAL IP    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    FALCON 9
GOVSAT-1    CAPE CANAVERAL    FALCON 9
HISDESAT    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
HISPASAT    CAPE CANAVERAL    FALCON 9
INMARSAT    CAPE CANAVERAL    FALCON HEAVY
IRIDIUM (FLIGHT 3)    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
IRIDIUM (FLIGHT 4)    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
IRIDIUM (FLIGHT 5)    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
IRIDIUM (FLIGHT 6)    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
IRIDIUM (FLIGHT 7)    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
IRIDIUM (FLIGHT 8)    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
KOREASAT    CAPE CANAVERAL    FALCON 9
NASA (SWOT)    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
NASA (TESS)    CAPE CANAVERAL    FALCON 9
NASA CREW (DEMO 1)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA CREW (DEMO 2)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA CREW (FLIGHT 1)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA CREW (FLIGHT 2)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 11)    CAPE CANAVERAL    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 12)    CAPE CANAVERAL    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 13)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 14)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 15)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 16)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 17)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 18)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 19)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 20)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 21)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 22)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 23)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 24)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 25)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NASA RESUPPLY TO ISS (FLIGHT 26)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    DRAGON & FALCON 9
NORTHROP GRUMMAN    CAPE CANAVERAL    FALCON 9
NSPO (TAIWAN)    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
OHB SYSTEM AG    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
RADARSAT    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
SES (SES-11)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    FALCON 9
SES (SES-14)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    FALCON 9
SPACEFLIGHT SERVICES    VANDENBERG    FALCON 9
TELESAT (TELSTAR 18V)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    FALCON 9
TELESAT (TELSTAR 19V)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    FALCON 9
U.S. AIR FORCE (GPS III-2)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    FALCON 9
U.S. AIR FORCE (STP-2)    FLORIDA LAUNCH SITE    FALCON HEAVY
VIASAT    CAPE CANAVERAL    FALCON HEAVY

 

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Regarding satellites, the plan is a constellation of thousands of small sats as I recall (his own company).

They have  substantial backlog of launches as it is, and the current cadence certainly helps them clear it. Raptor on Falcon is an interesting idea that I had frankly dismissed, but given what Shotwell said the other day I am more open to it being a thing.

Seems to me that any such vehicle might be a sort of mini-BFS as a proof of concept, where F9 is the BFR booster. 

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4 hours ago, TheEpicSquared said:

http://spacenews.com/spacexs-final-falcon-9-design-coming-this-year-two-falcon-heavy-launches-next-year/

So a methalox Falcon series could possibly maybe be a thing? Interesting.

More importantly, the name Block 5 makes sense now.

Edited by IncongruousGoat
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