SES 8 - Falcon 9 v1.1 - 03.12.2013 - Canaveral SLC-40

[DAP]

Вал пишет:

Musk пишет:
"This is really rocking the industry. Everybody has to look out," Halliwell said Sunday. "There are a lot of people who hope that SpaceX is going to fail. If you look towards the Ariane, if you looks towards Proton, for example, I think they are shaking in their shoes. I really do.

Ну каков, мерзавец, а! Нифига от скромности не помрет.

Это слова Халивелле, технического директора Space X, не Маска. Маск аналогично, но более аккуратно выразился (перевод в ветке про оптимизм).

"In order for the other launch companies to compete, they, therefore, will have to improve their designs and really strive to have next-generation rocket technology," Musk said. "So I think SpaceX could be a powerful forcing function for the improvement of rocket technology, not just the stuff we do ourselves, but in that we will force other rocket companies to either develop new technology that's a lot better, or they have to exit the launch market."

[Павел Колотилов]

Даже если у Спейсэкса всё будет хорошо, Протонам работа найдётся. Федералку возить например. С Арианом хуже. Тем не менее, вон Дельты с Атласами практически ничего коммерческого не возят, но от этого не умирают. 

Между прочем, думаете возможно сделать Протон дешевле? Его продают по реальной цене или цена завышена?

[Veganin]

Sigmund Rodriguez пишет:
Даже если у Спейсэкса всё будет хорошо, Протонам работа найдётся. Федералку возить например. С Арианом хуже. Тем не менее, вон Дельты с Атласами практически ничего коммерческого не возят, но от этого не умирают.

Между прочем, думаете возможно сделать Протон дешевле? Его продают по реальной цене или цена завышена?

По ПРАЙСУ стоимость Протона-М/Бризом-М для федерального и коммерческого запуска несколько разнится:
Протон М / Бриз М (Федер.) $80M

Протон М / Бриз М $90M
http://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/forum/forum13/topic2156/?PAGEN_1=14

Резервы, конечно, есть, но стоит ли так надрываться в соревновании с Маском? Сейчас для коммерсантов он делает значительные скидки на свои РН, а американским воякам запуск обходится дороже
Falcon 9 v1.1 (Air Force 2014) $97M.
Все равно Маск молодец - и РН, и движки свои. Надеюсь, хруники сделают ход конем - доведут Бриз-М до ума  

[ВВК]

Veganin пишет:
Сейчас для коммерсантов он делает значительные скидки на свои РН, а американским воякам запуск обходится дороже
Falcon 9 v1.1 (Air Force 2014) $97M.

А не кажется ли Нам всем что это его настоящая стоимость и при этом масса ПН где-то  3..4т, а та цена  что 70  лям то может просто его себестоимость и то без непредвиденных и сумм на развитие производства

[ВВК]

Veganin пишет:
Резервы, конечно, есть, но стоит ли так надрываться в соревновании с Маском?

И правильно , упаси бог начать с ним соревноваться, в чем-то, если правда что будет у него хорошее , то брать себе на заметку и использовать без зазрения совести ибо у него ничего чужое лежать просто так не будет, вон МС начали по себестоимости летать и чё сколько там сейчас стоит

[m-s Gelezniak]

ВВК пишет:

Veganin пишет:
Сейчас для коммерсантов он делает значительные скидки на свои РН, а американским воякам запуск обходится дороже
Falcon 9 v1.1 (Air Force 2014) $97M.

А не кажется ли Нам всем что это его настоящая стоимость и при этом масса ПН где-то 3..4т, а та цена что 70 лям то может просто его себестоимость и то без непредвиденных и сумм на развитие производства

Скорее проверок и огрaничений больше.

[ВВК]

Sigmund Rodriguez пишет:
Тем не менее, вон Дельты с Атласами практически ничего коммерческого не возят, но от этого не умирают.

Во значит они его реальную цену знают

DAP пишет:

Вал пишет:

Musk пишет:
"This is really rocking the industry. Everybody has to look out," Halliwell said Sunday. "There are a lot of people who hope that SpaceX is going to fail. If you look towards the Ariane, if you looks towards Proton, for example, I think they are shaking in their shoes. I really do.

Тут может быть пока только "Зенит" беспокоится начнет

[igorvs]

DAP пишет:
Это слова Халивелле, технического директора Space X, не Маска. Маск аналогично, но более аккуратно выразился (перевод в ветке про оптимизм).

Вообще он технический директор SES

[DAP]

igorvs пишет:
 DAP пишет:
Это слова Халивелле, технического директора Space X, не Маска. Маск аналогично, но более аккуратно выразился (перевод в ветке про оптимизм).

Вообще он технический директор SES

Точно! Извините за невнимательность. И это делает его слова еще более любопытными!

[DAP]

Spaceflightnow (http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/131124commercial/#.UpM22OLfgmc)  подмечает любопытный факт - это первый пуск коммерческого спутника связи с территории США за 4 года.

[igorvs]

ДО СТАРТА 10 ЧАСОВ

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/38325spacex-customer-ses-gung-ho-on-eve-of-falcons-maiden-commercial-satellite

SpaceX Customer SES Gung-ho on Eve of Falcon's Maiden Commercial Satellite Launch
By Peter B. de Selding | Nov. 24, 2013

SES CEO Halliwell said SpaceX opened its doors to SES following the debut flight of the Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket which will be necessary for the flight of the SES-8 satellite. Credit: Orbital Sciences artist's concept

PARIS — Satellite fleet operator SES's chief technical officer on Nov. 24 gave a ringing endorsement of launch services provider SpaceX some 24 hours before SpaceX's Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket makes its first-ever attempt to place a satellite in commercial geostationary transfer orbit.
In a press briefing with SpaceX Chairman Elon Musk and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, SES's Martin Halliwell went so far as to say Luxembourg-based SES's relations with Hawthorne, Calif.-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) are in some ways better than SES's relations with its traditional launch-service providers.

Спойлер

Halliwell said SpaceX opened its doors to SES following the debut flight of the Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket on Sept. 29, a mission that was designed to prove the new Falcon's ability to restart its upper stage — which will be necessary for the flight of the SES-8 satellite, now scheduled for Nov. 25.
But the upper stage failed to restart when its igniter fluid lines froze in the cold temperatures of space and by virtue of their proximity to the motor's liquid oxygen. Shotwell said the company has added thermal insulation to prevent a recurrence of the anomaly.
But she declined to delve into details of what happened, saying U.S. technology transfer regulations forbid full disclosure of the matter.
Halliwell said that SES is not worried about the Sept. 29 problem.
"We've worked extremely closely with SpaceX people to see exactly what's been done" since the Sept. 29 flight, Halliwell said. "We've had extraordinary access to the engineering work that has been done. We are confident that all the risk has been retired."
Halliwell, sounding every bit as gung-ho about SpaceX as Musk and Shotwell, said the SpaceX business model featuring launch prices that are substantially lower than the competition's will be "a game-changer" for the commercial satellite industry. "It's going to shake the industry to its roots."
SES's is the world's second-largest satellite fleet operator, with 50-plus spacecraft in orbit. Its endorsement of SpaceX has given the Falcon 9 v1.1 an added dose of credibility in a market that is not known for risk-taking.
Without mentioning either the Arianespace launch consortium of Europe, which markets the Ariane 5 rocket; or International Launch Services of the United States, which markets Russia's Proton vehicle – both regular SES suppliers – Halliwell said SpaceX has caused the established rocket providers to be "rather worried about their future and how they have organized themselves for the future."
The U.S. Air Force has tentatively agreed to let the Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket into the stable of rockets the U.S. military uses once the vehicle has completed three successful flights.
Two of the three need to be consecutive flights, Showell said. Sh said the Sept. 29 flight counts as the first of these insofar as its mission, to launch a Canadian research satellite into low Earth orbit, was a success.

[свернуть]

[Salo]

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_11_24_2013_p0-640244.xml&p=1

Musk: Falcon 9 Will Capture Market Share
By Amy Svitak svitak@aviationweek.com, Amy Butler abutler@aviationweek.com
Source: AWIN First

November 24, 2013

With just over 24 hr. to go, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) founder Elon Musk says the company's new Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket is ready to launch its first commercial payload to supersynchronous transfer orbit Nov. 25 fr om SpaceX's Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla.

A successful launch of the SES-8 commercial communications satellite could help SpaceX unseat United Launch Alliance (ULA), the Boeing Co.-Lockheed Martin joint venture whose Atlas V and Delta IV rockets hold a virtual monopoly on launching Pentagon, NASA and intelligence community payloads.

"We're hoping to provide a forcing function for increased competitiveness in the launch vehicle industry and potentially for improving the technology across the board," Musk stated in a pre-launch conference call with reporters Nov. 24, adding that SpaceX competitors will have to quickly catch up or risk losing "significant market share" to the Falcon 9.

Спойлер

"They are now going to need to improve their rocket technology in order to compete, and that's a good thing for the future of space," Musk says.

The launch window for the Nov. 25 mission opens at 5:37 p.m. EST, when the Falcon 9 v1.1 is expected to carry the Orbital Sciences Corp.-built SES-8 satellite to supersynchronous transfer orbit for Luxembourg-based SES, the world's second largest commercial fleet operator by revenue. A supersynchronous orbit is one wh ere the apogee is significantly greater than geosynchronous altitude.

"To have the increased apogee altitude allows us to optimize the fuel usage on the satellite and to maximize our on-orbit station-keeping fuel lifetime for the remainder of the mission," says SES Chief Technology Officer Martin Halliwell. "We've done it many, many times before."

Accurate orbital insertion of SES-8 is critical to SpaceX, which is counting on three successful Falcon 9 v1.1 missions -- including two to be launched consecutively – in order to obtain U.S. government certification to launch sensitive national security payloads.

A Sept. 29 debut of the upgraded Falcon 9 rocket from the company's new launch site at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., successfully lofted an experimental Canadian science satellite to low Earth orbit. However, frozen igniter fluid lines were to blame for the failure of an upper-stage restart of the new Merlin 1D vacuum engine during the first Falcon 9 v1.1 launch.

According to SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin, the company did not detect the fluid line problem during ground tests because "ambient air kept the lines warm." It is unclear whether thermal testing was conducted. "We've added insulation and made sure that cold oxygen can't impinge on the lines" in future missions, she says.

The failure was the result of a "pretty straightforward error," according to Barry Matsumori, vice president of commercial sales and business development. He spoke Nov. 14 at Aviation Week's A&D Programs conference in Phoenix. The additional insulation did not require requalification work, he says.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell says the Sept. 29 mission still counts as the first of three required for U.S. Air Force certification. The Air Force, however, has not confirmed this and officials there say they are continuing to analyze data from the mission to determine its eligibility.

SES-8 will be followed closely by another Falcon 9 v1.1 launch to a supersynchronous transfer orbit, this time for a Bangkok-based fleet operator Thaicom.

Musk says for SES-8, SpaceX will not attempt to recover the Falcon 9 v1.1's first stage booster, as was the case during the Sept. 29 launch.

"On this mission we actually are sacrificing the ability to recover the first stage to maximize the performance margin for the SES satellite," he says. Halliwell says the company has worked closely with SpaceX to ensure the success of the SES-8 launch.

"The entry of SpaceX into the commercial market is a game changer and it's going to shake the industry to its roots," Halliwell says. The fact that SpaceX can be so cost competitive to give us the same level of performance as other launch vehicle providers is important to us. All the other launch vehicle providers are looking with great interest at this launch."

Halliwell says SES, which has booked three future satellite launches on SpaceX rockets, values the extremely close relationship the two companies have forged. "We invest a lot in our spacecraft," Halliwell says. "To have that close relationship with our launch service providers is extremely important. We've managed to develop that with SpaceX, to a greater extent than our existing launch service providers."

With a dozen launches on its manifest next year, Shotwell says the company will be looking for new launch sites and investing heavily in production capability. She says SpaceX is currently producing one vehicle per month, but that number is expected to increase to "18 per year in the next couple of quarters." By the end of 2014, she says SpaceX will produce 24 launch vehicles per year.

[свернуть]

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/status.html
 

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2013

2030 GMT (3:30 p.m. EST)
SpaceX founder Elon Musk told reporters this afternoon that officials have signed off on the fix to resolve the problem that aborted an upper stage engine restart test on the Falcon 9's last launch in late September.
The Sept. 29 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was a success, delivering Canada's Cassiope space weather research and communications demonstration satellite into polar orbit as planned.
But SpaceX attempted to re-ignite the Falcon 9's upper stage Merlin 1D engine as a test, and the restart was aborted.
"What appeared to be the case on the last mission was that the igniter lines froze due to impingement from the liquid oxygen bleed. There's a liquid oxygen chill that occurs during coast, and the igniter fluid freezes at a relatively high temperature," Musk said. "Obviously, what we've done to correct that is to insulate those lines and ensure the liquid oxygen bleed does not impinge on the lines. We looked carefully to see if there were any other possible issues that were a near-miss that we could encounter on this flight. We could not find any. We reviewed it with the SES technical team and they seemed comfortable as well."
The launch of SES 8 requires the upper stage restart to boost the satellite into a high-altitude transfer orbit on the way to a final operating position in geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above the equator.
Martin Halliwell, chief technical officer of Luxembourg-based SES, said he was comfortable the issue is behind SpaceX.
"We believe we've retired all the risk," Halliwell said this afternoon in a meeting with media in Cocoa Beach, Fla. "We've looked at the first stage, the first stage lights up OK, works perfectly. We've looked at the second stage ... we've looked at that and we're comfortable with that.
"We've worked extremely closely with the SpaceX team and we'd like to thank them for the openness and the comaraderie they've shown us during this entire process," Halliwell said. "It's been quite extraordinary, quite honestly, very different from working with some of the other launch vehicle providers."
According to Halliwell, SES engineers analyzed data on the upper stage engine provided by SpaceX and inspected the repair work on the igniter system.
"We've had our crews crawling all around the engine space," Halliwell said. "They've been embedded with the SpaceX propulsion team ... it's given us a real feel-good factor."
In order to comply with U.S. arms trade regulations, SES had to restrict the engineering team working with SpaceX on the engine anomaly to U.S. citizens.
SpaceX said engineers from NASA and the U.S. Air Force also reviewed data from the engine. "It was not a complicated issue to fix," said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president. "We're glad we caught it on a mission wh ere we were only demonstrating that [capability]."
 
1730 GMT (12:30 p.m. EST)
 The weather forecast hasn't changed much since yesterday.
There is still an 80 percent chance of favorable weather during Monday's launch window, which opens at 5:37 p.m. EST and closes at 6:43 p.m. (2237-2343 GMT).
The primary concerns at launch time are thick clouds and cumulus clouds, according to U.S. Air Force meteorologists.
"Blustery conditions behind a cold front peak this afternoon as winds slowly swing northeasterly increasing the coastal shower threat overnight. As the front makes its way into South Florida, winds continue to weaken and turn more easterly through the day on Monday decreasing below liftoff constraints," forecasters wrote Sunday.
"There is a low lightning threat, but coastal showers could be in the area. The boundary to our south is quick to return to our area in response to a low pressure system developing in the northern Gulf of Mexico which strengthens and moves east. There is a slight chance clouds ahead of this system could encroach on the spaceport towards the end of the window so thick clouds have been added and winds removed as concerns."
Launch time conditions should be partly cloudy with scattered cloud layers at 3,000 feet, 8,000 feet and 20,000 feet. Isolated showers are possible, and the temperature is forecast to be 69 degrees Fahrenheit. Winds will be out of the east at 15 knots with gusts to 22 knots.

[Space Alien]

rocketfan42 пишет:
The view of LC40 from my hotel room at Ron Jon's Cape Caribe Resort in Cape Canveral (next to Jetty Park).

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=24469.msg1123679#msg1123679

[Space Alien]

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/405004139421118464

[LRV_75]

Все таки прикольно выглядит Falcon 9 v1.1. Вот это болт! )))

[Salo]

1620 GMT (11:20 a.m. EST)
 The weather outlook for this evening's launch window continues to show an 80 percent chance of favorable conditions, with partly cloudy skies, breezy winds and a chance of isolated showers in the area.
The 66-minute launch window opens at 5:37 p.m. EST (2237 GMT), just after sunset at Cape Canaveral.
The outlook calls for scattered clouds at 3,000, 8,000 and 20,000 feet, winds out of the east at 15 knots gusting to 22 knots, and a launch time temperature of 69 degrees Fahrenheit.
"Easterly winds and light coastal showers will continue today, but there is a very low threat of lightning. Elsewhere, a low pressure system has developed in the Gulf of Mexico and will move rapidly east towards the Florida Panhandle. There is a slight chance that thick clouds ahead of this system could encroach on the Spaceport towards the end of the window," Air Force meteorologists wrote in a forecast issued this morning.
"Primary launch day concerns are cumulus clouds with onshore flow showers and thick clouds," forecasters said.
If today's launch is scrubbed due to weather or a technical problem, SpaceX does not plan to make another launch attempt until Thursday - Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which grants launch licenses to commercial rocket operators, has not approved launch on Tuesday or Wednesday because those are two of the busiest travel days of the year.
The forecast Thanksgiving Day also shows an 80 percent chance of favorable weather conditions, with the only concerns being liftoff winds and cumulus clouds.  
 
1445 GMT (9:45 a.m. EST)
 SpaceX technicians rolled the Falcon 9 rocket out of its hangar and mounted the booster and its transporter-erector atop Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad overnight, plugging into electrical and propellant lines ahead of the start of the countdown today.
The 224-foot-tall rocket is one of the tallest in the world. The Falcon 9's first and second stages measure 12 feet in diameter, and the SpaceX-built payload fairing housing the SES 8 communications satellite is 17 feet in diameter (5.2 meters) and 43 feet tall.
Made of two clamshell-like halves that open and fall away about 4 minutes after liftoff, the fairing is adorned with the U.S. flag on one side and the SES corporate logo on the other side.
Today's launch marks the first flight of the upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, known as version 1.1, from Cape Canaveral after the configuration first launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sept. 29.
In an interview in September, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said engineers added simplicity, reliability and capacity to the previous version of the Falcon 9, which flew successfully five times.
Here is part of our story on the Falcon 9 v1.1 from September:
Musk said the redesigned Falcon 9 is the prototype for a reusable rocket SpaceX envisions could drastically reduce launch costs, decreasing the price of a Falcon 9 flight even lower than SpaceX's advertised rate, which undercuts competing rockets, such as the Russian Proton and Europe's Ariane 5 launcher.
It is this version of the Falcon 9 that SpaceX hopes will safely deliver astronauts to orbit on the way to the space station, beginning as soon as 2017.
Reliability is paramount in the launch business, and cost and schedule are right behind in a matrix of concerns for rocket buyers.
Musk said SpaceX answered these appeals, and added power and efficiency to the Falcon 9's Merlin engines to loft heftier payloads into higher orbits.
SpaceX engineers installed a triple-redundant flight computer in the Falcon 9 rocket, adding another level of confidence in the launcher's avionics. They also wrote new software for the computer, which is based on a flight-proven unit from SpaceX's Dragon cargo-carrying space station freighter.
"You could put a bullet hole in any one of the avionics boxes and it would just keep flying," Musk said.
Designers adjusted the connection points between the Falcon 9's first and second stages, replacing nine hardware interfaces and three spring-like pusher elements - pneumatic devices which ensure stage separation occurs - with three connectors with integrated pushers.
"We go from 12 things that can go wrong to three at the point of staging," Musk said.
The Falcon 9 v1.1 is powered by 10 Merlin 1D engines - nine on the first stage and one on the second stage - each generating 147,000 pounds of sea level thrust. The vacuum-rated upper stage engine, sporting a niobium nozzle to radiate engine heat, produces 161,000 pounds of thrust once out of the atmosphere.
The Merlin 1C engine, used on all five of the Falcon 9's previous missions, was capable of firing with 95,000 pounds of thrust at sea level.
Along with greater performance, the Merlin 1D is easier to manufacture thanks to high-efficiency processes, increased robotic construction and a reduced parts count, according to SpaceX's press kit.
SpaceX upgraded the propellant injection system inside the Merlin 1D, replacing two valves dedicated to fuel and oxidizer with a single unit to improve reliability and save weight.
Musk said the Merlin 1D engine weighs in at less than 1,000 pounds.
"If we don't have the world record for thrust-to-weight ratio, we're very close," Musk said.
Musk's rocket team modified the engine arrangement on the first stage, an effort he said allows engineers to remove aerodynamic manifolds around the perimeter of the rocket.
Earlier Falcon 9s featured a square "tic-tac-toe" layout of the nine first stage engines arrayed in a three-by-three pattern. The Falcon 9 v1.1 uses what SpaceX calls an "octaweb" design, with eight engines surrounding a center engine in a circular pattern.
According to Musk, engineers installed ablative bumpers between the engines to prevent a mishap with one engine from damaging another.
The first stage upgrades also include a heat shield and stretched propellant tanks for the Merlin engines' supply of kerosene and liquid oxygen.
"We put a stronger heat shield at the base of the rocket to better enable the first stage to survive the high dynamic pressure on re-entry," Musk said.
The new Falcon 9 first stage is 60 percent longer but has the same diameter as the Falcon 9's previous version, permitting the rocket to be fabricated with the same tooling already inside SpaceX's rocket factory in Hawthorne, Calif.

[igorvs]

Хороша

[salto]

LRV_75 пишет:
Все таки прикольно выглядит Falcon 9 v1.1. Вот это болт! )))

"Не ндравится мне все это. Не ндравится!"