Dragon SpX-17 (CRS-17), OCO-3, STP-H6 - Falcon 9-071 (B1056.1) - CCAFS SLC-40 - 04.05.2019 06:48 UTC

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TomCross‏ @_TomCross_ 31 мин. назад

Quick video of leg 2 retraction. This process took 15 minutes. Stowing legs used to take days. @Teslarati #Falcon9Block5

Video (0:38)

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Ken Kremer‏ @ken_kremer 16 мин. назад

3rd & 4th #Falcon9 Landing legs retracted quickly at 515 & 615 pm ET. All legs UP!!! @SpaceX #CRS17 landed 1st stage . Hi res pics later

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https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starts-falcon-9-landing-leg-retraction/

SpaceX hits new Falcon 9 reusability milestone, retracts all four landing legs

SPACEX TECHNICIANS HAVE SUCCESSFULLY RETRACTED THREE OF FALCON 9 B1056'S FOUR LANDING LEGS, A FIRST FOR THE COMPANY'S BLOCK 5 UPGRADE. (TOM CROSS)

By Eric Ralph
Posted on May 7, 2019

SpaceX appears to have sel ected Falcon 9 B1056 to become the first booster to have all four landing legs retracted and stowed. While relatively minor in the scope full Falcon 9 booster reuse, in-situ leg retraction could save SpaceX days of recovery and preflight work, a big help for truly rapid reusability.

A handful of prior retraction attempts have been made on Block 5 boosters but unknown issues prevented the process fr om taking hold. With some modifications to the legs and their deployment/retraction mechanisms, SpaceX seems to have solved those issues and is ready to graduate to a new level of rapid and easy rocket reusability. Teslarati photographer Tom Cross was on site in Port Canaveral, Florida when SpaceX began its first operational leg retractions and was able to capture photos and videos of the process.

TomCross@_TomCross_ · 15h

After SpaceX engineers retracted and locked 1 leg, they immediately moved over to leg 2.

It took just 15 minutes for them to lift and lock leg 2!

Here's a closeup look at the locking mechanism, it has cables attached. Can't see the mechanism on leg 1. @Teslarati #Falcon9block5


 Elon Musk✔@elonmusk 11:05 PM PDT - May 7, 2019

One of the biggest reusability improvements was fast leg stow. Version 1 sometimes took days.

FALCON 9 DOESN'T EVEN LIFT

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The crux of the need for a relatively complex crane-and-jig method of leg retraction rests on SpaceX's landing leg design. Put simply, after rapidly deploying with a combination of gravity and hydraulics, Falcon 9 landing legs have no built-in way to return to their stowed state. Each of the four legs are quite large, weighing around 600 kg (1300 lb) and stretching about 10m (33 ft) from hinge to tip. They use an intricate telescoping carbon fiber deployment mechanism to give the legs enough strength to stand up to the forces of Falcon 9 booster landings.

Combined, the legs' size and telescoping mechanism makes the addition of an onboard retraction mechanism impractical. All the needed hardware would struggle to find a good place for installation and would quite literally be dead weight during launches and landings, stealing from Falcon 9/Heavy payload capacity and generally serving no purpose until a booster has been lifted off the ground with a giant crane.


SpaceX's custom Falcon landing leg retractor doubles as a crane jig used to lift the entire booster when needed. (Tom Cross)

As a result, SpaceX engineers instead decided to separate leg retraction hardware from the rocket itself and designed a custom crane jig. Pictured above, the jig attaches to Falcon 9's interstage and allows the crane operator to lift the entire booster as needed. It also features four independent motors and pulleys that are meant to attach to a specific port on the outside of each booster landing leg. The jig then lefts the landing legs up, nominally retracting the telescoping deployment mechanism, at which point latches should be able to safely secure the legs to the booster's body.

This has been significantly more difficult than expected, judging fr om a number of retraction attempts over the past six or so months. Falcon 9 Block 5 debuted in May 2018 – in fact, almost exactly one year ago – and SpaceX has since built 11 boosters that have supported 15 launches. SpaceX has thus taken ~12 months to get to a point wh ere Falcon 9's landing legs can be safely retracted, perhaps owing more to the fact that said legs are of minimal monetary value relative to the rest of a recovered booster. Improving leg retractibility is a bit of a luxury in that sense, as retracting legs offers little value proposition in terms of significantly lowering the cost of launch or reuse.


SpaceX technicians monitor Falcon 9 B1056 a second landing leg begins retraction. (Tom Cross)


A few hours later, SpaceX completed retraction of all four landing legs, a first for Falcon 9. (Tom Cross)

What leg retraction does do, however, is shave a significant amount of time off of the process of booster recovery and post-recovery processing. Instead of the normal process of totally dismantling and removing the legs piece by piece, stowing Falcon 9's legs saves not only the time it takes to remove them but also the time it then takes to reinstall said legs for the next launch. At a minimum, this could save 12-24 hours of dedicated work, up to as much as several days according to CEO Elon Musk. Taken to the extreme, it's likely that SpaceX's ultimate goal is to lift a booster off the drone ship, retract its landing legs mid-air (or close), flip the booster horizontal, and lower it onto a transporter in one fluid movement.

If SpaceX can arrive at something approximating that in the near future, the company will be well on its way accomplish Musk's goal of launching the same Falcon 9 booster twice in ~24 hours. Even further down the road, if or when SpaceX manages to optimize the reusability of its Falcon 9 boosters to the extent that almost zero refurbishment or in-depth inspection is needed between launches, minimizing the amount of human effort that goes into something as basic as preparing landing legs may actually have a significant impact on launch costs. For the time being, we get to enjoy the new and unusual spectacle of a giant reusable booster carefully stowing its landing legs for another launch attempt.

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2019/05/07/iss-daily-summary-report-5072019/

ISS Daily Summary Report – 5/07/2019
...
JAXA Mouse Mission:
The crew transferred the mice from SpX-17 to the ISS and completed related activities to begin the experiment. Six mice were transferred to the 1G area of the CBEF and six mice were transferred to the 0G part of the CBEF (Cell Biology Experiment Facility). The Mouse Mission analyzes alterations of the gene expression patterns in several organs and the effects on the germ-cell development of mice exposed to a long-term (e.g. more than 30 days) space environment. Data collected could suggest not only experimental information about mice in the space environment, but also fundamental information about humans exposed to a prolonged space environment.
...
Dragon Cargo Transfer Status:
Following SpX-17 arrival yesterday, the crew started transferring cargo and completed ~7.5 hours of operations. Today the crew removed the Center Stack, then retrieved and unpacked the Dragon Cargo Transfer Bags (CTB) and Double Coldbags (DCB).

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Ken Kremer‏ @ken_kremer 5 мин. назад

BOOSTER DOWN! There are 4 legs attached! Today marks 1st instance 4 retracted legs stay attached #SpaceX #Falcon9 4 tilting/transport back to Cape. Marks significant advance 2 cutting booster recycling time.But 24h landing 2 launch turnaround still ways off.3 days in port so far

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Animation of Dextre unloading and reloading Dragon's trunk

Canadian Space Agency

Опубликовано: 7 мая 2019 г.

2019-05-07 - Flight controllers on the ground use Canadian space robot Dextre to unload and reload the unpressurized trunk of the Dragon cargo vehicle.

This animation shows Dextre handling the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, Space Test Program-Houston 6, and Cloud-Aerosol Transport System payloads. (Credit: Canadian Space Agency)

(1:00)

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 6 мин. назад

FEATURE ARTICLE:
Cancer treatment investigation among science delivered by SpaceX Dragon to Station -

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019/05/cancer-treatment-science-delivered-dragon-station/ ...

- By Chris Gebhardt (@ChrisG_NSF)

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Ken Kremer‏ @ken_kremer 12 мин. назад

Wide view: 1st ever #SpaceX #Falcon9 booster + 4 fully retracted landing legs lowered horizontal @PortCanaveral from @Explorationtwr . @SpaceX #CRS17 @NASA recovered 1st stage - 3 days after sailing into port




SpaceXFleet Updates‏ @SpaceXFleet 2 мин. назад

This wide shot really gives an impressive sense of how extensive SpaceX's operations are within @PortCanaveral


7 мин. назад

They occupy 2/3 of North Cargo Pier 6, which is the longest single pier in the Port at ~550m

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2019/05/08/iss-daily-summary-report-5082019/

ISS Daily Summary Report – 5/08/2019

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations:
Yesterday evening, the MSS was configured for SpX-17 Dragon cargo operations. The Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) was powered up and the Mobile Transporter (MT) translated fr om Worksite (WS) 3 to WS6. The SSRMS released from Dragon and maneuvered to and grappled the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM). The SPDM was maneuvered to the Dragon trunk wh ere a trunk survey was performed with no issues noted. After the survey, the SSRMS was maneuvered to a park position. Dragon external cargo operations will commence Thursday evening.

On-Board Training (OBT) Dragon Capture Debrief:
FE-2, FE-5, FE-6 and ground teams completed a debrief covering Monday's Dragon capture and berthing.

Dragon Cargo Transfer Status:
Currently the crew has completed 18 hours, 45 minutes of cargo transfer. Approximately 8.5 hours of transfer remain to be performed.

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2019/05/09/crew-relaxes-as-two-robotic-arms-prepare-for-payload-handoffs/

Crew Relaxes as Two Robotic Arms Prepare for Payload Handoffs

Mark Garcia
Posted May 9, 2019 at 8:00 am
...
Two new experiments are ready for robotic extraction from the SpaceX Dragon and installation on the International Space Station starting Thursday night and into the weekend. An older experiment will be removed from the station and placed back in Dragon.

The remotely controlled Canadarm2 robotic arm will first extract the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) from Dragon's trunk. Japan's robotic arm will then take hold of the OCO-3 and install the global carbon detection device on Kibo's external pallet. The Canadarm2 will then extract and install the Space Test Program-Houston 6 hardware for space physics research on the station's truss structure.

Finally, the Japanese robotic arm will hand off the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) to the Canadarm2 for installation in Dragon's trunk. CATS will burn up over Earth's atmosphere when Dragon's trunk separates during its reentry at the end of May. A SpaceX Dragon resupply ship delivered CATS in January of 2015 for robotic installation outside Kibo. CATS successfully demonstrated low cost atmospheric monitoring techniques from the station.

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Christina H Koch‏Подлинная учетная запись @Astro_Christina 7 мая

Let the cargo ops begin! When new vehicles arrive at @Space_Station, we get to work stowing the new gear. For every high-tech laboratory facility, there's a storage area of equipment & supplies to support it. Constant turnover with upgrades & the latest state of the art science!

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2019/05/09/iss-daily-summary-report-5092019/

ISS Daily Summary Report – 5/09/2019

Dragon Cargo Transfer Status:
The crew has completed approximately 25.5 hours of cargo transfer. Approximately 2 hours of transfer remain to be performed.

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2019/05/10/human-research-as-canadian-japanese-robot-arms-swap-experiments/

Posted May 10, 2019 at 10:08
...
In addition, a pair of Canadian and Japanese robotic arms on the station are coordinating to swap external payloads over the weekend. Two Earth and space research facilities inside the SpaceX Dragon's trunk are being removed for installation on the station. An older atmospheric experiment that has completed its mission will be placed back in Dragon's trunk.

The Canadarm2 robotic arm removed the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) from the Dragon's unpressurized trunk. It handed off the OCO-3, a global carbon detection device, to Japan's smaller robotic arm for installation on the Kibo lab module's external pallet. Next, the Canadarm2 will extract and install the Space Test Program-Houston 6 hardware for space physics research on the station's truss structure.

Finally, Japan's robotic arm attached to Kibo will hand off the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) to the Canadarm2 for installation in Dragon's trunk. Before Dragon splashes down in the Pacific at the end of May, its trunk with CATS inside will separate during reentry and burn up over Earth's atmosphere.

A SpaceX Dragon resupply ship delivered CATS in January of 2015 for robotic installation on Kibo's external pallet. CATS successfully demonstrated low cost atmospheric monitoring techniques from the station.

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Space to Ground: Reservations for Seven: 05/10/2019

NASA Johnson

Опубликовано: 10 мая 2019 г.

(2:26)

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NASA Earth‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASAEarth 1 ч. назад

An international handshake in space! This morning Canadarm2 unloaded @NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 handing it off to the Kibo robotic arm which placed #OCO3 among a fleet of Earth observation instruments in the Japanese Experiment Module aboard the @Space_Station.

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/oco-3-ready-to-extend-nasas-study-of-carbon

May 9, 2019

NASA's OCO-3 was removed from the Dragon spacecraft and robotically installed on the exterior of the space station's Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility as of approximately 9 p.m. PDT on May 9 (12 a.m. EDT on May 10).

07:00 ДМВ 10.05.2019

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Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 1 ч. назад

Since NASA reports OCO-3 now on the Kibo Exposed Facility, looks like this is probably the second Dragon trunk payload, STP-H6, being transferred

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Berth of a Dragon [ Timelapse ]

Seán Doran

Опубликовано: 10 мая 2019 г.

NASA / ESRSU / Seán Doran

'The Second Waltz' by Dmitri Shostakovich

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Ken Kremer‏ @ken_kremer 11 ч. назад

"Photos: Recovered @SpaceX Falcon 9 with 1st Fully Retracted Landing Legs Transported to Cape, Achieving Recycling Milestone" #SpaceX #Falcon9 #CRS17 #CargoDragon #RocketRecycling #OCISLY #NASA #ISS @Space_Station #CCAFS. Story/photos: @ken_kremer https://kenkremer.blogspot.com/2019/05/photos-recovered-spacex-falcon-9-with.html ...

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2019/05/10/iss-daily-summary-report-5102019/

ISS Daily Summary Report – 5/10/2019

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-3:
Last night Robotics Ground Controllers powered up the Mobile Servicing System (MSS) and maneuvered the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) to extract OCO-3 from the Dragon trunk. The MSS then handed off OCO-3 to the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Remote Manipulator System (RMS) which was used to install OCO-3 on the JEM Exposed Facility (JEM-EF). The payload was subsequently activated successfully. ...