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View Full Version : Space X Launch today 4:00pm PST



jmblazek
03-20-2007, 07:06 PM
After a scrub yesterday at T-00:01:02, they are going to attempt again today...March 20, 2007, 4:00pm PST (2300 GMT). While it was disappointing to sit there for 20 mins yesterday while they attempted to figure out what stopped it at 1 minute 2 secs, I'm looking forward to today's attempt.

It was also delayed yesterday for 45 minutes so be prepared for deviations but hope for the best!

You can watch the launch via webcast here: http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php It will start at T-01:00:00 (3:00pm PST; 2200GMT).

This is a launch of a Falcon 1 (http://www.spacex.com/falcon1.php), a precursor to Falcon 9 (http://www.spacex.com/falcon9.php) which will be able to transport humans into space.

Space X is the dreamchild of Elon Musk, founder of PayPal and the Zip2 Corporation. My favorite quote from him is this, "If you need to back up your data, then backing up the biosphere is important too." Turning humanity into a multiplanetary species is an achievement Musk thinks may be crucial to humankind's survival.

If he can’t save the Earth, perhaps he’ll move to Mars? SpaceX could one day make it practical to establish independent permanent settlements on Mars. Musk believes electric vehicles are key to combating the rise in greenhouse gases and protecting the environment. from Wired Science.

A very interesting interview (22:49) with Elon can be seen here at Wired Science: http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/player-conv-elon.html

Space X wishes to "re-ignite humanity's efforts to explore and develop Space."

I find anything about space interesting...astronomy, space flight, astrophysics, etc. I also find the idea of "backing up" humanity intriguing.

The reason for their scrub yesterday:

Posted March 20, 2007

The abort that occurred a few minutes before T-0 was triggered by our ground control software. It commanded a switchover of range telemetry from landline to radio, which took place correctly, however, because of the hardware involved, this transition takes a few hundred milliseconds. Before it had time to complete, our system verification software examined state and aborted.

Our simulations done beforehand all passed, because the simulator did not account for a hardware driven delay in the transition. We considered putting the vehicle into a safe state yesterday and updating the ground control software to make the very minor fix needed, but the safer course of action was to stand down.

Yesterday afternoon and evening (Kwaj time), our launch team updated the software to address the timing issue and verified that there were no similar problems elsewhere. We ran the software through several simulated countdowns and then once again with the rocket and range in the loop.

All systems are now go for launch with T-0 at 4pm California time today (Tues).

--Elon--

Strongbow
03-20-2007, 10:21 PM
Give it a couple of years and all these ships will be on ebay!

Can't wait for the time when DHL put a note through the door saying that we weren't in so they left a very large parcel round the side of the house :icon_lol:

Ototero
03-22-2007, 12:40 PM
Very interesting. I love all things astra*.

Question 1: Who was the first man in space? The answer is NOT Yuri.
Question 2: What was the first word uttered on the radio from the moon?

mitchellds
03-22-2007, 12:48 PM
1) Joe Kittenger.

2) “Contact light! OK; engine stop. Ay-see-ay out of detent. Mode control both auto. Descent engine command override off. Engine arm off. Four-thirteen is ‘IN’ ... ”

Steve Lux
03-22-2007, 01:46 PM
My early and more formative years were during the space race - before we were distracted in Vietnam. I've since felt cheated that mankind hasn't continued to persue the prospect of humanity in space with any real national or international vigor.

jmblazek
03-22-2007, 03:41 PM
The launch was a 95% success. You can read the writeup here:

http://www.spacex.com/updates.php

The video of the launch can be found here:

http://www.spacex.com/video_gallery.php

They have two more launches of their Falcon 1 rocket before the test their Falcon 9 Q2 2008.

Q3 2007 OSD/NRL Falcon 1 Kwajalein
Q4 2007 ATSB (Malaysia) Falcon 1 Kwajalein
Q2 2008 US Government Q2 2008 Falcon 9 Cape/Kwajalein
Q2 2008 MDA Corp (Canada) Falcon 9 Cape/Kwajalein
Q3 2008 NASA – Demo 1 Falcon 9 Cape/Kwajalein

Also, here's another venture that's different but seems interesting, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Pictures and videos of the November 13, 2006, launch can be found here:

http://public.blueorigin.com/index.html

Steve Lux
03-22-2007, 04:19 PM
Watching the video (instant gratification) and then reading the report you can see the control issue they had at space elevations. That should be a fairly simple software fix. Likely the propulsion steering system no longer needs to compensate for atmospheric effect, when there is no atmosphere to compensate for. You could tell it was trying "steering" too hard, and then compensating - repeatedly.

jmblazek
03-22-2007, 05:00 PM
I liked how Elon explained everything. They do their best to be as transparent as possible.

What I found most amazing was how they scrubbed the day before, had an ignition and failure on the second day, emptied the fuel and reloaded, and had a successful launch within the next hour.

It was obvious at the end of the video to see the "compensation" of the second stage. As Elon said, "...it is impossible to ground test the second stage under the same conditions..." I hope it is a simple fix.

I'm also curious as to why the first stage, when jettisoned, hit the second stage engine. It didn't look like something that should have happened. However, it didn't seem to affect anything.

Also, they need to clean up their communication a bit. During the ignition and failure, you could hear a few explectives in the background. :icon_lol: I don't think we'll be hearing that version of the launch. :) Talk about transparency. I enjoyed it...but my kids were watching it along with me. :(

Additionally, their video was rudimentary...it would be nice if they showed more than two angles. I guess all in good time.

Overall it was fun to follow, listen, and learn. I have a good feeling that we'll be hearing a lot more about these guys in the future.

Steve Lux
03-22-2007, 09:10 PM
It's not like they have a few extra hundred billion $$ laying around and the ability to practice hundreds of times. We can expect some rougher edges in the presentation. Myself, I'm just glad someone is trying trying to get out of mankind's cradle.