Posted on 09/29/2013 7:58:40 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Spacex is really trying to land on land though, this is more of just taking advantage of the opportunity. They may not want to spend the time getting the radar smart enough to average out the waves.
Canada Ping!
Looks like all satellites deployed successfully.
Great job SpaceX.
Next launch is scheduled sometime in October. Date to be determined at this time.
They also plan a launch in November plus one at the very end of December or the beginning of January.
Can’t wait to see the Falcon Heavy launch in 2014 with the price for sending up a payload will be under $1000/lb.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Heavy
http://www.spacex.com/falcon-heavy
http://www.spacex.com/missions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_launches
I’m sure the video will be posted in a day or two.
Yes, it was a test. If it is successful they’ll tow it back and inspect it. I don’t know if they’ll re-use it or not.
When in fact the ocean is rising at only 0.5mm per year.
SpaceX programmed the Falcon 9's first stage to fire its engines two more times after separating from the Falcon 9 upper stage about three minutes after liftoff. The first burn went well, placing the empty rocket stage on a trajectory back into the atmosphere. Musk said mission control received data from the rocket throughout re-entry, but a second engine restart put the rocket into a spin, causing its engine to prematurely cut off. The stage crash into the Pacific Ocean a few hundred miles south of Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Going into the flight, Musk put low odds on a successful retrieval of the first stage intact on Sunday's launch. He told reporters a few minutes ago that recovery crews picked up parts of the Falcon 9's interstage, engine section and composite overwrapped pressure vessels.
After releasing the mission's satellite payloads, the Falcon 9's second stage Merlin 1D engine was supposed to reignite to test its ability to restart in space. But the engine detected a problem during the restart and aborted the burn.
Musk said SpaceX engineers believe they understand the problem and it could be fixed in time for the Falcon 9's next launch with the SES 8 communications satellite from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The SES 8 mission requires two upper stage burns to put the spacecraft into an oval-shaped geostationary transfer orbit.
From: Mission Status Center
It would be fun to name a competing company SpaceY.
I would try and put a parachute or a ballute on the top of the first stage booster and deploy it after it is well inside the atmosphere. Make sure it is large enough that the booster keeps a vertical orientation on descent.
Once it gets low enough to fire the engines cut the lanyard to the parachute or ballute and have the booster land.
Buy the hardware & software from Aerospatiale for the HH-65.
Space-X is from Venus and Space-Y is from . . .
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