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SpaceX Successfully Tests Nine-Engine Cluster
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:08 AM
from the what-did-you-do-this-weekend dept.
from the what-did-you-do-this-weekend dept.
the_other_chewey writes "At their test facility in Texas, SpaceX, the privately funded space-flight company, have successfully tested their nine-engine cluster which is planned to provide the heavy lifting capability for their Falcon 9 and Falcon 9 Heavy rockets.
The firing lasted three minutes (a full 'mission duty cycle,' i.e. a simulated launch) under full power, delivering 3.8MN (or 855,000 lbs.) of thrust. SpaceX have made a video of the test available. The Waco Tribune has a short report about it, with comments by locals."
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SpaceX Conducts Full Thrust Firing of Falcon 9 79 comments
Toren Altair sends us this excerpt:
"Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) conducted the first nine engine firing of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle at its Texas Test Facility outside McGregor on July 31st. A second firing on August 1st completed a major NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) milestone almost two months early. At full power, the nine engines consumed 3,200 lbs of fuel and liquid oxygen per second, and generated almost 850,000 pounds of force — four times the maximum thrust of a 747 aircraft. This marks the first firing of a Falcon 9 first stage with its full complement of nine Merlin 1C engines. Once a near term Merlin 1C fuel pump upgrade is complete, the sea level thrust will increase to 950,000 lbf, making Falcon 9 the most powerful single core vehicle in the United States. The Falcon 9 will launch SpaceX's spaceship Dragon with up to 7 humans from 2009 on."
We discussed SpaceX when it won the NASA competition to provide low cost commercial transport to the ISS, and also when it launched an earlier design. Basic specs for Falcon 9 are available, as well as a more technical paper (PDF).
[+]
SpaceX Launch Fails To Reach Space 263 comments
azuredrake and many other readers have written to tell us:
"The New York Times reports that the third SpaceX launch has failed following the second-stage ignition of the Falcon 1 rocket. The SpaceX launch had three satellites on board, all of which were presumably destroyed in the incident. This marks the third failed launch for SpaceX — twice they failed to reach orbit, and once the Falcon 1 rocket was lost five minutes after launch. While the company vows to carry on, this certainly raises some questions about the likelihood of successful privatization of the Space industry."
Reader Nano2Sol points out a video of the launch from a camera on Falcon 1, and notes a small oscillation just prior to the footage being cut off. Spaceflight Now ran a mission update blog leading up to the failure, and they also have more coverage on the loss of the rocket.
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SpaceX Launch Failure Due To Timing Problem 244 comments
FleaPlus writes "Private orbital spaceflight company SpaceX recently announced that last weekend's Falcon 1 rocket launch failure was caused by a collision between the first and second stage of their rocket. This was due to a timing problem, when their brand-new engine design produced residual thrust for 1.5 seconds longer than expected; they're currently working to fix the problem and launch again, perhaps as early as next month. In a recent interview with Wired, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk remarked on their efforts: "Optimism, pessimism, f-ck that; we're going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work.""
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SpaceX Gets Operational License For Cape Canaveral 133 comments
FiggyOO writes "For those of you who witnessed the launch of SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket, launch 3, you will be glad to hear that SpaceX has received a license to launch from space complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the Florida coast. This Launch complex is just south of launch pads 39A and 39B which have been used to launch the space shuttles, and will continue in that role for a few more years. This launch complex will enable SpaceX to launch the much-anticipated Falcon 9 rocket, which will eventually carry the Dragon capsule. In doing so, SpaceX hopes to fill the void between the end of the shuttle program and the coming of the Constellation. They have already begun moving into the launch complex, including moving a 125,000 gallon liquid oxygen tank on the back of a semi." We've been following Elon Musk's SpaceX for years.
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On Fourth Launch Attempt, SpaceX Falcon 1 Reaches Orbit 518 comments
xp65 writes with the just-announced success of Elon Musk's SpaceX's long efforts to reach orbit with a privately-developed launching craft: "T+0:08:21 Falcon 1 reached orbital velocity, 5200 m/s Nominal Second stage cut off (SECO) — Falcon 1 has made history as the first privately developed liquid fueled launch vehicle to achieve earth orbit!"
dbullard adds "This was a completely new vehicle — it's not using any previously developed hardware. All developed from scratch. No government supplied hardware, Russian engines, or old ICBM motors. My hat's off to the employees of Space X — all 550 of them. (Note — no 'cast of thousands,' just 550).
They've got video of the entire launch."
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I must be tired... (Score:5, Funny)
I read, "The Waco Tribune has short report about it, with comments by lolcats."
I need either more sleep or less internet.
Re:I must be tired... (Score:5, Funny)
"Im in ur spaceship... freein' ur spidrs"
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Re:I must be tired... (Score:5, Funny)
I can has orbital trajectory?
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Originally it had ten engines. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Originally it had ten engines. (Score:4, Funny)
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Nine engine cluster? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm surprised they didn't name the rocket the Beowulf 9.
Uninformative video (Score:4, Interesting)
The great big plume of fire and smoke is impressive, but I would have preferred a pre-ignition closeup of the engine cluster.
Congrats SpaceX (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Congrats SpaceX (Score:5, Informative)
Without the additional COTS-D money to start development on these systems, SpaceX will not carry people until they find the money from other sources to fund these development efforts.
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
This test was the last major step before shipping it to the cape, so it seems the schedule on the website with delivery scheduled by Q408 is accurate. As far as when it launches... my WAG is by summer. From what I can tell getting it to the cape is largely a move to show the new administration "hey, remember us and COTS", so there may be a bit more work that has to be done on it.
Here's hoping the lessons from F1 carry over and there aren't new issues to discover.
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SpaceX pwns Slashdot - there is cultural convergence involved since Elon founded PayPal and is young and geeky. On top of that he is the furthest along in fielding crew-capable private orbital spacelift. Much further than Virgin/Scaled, BlueOrigin or others. In some ways, SpaceX is further toward native crew-launch than Lockheed, Boeing or United Space Alliance (Post-Shuttle) - mostly because Dragon and Falcon 9 are coming along much faster than Orion/Constellation on much, much less money.
There is a certai
Saved on gas (Score:3, Funny)
And... (Score:5, Funny)
Biped Puppets Successfully Complete Engine Test. The Grand Plan Still On Schedule.
O.o (Score:5, Funny)
the privately funded space-flight company, have successfully tested their nine-engine cluster
But can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of these? If only global _cooling_ was our problem..
Cool! Go Science! (Score:3, Insightful)
Frightening the cattle (Score:5, Interesting)
The old Rocketdyne [wikipedia.org] engine test center was located a few miles outside my home town many, many years ago. The old timers said that the noise was ungodly when they tested their engines. Among the many things they would complain about in this rural area, was that the cows would become so upset, they wouldn't give milk.
When I was a college student back in the early 80's my friends and I used to love to take my jeep out to explore the "ruins" of the old test center. Most impressive were the deflectors (don't know what else to call them) that shunted the rocket blast 90 degrees to vertical. They were enormous. I have no doubt that the locals weren't exaggerating too much when they described the noise and vibration from the engine tests.
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Dude, you were in Chatsworth? I lived in Chatsworth for 12 years -- now in West Hills.
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The best comment from TFA (Score:5, Funny)
SpaceX Responds to Frightened Texans (Score:5, Informative)
Mighty Putty (Score:4, Funny)
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and cleaned up after with ShamWOW!
Re:FP (Score:5, Funny)
As you can see, it's bolted to the launchpad, which is in return bolted to earth.
They actually tried to move earth into a higher orbit to cure global warming, to it makes sense the rocket didn't seem to be moving relative to earth, but earth did together with the rocket.
Why you ask? To avoid planet Nibiru ofcourse.
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Re:FP (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:FP (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not a physicist, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that it has something to do with those heavy steel/concrete ties seen in the video. If you can provide more than 35 meganewtons of restraint, the rocket isn't going to go anywhere.
(Not to say that such logic is bleeding obvious. /sarcasm)
Now for a real bit of discussion: Does anyone know how tall that test stand is. The thing appears to be HUGE! To the left of the stand you can see what appears to be power lines. An off-the-cuff approximation would suggest that the stand is 6 times taller than the lines. If we take a wild guess at the height of the lines (say, 15 feet?), we can guesstimate that the stand could easily be 90 feet or more in height!
That's impressive for a company who's only launch to date was an oversize firecracker in comparison to the rockets flown by their competitors. I honestly hope that what they learned with the Falcon 1 speeds development of the Falcon 9. A price war in the rocket industry would be awesome for long-term space access.
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Re:FP (Score:4, Informative)
Does anyone know how tall that test stand is.
The Falcon 9 first stage on top of the stand is about 25 m high (I've assumed it's half the total height of the Falcon 9). The stand appears a bit over 2x as high as that first stage, so 60 m/180 ft would be my initial guess.
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The Falcon 9 is 54.9 meters tall. The first stage is a bit more than half that height, so call it 30 meters.
Re:FP (Score:4, Informative)
The website says the top of the BFTS ("Big Falcon Test Stand") is 235 feet high. Presumably this includes the blue "Stairway to Heaven" running up the side of the first stage, so I'd say the concrete stand is probably about 150 feet... having been up to the top I must say it's impressive, and a little scary. Fortunately theres an elevator up to the concrete platform, but only too steep stairs up to the top from there.
Also, while I love the company, I woudl say that they did just buy the site, including the test stand from another company that I can't remember the name of off the top of my head.
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Re:FP (Score:4, Interesting)
The website says the top of the BFTS ("Big Falcon Test Stand") is 235 feet high. ... Also, while I love the company, I woudl say that they did just buy the site, including the test stand from another company that I can't remember the name of off the top of my head.
The test stand originally belonged to Beal Aerospace [wikipedia.org] a private spaceflight startup which went defunct back in the dot-com days.
One thing that's pretty cool is that SpaceX is also developing a rocket (the "BFR") that will be too big for the BFTS. Also, I think one can assume from the names that Elon Musk is probably a Doom fan.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/497/1 [thespacereview.com]
The development of Merlin 2 begs the question: what is SpaceX planning that requires such a powerful engine? In past talks Musk has hinted at the development of something called the "BFR" (where B stands for "big" and R for "rocket"), a heavy-lift vehicle far larger than the Falcon family of vehicles. At SpaceVision2005 Musk disclosed that the BFR, in its current iteration, would use "multiple" Merlin 2 engines. The BFR would be able to place 100 tons in low Earth orbit, putting it in competition with NASA's planned shuttle-derived heavy-lift launcher. The BFR is so big, Musk said, that it's too large for the BFTS at their Texas test site: even if they beefed up the stand, he said, the overpressure from the engine tests would break windows in a nearby town. Musk said they would have to test the vehicle either at the launch site or, perhaps, at NASAâ(TM)s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
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Re:FP (Score:5, Informative)
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
If I may ask a tangential question, how do you like working for SpaceX out at the test facility? I've been considering applying for one of the test engineer positions out there. Really, the main thing keeping me from doing so is the fact that it's way out in Texas (not because of the usual Texas cliches, but just because I like the Pacific NW too much). Anyway, how are the hours? Any major gripes? What sort of work do you do and what kind of background did you come from?
Thanks and
Re:FP (Score:5, Informative)
For comparison, the main cables in the George Washington suspension bridge in New York each carry ~260,000,000lbf [jhu.edu], and are designed to resist almost 3 times that load. While the amount of thrust developed by the Falcon 9 is seriously impressive for a lift vehicle, it is trivial from a ground-based engineering standpoint.
There is a reason structural engineers work in kips not pounds (1 kip = 1000lb), and yes IAASE.
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Re:FP (Score:5, Informative)
Awesome, simply awesome. Glad to see they passed the test, or at least didn't blow up. Hope they got some good test data. Ideally they were giving it some control feedback to make sure the gimbals etc that aim the rocket were all responding correctly, performing their orbital roll etc. Getting the most bang for the buck (without the bang!) since I'm sure this test cost a not-so-small fortune considering the fuel used.
As for the "why didn't it take off" question, it was pretty firmly fitted to the ground. Despite it's size and total impulse capacity, that's over a 3 minute span. It's not designed to lift more than itself and its payload, at a marginal acceleration. The thrust output is variable also, and can't be allowed to crush the payload with G-forces. Despite its massive size, it wasn't going to be going anywhere.
I'd be interested to know the power curve on the rocket. Most of the fuel is actually spent lifting the FUEL. From one viewpoint, the engine could be constant-thrust, and would accelerate slowly at first, and increase its acceleration as it consumed fuel and became lighter with the same thrust. Or it could back off the thrust as it got lighter, to prevent the g-forces from acceleration from becoming too great for the vehicle or its payload. I'm sure the power-to-weight-ratio could get really high as it nears the end of its firing if it were left at maximum thrust. Anyone happen to know the power curve or acceleration curve on ascent? I thought I read somewhere they try to keep the g-forces under 8g, and not for too long of a period of time, at least for crew.
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Re:FP (Score:4, Funny)
Glad to see they passed the test, or at least didn't blow up.
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. What? Look, somebody's got to have some damn perspective around here. Boom, sooner or later. BOOM!"
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Re:FP (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:How long before the tree huggers complain (Score:5, Funny)
"What kind of toxins are we being exposed too!!!11!"
Yeah
"By Jermiah November 23, 2008 12:24 AM | Link to this I quite enjoyed it. Nothing like a glass a scotch a lawn chair a cigar and 1.5 million foot pounds of pressure to make someone feel alive."
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Re:How long before the tree huggers complain (Score:4, Funny)
I quite enjoyed it. Nothing like a glass a scotch a lawn chair a cigar and 1.5 million foot pounds of pressure to make someone feel alive.
Man, gotta love the smell of burning proppelant in the morning. I love this one:
Wow..Just observing the numerous misspelled words in your posts makes me realize why you idiots thought that the aliens were coming!
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Burned kerosene. If that bothers our poor environmentalist friends, then they might want to start a protest against Kerosene Lamps [wikipedia.org], portable stoves, home heating (primarily Japan, UK, and Ireland), and jet engines.
Which reminds me. Greenpeace has released a commercial [gametrailers.com] decrying the toxicity of game consoles. It "stars" Mario, Master Chief, and Kratos. Trademarks for which they obviously don't have the rights. (Evidenced by the awful voice acting.) Worse yet
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Circuit boards in general are made with toxic processes and often contain toxic chemicals in trace amounts.
I'm pretty sure the recycling of game console boards is just as bad as computers, meaning that it is a problem, but nowhere near as many game console boards are sold as PC motherboards making the issue barely worth discussing (about 70 million PCs were sold in the US in 2007, not including servers and laptops whereas just a few million game consoles were sold).
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Circuit boards in general are made with toxic processes and often contain toxic chemicals in trace amounts.
I'm pretty sure the recycling of game console boards is just as bad as computers, meaning that it is a problem, but nowhere near as many game console boards are sold as PC motherboards making the issue barely worth discussing (about 70 million PCs were sold in the US in 2007, not including servers and laptops whereas just a few million game consoles were sold).
Actually, its 1000 times worse, due to the concentration of burning parts around "recycling" centers.
Check out this 60 minutes segment from two weeks ago. It's hard to watch in places, watching 4 year old kids playing in old capacitors and lead solder.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4586903n [cbsnews.com]
Re:How long before the tree huggers complain (Score:5, Funny)
I am so angry at SpaceX! My children and I were very scared. How dare them conduct this test without letting us know! We live across from the McGregor Airport and our entire house shook and trembled. The sky was on fire. My 11-year-old son said he âoethought the sun was exploding.â I grabbed a jug of apple juice and made my kids go into my closet fearing the worse.
So, when you fear for the worse, you go into your closet with a jug of apple juice? "One apple a day keeps the doomsday away."
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Re:How long before the tree huggers complain (Score:5, Funny)
What? Your closets aren't built to withstand the force of an exploding sun? Sheesh. Such shoddy construction work on houses these days.
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Re:How long before the tree huggers complain (Score:5, Funny)
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Oggity boogity! Terrrrsts gunna git ya! Boogity boogity boo!
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Deja Vu (Score:3, Insightful)
Picking on Texans? (Score:5, Insightful)
How do you think residents would respond in your area? "The house is rattling, there's a tremendous roaring sound, I can feel reverberations through my body, and there's a bright glow on the horizon...meh, my WoW character is about to level up. I'll worry about it later." Somehow I'm guessing not.
Supposing they tested this near New York, or better yet Boston (The Mooninites are coming! The Mooninites are coming!)? There'd be hysteria in the streets. Heck, in some places you'd probably even get looting and throngs fleeing the city. The same goes for pretty much any place in the entire US, with the likely exception of Cape Canaveral, where rocket launches happen relatively frequently.
Things like this are genuinely bewildering when you don't know what's going on. About 10 years ago I saw a natural gas pipeline fire...from 50 miles away. The whole family was out on the back porch staring at the eerily pulsating glow of the reflection off the clouds trying to figure out what was going on. Until the local news reported on what was actually happening, our best guess was a forest fire, but a nuclear bombing of Portland was another speculation (we figured it unlikely, however, partially because there was no similar glow to the north, in the direction of Seattle). Coincidentally, they said the flames from that fire were as much as 200 feet high, so it was probably similar in brightness to the SpaceX test, but not nearly as loud.
A final more general comment: SpaceX has been conducting engine tests out there for several years now. In fact, their first Falcon 9 firing (1 engine at that time) on that test stand was almost a year ago, and their first nine-engine, short duration fire was three months ago. In view of this, SpaceX's statement that the sound carried much further than in the past due to the weather is probably quite accurate. It also probably didn't help that they did the test at 10:30 PM. Perhaps in the future they'll work safe stopping points into their procedure so they can delay to the next day if the test preparations take too long.
They probably also should consider putting up simple walls to reflect some of the sound upward and reduce the complaints long term. At the very least, have a facility-wide arbor day celebration and go plant lines of trees along the edge of the test site. I know our local racetrack was able to reduce neighborhood complaints (and make the treehuggers a little happier) by doing this.
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Re:Texans... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's annoying that on a site with so many smart people that moronic generalizations can be seen as insightful. You know, not everyone who voted for McCain is a racist, or is a bible thumper, or is a fear and/or war mongerer. Some places actually do better under Republican policies (small towns). I didn't vote for McCain, but I don't bash the people who do. They have the right to vote for whomever they want for whatever reason they want.
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