Earlier quoted context omitted.
SpaceX is still the only company to land a real first-stage booster, and the Falcon Heavy was the largest rocket (in terms of payload capacity) to fly since the Saturn V.
false! The energia and the N-1 flow before and they was more powerful that the Falcon Heavy.
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy center booster lacked ignition fluid to re-light engines
131–140 of 185 posts
Re: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy center booster lacked ignition fluid to re-light engines
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
The current version of the rocket is called "block 5". Those two boosters weren't block 5 boosters. Presumably the reason to spend resources to get them to safe landing was to learn things that will be useful in future launches; for example, those two boosters had enough ignition fluid to land successfully this time, but the main first stage did not.
That make sense. In that case, wouldn't these boosters be useful in future Falcon Heavy launches? Why can't they be resued?
Re: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy center booster lacked ignition fluid to re-light engines
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
The current version of the rocket is called "block 5". Those two boosters weren't block 5 boosters. Presumably the reason to spend resources to get them to safe landing was to learn things that will be useful in future launches; for example, those two boosters had enough ignition fluid to land successfully this time, but the main first stage did not.
That make sense. In that case, wouldn't these boosters be useful in future Falcon Heavy launches? Why can't they be resued?
Re: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy center booster lacked ignition fluid to re-light engines
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
They also had to use TEB to re-light after an unstart [1]. I think 15 is abount right but it seems like a very small margin to deal with considering how common unstarts were. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unstart
I've read about unstarts before and never got the impression that the engine in question stopped. It was the shockwave configuration at the inlet that had to be "restarted"?
Regardless, this was the cause of the violent yaw/roll action associated with an unstart (loss of thrust). When the intake was reconfigured the afterburner had to be re-lit and in a J58 this requires TEB. So while TEB was not used to correct the unstart it still had to be used after an unstart.
Re: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy center booster lacked ignition fluid to re-light engines
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
They also had to use TEB to re-light after an unstart [1]. I think 15 is abount right but it seems like a very small margin to deal with considering how common unstarts were. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unstart
Once they learned about that they worked around unstarts with software to control the engine spikes to keep the shockwave inside.
Re: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy center booster lacked ignition fluid to re-light engines
#136Has anyone seen any updates on how their fairing recovery attempt went? They had the ship done and seemingly ready back in December - https://imgur.com/gallery/MQcEE
Isn't the fairing just a simple pair of metal casings. Why bother to recover it?
Re: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy center booster lacked ignition fluid to re-light engines
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
SpaceX is still the only company to land a real first-stage booster, and the Falcon Heavy was the largest rocket (in terms of payload capacity) to fly since the Saturn V.
false! The energia and the N-1 flow before and they was more powerful that the Falcon Heavy.
Re: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy center booster lacked ignition fluid to re-light engines
#138Re: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy center booster lacked ignition fluid to re-light engines
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't the fairing just a simple pair of metal casings. Why bother to recover it?
Wonder why they dont just leave them in space, could make a good chassis or building block for building bigger space stations