For friends of SpaceX in the Boulder area this week-end, Elon will be speaking at the annual Mars Society Convention this Saturday.
Place: University Memorial Center, University Of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado
Time: August 16th, 1pm.
Their website is down, so not sure how hard it is to get tickets. You can try at www.marssociety.org/portal/
If you're coming, leave a comment and let's say hi at the talk.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Elon speaking at the Mars Society Convention in Boulder
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Timing is Everything
Official report from SpaceX on the Falcon 1 Vehicle 3 launch:
On August 2 nd, Falcon 1 executed a picture perfect first stage flight, ultimately reaching an altitude of 217 km, but encountered a problem just after stage separation that prevented the second stage from reaching orbit. At this point, we are certain as to the origin of the problem. Four methods of analysis – vehicle inertial measurement, chamber pressure, onboard video and a simple physics free body calculation – all give the same answer.
The problem arose due to the longer thrust decay transient of our new Merlin 1C regeneratively cooled engine, as compared to the prior flight that used our old Merlin 1A ablatively cooled engine. Unlike the ablative engine, the regen engine had unburned fuel in the cooling channels and manifold that combined with a small amount of residual oxygen to produce a small thrust that was just enough to overcome the stage separation pusher impulse.
We were aware of and had allowed for a thrust transient, but did not expect it to last that long. As it turned out, a very small increase in the time between commanding main engine shutdown and stage separation would have been enough to save the mission.
The question then is why didn't we catch this issue? Unfortunately, the engine chamber pressure is so low for this transient thrust -- only about 10 psi -- that it barely registered on our ground test stand in Texas where ambient pressure is 14.5 psi. However, in vacuum that 10 psi chamber pressure produced enough thrust to cause the first stage to recontact the second stage.
It looks like we may have flight four on the launch pad as soon as next month. The long gap between flight two and three was mainly due to the Merlin 1C regen engine development, but there are no technology upgrades between flight three and four.
Good Things About This Flight
- Merlin 1C and overall first stage performance was excellent
- The stage separation system worked properly, in that all bolts fired and the pneumatic pushers delivered the correct impulse
- Second stage ignited and achieved nominal chamber pressure
- Fairing separated correctly
- We discovered this transient problem on Falcon 1 rather than Falcon 9
- Rocket stages were integrated, rolled out and launched in seven days
- Neither the near miss potential failures of flight two nor any new ones were present
- The only untested portion of flight is whether or not we have solved the main problem of flight two, where the control system coupled with the slosh modes of the liquid oxygen tank. Given the addition of slosh baffles and significant improvements to the control logic, I feel confident that this will not be an issue for the upcoming flight four."
Monday, August 04, 2008
Thanks for joining me this week-end
Hey everyone.
Thanks for joining me over the week-end as we watched one of the most exciting Space events of the year. It's sad that it did not make it to orbit, but that's the reality of a Space Exploration. SpaceX is going to change the way mankind reaches space. Turns out, that's not as easy as it sounds. ;)
I'll keep posting as there is new news. In the meantime, click here to use Me.dium to stay up to date on Falcon 1 and SpaceX.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
The Plan Going Forward
From Elon's message to the SpaceX employees:
"It was obviously a big disappointment not to reach orbit on this flight [Falcon 1, Flight 3]. On the plus side, the flight of our first stage, with the new Merlin 1C engine that will be used in Falcon 9, was picture perfect. Unfortunately, a problem occurred with stage separation, causing the stages to be held together. This is under investigation and I will send out a note as soon as we understand exactly what happened.
The most important message I’d like to send right now is that SpaceX will not skip a beat in execution going forward. We have flight four of Falcon 1 almost ready for flight and flight five right behind that. I have also given the go ahead to begin fabrication of flight six. Falcon 9 development will also continue unabated, taking into account the lessons learned with Falcon 1. We have made great progress this past week with the successful nine engine firing.
As a precautionary measure to guard against the possibility of flight 3 not reaching orbit, SpaceX recently accepted a significant investment. Combined with our existing cash reserves, that ensures we will have more than sufficient funding on hand to continue launching Falcon 1 and develop Falcon 9 and Dragon. There should be absolutely zero question that SpaceX will prevail in reaching orbit and demonstrating reliable space transport. For my part, I will never give up and I mean never.
Thanks for your hard work and now on to flight four.
--Elon--"
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Update: Initial post-launch analysis
It has been a tough day. Falcon 1 Vehicle 3 did not reach orbit today.
A problem occurred with stage separation, causing the stages to hold together. On the plus side, the new Merlin 1C engine in the first stage performed flawlessly. This engine will be used on Falcon 9, the SpaceX rocket that will take cargo to the International Space Station.
Falcon 1 Vehicle 4 is almost ready for flight and Vehicle 5 is right behind it. I'll post expected launch dates as I have them.
Onward and upward!
Anomoly in launch
Waiting for more information.
We have two more Falcon 1's right behind this one, no matter what happened.
Abort analysis
No biggie: 0.5 psi off on turbopump purge pressure. Adjustments are being made. Countdown should resume soon.
(we have about 40min left in the launch window)
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