Falcon 9 v1.1 flight #1 (Launch video)

[Dr Mordrid]

The first non-qualification Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage left SpaceX's Hawthorn, California plant for the McGregor, Texas test facility today.

A set of (very loud) first stage test burns can't be too far behind

The F9 v1.1's maiden flight is set for ~June 18, 2013 from SpaceX's new SLC-4E facility at Vandenberg AFB in California. The payload will be a satellite for Canada's CASSIOPE mission. CASSIOPE will be placed in an elliptical polar orbit.

CASSIOPE info: http://mertensiana.phys.ucalgary.ca/cassiope.html

After the first stage separates it will turn about and attempt to perform a powered descent to a soft water landing in the Pacific off Vandenberg. This will be the first full test of their reusable booster technologies. Once this is (hopefully) perfected landing gear will be fitted and the stages will land on the ground.

The V1.1 is 227 ft tall with the standard 5.2 meter fairing vs. 180 ft for the Falcon 9 v1.0, or 156 ft with a Dragon spacecraft. The extra length holds a massively larger propellant load to feed its 9 upgraded Merlin 1D engines.

First stage thrust: about 1.27 million lb-f

F9 v1.1 will be able to lift 13.5 metric tons to a low Earth orbit, allowing for 2 engines out capability, or 16.0 metric tons without it. F9 v1.0 could lift 10.45 metric tons. These numbers will increase significantly when the methane fueled Raptor upper stage arrives. Engine out lets the F9 continue flying with up to 2 blown engines.

A Falcon 9 v1.1 is also the center (core) stage of the massive Falcon Heavy booster, which is specced to orbit 53 metric tons - the weight of a fully loaded Boeing 737-200.

In perspective; a standard F9 v1.1 will outperform all but 2 versions of the Atlas V, and with the Raptor upper stage even those are likely to be surpassed. Prices;

Falcon 9 v1.1: $54M
Atlas V (cheapest version): $80M

F9 v1.0 vs F9 v1.1 & Falcon Heavy (its side boosters will be a bit longer than shown)


Concept shot of a landing Falcon 9 RLV (shown w/ v1.0 core)

[Dr Mordrid]

Standard 5.2 x 13.9 meter payload fairing (PLF) for Falcon 9 v1.1 and Falcon Heavy. Getting ready for the June 18th maiden flight of F9 v1.1

Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Rocket fairing almost ready for deployment test in vacuum chamber. Man lift on right for scale pic.twitter.com/BLOTThWFvw

[Dr Mordrid]

Re: Falcon 9 v1.1 maiden flight

• cargo fairing test in the huge NASA Plum Brook vacuum chamber was successful.

BTW: that fairing in the pic? A city bus could fit inside it, and there's talk of an even larger one.

• maiden flight moved to July 9 because the new pad at Vandenberg SLC-4E wouldn't be ready for June 18.

[Dr Mordrid]

Get out your ear plugs McGregor!

Gawd, I wish I were down there for this first 3 minute firing of F9 v1.1.

http://wacotrib.com/mobile/blogs/joe_science/heads-up-spacex-testing-is-about-to-get-louder/article_9df3ac82-aeb6-11e2-bbff-0019bb2963f4.html

Heads up: SpaceX testing is about to get louder

I just got a call from SpaceX communications director Christina Ra with a heads up: testing at their McGregor development facility is about to get loud even by their standards. (Given recent events, it was considered an especially good idea to let people know about this ahead of time.)

In keeping with the company philosophy that tests happen as soon as everything's ready rather than holding to a rigid schedule, Ra couldn't say yet precisely when the particularly loud tests will happen. She said a short, 10-second test could come as early as Tuesday, April 30; a test firing for the full 3 minutes a Falcon 9 rocket's first stage burns on the way to orbit would follow a few days after the first test.

Ra couldn't comment on precisely what technology was being tested — SpaceX tends to keep as mum as possible on such details both for proprietary reasons and out of worries about violating federal law against aiding foreign weapons development — so this is where the speculation begins.

The most likely possibility is that it's a Falcon 9 first stage test using nine of the new, more powerful Merlin 1D engines (it's known that the 1Ds have been tested individually; this could be the first test of the full, upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage). The more outside shot is that this is the start of testing on the 27-engine Falcon Heavy first stages, but since the Heavy is also set to use Merlin 1Ds it seems likely that they would want to test the nine-engine variant first.
I'll hopefully know more over the weekend. Stay tuned.

[Dr Mordrid]

Wait, WHAT?? F9 v1.1 = F9-R ?!? Moving FAST!

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk
First test of the Falcon 9-R (reusable) ignition system. Not long now before the hold down fire

[Dr Mordrid]

The Falcon 9 v1.1's 13.1 MT to low Earth orbit "limit" only applies to a launch with engine-out capability, which is what SpaceX lists on its website. NASA's spec for F9 v1.1 is different in that it does not specify engine-out, which yields a mass to LEO of 16 MT. It remains to be seen which the USAF will use. If the customer wants power over engine-out, they can get power.

Now consider this for Dragon cargo Trunk volume: so far we've only seen the short version of the Dragon's Trunk; a 2.3m internal length vs. 4.3m for the much larger Extended Trunk. Comparison from dimensions given in SpaceX's docs. Nice way to make use of v1.1's heavier lift, and likely to be used to haul up the VASIMR plasma rocket testbed and new commercial crew spacecraft docking ports for ISS.



Here's a video of the Falcon 9 / Falcon Heavy 5.2m fairing test done at NASA Glenn's Plum Brook Station vacuum chamber -

[Dr Mordrid]

There may be another burn soon. Watching for video.

@elonmusk

1st firing of Falcon 9-R advanced prototype rocket. Over 1M lbs thrust, enough to lift skyscraper pic.twitter.com/AUCsWTw77E

Speaking of F9 1.0 thrust vs. F9R

@elonmusk

@williamricci6 50% higher. ~1.3 M lbs sea level and ~1.5 M lbs vacuum thrust. Will be 60% higher with some tweaks.

[Dr Mordrid]

Launch date now Sept 5

Highly instrumented development engines are being removed and replaced with flight engines. After that a test firing and off to Vandenberg AFB she goes. SpaceX press official says Vandenberg's new Falcon 9 / Falcon Heavy pad is ready.

Delays were due to F9 v1.1 / F9-R's new Merlin 1D engines creating a very hot thermal environment under the test stand - the problem being a new flame diverter installed so McGregor wouldn't lose quite so many windows, plaster ceiling & walls during full duration 9-engine firings. This cooked a few non-structural items, so fixes had to be made, and a change had to be made to the cargo fairing test mount - not the fairing itself or the rocket.

[Dr Mordrid]

Sounds like the <even more powerful> flight engines have been swapped in and they're finishing up before sending the rocket to KSC.

http://www.wacotrib.com/blogs/joe_science/spacex-test-in-works-as-nasa-milestones-reached-russians-lose/article_e89db09c-e35a-11e2-8996-001a4bcf887a.html

"SpaceX is planning to run another test at our rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas that will be significantly louder than the typical tests we run daily. This test will be similar in scope to recent tests, running from seconds in duration up to several minutes. The earliest possible date for the upcoming test is Wed., July 3rd."

[Dr Mordrid]

Elon Musk &rlm;@elonmusk
Just completed full mission duration firing of next gen Falcon 9 booster. V proud of the boost stage team for overcoming many tough issues.

And on the F9-R front -

QuoteBernard ‏@_Balefire_
@elonmusk How do you guys plan gr****opper re-entry and landing from space? Nose first then swivel closer to ground :? How do you slow down?

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

@_Balefire_ Hard to properly answer in 140 chars, but I can say that it stays engines down thru whole descent profile

Bernard ‏@_Balefire_
@elonmusk Very interesting, will you need a disposable cone protecting against re entry (aero) on base or can the nozzles take it? Dankie!!!

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

@_Balefire_ nozzles are designed to handle extreme loads. Should be able to handle max Q on reentry without protection.

Tobias Vandenbempt ‏@TobiasVdb

@elonmusk How much % extra fuel would you need to make a landing like gr****opper? Is the entire braking procedure by firing trusters?

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk

@TobiasVdb Yes, it is a purely propulsive landing, but using the huge landing gear A frames as air brakes. Landing prop < 5% of vehicle mass

[Dr Mordrid]

SpaceX chief of propulsion Tom Mueller said during a presentation at the Joint Propulsion Conference in San Jose that the F9 v1.1 / CASSIOPE first stage will be shipped to Vandenberg next week, and the second stage will be shipped a week later. Targeted launch date is September 5.

[Dr Mordrid]

Things are accelerating.

The Falcon 9 v1.1 #1 first stage is shipping in the next few days. The second stage and interstage are already at Vandenberg AFB. The 5.2 meter cargo fairing goes to Vandenberg this weekend. Hopefully we'll be seeing her upright soon for pad integration tests.

The Falcon 9 v1.1 #2 first stage is shipping from Hawthorne, California to McGregor, Texas for testing later this week.

[Dr Mordrid]

Things are accelerating.

The Falcon 9 v1.1 #1 first stage is shipping in the next few days. The second stage and interstage are already at Vandenberg AFB. The 5.2 meter cargo fairing goes to Vandenberg this weekend. Hopefully we'll be seeing her upright soon for pad integration tests.

The Falcon 9 v1.1 #2 first stage is shipping from Hawthorne, California to McGregor, Texas for testing later this week.

[Dr Mordrid]

Here we go - we have a F9 v1.1 / CASSIOPE launch window

Date: September 5, 2013

Launch window: 1600-1800 GMT (12-2 p.m. EDT; 9-11 a.m. PDT)

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

Wet Dress Rehersal (WDR): first half of next werk

Hotfire: a few days beford launch

Streaming: link to be provided later

CASSIOPE is a mixed-mission satellite that will be placed in a polar orbit for the Canadian Space Agency.

After the first stage of F9 v1.1 separates SpaceX will attempt to decelerate it, re-enter the atmosphere then do a soft touchdown in the Pacific Ocean under rocket thrust - just like the 1950's sci-fi flicks. This is a test of reusability techs that, with the Gr****opper tests, will hopefully lead to a fully reusable rocket that can land on land - F9R.

[SitFlyer]

Can't wait to hear that all the mission objectives were reached.