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SpaceX Successful Static Fire
ron_ivi writes "SpaceX's website is announced that they had a "
great static fire today" where their Falcon rocket successfully had 3 seconds of thrust. Nice pictures and video of the test; and if analysis shows all was well, they'll be launching Thursday."
Fist of all, Musk isn't a co-founder of Paypal. Second, Carmack has spent much, much, less money than Musk. And Third, if Carmack is successful, his rocket will be much cheaper to operate.
As the first link mentions, the launch is scheduled for Thursday, 1PM PST (4PM EST). According to RLV News, here's a few good sources for real-time commentary and info about the launch:
* Mission Status Center - Falcon Launch Report - Justin Ray
* Out of the Cradle
* NASASpaceflight.com - LIVE: SpaceX/Falcon 1 - 23rd March: launch coverage thread
Also, it was recently revealed that SpaceX has been secretly developing their SpaceX Dragon orbital capsule, which will be able to carry up to 7 people to and from orbit. A full-size prototype of the capsule has already been constructed, and the capsule is expected to enter service by 2009 (several years before NASA's CEV).
Recently Sam Dinkin of the Space Review had a chance to tour SpaceX's facility, and wrote a 4-part article series about it. It's a pretty neat read, and gives you a good idea of the culture of SpaceX and where it's headed. Also, they're apparently looking for good people to hire. ;)
*Part 1
*Part 2
*Part 3
*Part 4
Also, an interesting bit of recent news: Apparently the President of Sea Launch, which is "arguably the world's most successful commercial launch company," has left Sea Launch to join SpaceX. Anybody care to speculate about why he would leave such a cushy position for a start-up?
I gotta disagree with that statement. They certainly still go boom.
/.)
The recent (October 2002) photon M2 launch failure is a good example (there's a truly spectacular video of it floating around, but I'm not gonna subject the only host I know of to
Or the zenit launch failure in the '90s that left a big smoking hole where the launch pad was. Both these involved the rocket failing shortly after liftoff, basically falling out of the sky fully fueled. When the tanks break up, you get many thousands of pounds of fuel and oxidizer nicely mixed. What happens after that is usually "Boom!"
Most US, European and Japanese launchers have range safety (aka self destruct) systems, which help if the vehicle is actually flying, but they aren't likely to make difference if the failure happens very near the pad.
I suspect the tanks that the OP asked about are actually quite far away, and just look close due to the
foreshortening effect of a long lense.
It was Salvage 1
Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
They use big hunking clamps, frequently held in place by explosive bolts. Even during a launch, the clamps hold the rocket on the launch pad until the engines reach a stable power level. You want to make sure the engines run cleanly before you risk it leaving the launch pad.
Thrust is measured in Newtons, Newton seconds is a measure of impulse.
I watched it, and I'm using Fedora Core 3. I'm using MPlayer with win32 binary codecs. Check it out here.
w2^7me out.
The launch is taking place on a 7 acre island near Kwajalein Atoll. The island is evacuated before the rocket is fueled. You can read about it here. I wish these guys luck. There're going to need it.
an ill wind that blows no good
This was a final systems check of the whole rocket. This is (as far as I know?) a unique ability that they have in being able to clamp down the rocket and test it in a completely ready to launch condition. If nothing wrong shows up in the data from this test then they have a good indication that they are really ready to launch.
And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..