SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch and Historic Landing Aborted

An anonymous reader writes With only 29 seconds in the countdown, SpaceX had to abort the launch due to a last-minute problem with actuator drift, affecting the motors that control the second stage's rocket thrust. "SpaceX had to scrub Tuesday's attempt to launch a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station and make a historic rocket landing. The landing experiment would have involved putting the first stage of the two-stage rocket on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean, about 200 miles off the coast of Florida. Such a feat has never been done before. A successful maneuver would have marked a significant step toward making rockets more reusable and driving down the cost of spaceflight."

Comments

Better to cancel rather than fail.

[BarbaraHudson]

I know that they need to get successful launches, but the ability to scrub at the last moment is more important than a "balls-to-the-wall-let's-go-anyway-can-do" attitude. Unlike in Hollywood, there's no room for space cowboys in space.

They'll get it right when it's the right time.

Re:Better to cancel rather than fail.

[melstav]

They HAD that ability, but they pissed it away. NASA refused to listen to engineers and the contractors who were telling them that the O-Rings, as designed, had a high risk of failure given the severe cold that day.

One of the o-rings DID fail, but not until the shuttle was already in the air. At that point, it's WAY too late to scrub.

Re: Better to cancel rather than fail.

[Immerman]

An important distinction, I think you can agree. While that would indeed absolve the people on the floor from culpability, your original phrasing is easily interpreted as an absolution of the people calling the shots.

They'll just try tomorrow... or in a few days...

[Anonymous Coward]

But this makes it sound like, "Oh noes, this is technically IMPOSSIBLE LET'S JUST GIVE UP!"

Really it's just rescheduled a few days; the platform landing attempt will still happen; if it doesn't succeed on this go around they will eventually perfect it.

Re:They'll just try tomorrow... or in a few days..

[Rei]

What I find impressive is SpaceX's turnaround time on scrubbed launches. I mean, sometimes they've fixed problems and relaunched within hours - 3 days is rather long by their standards and may have more to do with launch windows than anything else.

Who knows whether they'll nail this particular landing. But I'm pretty confident in the long run that they'll be nailing landing after landing with only the occasional random mishap (which is allowable, since it's unmanned). Now, whether they can collect, transport, refurbish, and relaunch cheaper than just building a new one, especially with their proportionally low production costs, that is yet to be seen. Best of luck to them, though!

Re:They'll just try tomorrow... or in a few days..

[MozeeToby]

may have more to do with launch windows than anything else

Yes, the next ISS launch window is Friday morning.

Re:29 seconds? 1 minute 21 seconds is official tim

[Bomarc]

... and in case you were wondering:
Actuator drift occurs when a valve is out of null, resulting in a piston moving slowly or drifting when there is no control signal (e.g. when the electrical power is off).

Now to research what is "out of null"....

Re:29 seconds? 1 minute 21 seconds is official tim

[ihtoit]

basically, it's when a valve that would ordinarily be held closed by a pressure gradient (or a mechanical spring) favouring its swing side is missing that pressure gradient and being pulled open by backpressure or another, external force such as gravity. It's like when an airliner does a water landing. The doors would ordinarily hold the air in because they act like valves - the pressure inside the cabin holds them in place. When the airframe is under water, external pressure exceeds internal pressure, and the door seals will inevitably fail. Lesson for the day: in the event of a water landing, get the fuck out of the aircraft.

Elon Musk on Reddit

[SternisheFan]

Reposting my comment from 2 stories ago... .

Elon Musk just did an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit. Here's one Q/A.

Mr Musk, How will you secure the first stage of the Falcon 9 to the barge when it lands? Gravity or some mechanism? REPLY [–]ElonMuskOfficial " Mostly gravity. The center of gravity is pretty low for the booster, as all the engines and residual propellant is at the bottom. We are going to weld steel shoes over the landing feet as a precautionary measure." http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/c...

Re:Elon Musk on Reddit

[david.given]

Plus, of course:

ken27238: What do you think SpaceX uses for testing software?
ElonMuskOfficial: Kerbal Space Program!

Count down abort..

[grumpyman]

I never understand why "problems" always seem to pop up at the very last moment for space launches.

Re:Count down abort..

[Ksevio]

Probably because they fix the problems that pop up before the last moment. Also the last moment in a failed launch is when the problem pops up.

Re:Count down abort..

[confused one]

Because that's when the problem occurs. Reasons might be as follows: First, while systems might have been exercised, nothing is fully pressurized, the engines are not running, the controls are all running through the link to ground, and everything is running on shore power. During the final moments, (not necessarily occurring in this order) they switch to internal batteries and disconnect from shore power, spin up the on-board computers with the launch parameters and hand control over to them, switch from ground (hardwire) linkage to radio communications linkage, engage range safety systems and get acknowledgement they're online, top off the fuel tanks, shut the fuelling valves, pressurize the tanks and pneumatics, spin up the hydraulic pumps, confirm the nozzle gimbals function correctly and finally start the engines. During any one of these steps (and I'm certain I've missed a couple) something can (and occasionally does) go wrong.

Re:They'll just try tomorrow... or in a few days..

[GTRacer]

[...] surrounded by the Musk's hype-and-media Reality Distortion Field.

I'm pretty sure Mr. Jobs both patented AND trademarked his innovative yet elegant Reality Distortion Field. Please select a non-infringing term when discussing Mr. Musk's abilities. Thank you.