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SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches, Rocket Recovery Attempt Scrapped

Posted by samzenpus on from the if-at-first-you-don't-succeed dept.

An anonymous reader writes After scrubbing a launch Sunday because a radar glitch, and canceling one Tuesday due to high winds, SpaceX has successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket holding the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite. The DSCOVR will orbit between Earth and the sun, observing and providing advanced warning of particles and magnetic fields emitted by the sun. The planned attempt to recover the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket via autonomous drone ship was scrapped due to huge waves in the Atlantic.

69 comments

  1. Re:Does it really launch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, that's COLD...

  2. Landing Pad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    FTA:

    SpaceX just signed a lease with the Air Force for an old launch pad that will be converted into a landing pad.

    Hopefully this means they won't have to do that "landing on a barge" thing anymore, which seems kind of bogus.

    1. Re:Landing Pad by cheater512 · · Score: 2

      Landing on a barge is just a bit safer if something decides to go nuts.

      More complicated, but if I lived in the neighbourhood of that Air Force launch pad, my insurance premiums might go up.

    2. Re:Landing Pad by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 1

      The original plan was to move to a landing pad on terra firma after demonstrating it at sea (presumably to reduce potential hazards during testing)

      --
      Wherever You Go, There You Are
    3. Re:Landing Pad by TWX · · Score: 1

      I'll be mighty surprised if you live at Cape Canaveral.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    4. Re:Landing Pad by TWX · · Score: 1

      Hopefully this means they won't have to do that "landing on a barge" thing anymore, which seems kind of bogus.

      And now Musk can relocate it to Baja and set up his secret lair on it.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    5. Re:Landing Pad by rmdingler · · Score: 3, Informative
      On its face, a land recovery might seem more practical.

      Aside from avoiding cities and attorneys, landing on a barge in the ocean offers a couple of advantages:

      The booster is already out over the ocean after launch from the coast. Redirecting it back to land would increase fuel needs and payload. (Musk says an increase of 15-30%).

      The drone barge is able to move to the booster, an advantage difficult to mimic on land.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    6. Re:Landing Pad by ClickOnThis · · Score: 2

      Landing on a barge is just a bit safer if something decides to go nuts.

      More complicated, but if I lived in the neighbourhood of that Air Force launch pad, my insurance premiums might go up.

      No more than if it were already an active launch pad, I'd guess.

      Rockets have a self-destruct feature that is used if control is lost and the rocket strays near populated areas. It could be used on the way down just as well as on the way up.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    7. Re:Landing Pad by cheater512 · · Score: 1

      The difference is you know a launching rocket is definitely going to be at the launch pad.

      If a landing rocket say misses by 10km whilst coming down, it is going to make a big mess.
      A launching rocket could perhaps launch and then veer off back towards the ground but it is less likely to occur and can be killed a lot faster.

    8. Re:Landing Pad by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      Maybe he got turned into a newt.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    9. Re:Landing Pad by ClickOnThis · · Score: 2

      But at all times you know where the rocket is, and can calculate where it might end up, based on various contingencies. If data shows that it might miss the landing point by 10 km, there's plenty of time to push the Big Red Button before it threatens anything on the ground.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    10. Re:Landing Pad by smaddox · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think this demonstrates that the disadvantages likely outweigh the advantages, on average. If launches require optimal weather in two distant locations, it's going to be a lot harder to get rockets off the pad. Once stage recovery is working, I suspect it will be a lot cheaper to increase the fuel by 15-30% than to scrap a sizable fraction of launches.

      Of course they don't necessarily have to pick one. They could default to using an ocean landing when weather in the atlantic is optimal (and thus load less fuel), or a land landing when weather in the atlantic is less ideal. Whether or not such a last-minute decision could realistic work is beyond my knowledge.

    11. Re:Landing Pad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The amount of fuel that is loaded into the rocket is constrained by the rocket size. So the only practical way to get that extra 30% fuel is to decrease the size of the payload. And that won't happen at the last minute. (Remember that the fuel cost is almost nothing compared to the rocket cost).

    12. Re:Landing Pad by Sivaraj · · Score: 2

      Landing on a barge (or ASDS) would still be needed for deep space missions like DSCOVR which didn't have enough fuel left to boost back the stage towards launch pad. The center core of Falcon 9 Heavy wouldn't have enough fuel as well, and will most likely land on ASDS, while other two booster cores go back to landing pad.

      SpaceX is in fact building a second ASDS which will be used for launches from Pacific coast.

    13. Re:Landing Pad by Rei · · Score: 1

      Still, even in the case of a barge landing, it could potentially be just a "basic inspection and refuel" stop before flyback to the shore, where any more serious maintenance would be done and the craft prepared for its next space launch. The engines are fully restart capable, after all, and the burn time would be relatively low.

      --
      "That girl is a witch!" "Yeah, but she's our witch. So cut her the hell down!"
    14. Re:Landing Pad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a remote island should give the stability of land without the drawbacks ^_p07n

    15. Re: Landing Pad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      10km is the minimum distance from pad to population near Kennedy and there are not many who live there. most of the population in the area is 20 to 30km away.

    16. Re:Landing Pad by PaisteUser · · Score: 1

      SpaceX just recently signed a lease agreement with the Air Force to construct a landing pad for just that purpose. If you have a chance to read through the whole proposal, it's quite interesting. They are using an old launch complex that hasn't been used in 30+ years.

      http://spacenews.com/spacex-le...

      Link to PDF providing some detail used for the proposal: http://www.patrick.af.mil/shar...

      --
      root@allevil:~#
    17. Re:Landing Pad by PaisteUser · · Score: 1

      SpaceX just recently signed a lease agreement with the Air Force to construct a landing pad for just that purpose. If you have a chance to read through the whole proposal, it's quite interesting. They are using an old launch complex that hasn't been used in 30+ years.

      http://spacenews.com/spacex-le...

      Link to PDF providing some detail used for the proposal: http://www.patrick.af.mil/shar...

      Here's the PDF for the environmental assessment:
      http://www.patrick.af.mil/shar...

      --
      root@allevil:~#
    18. Re:Landing Pad by Immerman · · Score: 1

      True, you can't suddenly decide to touchdown on land unless you have a small payload to begin with, but if there's any doubt as to the viability you could always get the barge in place to have a water touchdown as a last-minute option - no need to decide where you're going to land until after the second stage has detached.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    19. Re:Landing Pad by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Brilliant. We should just grown one out east of Florida somewhere.

      Seriously - I don't think there are any islands anywhere remotely suitable that aren't already populated. I suppose they could try to buy one of the Florida Keys, but that would get expensive...

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  3. L1 beckons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What else is floating around there?

    1. Re:L1 beckons by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 2

      Earth-Sun L1 might be kinda hard to peer at, but SOHO is supposed to be parked there

      Here is a list of published launches to Lagrange points
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

      --
      Wherever You Go, There You Are
  4. First Stage splashdown where ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone know where we can see / hear about / read about the First Stage splashdown.
    All the live feeds cut off after launch FFS.

    1. Re:First Stage splashdown where ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I really wish they would show more of that. It was really cool seeing the 1st stage separate and start working those thrusters. They didn't follow it down though (at least not publicly). :sadface:

      I mean we have seen launches before, the cool stuff on this is the 1st stage landing.

    2. Re:First Stage splashdown where ? by jordanjay29 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And we will see landings once the method is perfected. We've already seen videos of past failed landings, simply not live. Sometimes this is because the video feed has to be retrieved manually from the hardware or because they simply don't wish to show an unpredictable video and damage their market worth. SpaceX might not be publicly traded, but they do have investors who might balk at such a public failure. Waiting to release the video with the right spin helps allay fears and lets SpaceX control the message, instead of letting the Internet write the headlines.

    3. Re:First Stage splashdown where ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Elon's a nerd, he must read this, so:

      ELON ! We want video feed, up AND DOWN AGAIN !

      Oh, and can I have a job please ?
      And - when you're not using it - your, eh, entire life ?

    4. Re: First Stage splashdown where ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yes. The reason this might seem unusual to some people is that civilian space launches in this country have always been openly covered, success or failure. Nobody has seen a need to "control the message" until now, and I'm surprised NASA lets them. It probably didn't occur to them at contract award time, corporate PR behavior being something they haven't had to put up with much before.

      Rather disgusting the depths we've sunk to in my opinion.

    5. Re: First Stage splashdown where ? by jordanjay29 · · Score: 1

      Asking serious question as I don't have personal experience with it, does ULA or Boeing show the entirety of their launches? Including landing for return vehicles?

    6. Re:First Stage splashdown where ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They never broadcast the splash down .... because to this day they have had one single successful return. But you would never know that if you follow the trail of constant lies about the success of each flight.

    7. Re: First Stage splashdown where ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The shuttle was the only returning launch vehicle, so no, ULA and other launch companies and goverments don't show this, as it doesn't exist.

  5. Looked good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Saw it going up on the way home from work. It was a perfect day to see the launch in North Florida, almost no clouds to obscure it.

  6. First Stage splashdown where ? by jordanjay29 · · Score: 1

    They never live-cast the landing right now, mostly to maintain their PR image. Their Twitter page does a decent job of maintaining updates about the rocket status https://twitter.com/spacex

  7. Looked good by jordanjay29 · · Score: 1

    Too bad the ocean isn't enjoying the same, balmy weather.

  8. Different now by jklovanc · · Score: 3, Funny

    First-stage boosters normally just slam into the Atlantic and sink.

    Now they bounce off a barge, explode, slam into the ocean and sink. Such an improvement.

    1. Re:Different now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First-stage boosters normally just slam into the Atlantic and sink.

      Now, after doing their primary boosting duties, they decelerate from Hypersonic speeds and are successfully pinpoint guided to a small, football sized landing platform in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Once there, they attempt to land on said landing platform. However, due to no one ever succeeding in this endevor before, the booster bounces off the barge, explodes, slams into the ocean and sink. This is such an improvement to what has happened before with rocketry that Musk should be rightly praised for Such an improvement.

      FTFY

    2. Re:Different now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With that kind of improvement, I expect good things from their next attempt!

      When I first came here, this was all ocean. Everyone said I was daft to land a first-stage booster on an ocean, but I did it all the same, just to show them. It sank into the ocean. So I landed a second one. That sank into the ocean. So I landed a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the ocean. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest booster in all of England.

    3. Re:Different now by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

      When I first came here, this was all just ocean. Everyone said I was daft to build a landing platform in the ocean but I built in all the same, just to show them. It blew up. So I built a second one. That sank and blew up.. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the ocean. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest landing barge in all of the Atlantic ocean.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:Different now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Now, come on, that was only the first step.

      Next time, they will hit the barge, explode properly and Totally. Take. It. Out.
      Then sink.

    5. Re:Different now by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Heh, heh... well done.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    6. Re:Different now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "endevor"??! Jeez, you Americans! First you drop the 'u', now the 'a'! What next, "ndvr"?

    7. Re:Different now by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Hell yeah... think of the money you'd save not buying vowels on the Wheel of Fortune.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    8. Re:Different now by Shatrat · · Score: 1

      To be fair, it's a continuation of what the English have been doing to German for 1500 years.

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    9. Re:Different now by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      What next, "ndvr"?

      Think I just found the name for my new hit internet start-up

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  9. Re:MEEEEEERICA! FUCK YEAH! by kogut · · Score: 1

    You should use quotes around text copy-and-pasted from an article to avoid the appearance of plagiarism. Also off-topic.

  10. What is the purple stuff? by Zargg · · Score: 1

    Anyone who watched the launch video...what is the purple water looking stuff that the camera switched to a couple times? Example at T+00:07:06

    That and the black and white shot like at T+:00:09:08...not sure what I'm looking at, the actual sat still covered or something?

    1. Re:What is the purple stuff? by m4rtink · · Score: 2

      Anyone who watched the launch video...what is the purple water looking stuff that the camera switched to a couple times?

      It is a shot from inside of the liquid oxygen tank AFAIK.

    2. Re:What is the purple stuff? by Vulch · · Score: 3, Informative

      The liquid is a camera inside the second stage fuel tank, last launch they were showing it after the engine cut-off and you had large blobs of the stuff floating round inside. The black and white camera appears to be a thermal infra-red looking at the second stage engine nozzle.

    3. Re:What is the purple stuff? by Zargg · · Score: 1

      Ah ok, thank you! Makes sense... after all, what other giant liquid tank is there on a rocket other than the fuel...

      Any purpose for the camera other than for watching blobs of fuel float around? Just in case of RUD to see if something happened in the tank?

    4. Re:What is the purple stuff? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Any purpose for the camera other than for watching blobs of fuel float around? Just in case of RUD to see if something happened in the tank?

      Basically, yeah. If you've got no gravity because you're not accelerating, you've got a rather interesting engineering problem if your objective is to drain a liquid from the "bottom" of a tank into a fuel pump when it comes time to light (or shut down and restart) a rocket engine. It's been a mostly-solved problem for decades, but the key word here is "mostly..."

    5. Re:What is the purple stuff? by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 1

      I was wondering about that when I watched the last launch's fuel tank. How exactly *does* the Falcon engine re-ignite in zero g with what appears to be a gravity fed fuel source?

    6. Re:What is the purple stuff? by narf0708 · · Score: 1

      The liquid looking stuff was a stargate, of course. How else would they get into space?

      --
      "Violence is not the answer. Violence is the question. The answer is yes."
    7. Re:What is the purple stuff? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Small solid fuel rockets to create acceleration before main engine ignition.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ullage_motor

    8. Re:What is the purple stuff? by ColaMan · · Score: 1

      Small thrusters fire to push it forwards and the fuel / oxygen in each tank gets pushed back to the pickup point.

      --

      You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
      There is a lot of hype here.
  11. Al Gore rules! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After inventing the internet and global warming, now he's launching satellites! What a guy!

  12. Those are some rough seas by Dereck1701 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I initially wondered "if the weathers so bad how did they ocean land it" then I stumbled across some of the ocean wave height maps. Apparently there is a LARGE area of ~20 ft seas off of most of the eastern sea board. You have to go a third of the way to Africa in order to get out of it. While I am sure that the rocket could get that far in no time at all I'd wager the barge is a bit slower.

    http://www.wunderground.com/MA...
    http://www.oceanweather.com/da...

  13. Alternate Idea by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    How much does the Air Force spend on precision munitions - millions of dollars per bomb, right?

    So now - when you do a launch, allow the Air Force to pay you to bring that discarded booster back down on a desired target. If they can direct the booster to a small platform, they can easily bring it down on top of an enemy military installation of choice. Then you don't even have to worry about a delicate landing because you want the opposite.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Alternate Idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Troll. Turn a science mission into a military mission. Go polish you AK47 in your cave.

      Humanity

    2. Re:Alternate Idea by Teancum · · Score: 1

      You really think SpaceX invented the "smart bomb"? In other words, a guided missile?

      It is perhaps a good thing that technology can be refined and used for something that might actually help humanity rather than be something that is designed to kill. Why do you think it is such an awful thing?

    3. Re:Alternate Idea by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

      Troll. Turn a science mission into a military mission

      Somebody here sure s ignorant of the history of NASA!

      P.S. It's NOT ME.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  14. Re:Didn't see that coming, la la la by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 2

    Waves in the ocean. That sure came out of left field. How could we have predicted that? We have the best experts money can buy making our plans, but how can we succeed when all this weird unpredictable stuff happens to us? /sarc

    When the Air Force says, "You can land anywhere you want, except you can't land here, and you can't land here until you land somewhere else," you build a barge and take your chances with the waves.

  15. It didn't launch! by wingome · · Score: 1

    It didn't launch. What's with the totally wrong headline?

    1. Re:It didn't launch! by wingome · · Score: 1

      It didn't launch. What's with the totally wrong headline?

      Sorry, SpaceX had a strange misleading headline. My bad.

  16. Not invented - repurposed by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    You really think SpaceX invented the "smart bomb"? In other words, a guided missile?

    Of course not. The returning booster would be just like any other guided missile as far as how it reached the target.

    I'm just saying, they are looking to recover the booster because of how much it costs - but what if you could recover the costs in other ways rather than re-use of the module...

    Other ideas include drifting it across the sky to spell an advertisers name in smoke at high altitude, or to land it at childrens' birthday parties for show.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  17. A stupid question...... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't the booster in low earth orbit after second stage separation? Why not just wait until the weather calms and then de-orbit the spacecraft? Now I wait to be excoriated and trolled to death.