How Does SpaceX Recover and Reuse Falcon 9?
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- SpaceX has mastered recovering Falcon 9 from its droneship landings in the ocean. See the process as a booster launches from the east coast, lands, and then is prepared for its next mission.
Video and Pictures from Stephen (@spacecoast_stve), Thomas (@TGMetsFan98), and Space Coast Live.
Production by Gav (@SpaceOffshore)
Edited by Brady (@TheFavoritist).
All content copyright to NSF. Not to be used elsewhere without explicit permission from NSF.
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I was hoping to also learn what parts of the booster get refurbished and/or replaced, but I guess that happens behind closed doors in HangarX.
by the way the charing stays the same, one can say that the super-stucture stays the same. maybe some minor fixes in the engine bay, if needed.
@@Chriss120 I think there are some crush cores in the legs that get replaced, right? I thought there might be other one-time-use parts like that, but I don't know. And I'm sure they do inspections and testing in the hangar, but do they always do a static fire before each launch? I'm not enough of a pad watcher to know stuff like that.
@@L4JP if i remember correctly, the crush cores are just used in the hardest landings, they might just replace them anyways tho.
I agree. Not a rocket engineer myself, but just to add some info on that: I do know that the honeycomb structures below the landing legs - which are used to take damage in case of a rough landing - are inspected and replaced if needed. Additionally, as the Merlin engines run on keralox, it is likely that soot builds up inside the engine components after the combustion chamber, so they potentially purge or clean that. All other things I'd share would be purely speculation, so potentially our NSF friends can share some more.
Yes, I'd also like to know the specific steps involved in refurbishment...anybody have deets they can share?
I love content like this.There are so many interesting things that go into a launch than just the blast off.
I'm so glad to see Mary is back! Bocachicagal Rocks!
I don't Mary is back doing pictures with NASA Spaceflight. That end image on the video is often used, and always carries her name because she took the image.
I miss seeing Mary around 😊
@@andreiionescu205 I haven't seen her posting new images in months. That's all I know.
twitter.com/BocaChicaGal/status/1595873315150872580?t=yti7ATSoOSk5Ypof-wCv6w&s=19
@@NASASpaceflight Oh wow I had no idea send her my thoughts during this time I don’t do FB or Twitter thanks for the info 😊
Nice !
Thank you for sharing
🤗🙏🏆
Is the process when they recover to the pads on land basically the same from the point the rocket was hoisted on the dock from the barge?
This was very interesting. As someone who watched Apollo 11 launch on TV on my fifth birthday SpaceX is almost science fiction in the common light of day. Ad Astra SpaceX!
The end of this video should have included another landing to loop it
what happens insinde hangar X would be really nice to know
Is the hangars close to the launch pads only used for payload integration now?
Is there any footage of the octagrabber in operation?
It is awesomely insane to live in an age where these Stage 1 Boosters are returned back to Earth, landing on a barge downrange then returned back to base, refurbished and launched again and again!
Kudos to all of the brilliant SpaceX teams at all points along the process - Dreams come true and Magic does happen (with lots of hard work).
Amazing!
I love that they don't even bother removing the soot/scorch marks... I guess each layer of that is almost like a mission patch for the booster 🙂
Elon says a long time ago that it's impossible to remove it.
Bonus Carbon protection layer! 😃
This video could definitely benefit from narration and a script to give more information about the topic.
Falcon 9 , it's a great piece of engineering by Space X workers and designers, long may it remain a true reliable booster. 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀👍
Can you do the same for Vandenberg? Where are the boosters refurbished?
I love a dirty rocket, I cannot lie. The only way others get a dirty rocket is when they gather dust waiting on the launch pad.
Or in the Rocket Garden 🤣
For some reason landing back on the launch pad didn't seem much of a big deal, but eliminating all these steps is huge!
Brilliant views we usually don't get to see. Thanks for the additional information. NSF team rocks.
Where the payload/fairing is attached seems to be missing from the video. Is the same building used for attaching the payload if they are launching from LC-39A and SLS-40?
🚀Fascinating.
I’ve always wondered what the procedure was from landing on the drone ship to it getting back to the launch pad again. Thank you!👏
Couple of questions:
How long, on average, does it take to get back to shore on the drone ship?
Is the rocket completely repainted for the next launch?
Generally not repainted. The white you see on the re-flight is ice on the outside due to the super cold fuel.
The soot is fused into the paint by the heat, so they'd have to strip off the old paint first, which apparently isn't worth the time and expense. Leaving the old paint and painting over it would add a layer of mass.
My family owns property in the port caneveral area, occasionally when we drive by we can see them lifting or preparing to lift a falcon 9 off the droneship after recovery
Lucky you that would be awesome 👍
Yes @Light For Japan Productions I had also hoped to learn just what is "refurbished" on these reusable rockets before they are good to fly again.
For those of us who “need to know”. . . about EVERYTHING! Thank you!
Thank you team. that a fantastic few weeks in the life of a falcon 9. What a machine.
So do they retract the legs and go horizontal next to LZ-1/2 after an RTLS landing?
I would assume so, because no matter where it lands, it has to go horizontal to enter the hangar. There would be no point in picking it up with a crane and carrying it vertically all the way back to the area in front of the hangar, only to then fold the legs and lay it down.
Someone in the know needs to talk about the actuall boost back how is it done ... how do they land so precisely on a moving target which is travelling at around 1,000 mph (the Earth)
I though this would be something narrated.. :(
Fantastic video, thanks guys!
Super technology!
How far is it on public roads before they reach the KSC entrance. I know the KSC roads are kinda public, but you know what I mean.
Thank you NSF for the coverage you y’all do. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
i read that as "Thank you for the NSFW coverage" and got confused.
This is honestly incredible.
How many days for refurbishment?
it depends, the quickest refurbishment is reported at 9 days spent in HangarX, but most missions are into the double digits, i would say 40-80 days spent in Hangar X
Great! Always wondered about the west coast though, I know they have a drone ship stationed out there but do they offload them then ship them across the country for other use at the cape? I know sometimes they keep boosters at vandenberg but do they haul them across the US or by sea?? If across the county then that’s a LOOOONNGGGG trip!
They seem to try and keep a few boosters out west for those missions so they don't have to keep shipping them across the country. When they do move them though (or when a new one comes off the line in Hawthorne), they can put them on a truck and just drive it to the cape. The 3.7m diameter is conveniently sized to fit perfectly on a standard US road, so there aren't really any issues there. We have also spotted them using a barge to get them back and forth a few times
@@thomashayden804 thanks! Always been curious about this.
I haven't heard of them shipping rockets by sea. They ship first stages over the road from hawthorne to texas and then to the launch sites, so I imagine the trip from vandenberg would be pretty much the same routine.
@@bobloblaw1636 Ah yes, I must have misremembered. Looks like we've seen them move them from the port of LA where the droneship gets back to Vandenberg, not from the port to the east coast. twitter.com/Harry__Stranger/status/1507899388743483392
Nice cradle to cradle documentary :-)
Thanks Guys
You just forgot to mention the Topper that attaches to the Booster Head for Lift and legs folding. the one with 4 cables from it..
Thank you for sharing this procedure with us !
Incredible work!!
Falcon 9 is getting close to 99 percent reliabillity now. That is extremely good. I am amazed they have not had more failures.
Single stick Falcon 9 Block 5 has launched 130 consecutive times without any failure. That is the current world record for rocket reliability.
Excellent .
This video could have used some commentary or a voiceover.
Love this! Great job NSF
Great video, very informative! Like some others have stated, I'd also like to know what the process to get the first stage ready for re-use entails. Is it just inspection of some parts and replace if necessary and maybe clean/purge some parts. Also, I'd like to see the octograbber in action. I mean: is it a robotic device or do humans have to board the drone ship and put it in place? If it's a robotic/autonomous device, I'd love to see it look for the rocket and grab it.
Something else I wonder about is what happens to the first stages that don't get to land on the drone ship or on the pad. Are they litterally left to sink to the bottom of the ocean? I'd say that in that way, SpaceX contributes to the pollution of the ocean. Wouldn't it be nicer to recover it and get rid of the materials in a sensible way?
the expended boosters mostly just break apart in the atmosphere without an entry burn, and any pieces that do survive break on impact, and even then they are like human-made habitats or so for fish, it does no harm to the ocean, it is just metal laying in it, like the titanic, it will slowly decay over the years and be consumed by the ocean, and it doesnt harm any fish
Great video! but I was kinda hoping for a narrated explainer video
isn't great to see fulcrums at work!
Great video but man I wish that last shot carried on all the way to approach to landing, that would have been epic!
Nice 👌...
Wow
Fantástica engenharia!!! Agora só falta a Lua e depois Marte! Parabéns á todos!
Excellent presentation! Great to see all of the steps in order.
They make that look so easy.
From truck to launchpad position would've been nice to, but cool anyways.
It is lifted off the truck to the transporter/erector system. That's the piece that folds back a bit just before launch.
I don’t know why,but I expected this video to have narration of some kind and to explain in more detail the steps of refurbishment. I was a little let down.
I was hoping this video would include a land landing as the process might be much different
Thanks for this video!
I never noticed how HUGE these landing legs are, compared to a human
Thanks
The foley LOL. Sounds like they are working on the deathstar.
What was the maximum utilisation for one booster ? 5, 10 or more ?
A few recently reached 14 flights.
@@johndododoe1411 ok, thanks
Great footage.. still curious about the actual refurbishment ...
I missed the payload and fairing integration part, although that's not really related to the first stage.
Happy Thanksgiving to all at NSF.
Now they need to put wheels on it so it can drive itself home.
The private sector of space travel is always better!😂
This video is amazing 😍 the answer to an unspoken question 😃 thank you 💜
Thanks! )
LIve, die, repeat...
Live, die, repeat...
Live, die, repeat...
Title is wrong, but some good video nonetheless
What is the current Turnaround time ?
Beautiful video - thank you NSF! I am surprised at 5:25 to realize the landing legs appear to have a pretty chunky, non-aerodynamic meeting point with the rocket body. I'm pretty surprised at that.
Wow, what a cool idea for a video!
Giant Flamethrower haha.
great vid, thanks
🤓
I guess the wifi on the rocket is working pretty cool to see the legs go back up!
Major Question ❓ Did SpaceX recover the FH center booster out of the ocean 🌊 or destroy it by remote detonation over water???
Are they doing the same for the Eutelsat core booster?
The first three flights of the Falcon Heavy attempted to recover the center core. It is more difficult as it gets higher and faster than a normal Falcon booster. Two of the three attempts did not work and one did land. The octograbber was not able to hold it in rough seas and it tipped overboard. SpaceX has since modified the octograbber to better be able to hold onto the core boosters. The recent USSF-44 launch expended the center core on purpose as the payload and orbit required the use of the propellant that would have been used to land.
The Eutelsat 10B launch was on a Falcon 9, B1049.11, and it was also expended as the propellant needed for landing was used to lift the sat to a higher than normal transfer orbit. Reusability is great, but comes at a payload cost.
Launch, rinse, repeat.
And then save time and money by omitting the rinse 😁
Wouldn't it be easier to transport the landed booster horizontally from just after landing?
Not really, it would just mean the same number of steps as before but more of them would have to be carried out at sea which is more dangerous and expensive. Easier to secure the booster as-is and process it in the safety of the port.
test post please adore
Does anyone know where to find a current price of kerosene and methane at the purities needed for rockets?
I seem to be only finding cost for heating fuels...but I'm sure this is the right channel to ask the question!
If you need a ballpark figure for rp-1, look at the cost of jet-a. Sorry, but idk anything more than that.
@@RC-fp1tl I was just wondering the cost of filling up Starship booster with Methane, vs if they were still using the Falcon 9 propellants.
Curious if the cost is still the huge saving currently, that it was when they first decided to use Methane all those years ago.
I've often heard the F9 is "partially reusable," but in what way is it only "partial"? (I don't think the expendable second stage counts, as the Neutron also does the same and is still described as "fully reusable.")
Ive never heard of neutron being referred to as ‘fully reusable’ before, except for some vague ideas for future development. The term “partially reusable” means that only a part of the rocket is reusable and not the whole thing. For example, falcon 9 is partially reusable because it expends the second stage, recovering only the first stage and the fairings. Starship will be fully reusable because it would not throw away any components after launch.
the falcon 9 being partially re-usable is that the first stage can be reused, just not the second, im not sure why neutron isnt called partially re-usable, maybe because the whole main body of the rocket is reusable, like a bigger percentage of the rocket than f9?
♻️♻️♻️
How does the rocket not crumple under its own weight on the truck?
There are hardpoints built into the rocket for horizontal transport and payload integration. So the Falcon 9 is a little more heavily built than a booster that is never laid on its side.
@@steveaustin2686 Also it lies on its side before being raised to vertical by the strongback. Only then do they pump in fuels, with the last gallons added after T-60.
After payload deployment, what's doing the second stage?
It saves a small bit of propellant to deorbit and largely burn up in the atmosphere.
@@steveaustin2686 thanks for the reply.. But at what altitude it's happening?
@@radheshmenon7672 From LEO, around 300 or so km depending on the orbit the Falcon launch is going to.
Very informative and thank you so much dear Steve.. Hope you are a specialist in this subject.. Like to hear more from you.. Please provide email, fb or WhatsApp
@@radheshmenon7672 Nah, not a specialist, just an informed amateur.
1st
Shall be last.
So when they don’t recover a booster are the able to remove equipment not needed to get more performance? Like removing the landing legs?
Yep, they did that on recent final flights.
And not just to get performance -- the titanium grid fins are one of, if not the, most expensive parts on the rocket, so they reallly don't want to lose them