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from the can't-keep-track-of-our-stuff dept.
SpaceX pulled off quite the feat today when it launched the Falcon Heavy rocket. What's more, it landed the two flanking boosters in perfect synchronized formation. But the fate of the core booster was unclear; now it appears that the center booster, which was supposed to land on a drone ship, was lost.
Elon Musk said on a conference call with reporters that the launch "seems to have gone as well as one could have hoped with the exception of center core. The center core obviously didn't land on the drone ship" and he said that "we're looking at the issue."
Source: Engadget
Elon has stated during the post launch Press Conference (aired live by ABC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cygUnhAGdWc ) that the center core ran out of TEA-TEB ignition fluids. These are used to restart the Merlin 1D engines in flight. The central engine relit, but the outer two failed to reignite. The resultant loss of thrust cause the center core to hit the water at 300mph/500kph and explode. Elon reports two drone ship thrusters on OCISLY were damaged or destroyed.
Source: Reddit.
TEA-TEB is a reference to triethylaluminium-triethylborane.
takyon: Instead of becoming an Earth-Mars cycler, it appears that the car has overshot its intended orbit and will reach far into the asteroid belt:
Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster, which launched on top of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy earlier today, is going farther out into the Solar System than originally planned. The car was supposed to be put on a path around the Sun that would take the vehicle out to the distance of Mars' orbit. But the rocket carrying the car seems to have overshot that trajectory and has put the Tesla in an orbit that extends out into the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. [...] SpaceX CEO Musk tweeted out a map of the Roadster's final orbit after the burn, showing just how far out the car will travel. And it looks like it's going so far into the asteroid belt that it will get relatively close to the orbit of the dwarf planet Ceres.
Previously: Falcon Heavy Maiden Launch Successful (Mostly)
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Immerman on Wednesday February 07 2018, @08:07PM (5 children)
Are we sure it actually overshot and this wasn't the original plan? My understanding was that it was going to be put on an orbit that "brought it near Mars" - which an elliptical orbit to the asteroid belt would certainly do. It might even still be a Mars cycler - quite a few such orbits go well outside Mars' orbit, and/or well inside Earth's, in order to make the orbital timings line up nicely over the long term, without requiring frequent course adjustments.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday February 07 2018, @08:44PM (2 children)
I had read that last experimental burn as "we'll give it all we can and see how far it goes, hopefully to Mars".
The primary goal was to show direct GEO insertion for .mil. The secondary goal was to reach Mars despite not pushing the FH dynamics too far on the first test. Getting to the asteroid belt is just a bonus.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @09:27PM (1 child)
I wouldn't be surprised if reaching the asteroid belt was the actual goal, as there is a fortune out there.
However, it wasn't what was promised; we were promised a car flying past Earth and Mars on a periodic basis.
(Score: 4, Informative) by frojack on Thursday February 08 2018, @02:55AM
Well, maybe he has more fuel, and can turn around and slow his roll.
By the way, watch this Youtube to get a sense of the sound of this rocket, and the triple sonic booms as the boosters land.
https://youtu.be/ImoQqNyRL8Y [youtu.be]
Play this video with headphones, or at least your best ear buds. Turn it up.
It uses BINAURAL AUDIO IMMERSION [theverge.com]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:50AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by martyb on Friday February 09 2018, @02:21AM
Might want to take a look at this diagram from Elon Musk: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/961083704230674438/photo/1 [twitter.com].
On the diagram, I see: "Apohelion (AU) 2.61" and "Perihelion (AU) 0.98".
The path goes far enough beyond Mars that it nearly approaches the orbit of Ceres [wikipedia.org]!
Wit is intellect, dancing.