Ride Along On SpaceX's Emergency Pad Abort Test [Video] | Popular Science - 0 views
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One such method is the pad abort test; it's a failsafe the Dragon will use on the launch pad in case the area becomes unexpectedly dangerous. Let's say a booster falls off before liftoff, spewing fire everywhere. SpaceX can initiate the pad abort, which will carry the capsule and its crew to safety. Eight SuperDraco engines embedded in the walls of the Dragon fire up and rocket the vehicle away from the dangerous launch pad.
The May 6 test demonstrated how the pad abort test would work, jettisoning the Dragon off of a launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. No humans were on board for the ride, but SpaceX just released a video of the procedure, from the point of view of the spacecraft itself. Take a look below, and learn about the different phases of the test here.
NASA Releases Astronauts' Awe-Inspiring GoPro Footage (UPDATED) | GOOD - 0 views
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After 30 years of missions, NASA finally retired its aging space fleet in 2011. Since then, they've been dependent on Russian capsules to take Americans to and from the ISS, at the prohibitive cost of about $70 billion per astronaut. But recently signed deals with Boeing and SpaceX are supposed to fill the gap, using commercial spacecraft to transport station personnel. Much of the maintenance shown in Wilmore and Virt's video is in preparation for these commercial flights, which are meant to commence in 2017. The footage was intended to give future astronauts an idea of what working on the station would be like when they arrived. Here is a short edit of the clips from the AP:
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Update 5:53 p.m. Well that was quick. High upper altitude winds scrubbed the launch for tonight, so SpaceX will have to try again tomorrow. See you then!
Update 5:50 p.m. We're getting ready to roll! The SpaceX livestream is up and running, with some snappy elevator music to keep us occupied until we see what's going on at the launch pad.
Original story below:
For SpaceX tonight, it's time for round two of "catch the rocket."
The company will attempt to launch another Falcon 9 rocket at 6:05 p.m. ET. On board is the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), a satellite designed to orbit the Earth and keep a lookout for incoming solar storms that can muck up communication and power systems.
DSCOVR has waited 17 long years to get into space, making this launch particularly exciting. But an extra-special part of this mission happens after launch: The majority of the Falcon 9 rocket will attempt to safely land itself on an autonomous drone ship floating in the Atlantic Ocean. If the feat is successful, it'll be a big step toward a future in which reusable rockets may become the norm.
Typically, most of a rocket is either destroyed or lost after it leaves the launch pad, never to be recovered. This makes space travel pricey because an entirely new rocket must be built for every launch. SpaceX hopes to change that paradigm by recovering as much of the rocket as it can for reuse in future launches. And that could drastically reduce the cost of spaceflight.
To save its rockets, SpaceX now equips them with "hypersonic grid fins." These pop-out devices slow and guide the Falcon 9 toward its target, and they're powered by a hydraulic system that releases fluids over time to control the descent. In a previous attempt to land a Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX apparently didn't store enough hydraulic fluid in the system. The result: The rocket hit its target a bit too hard: