Flight 4 of Falcon 1

[simonpro]

If they placed a dummy payload into Orbit, the payload is space debris and should appear in the TLE files soon.

There was no payload separation mechanism, their satellite simulator remains attached to the upper stage. I was assuming they were going to deorbit the whole thing with another burn, but it looks like it's up there for good now.
Pity it's orbit wasn't a bit lower so it would decay this side of 2100 though.

The JSR has the Falcon 1 second stage with "RatSat" in a 621x643 kmx9.3° orbit: http://planet4589.org/space/jsr/latest.html

That's correct, it's appeared on the space command database about an hour ago. (2008-048A/B)

 

[Urwumpe]

They also mention a restart of the second stage, so this could explain the 5200 m/s figure at (the first) SECO.

 

[Jarvitä]

Actually, in the youtube video of the launch, the velocity of 5200 m/s is announced several minutes before the first SECO, which makes sense since the initial orbit after first SECO was 340 x 650km x 5°, which was later circularised to 621 x 643km x 9.35° according to Wikipedia and Spacex.

 

[thomasantony]

Your wish is my command Mr B. This one is 43 minutes long and has the whole launch sequence.

YouTube - SpaceX reaches orbit with Falcon 1 - Flight 4 (full video including Elon Musk statement)

Apart from at YT, it's also available at a site called spacevidcast.com

I must also be a jinxer . Thx for the link. Now I can watch the whole 45 minutes!!

Congratz SpaceX!! Can't wait for the monster Falcon 9 and Dragon to take off.

~
Thomas

 

[astrosammy]

Have they recovered the first stage already?

 

[Andy44]

First all-liquid private rocket.
The Orbital Sciences Pegasus vehicle was the first private orbital launch vehicle, it launched for the first time about 16 years ago.
Not that Elon cares about that today though.

Guess it depends on what you mean by "private". All the launch vehicles the US has used are built by private companies, although some were built to government design specs such as the Saturn family and STS. The Minotaur is made from recycled ICBM stages, so I would harldy call that "all private". SpaceX may have the best claim to the title, although the government will wind up being one of their main customers and has shown intense interest in the Falcon series.

 

[Woo482]

has any one got a link to the falcon 1 for orbiter ?

 

[tl8]

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3318"]Space-X launchers and Dragon v0,58[/ame]

 

[Woo482]

Thanks

 

[eveningsky339]

has any one got a link to the falcon 1 for orbiter ?

Here you go:

http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3318

 

[Woo482]

thanks to you as well (but you both gave me the same link)

 

[eveningsky339]

Drat, foiled again.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Actually and unfortunately, I was reading Pegasus's article on Wikipedia (yea I know ok) and it looks like they truly hold the title of first private orbital vehicle. However, SpaceX is conventional vertical launch rocket with more payload so they still win!

 

[n122vu]

has any one got a link to the falcon 1 for orbiter ?

If you download the A.R.T. (Apophis Rendezvous and Tagging) addon, it includes the Omelek launch site which you can use with the Falcon 1.1.4 linked by eveningsky339. You can get it here:

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3470"]A.R.T.[/ame]

 

[tblaxland]

Have they recovered the first stage already?

From the Spaceflight Now article:

The Falcon 1's first stage is designed to be recovered by a team of engineers stationed in the Pacific Ocean downrange from the launch site, but early data analyses indicated the stage from Sunday's launch was likely destroyed as it plunged back into the atmosphere.

Musk said engineers did not have enough time to add enough improvements to the first stage thermal protection system to ensure it would survive re-entry.

"It most likely did not survive re-entry, but we knew that before liftoff," Musk said. "When it comes to Flight 5, we are going to improve the thermal protection and I think that's going to give us a decent chance of recovering the stage."

SpaceX wants to reuse Falcon 1 first stages in the future, but Musk said it may be several flights before that goal becomes viable. Reusability would help drive down the rocket's price to customers, according to Musk.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Hmm...they'll be adding unflown stuff to a rocket with an already shaky history. I don't know, frankly I'd say to heck with recovery, you've got a system that works, don't screw with it for now.

 

[Arrowstar]

Hmm...they'll be adding unflown stuff to a rocket with an already shaky history. I don't know, frankly I'd say to heck with recovery, you've got a system that works, don't screw with it for now.

Part of me agrees, part of me does not. While I think everyone can agree that modifications to the Falcon LVs has caused some issues in the past, I also think that SpaceX is getting smarter and that *someone* needs to start mastering resuable LVs. Frankly, if we can get a rocket that can be recovered, refurbished, and reflown, that should be far less costly than remanufacturing rockets for each flight. That should drive down launch costs, always a good thing. We're going to get there some day, might as well do it now and it might as well be SpaceX that does it.

 

[Andy44]

The thing I like about the reusability scheme is that the Falcon program doesn't live or die on it. Unlike STS, if it proves to be too expensive to reuse the Falcon, they can just expend it and keep on flying rockets. Reusability is really just a bonus.

 

[JamesG]

There was no payload separation mechanism, their satellite simulator remains attached to the upper stage. I was assuming they were going to deorbit the whole thing with another burn, but it looks like it's up there for good now.
Pity it's orbit wasn't a bit lower so it would decay this side of 2100 though.

Thats a shame. It shouldn't have been that hard to build a basic RV with a recovery system. Let it orbit enough times so that everyone knows they can do a good stable orbit, then deorbit the RV and upper stage in the vicinity of the launch point to recover it for analysis or to collect all the trinkets they crammed into it to sell on ebay. :lol:

I wonder if the ethics of "orbital pollution" ever occured to them. The lower stage and fairing separation was very messy and produced alot of trash...

 

[tblaxland]

Thats a shame. It shouldn't have been that hard to build a basic RV with a recovery system. Let it orbit enough times so that everyone knows they can do a good stable orbit, then deorbit the RV and upper stage in the vicinity of the launch point to recover it for analysis or to collect all the trinkets they crammed into it to sell on ebay. :lol:

The issue here was time. As I understand it they actually had people interested in launching a satellite on Flight 4 (I guess at a reduced rate, otherwise why bother) but the opportunity cost was too great. From Spaceflight Now:

"The cost of time was greater than what we would have received in payment for the flight, so it was better to fly with a mass simulator sooner," Musk said.

I wonder if the ethics of "orbital pollution" ever occured to them. The lower stage and fairing separation was very messy and produced alot of trash...

Both occurred at sub-orbital velocities so there is no issue.