Falcon Heavy static fire test scrubbed for today
Capitalism in space: SpaceX decided to scrub its Falcon Heavy static fire test today soon after they had loaded propellants into the rocket during countdown.
No details, but it appears to me that they are taking this test very seriously, and approaching each step with care. This was the first time they had loaded the entire Falcon Heavy, and I am not surprised they saw an issue that made them hesitate about continuing.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX decided to scrub its Falcon Heavy static fire test today soon after they had loaded propellants into the rocket during countdown.
No details, but it appears to me that they are taking this test very seriously, and approaching each step with care. This was the first time they had loaded the entire Falcon Heavy, and I am not surprised they saw an issue that made them hesitate about continuing.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Elon has made the point that FH is not just 3 F9s with the center core a major modification. A lot is riding on the FH even though it is already obsolete before its first flight. Business schools will be developing SpaceX case studies for decades.
It’s a living example of Zeno’s paradox. By the time the industry catches up to the FH (if they ever do?) SpaceX will have moved their entire production on to the next level… BFR: one ship to rule them all.
Their caution is well justified because it doesn’t paralyze them from continuing to move forward. Without a visionary at the helm the others can’t make the moves to keep up or surpass. Bezos might get into the game at some point because Blue Origin has both the funding and the possibility of being flexible enough. I think the failures SpaceX had in the passed have given them experience to avoid the slow downs that come with it.
BE-4 looks like it will be a success. While they are going for high performance Raptor has had its thrust lowered. What does Elon know that Jeff doesn’t? Reuse perhaps? What will the life of the Raptor be compared to the BE-4?
This is probably just my perception but it felt like toward the end of last year, there was a bit of a rush and a lot of will/won’t they speculation about getting FH off before the end of the year. Obviously they weren’t worried about launching by the end of the year but now that the time has passed, maybe there is less pressure from the outside and SpaceX feels more comfortable taking a bit more time to get things right.
Adding some extra words cause of a duplicate comment problem. Gee I sure hope this is enough. I am already tired of typing, so tough!
Ran across this: “Wet Dress Rehearsal successful (old news) – static fire was postponed because a minor issue with one of the hold down clamps (update).” It appears the issue was gse related.
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-first-static-fire-test-cape-canaveral-scrubbed
I have not seen this web site before so I do not know its reliability,
Michael,
Thanks for the link. A problem with a hold-down clamp would explain why the rocket was lowered then raised again, this morning.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/01/09/falcon-heavy-demo-flight-preparations/
I noticed that the new test schedule is for sometime between 5PM and 10PM (EST) Tomorrow (Saturday).