Comments on: Watch SpaceX retract one leg from used Block 5 booster https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/watch-spacex-retract-one-leg-from-used-block-5-booster/ Mon, 30 Jul 2018 23:36:40 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Edward https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/watch-spacex-retract-one-leg-from-used-block-5-booster/#comment-1056719 Mon, 30 Jul 2018 23:36:40 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=52913#comment-1056719 Kirk,
I’m going to go with the “planned as just a test” option. They did not seem set up to secure the leg to the body.

When they install the legs, it is almost certainly not in the open position but in the closed position, so this is probably new territory for them.

My guess is that they were there to prove the concept, to test the hoisting equipment, and to verify the methods and procedures. They may also be investigating what it takes to get that pusher to seat properly in the stainless cup during retraction.

]]> By: Kirk https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/watch-spacex-retract-one-leg-from-used-block-5-booster/#comment-1056715 Mon, 30 Jul 2018 20:32:55 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=52913#comment-1056715 Back to the leg pusher, this Teslarati photo of the West Coast booster B1048 (from last Wednesday’s Iridium Next 7 launch) shows the stainless steel cup which the pusher bears against.

]]> By: Tom Billings https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/watch-spacex-retract-one-leg-from-used-block-5-booster/#comment-1056709 Mon, 30 Jul 2018 15:26:36 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=52913#comment-1056709 “Though SpaceX has clearly succeeded in simplifying and automating this process, it remains slow and complex. In time this will get easier, but right now, this remains state of the art.”

Indeed, this will be entirely disrupted, when the BFR Booster simply lands back in its cradle.

]]> By: Kirk https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/watch-spacex-retract-one-leg-from-used-block-5-booster/#comment-1056705 Mon, 30 Jul 2018 14:28:21 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=52913#comment-1056705 Oops. Trailing partial sentence above is an editing error.

In other SpaceX news from the NSF forum, one member is reporting that last week’s ASAP meeting revealed that “some undesirable anomalies were observed” during the first two Block 5 engine tear downs, and that SpaceX is making “a couple short term fixes” prior to the DM1 uncrewed flight test. I believe that many core watchers had expected the DM1 core, # B1051, to have left Hawthorne for McGregor by now. Perhaps those engine modifications have delayed it a bit.

]]> By: Kirk https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/watch-spacex-retract-one-leg-from-used-block-5-booster/#comment-1056704 Mon, 30 Jul 2018 14:14:01 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=52913#comment-1056704 Interesting. Makes you wonder if it was planned as just a test all along, or if something didn’t quite work right.

I had wondered if any manual intervention would be necessary to ensure that the pusher (the small pneumatic strut hinged just below the large leg strut) would require any manual intervention to ensure that it made proper contact with the folding leg. I see that at 8:55 in the video a worker in a cherry picker leans in and adjusts the pusher angle slightly.

What I couldn’t tell from the retraction video was whether they needed to do anything special to pusher (the smaller rod

]]> By: Jeff https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/watch-spacex-retract-one-leg-from-used-block-5-booster/#comment-1056700 Mon, 30 Jul 2018 11:14:30 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=52913#comment-1056700 Apparently this was only a test, as the leg was lowered and all four legs removed yesterday.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=45842.msg1842074#msg1842074

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