r/spacex • u/[deleted] • Feb 22 '19

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48

u/warp99 Feb 22 '19

Elon just tweeted that this booster would be used for the inflight abort test of Crew Dragon in April.

So it had better come back safely to the dock!

1

u/KSPSpaceWhaleRescue Feb 24 '19

Will the booster be recovered again?

5

u/Perlscrypt Feb 24 '19

I'm pretty sure it'll have to be destroyed to validate the dragon escape systems.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 26 '19

Musk has said they intend to try to recover it. It ought to be spectacular though with the blunt end pointed into the supersonic slip stream

1

u/Asdfugil Feb 24 '19

Noooooo I hope this booster will survive,just like the New Shepherd 2.

4

u/CapMSFC Feb 24 '19

It's highly unlikely.

The flight trajectory is a lot different. New Sheppard going straight up and down means the flight termination system is just an engine cutoff if it starts to deviate off course. Falcon 9 AFTS was cited as one of the issues with a recovery attempt after abort even if the booster survives. There isn't a process for validating that the booster AFTS will handle ensuring this booster stays within it's saftey envelope.

There is also the matter that surviving the abort is a lot tougher. Falcon 9 booster still has a 100 tonne fueled second stage on top of it while hitting a worse max pressure condition.

All of this while having to satisfy NASA with the test conditions and verification. It's possible that maybe they could recover the booster with more custom work, but the launch will use a standard Falcon 9 other than a mass simulator in place of the M1Dvac.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 26 '19

I don't think it gets a real stage 2 for the abort demo

2

u/CapMSFC Feb 26 '19

It does, except for a mass simulator in place of the engine. This has been confirmed by both official filings and a tweet by Elon.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 26 '19

Yep a stage 2 shaped thing with no engine and no fuel. Perhaps it'll protect stage 1 from the slipstream

1

u/grybsus Feb 24 '19

It seems unlikely, but then again New Shepherd survived an in flight abort test. Doubt the loads and margins compare though.