Falcon 9 v1.1

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Falcon 9 v1.1

The launch of the first Falcon 9 v1.1 from SLC-4, Vandenberg AFB (Falcon 9 Flight 6) 29 September 2013.
Function Orbital launch vehicle
Manufacturer SpaceX
Country of origin United States
Cost per launch (2014) $56.5M[1]
Size
Height 68.4 m (224 ft)[2]
Diameter 3.66 m (12.0 ft)
Mass 505,846 kg (1,115,200 lb)[2]
Stages 2
Capacity
Payload to LEO 13,150 kg (28,990 lb)[1][2]
Payload to
GTO		 4,850 kg (10,690 lb)[1][2]
Launch history
Status Active
Launch sites Cape Canaveral SLC-40
Vandenberg SLC-4E
Total launches 3
Successes 3
First flight September 29, 2013[3]
First stage
Engines 9 Merlin 1D[2]
Thrust 5,885 kN (1,323,000 lbf)
Specific impulse Sea level: 282 s[4]
Vacuum: 311 s
Burn time 180 seconds
Fuel LOX/RP-1
Second stage
Engines Merlin Vacuum (1D)
Thrust 801 kN (180,000 lbf)
Specific impulse Vacuum: 342 s [5]
Burn time 375 seconds
Fuel LOX/RP-1

Falcon 9 v1.1 is the second version of SpaceX's rocket-powered spaceflight launch system. It was developed in 2010-2013, and made its maiden launch in September 2013. It is both designed and manufactured by SpaceX, headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It is currently the only active rocket of the Falcon rocket family.

Falcon 9 v1.1 is a new vehicle design, with 60 percent more thrust and weight, than the Falcon 9 v1.0 launch vehicle. It flew for the first time on a demonstration mission on the sixth overall launch of any Falcon 9 on September 29, 2013.[6]

Both stages of this two-stage-to-orbit vehicle use liquid oxygen (LOX) and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellants. The Falcon 9 v1.1 can lift payloads of 13,150 kilograms (28,990 lb) to low Earth orbit, and 4,850 kilograms (10,690 lb) to geostationary transfer orbit, which places the Falcon 9 design in the medium-lift range of launch systems.

The Falcon 9 v1.1 and Dragon capsule combination will be used, beginning in early 2014, to resupply the International Space Station under a contract with NASA. SpaceX is developing the Falcon 9 v1.1 to be able to carry humans and has a contract with NASA for developing and testing several additional technologies to enable it to carry NASA astronauts. No contracts for NASA astronaut missions have yet been signed.

Design

The base Falcon 9 v1.1 is a two stage, LOX/RP-1 powered launch vehicle.

First stage

Falcon 9 v1.0 (left) and v1.1 (right) engine configurations

The Falcon 9 v1.1 uses a first stage powered by nine Merlin 1D engines.[7][8] Development testing of the v1.1 Falcon 9 first stage was completed in July 2013.[9][10] The v1.1 first stage has a total sea-level thrust at liftoff of 5,885 kilonewtons (1,323,000 lbf), with the nine engines burning for a nominal 180 seconds, while stage thrust rises to 6,672 kilonewtons (1,500,000 lbf) as the booster climbs out of the atmosphere.[11] The nine first stage engines are arranged in a structural form SpaceX calls an Octaweb. This change from the v1.0 Falcon 9's square arrangement is aimed at streamlining the manufacturing process.[12]

Selected future flights will include four extensible landing legs.[13] These are part of SpaceX's effort to develop a reusable rocket launching system. Later F9R flights will have, when the technology is sufficiently developed, full vertical-landing capability.[14][15]

SpaceX intends to ultimately produce both Reusable Falcon 9 and Reusable Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. Initial atmospheric testing of prototype vehicles is being conducted on the Grasshopper experimental technology-demonstrator reusable launch vehicle (RLV), in addition to the booster controlled-descent and landing tests described above on some Falcon 9 launches.[16]

The v1.1 first stage uses a pyrophoric mixture of triethylaluminum-triethylborane (TEA-TEB) as a first-stage ignitor, the same as was used in the v1.0 version.[17]

Like the Falcon 9 v1.0 and the Saturn series from the Apollo program, the presence of multiple first stage engines can allow for mission completion even if one of the first-stage engines fails mid-flight.[18][19]

Second stage

The upper stage is powered by a single Merlin 1D engine modified for vacuum operation.

The interstage, which connects the upper and lower stage for Falcon 9, is a carbon fiber aluminum core composite structure. Reusable separation collets and a pneumatic pusher system separate the stages. The Falcon 9 tank walls and domes are made from aluminum lithium alloy. SpaceX uses an all-friction stir welded tank, the highest strength and most reliable welding technique available. The second stage tank of Falcon 9 is simply a shorter version of the first stage tank and uses most of the same tooling, material and manufacturing techniques. This saves money during vehicle production.[18]

Payload fairing

The fairing design was completed by SpaceX, with production of the 13 m (43 ft)-long, 5.2 m (17 ft)-diameter payload fairing in Hawthorne, California.

Testing of the new fairing design was completed at NASA's Plum Brook Station facility in spring 2013 where acoustic shock, mechanical vibration, and electromagnetc static discharge conditions were simulated. Tests were done on a full-size test article in vacuum chamber. SpaceX paid NASA US$581,300 to lease test time in the $150M NASA simulation chamber facility.[20]

The first flight of a Falcon 9 v1.1 (CASSIOPE, September 2013) was the first launch configured with a payload fairing.[20] The fairing separated without incident during the launch of CASSIOPE as well as the two subsequent GTO insertion missions. In Dragon missions, the capsule protects any small satellites, negating the need for a fairing.

Control

SpaceX uses multiple redundant flight computers in a fault-tolerant design. Each Merlin engine is controlled by three voting computers, each of which has two physical processors that constantly check each other. The software runs on Linux and is written in C++.

For flexibility, commercial off-the-shelf parts and system-wide "radiation-tolerant" design are used instead of rad-hardened parts.[21] Falcon 9 v1.1 continues to utilize the triple redundant flight computers and inertial navigation—with GPS overlay for additional orbit insertion accuracy—that were originally used in the Falcon 9 v1.0.[18]

Development and production

From left to right, Falcon 1, Falcon 9 v1.0, Falcon 9 v1.1 and Falcon Heavy

Production and testing history

A test of the ignition system for the Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage was conducted in April 2013.[22] On 1 June 2013, a ten-second firing of the Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage occurred; a full-duration, 3-minute firing was expected a few days later.[23][24]

By September 2013, SpaceX total manufacturing space had increased to nearly 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) and the factory had been configured to achieve a production rate of up to 40 rocket cores per year, for both the Falcon 9 v1.1 and the tri-core Falcon Heavy.[25] The November 2013 production rate for Falcon 9 vehicles was one per month. The company has stated that this will increase to 18 per year in mid-2014, and will be 24 launch vehicles per year by the end of 2014.[26]

Other launcher versions

There have been two versions of the Falcon 9. The original Falcon 9 flew five successful orbital launches in 2010–2013, while the much larger Falcon 9 v1.1 made its first flight—a demonstration mission with a very small 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) primary payload that was manifested at a "cut rate price" due to the demo mission nature of the flight[27]—on September 29, 2013. SpaceX absorbed most of the cost of the demo flight.

The Falcon 9 v1.1 is a 60 percent heavier rocket with 60 percent more thrust than the v1.0 version of the Falcon 9.[27] It includes realigned first-stage engines[28] and 60 percent longer fuel tanks, making it more susceptible to bending during flight.[27] The engines themselves were upgraded to the more powerful Merlin 1D. These improvements have increased the payload capability from 9,000 kilograms (20,000 lb) on the Falcon 9 v1.0 to 13,150 kilograms (28,990 lb).[29] The stage separation system was redesigned and reduced the number of attachment points from twelve to three.[27] The avionics and software have been upgraded in the v1.1 version as well.[27] The v1.1 first stage will also be used as side boosters on the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle.[30]

A third version of the rocket is under development. The Falcon 9-R, a reusable variant of the Falcon 9 family, is being developed using systems and software technology being developed as part of the SpaceX reusable launch system development program by SpaceX to facilitate rapid reusability of both the first and second stages.[31] Various technologies are being tested on the Grasshopper technology demonstrator, as well as some flights of the Falcon 9 v1.1 on which post-mission booster controlled-descent tests are being conducted.

Future reusability

Main article: SpaceX reusable launch system development program

The Falcon 9 v1.1 includes several aspects of reusable launch vehicle technology included in its design, as of the initial v1.1 launch in September 2013 (throttleable and restartable engines on the first stage, a first stage tank design that can structurally accommodate the future addition of landing legs, etc.). However, a number of aspects of the reusable technology have not yet finished development, nor test, in late 2013, only two years after SpaceX committed to a privately funded development program with the goal to obtain full and rapid reusability of both stages of the launch vehicle. The v1.1 launch vehicle is thus an interim design, on a path to a more ambitious SpaceX RLV, the Reusable Falcon 9 and the Reusable Falcon Heavy.

Design was complete on the system for "bringing the rocket back to launchpad using only thrusters" in February 2012.[32] The reusable launch system technology is being considered for both the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy, and is considered particularly well suited to the Falcon Heavy where the two outer cores separate from the rocket much earlier in the flight profile, and are therefore moving at slower velocity at stage separation.[32]

A reusable first stage is now being flight tested by SpaceX with the suborbital Grasshopper rocket.[33] By April 2013, a low-altitude, low-speed demonstration test vehicle, Grasshopper v1.0, had made seven VTVL test flights from late-2012 through August 2013, including a 61-second hover flight to an altitude of 250 metres (820 ft).

In March 2013, SpaceX announced that, beginning with the first flight of the stretch version of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle (Falcon 9 v1.1)—which flew in September 2013—every first stage would be instrumented and equipped as a controlled descent test vehicle. SpaceX intends to do propulsive-return over-water tests and "will continue doing such tests until they can do a return to the launch site and a powered landing. ... [They] expect several failures before they 'learn how to do it right.'"[14] For the early-fall 2013 flight, after stage separation, the first stage booster will do a burn to slow it down and then a second burn just before it reaches the water. When all of the over-water testing is complete, they intend to fly back to the launch site and land propulsively, perhaps as early as mid-2014.[14][15] SpaceX has been explicit that they do not expect a successful recovery in the first several powered-descent tests. [15]

Photos of the first test of the restartable ignition system for the reusable Falcon 9—the Falcon 9-R— nine-engine v1.1 circular- engine configuration were released in April 2013.[22]

Post-mission high-altitude launch vehicle testing of Falcon 9 v1.1 boosters

The post-mission test plan calls for the first stage booster on the sixth Falcon 9 flight, and several subsequent F9 flights, to do a burn to reduce the rocket's horizontal velocity and then effect a second burn just before it reaches the water. SpaceX announced the test program in March 2013, and their intention to continue to conduct such tests until they can return to the launch site and perform a powered landing.[14]

Falcon 9 Flight 6's first stage performed the first propulsive-return over-water tests on 29 September 2013.[34] Although not a complete success, the stage was able to change direction and make a controlled entry into the atmosphere.[34] During the final landing burn, the ACS thrusters could not overcome an aerodynamically induced spin, and centrifugal force deprived the landing engine of fuel leading to early engine shutdown and a hard splashdown which destroyed the first stage. Pieces of wreckage were recovered for further study.[34] Elon Musk stated that Falcon 9 Flight 10, in 2014, will be the next attempt to recover a first stage.[35]

Launch sites

SpaceX is using both Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Launch Complex 4A at Vandenberg Air Force Base for launching Falcon 9 v1.1 rockets. The Vandenberg site was first used by SpaceX for the first v1.1 launch, on 29 Sep 2013.[34][36]

A third site, intended solely for commercial launches, is currently being planned, with locations in Texas, Florida, Georgia, or Puerto Rico being evaluated before a final decision is made.[37][38]

Launch prices

As of March 2013, Falcon 9 launch prices are $4,109 per kilogram ($1,864/lb) to low-Earth orbit when the launch vehicle is transporting its maximum cargo weight.[39]

According to SpaceX in May 2011, a standard Falcon 9 v1.0 launch would cost $54 million ($1,862/lb), while NASA Dragon cargo missions to the ISS will have an average cost of $133 million.[40] The first twelve missions contracted to NASA were done at one time, so no price change is reflected for the v1.1 launches as opposed to the v1.0 launches. The contract was for a specific amount of cargo carried to, and returned from, the Space Station over a fixed number of flights.

Secondary payload services

Falcon 9 payload services include secondary and tertiary payload connection via an ESPA-ring, the same interstage adapter first utilized for launching secondary payloads on US DoD missions that utilize the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV) Atlas V and Delta IV. This reduces launch costs[citation needed] for the primary mission and enables secondary and even tertiary missions with minimal impact to the original mission. As of 2011, SpaceX announced pricing for ESPA-compatible payloads on the Falcon 9.[41]

Launch history

For more details on this topic, see List of Falcon 9 launches.

As of January 2014, SpaceX has made three launches of the Falcon 9 v1.1,[42] and eight total launches of any Falcon 9 rocket since 2010. All eight have successfully delivered their primary payloads to either Low Earth orbit or Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.

The first launch of the substantially upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 vehicle successfully flew on 29 September 2013, [34][43]

The maiden launch included a number of "firsts":[3][44]

  • First use of the upgraded Merlin 1D engines, generating approximately 56 percent more sea-level thrust than the Merlin 1C engines used on all previous Falcon 9 vehicles.
  • First use of the significantly longer first stage, which holds the additional propellant for the more powerful engines.
  • The nine Merlin 1D engines on the first stage are arranged in an octagonal pattern with eight engines in a circle and the ninth in the center.[12]
  • First launch from SpaceX's new launch facility, Space Launch Complex 4, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and also the first launch over the Pacific ocean using the facilities of the Pacific test range.
  • First Falcon 9 launch to carry a satellite payload for a commercial customer, and also the first non-CRS mission. Each prior Falcon 9 launch was of a Dragon capsule or a Dragon-shaped test article, although SpaceX has previously successfully launched and deployed a satellite on the Falcon 1, Flight 5 mission.
  • First Falcon 9 launch to have a jettisonable payload fairing, which introduces the risk of an additional separation event.

While a number of the new capabilities were successfully tested on the flight, there was an issue with the second stage on 29 Sep 2013. SpaceX was unsuccessful in reigniting the second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine once the rocket had deployed its primary payload (CASSIOPE) and all of its nanosat secondary payloads.[45] The restart failure was determined to be frozen igniter fluid lines in the second-stage Merlin 1D engine. A minor redesign was done to address the problem by adding additional insulation to the lines.[26]

"A second burn of the upper stage will be required during SpaceX’s next mission, intended to place the SES-8 telecommunications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit for satellite operator SES of Luxembourg."[45]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Capabilities & Services". SpaceX. Retrieved 28 September 2013. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Falcon 9". SpaceX. Retrieved 28 September 2013. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Graham, Will. "SpaceX successfully launches debut Falcon 9 v1.1". NASASpaceFlight. Retrieved 29 September 2013. 
  4. ↑ "Falcon 9". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013. 
  5. ↑ "SpaceX Falcon 9 Upper Stage Engine Successfully Completes Full Mission Duration Firing" (Press release). SpaceX. March 10, 2009. 
  6. ↑ "SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch in California". CBS News. Retrieved 29 September 2013. 
  7. ↑ "The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation: 2012". Federal Aviation Administration. February 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2013. 
  8. ↑ Clark, Stephen (2012-05-18). "Q&A with SpaceX founder and chief designer Elon Musk". SpaceFlightNow. Retrieved 2013-03-05. 
  9. ↑ "SpaceX Test-fires Upgraded Falcon 9 Core for Three Minutes". Space News. Retrieved 2013-08-11. 
  10. ↑ Bergin, Chris (20 June 2013). "Reducing risk via ground testing is a recipe for SpaceX success". NASASpaceFlight (not affiliated with NASA). Retrieved 21 June 2013. 
  11. ↑ "Falcon 9". SpaceX. Retrieved 2013-08-02. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Octaweb". SpaceX News. 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-07-30. "The Octaweb structure of the nine Merlin engines improves upon the former 3x3 engine arrangement. The Octaweb is a metal structure that supports eight engines surrounding a center engine at the base of the launch vehicle. This structure simplifies the design and assembly of the engine section, streamlining our manufacturing process." 
  13. ↑ "Landing Legs". SpaceX News. 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-07-30. "The Falcon 9 first stage carries landing legs which will deploy after stage separation and allow for the rocket’s soft return to Earth. The four legs are made of state-of-the-art carbon fiber with aluminum honeycomb. Placed symmetrically around the base of the rocket, they stow along the side of the vehicle during liftoff and later extend outward and down for landing." 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Lindsey, Clark (2013-03-28). "SpaceX moving quickly towards fly-back first stage". NewSpace Watch. Retrieved 2013-03-29. (subscription required (help)). 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Messier, Doug (2013-03-28). "Dragon Post-Mission Press Conference Notes". Parabolic Arc. Retrieved 2013-03-30. "Q. What is strategy on booster recover? Musk: Initial recovery test will be a water landing. First stage continue in ballistic arc and execute a velocity reduction burn before it enters atmosphere to lessen impact. Right before splashdown, will light up the engine again. Emphasizes that we don’t expect success in the first several attempts. Hopefully next year with more experience and data, we should be able to return the first stage to the launch site and do a propulsion landing on land using legs. Q. Is there a flight identified for return to launch site of the booster? Musk: No. Will probably be the middle of next year." 
  16. ↑ "SpaceX's reusable rocket testbed takes first hop". 2012-09-24. Retrieved 2012-11-07. 
  17. ↑ Mission Status Center, June 2, 2010, 1905 GMT, SpaceflightNow, accessed 2010-06-02, Quotation: "The flanges will link the rocket with ground storage tanks containing liquid oxygen, kerosene fuel, helium, gaserous nitrogen and the first stage ignitor source called triethylaluminum-triethylborane, better known as TEA-TAB."
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 "Falcon 9 Overview". SpaceX. 8 May 2010. 
  19. ↑ Behind the Scenes With the World's Most Ambitious Rocket Makers, Popular Mechanics, 2009-09-01, accessed 2012-12-11. "It is the first since the Saturn series from the Apollo program to incorporate engine-out capability—that is, one or more engines can fail and the rocket will still make it to orbit."
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Mangels, John (2013-05-25). "NASA's Plum Brook Station tests rocket fairing for SpaceX". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved 2013-05-27. 
  21. ↑ Svitak, Amy (2012-11-18). "Dragon's "Radiation-Tolerant" Design". Aviation Week. Retrieved 2012-11-22. 
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 First test of the Falcon 9-R (reusable) ignition system, 28 April 2013
  23. ↑ Abbott, Joesph (3 June 2013). "SpaceX finally tests new rocket". WacoTrib. Retrieved 4 June 2013. 
  24. ↑ Abbot, Joseph (2013-04-26). "Heads up: SpaceX testing is about to get louder". Waco Tribune. Retrieved 2013-04-28. 
  25. ↑ "Production at SpaceX". SpaceX. 2013-09-24. Retrieved 2013-09-29. 
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Svitak, Amy (2013-11-24). "Musk: Falcon 9 Will Capture Market Share". Aviation Week. Retrieved 2013-12-02. "SpaceX is currently producing one vehicle per month, but that number is expected to increase to '18 per year in the next couple of quarters.' By the end of 2014, she says SpaceX will produce 24 launch vehicles per year." 
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 Klotz, Irene (2013-09-06). "Musk Says SpaceX Being "Extremely Paranoid" as It Readies for Falcon 9’s California Debut". Space News. Retrieved 2013-09-13. 
  28. ↑ "Falcon 9's commercial promise to be tested in 2013". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 17 November 2012. 
  29. ↑ "SpaceX Capabilities and Services". webpage. SpaceX. 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-09. 
  30. ↑ "Space Launch report, SpaceX Falcon Data Sheet". Retrieved 2011-07-29. 
  31. ↑ Abbott, Joseph (2013-05-08). "SpaceX’s Grasshopper leaping to NM spaceport". Waco Tribune. Retrieved 2013-05-09. 
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Simberg, Rand (2012-02-08). "Elon Musk on SpaceX’s Reusable Rocket Plans". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2013-03-08. 
  33. ↑ Boyle, Alan (2012-12-24). "SpaceX launches its Grasshopper rocket on 12-story-high hop in Texas". MSNBC Cosmic Log. Retrieved 2012-12-25. 
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 Graham, William (2013-09-29). "SpaceX successfully launches debut Falcon 9 v1.1". NASAspaceflight.com. Archived from the original on 2013-09-29. Retrieved 2013-09-29. 
  35. ↑ Messier, Doug (2013-09-29). "Falcon 9 Launches Payloads into Orbit From Vandenberg". Parabolic Arc. Retrieved 2013-09-30. 
  36. ↑ "SpaceX Press Conference". Retrieved 2012-11-06. 
  37. ↑ "Texas, Florida Battle for SpaceX Spaceport". Parabolic Arc. Retrieved 2012-11-06. 
  38. ↑ Dean, James (2013-05-07). "3 states vie for SpaceX's commercial rocket launches". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2013-09-29. 
  39. ↑ Upgraded Spacex Falcon 9.1.1 will launch 25% more than the old Falcon 9 and bring the price down to $4109 per kilogram to LEO, NextBigFuture, 22 Mar 2013.
  40. ↑ http://www.spacex.com/usa.php
  41. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2011-08-22). "New opportunities for smallsat launches". The Space Review. Retrieved 2011-09-27. "SpaceX ... developed prices for flying those secondary payloads ... A P-POD would cost between $200,000 and $325,000 for missions to LEO, or $350,000 to $575,000 for missions to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). An ESPA-class satellite weighing up to 180 kilograms would cost $4–5 million for LEO missions and $7–9 million for GTO missions, he said." 
  42. ↑ de Selding, Peter B. (6 January 2014). "SpaceX Delivers Thaicom-6 Satellite to Orbit". Space News. Retrieved 7 January 2014. 
  43. ↑ "Spaceflight Now - Worldwide launch schedule". Spaceflight Now Inc. 1 June 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2013. 
  44. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2013-03-27). "After Dragon, SpaceX’s focus returns to Falcon". NewSpace Journal. Retrieved 2013-04-05. 
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Ferster, Warren (2013-09-29). "Upgraded Falcon 9 Rocket Successfully Debuts from Vandenberg". Space News. Retrieved 2013-09-30. 

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