SpaceX Dragon gets green-light for launch to Space Station
Elon Musk's SpaceX is getting ready to make history after its Dragon spacecraft was given the go-ahead for a 30 April launch for its resupply mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule with 'Draco' rockets in action. Credit: SpaceX The cargoship test flight, assuming it goes off without a hitch, will mark …
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Errr. software?
I think "the software to get the craft to fly right beside the fast-moving ISS and stay there has not been tried" is a bit of journalistic licence (cough...) to say "the interaction between the hard- and software has not been tried in space".
Would be most surprised to learn it was not tried on the ground...
Re: Errr. software?
Say what you want about the Russians, but it seems they've got the automatic self-piloting approach and docking system down cold on the Progress, as well as their backup manual human tele-operated system.
Interesting to note here that the SpaceX unmanned cargo freighter -- as well as the Japanese and ESA freighters -- can still only pull alongside and stationkeep while the RMS is deployed to pluck them up and mate them to the hatch. No surprise, though, as I'm sure the hardware and software for unmanned autopiloted rendezvous, approach and docking cost a buttload to develop and test.
got insurance?
"the software to get the craft to fly right beside the fast-moving ISS and stay there has not been tried" - anyone else getting a mental image of the craft crashing right into the ISS?
Re: got insurance?
Apparently the answer is yes. The Russian probe that ditched it was insured.
(Mine is the one with the insurance documents in the pocket)
Re: got insurance?
"anyone else getting a mental image of the craft crashing right into the ISS?"
I have to confess that was one of my first thoughts.
No worries, she'll be right.
If the European ATV can dock & the Japanese HTV can dock & the software's hardly a secret then I'm sure that Dragon can dock, no worries.
Not reall docking
Dragon and the HTV can't dock themselves. They obviously have the "plumbing" to connect but they don't have the systems to dock. They rely on getting close enough to the ISS to be grabbed and manually docked by the crew on the ISS using the arm to make the connection. ATV however is completley autonomous. Once launched it finds the ISS, catches up and matches orbit with ISS, and lines itself up for docking. It then performs all the required manouvers itself to complete docking including lining up the ports and making the connection. ISS crew are only required as a failsafe. ATV includes much more than software to achieve this, GPS, laser guidance etc. plus a multitude of redundant safety systems.
Re: Not reall docking
Yeah but Elite on the Acorn Electron could manage auto-docking at a space station ... how hard can it be? ;)
Elite
Docking computers used to scrape the sides quite often.
Re: Elite
"Docking computers used to scrape the sides quite often"
Well then, don't let those docking computers fly around freely where they can do that kind of damage.
Anyway, fenders, strips of styrofoam, bits of old tyres are tried and tested ways of minimising scrapes. Or they should send a bag of polyfilla and a tin of paint up with the rest of the payload.
"Have you put the bins out"
"1,400 pounds of material to take back to Earth."
'Mom, the honey wagon has arrived'
A toast to Elon Musk and his team! They will be first on Mars, I bet.
Who reckons the DragonX explosion will be bigger than the North Korean one last week?
This will be one pricey firework...
I'm going to dust off my copy of Heinlein's "Rolling Stones" in homage to this.
Goosebumps - seriously.
"....the cargo isn't critical stuff for the astronauts...."
They've put the cheese on another spacecraft this time then?
Re: "....the cargo isn't critical stuff for the astronauts...."
Unfortunately no-one had thought through the implications of a well matured Brie aboard the ISS.
Cheese
Confirmed. Cheese comes from the Russians. But I'm sure Elon will have thought to send some freeze dried shrimp cocktail.
FoB LEO
I hope they send up replacement solar cells for Sprit and Opportunity. Still a long way to go though.
A job for PARISS?
"SpaceX has already proved that the Dragon can clear Earth's atmosphere and fly about, and even be retrieved from the Pacific Ocean when it comes back"
Sounds to me like PARIS almost met this criteria too....
"El Reg Special Project Bureau already proved that their paper aeroplanes can clear Earth's atmosphere and fly about, and even be retrieved from the spanish outback when it comes back"
So, after LOHAN, how about....
Paper
Aeroplane
Rendezvous with
ISS
Fast-moving?
It's all relative, innit. If you're in more or less the same orbit already you are doing more or less the same speed. And the ISS is infinitely more predictable in its movements than that tosser in the hot hatch ahead of you on the M25.
Agreed.
But why do such elementary aspects of Galilean reference frames and Newtonian physics have to be pointed out to Reg bloggers, time and time again ?...
Henri
Phenominally (relatively speaking) quick from conception to now.
I read they're knocking the dragons out at on every 3 weeks, the Falcon's the same!
My God, it's gonna be like a scene out of 'Battlestar Galactica' up there in a few years!
Raise a pint to a succesful mission. (I'll stick to my tin of tramp juice).
Re: Phenomenally (relatively speaking) quick from conception to now.
My bad. I meant months, not weeks.
Re: My bad.
I'll drink to it anyway, and look forward to the day when it IS weeks or days instead of months.
"commercially made spacecraft"
In the USA, but I do believe the Russians have been "awfully" commercial for some time.
Commercial means Free Enterprise...
I just looked Commercialism in Wikipedia. They link that concept to Free Enterprise. Roscosmos is not Free Enterprise (neither is NASA or ESA)...
SpaceX and Orbital Sciences are...
I hope the Docking Computers play 'Blue Danube'...
and I also hope it isn't being flown by Jebediah Kerbal!
The cargo isn't critical stuff for the astronauts
But I'd still like to know what they are sending up there.
I strongly suspect that the cargo contains jars for catching moonbeams.
Watching with great hope
This is really exciting! I will be keeping an eye on the mission with fingers crossed that it is successful. This could be genuinely future-changing stuff.
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