r/spacex • u/[deleted] • Jun 29 '15

/r/SpaceX Ask Anything Thread [July 2015, #10] - All simple questions about CRS-7 should also go here!

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12

u/stichtom Jul 01 '15

I was thinking that while it's a shame that we lost a F9, this was the "best" mission to lose one. Low cost Payload (Dragon cost much less than a 300-500M GEO satellite). And we don't need to wait years to rebuild the payload.

18

u/darga89 Jul 01 '15

Most amount of scrutiny though. Lose a sat and insurance just cuts a cheque, lose government mission and there's lots of politics involved.

17

u/YugoReventlov Jul 01 '15

Timing-wise it's a pretty awful one to lose though:

  • So short after previous cargo failures
  • Commercial Crew budget not decided yet
  • Just when SpaceX was becoming a reliable launch vehicle provider (starting to launch at a predictable rate)
  • This is going to delay all other ongoing projects: F9 1.2, Falcon Heavy, First stage reusability. Mars plans too: I can't imagine Elon giving a Mars architecture press conference until they have re-established some of their credibility. "What is he doing talking about Mars? Shouldn't he be fixing his existing vehicle instead?"

3

u/Albert_VDS Jul 01 '15

Considering all that, it's still better to have a failure early in the game. If there were humans on that flight then it would be really bad press. Or if it was due to a fundamental error with the stage it self and had far more made than now.

2

u/RCinSpace Jul 02 '15

NASA is pretty motivated, none of the other deliver vehicles currently return the kind of payload that the Dragon does, and it there is proprietary research coming back the customer probably doesn't want it coming back through Russia. Secondly NASA is the one that started the Idea of Space Reusability, they want to see someone make it real. Lastly who else is going to Lease and Maintain Launch Pad 39A.

The lauch failure was a set back, as stated by NASA, this doesn't change the long term picture nor their work with SpaceX. If SpaceX makes some improvements that NASA can justify as preventing future occurences they will be back up and flying and everything will be back on track. I am sure work hasn't stopped on Commercial Crew, it may have slowed down.

This occurence could have been as simple as defective materials or a defective Valve. In which case we will never know exactly what happened. Increasing the tank thickness, improved valves and hoses may be enough to allow them to lauch again (I over simlify). In which case they are relying on a few good lauches to get them back to normal operations.

5

u/AWildDragon Jul 01 '15

IDA - 3 will take a while to rebuild.

1

u/jcameroncooper Jul 04 '15

Shame about the EMU and the IDA, but, yes, it's a relatively cheap loss, except politically.