Falcon Heavy Test Flight

[Bryanpoprobson]

Wow, just amazing especially the simaultaneous landing of the two boosters.

[Zakalwe]

Epic. No other words.

[Bryanpoprobson]

Hearing unconfirmed reports that they have lost the centre core.

[Apollo 957]

Seriously impressive.

Even if the centre core missed the barge, they seem to float OK. The previous launch, where they planned to simply abandon a used Falcon 9, it was found floating and recoverable.

[Bryanpoprobson]

Seriously impressive.

Even if the centre core missed the barge, they seem to float OK. The previous launch, where they planned to simply abandon a used Falcon 9, it was found floating and recoverable.

It seems that the report of losing the core was just referring to the telemetry feed. But there is no definitive news yet.

[AtomicDog]

Watching the live feed of Starman in his Tesla. Earth's getting smaller and smaller.

[Apollo 957]

Even if the core stage was lost ... to the tune of the Meatloaf song (italics are the chorus);

We launched it (launched it)
To orb-it (orb-it)
But it seems as if the core, it just didn't make it
But don't be sad (don't be sad)
'Cause two out of three ain't bad

[Apollo 957]

I've just read somewhere else there's a copy of Hitch-hiker's Guide and a towel in the glovebox ....

[Apollo 957]

RIP core stage; at press conference, Musk says not all its engines lit up, and it ditched in the drink ...

[VQ]

RIP core stage; at press conference, Musk says not all its engines lit up, and it ditched in the drink ...

With the longer burn before core stage separation, was this a more energetic reentry than they have done before on a 1st stage recovery attempt?

[raven]

Well, the core stage was the big unknown. The others were not only flight tested hardware, but also extensively flight tested procedurally.  Still, overall, I'd definitely call this a success in almost all parameters.
They'll get this.

[smartcooky]

With the longer burn before core stage separation, was this a more energetic reentry than they have done before on a 1st stage recovery attempt?

Yes

Have a look at the broadcast, and take special note of the altitude and velocity telemetry of  the centre core/upper stage at staging.

It was 9500 km/hr at an altitude of 90km. Normal staging for a Falcon 9 is about 5,500 @ 115km for LEO and 7,500 @ 100 km for a launch to GTO. The centre core was travelling much faster and lower than usual, narrowing the margins for error.

Another thing to consider is that when cores land at sea on the drone ship, they usually use the existing ballistic trajectory (no boostback burn) and simply have a re-entry burn and landing burn. However at this case, with the extra velocity, the ballistic trajectory would have taken the centre core to over 1000miles off the Atlantic Coast, so they decided to use a boostback burn.

Perhaps the faster speed lower altitude and the need for and additional burn led to a miscalculation of the amount of triethylaluminium it needed to ignite the engines three times.

[VQ]

Perhaps the faster speed lower altitude and the need for and additional burn led to a miscalculation of the amount of triethylaluminium it needed to ignite the engines three times.

Damage from reentry seems more likely to me if this was new territory velocity-wise.

[gwiz]

Wasn't some guy going to ride a rocket to somehow prove the Earth is flat?  Looks like SpaceX just raised the bar on that one.

[Count Zero]

Wow, just amazing especially the simaultaneous landing of the two boosters.

THIS is what the 21st century was supposed to look like.