SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.0 - Dragon C100 - Launching June 4, 2010
Screenshot from SpaceX Webcast of the launch of Dragon C100
Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.0 - Dragon C100
Written: February 6, 2021
Does this rocket even work?
Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit (Dragon C100) was a boilerplate version of the Dragon spacecraft manufactured by SpaceX. After using it for ground tests to rate Dragon's shape and mass in various tests, SpaceX launched it into low Earth orbit on the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 rocket, on June 4, 2010.
SpaceX used the launch to evaluate the aerodynamic conditions on the spacecraft and performance of the carrier rocket in a real-world launch scenario, ahead of Dragon flights for NASA under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. The spacecraft orbited the Earth over 300 times before decaying from orbit and reentering the atmosphere on 27 June.
Found a computer graphic of the stage separation - Second stage with Dragon looks a lot like the Apollo capsule did with its Service Module attached
The first actual launch attempt targeted a four-hour launch window opening at 15:00 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) on 4 June 2010, with the possibility of a launch attempt the following day in the event that launch did not occur inside the 4 June window. The first attempt to launch the rocket, at 17:30 UTC, was aborted seconds prior to liftoff due to a reported out of range engine parameter, which later turned out to be a sensor error. The launch was rescheduled, with a successful liftoff taking place an hour and fifteen minutes later at 18:45 UTC (2:45 pm EDT). The vehicle reached orbit successfully, entering into a 250 km (160 mi) orbit.
The rocket experienced "a little bit of roll at liftoff" as Ken Bowersox from SpaceX put it. This roll had stopped prior to the craft reaching the top of the lightning towers. A separate issue involved a moderate, uncorrected roll at the end of the second stage firing. The first stage, that is designed to be reusable, disintegrated during reentry, before the parachutes could be deployed.
At around 5:30 am local time on June 5, 2010, sightings of a mysterious "lollipop-type swirl" light or cloud heading from west to east were reported in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland, as well as the Australian Capital Territory. The sightings were likened to the Russian RSM-56 Bulava rocket launch that prompted similar video and images from the Arctic known as the 2009 Norwegian spiral anomaly; it was suggested that the visible object was the spent upper stage or the qualification unit launched aboard the Falcon 9 or both.
Following the launch, SpaceX left the qualification unit in low Earth orbit. SpaceX lost contact with the Dragon C100 and the Falcon 9 second stage shortly after orbit was achieved, as the on-board batteries were only designed to last long enough to last through the launch. It reentered in the early morning hours (00:50 UTC) on June 27, 2010. Although the exact location is uncertain, it is believed to have disintegrated over Syria and Iraq.
An article was published by NasaSpaceFlight about this launch.
First stage attempted recovery
This first flight of a Falcon 9 V1.0 was a testbed for a number of things including the attempted recovery of the first stage. There were three main parachutes packed in the interstage and a pair of drogeshutes in mortar tubes to pull them out at a given reduced velocity. Even though the first stage hardly will reach 120 km in altitude, it will pick up speeds in excess of 8500 km/h before it reaches the thicker layer of the atmosphere, so deploying drogeshutes is almost a mute point.
The drogeshutes were ripped apart unable to pull the main parachutes, so the first stage encountered the atmosphere at full terminal velocity at 30-40 km altitude and were cut to pieces by the bow shock and plasma chock waves. The first stage disintegrated in mid air and fell piece by piece into the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX should have taken a page out of the Mars Rover landing book. Meaning they should have considered the possibility of deploying a high altitude parachute at the first stage apogee when the downrange velocity is the lowest 15-1600 km/h. A parachute built for the Mars descent would have broken the downrange speed and reduced the descent speed until it would be ripped apart in the denser atmosphere.
First then should the drogeshutes have been deployed, and they would have been strong enough to break the fall until the three main parachutes deployed.
Well. It didn’t work and SpaceX took a different path towards rocket reusability.
“I got a rocket in my pocket, and I’m not afraid to use it.” Thoughts by Elon Musk.
Falcon 9 V1.0 “Block 1”
The Falcon 9 V1.0 is a medium capacity carrier rocket, which has been developed by SpaceX. It consists of two stages; both powered by Merlin 1C engines burning RP-1 as propellant and liquid oxygen as oxidiser. The first stage, powered by nine Merlin 1C engines, can generate 4,9 meganewtons (1.125 million pounds) of thrust at sea level.
Ed Kyle made these drawings of the first three Falcon 9 types V1.0 V1.1 and V1.2
The second stage, which is powered by a single Merlin engine modified for optimum performance in a vacuum, can produce 445 kilonewtons (100,000 pounds) of thrust. Attitude control for both stages will be provided by thrust vectoring; with nitrogen RCS thrusters augmenting this after the first stage has separated. For this launch, the rocket will fly with a payload consisting of a boilerplate Dragon capsule meant for delivering pressurized cargo to the International Space Station ISS.
A regular Falcon 9, with a payload fairing fitted with a trunk and the exposed Dragon spacecraft, would stand 48,1 meters (158 feet) tall, with a diameter of 3,66 meters (12 feet). But without the 12 foot trunk on the first Falcon 9 it would be 45,2 meters tall.
It has a liftoff mass of 333,400 kilograms (735,000 lb), and according to SpaceX figures, it is capable of placing up to 10,450 kilograms (23,050 lb) of payload into low Earth orbit, or up to 4,680 kilograms (10,320 pounds) into a geosynchronous transfer orbit which this Falcon 9 V1.0 model never did.
It only flew with Dragon capsules in Low Earth Orbit of which three went to the ISS.
Three seconds before launch a TEA-TEB igniter will light the 9 Merlin 1C engines. The computer will check the thrust levels before releasing the hold-down clamps. After liftoff and about sixty five seconds into the flight, the rocket will go supersonic and ten seconds later it will pass through the area of maximum dynamic pressure, or max-Q. As the rocket ascends, and fuel is depleted, its acceleration will increase and with that the gravity load on the payload.
To avoid exceeding a 5G dynamic load on the payload, then around 155 seconds into the launch, two engines 1 and 9 will be shut down to reduce the acceleration, limiting loads on the vehicle and payload. About three minutes into the flight, the remaining first stage engines 2-8 will shut down, and five seconds later stage separation will occur, with 12 pneumatic actuators pushing the first and second stages apart.
Assuming that the first stage flight and separation are nominal, the second stage will ignite four seconds after separation to begin the first burn. This burn is expected to end after eight minutes and thirty seven seconds of flight. At this point, its engine will be shut down, and the Dragon spacecraft will normally separate shortly afterwards. On this first flight there will be no separation. Second stage and the boilerplate Dragon C100 will stay together for the duration of this flight until it deorbit.
The target orbit for the spacecraft after today’s launch is understood to have an altitude of approximately 250 kilometers (155 miles), and 34.5 degrees of inclination. ISS has an inclination of 51,64 degrees and flies in a 420 km orbit, so the Dragon must after launch raise its orbit, fly in formation with ISS and prove it can maneuver slowly but surely into the grasp of the Canadarm, so it can be berthed to the airlock by the crew of ISS.
The second stage experienced a roll due to a stuck nozzle on the gas generator used to pump RP-1 and LOX propellant into the Merlin 1C vacuum engine. The spin of about three revolutions a minute didn’t stop, and the second stage was seen over Mt. Coot-tha, Australia venting liquid or gaseous oxygen in the morning sunlight like a slow spiral arc.
The roll acted on the propellant and oxidizer like in a centrifuge pressing it against the tank walls and keeping it from the intake valves to the Merlin 1C vacuum engine. It could therefore not restart, so when the RCS thrusters ran out of Nitrogen gas, the LOX began to boil off into space through the vent pipes on the engine and the tank walls.
I find these thin vent pipes a tad flawed in their design. They act like very small thrusters and are placed in pairs opposite each other therefore canceling each other forces out. They should point in the negative x direction thus helping with keeping an artificial gravity force on the 2nd stage, so the propellant and oxidizer were kept pressed toward the bottom bulkhead and the intake valves to the Merlin 1C vacuum engine.
I’m getting ahead of myself with the Merlin 1C vacuum engine. It is not designed to restart in orbit multiple times, and the capability to deorbit isn’t built in the design either.
So spoiler alert. Rocket mechanics 101. Does this rocket work properly?
Falcon 9 second stage seen spinning over Mt. Coot-tha, Australia early one morning
