Content deleted Content added
Redacted II (talk | contribs) added category |
Fix links |
||
Line 171:
The second prototype vehicle design, F9R Dev1, was built on the much larger [[Falcon 9 v1.1]] booster stage was used to further extend the low-altitude flight testing [[flight envelope|envelope]] on a vehicle that better matched the actual flight hardware, and made five test flights in 2014.<ref name=nsf20140422/><ref name="msnbc20110927">{{cite news |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44692930/ |title=A rocket that lifts off—and lands—on launch pad |work=NBC News |last=Klotz |first=Irene |date=September 27, 2011 |access-date=November 23, 2011 |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203023523/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44692930/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nsw20121002" /> The low-altitude, low-speed flights of the test vehicle rockets and capsule were conducted at the [[SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility|SpaceX Rocket Test Facility]] in [[McGregor, Texas]]<ref name="faa20110922" /><ref name="satspot20110926" /><ref name=nsf20140422/>
SpaceX indicated in November 2018 that they considered testing a heavily modified Falcon 9 second stage that would look like a "mini-[[SpaceX Starship
{{cite news |last=Foust| first=Jeff |url=https://spacenews.com/spacex-to-modify-falcon-9-upper-stage-to-test-bfr-technologies/ |title=SpaceX to modify Falcon 9 upper stage to test BFR technologies |work=[[SpaceNews]] |date=7 November 2018 |access-date=2018-11-08 |quote="Falcon 9 second stage will be upgraded to be like a mini-BFR Ship," Musk said. The BFR’s upper stage is sometimes referred to as a "spaceship" }}</ref><ref name="teslarati.com">[https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-miniature-bfr-spaceship-falcon-9-launch-elon-musk/ SpaceX to build small version of BFR's spaceship for use on Falcon 9, says Elon Musk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108184520/https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-miniature-bfr-spaceship-falcon-9-launch-elon-musk/ |date=November 8, 2018 }}. Eric Ralph, Teslarati. 7 November 2018.</ref> but two weeks later, Musk dismissed the approach in favor of using a full-diameter BFR instead.<ref>[https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-ceo-elon-musk-kills-mini-bfr-spaceship-two-weeks-after-announcement/ SpaceX CEO Elon Musk kills mini BFR spaceship 12 days after announcing it.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215022122/https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-ceo-elon-musk-kills-mini-bfr-spaceship-two-weeks-after-announcement/ |date=December 15, 2018 }} Eric Ralph, ''Teslarati''. 20 November 2018.</ref>
Line 206:
{{Main|Falcon 9 first-stage landing tests}}
In an arrangement highly unusual for launch vehicles, SpaceX began in 2013 using some first stages of the Falcon 9 v1.1 rockets for propulsive-return controlled-descent [[flight test]]s after they completed the boost phase of an orbital flight. Since the advent of [[orbital spaceflight|spaceflight]] in [[Sputnik 1|1957]], launch vehicle boosters would ordinarily just be discarded after setting their payloads on their way. The over-water tests started by SpaceX took place in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans south of [[Vandenberg Air Force Base]] and east of [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]]. The first flight test occurred on September 29, 2013, after the second stage with the [[CASSIOPE]] and [[nanosat]] payloads separated from the booster. These descent and simulated landing tests continued over the next two years, with the second flight test taking place on April 18, 2014,<ref name="bbc20130930" /><ref name="ut20140419" /><ref name=dn20140224/> two more test in [[List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches (2010–2019)#2014|2014]], and four subsequent tests conducted in 2015.<ref name=nsf20151231>{{cite news |last1=Gebhardt |first1=Chris |title=Year In Review, Part 4: SpaceX and Orbital ATK recover and succeed in 2015 |url=http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/12/yir4-spacex-orbital-atk-recover-succeed-2015/ |access-date=January 1, 2016 |work=NASASpaceFlight.com |date=December 31, 2015 |archive-date=January 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102175706/http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/12/yir4-spacex-orbital-atk-recover-succeed-2015/ |url-status=live }}</ref> SpaceX continued to make [[Iterative and incremental development|iterative and incremental]] changes to the booster design, as well as the specific reusable technologies, descent profile and propellant margins, on some 2016-2018 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy flights to tweak the design and operational parameters. Many of these descent and landing tests were tested on active orbital spaceflight missions for SpaceX customers as the booster reentered the atmosphere and attempted recoverable landings.
==== Re-entry and controlled descent ====
| |||