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CRS-4!Scilly Falcon 9 - Updates (self.spacex)

druceyInterstage Sleuth が 投稿

Background info - yesterday (26th Nov) a local boatman, Joe Thomas, spotted something floating 100 metres off the north shore of Tresco, Isles of Scilly. Along with Tresco Boat Services and local freight boat Lyonesse Lady, it was dragged and landed on the shores of Tresco. It was covered in goose barnacles, and after removing some of them, the US flag was discovered. I took the investigation to reddit to try and discover more. Thanks /r/spacex and /r/Nasa for helping me identify the Falcon 9 fairing, which has now hit lots of news desks in the UK. Credit to /u/space_is_hard for the first correct ID!

Twitter for any info - @james_druce

(First album - http://imgur.com/a/Ybb6f)

I'll update all photos and information in this post as I get it.

First shot this morning - definitely the 9!

Edit 0905 : http://i.imgur.com/IgPH24p.jpg

Edit 0906: First markings found 'FS3/1291 Sn66'

Edit 0953: http://i.imgur.com/l1EO6Nc.jpg

Edit 0954: http://i.imgur.com/G1w8KY9.jpg

Edit 1018: http://i.imgur.com/Crhas7g.jpg Barnacles getting cleaned off now

Edit 1019: http://i.imgur.com/JCY9zLf.jpg Flag in great condition

Edit 1107: http://i.imgur.com/CVGzOhq.jpg

Edit 1115: "On the metal identification plate more numbers at the top

J1

J2

J3"

Edit 1116: Uncle sent v. small photos showing similar casing features that /u/videoprincess posted here - http://imgur.com/a/jUupj

Edit 1117: "Middle letters - Fs3-12910-f9"

Edit 1139: More tiny photos confirming the features and eliminating some - http://imgur.com/a/eR9OM

Edit 1329: As /u/EchoLogic points out below, it looks like it is from CRS-4! Incredible work from you all. I'll continue to upload high res photos as soon as I get them this afternoon!

Edit 1453: Lifted up http://i.imgur.com/dkJIBjh.jpg

Edit 1454: Being driven off the beach! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyTDzHDdMF4

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[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 110ポイント111ポイント  (67子コメント)

It's CRS-4!

Foreword: So I guess this comment of mine is more of a continuation of the ocean debris movement simulation remarks I made when this news popped up. Many thanks to /u/drucey for making this thread possible!

UPDATE. I've drawn a rough cutout of where on the interstage I think we are looking at. Suffice to say, the lack of grid-fin associated structure makes me believe even more strongly that this is not a piece from CRS-7 (as is being widely reported) or from any recent mission.

We do now have a parts number and because of this I expect we'll know shortly.

Here is my mission candidate list:

  • F9-001 to F9-005 (unlikely to be a F9v1.0)
  • CASSIOPE (launched over the Pacific)
  • SES-8 (very possible, no grid fins, high-vel reentry, edit: doesn't have white bulge)
  • Thaicom-6 (very possible, no grid-fins, performed a reentry burn, edit: doesn't have white bulge)
  • CRS-3 (very possible, no grid fins, soft landed into a storm, edit: doesn't have white bulge)
  • OG2 L1 (definitely not from this mission)
  • AsiaSat 8 (very possible, no grid fins, high-vel reentry)
  • AsiaSat-6 (possible, but less likely considering the time taken for oceanic drift to take it to Scilly)
  • CRS-4 (possible, but less likely considering the time taken for oceanic drift to take it to Scilly)
  • CRS-5 (had grid fins, too recent)
  • DSCOVR (had grid fins, too recent)
  • ABS & Eutelsat (no grid fins, but too recent, and launched southeast)
  • CRS-6 (had grid fins, too recent)
  • TurkmenAlen 52E (no grid fins, but too recent, and launched southeast)
  • CRS-7 (doesn't look like enough damage, had grid fins, too recent)

EDIT: Look at the placement of the '9' with respect to the U.S. flag and compare DSCOVR (my linked photo with cutlout) and the debris. Definitely not from DSCOVR.

EDIT 2: This is definitely from SES-8 to CRS-4. The black panel that we can see in the debris photo was only present in that location on those launches. From CRS-5 onwards, it moved to beneath the U.S. flag.

EDIT 3: Fairing that washed up on the Bahamas had an Sn of 15.

EDIT 4: Tweeted Musk asking for exact vehicle confirmation.

EDIT 5: Narrowed it down even further! It's not from Orbcomm OG2 Launch 1. Sadly I can't say how I know that however. Mission candidate list updated. Four highly likely remain: SES-8, Thaicom-6, CRS-3, & AsiaSat 8.

EDIT 6: Then there were 3! Good work by /u/Qeng-Ho means we can narrow this down to AsiaSat 8, AsiaSat 6, & CRS-4, the last two of which are the least likely.

EDIT 7: Worth noting that A8, A6, and CRS-4 correspond to cores F9-011, F9-013, and F9-012 respectively.

EDIT 8: WE HAVE IT! It's CRS-4. Well done to /u/__R__ with this fantastic image.

[–]__R__Interstage Sleuth 75ポイント76ポイント  (21子コメント)

I got it! It's the CRS-4 interstage. Image proof. The falcon beak ends to the right side of the "o" in "Falcon", and the bulge above "n" is different on CRS-4.

[–]VideoPrincess 17ポイント18ポイント  (3子コメント)

Looks good to me! Here's a clearer shot of CRS-4's interstage to confirm.

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 17ポイント18ポイント  (2子コメント)

Amazing to think, that nearly 18 months later, it's travelled across the globe on ocean currents.

CRS-4, although being a ISS flight, did not have landing legs due to a core switch with AsiaSat 6. This resulted in F9-012 (CRS-4), being the 13th flight of Falcon. Because it did not have the capacity to land, it instead performed a retropropulsion and landing burn on the water, that was famously captured by NASA via thermal imagery.

We never did learn what the final result of CRS-4 was though. SpaceX nor NASA never shared the outcome. Because of this, many of us presumed it had failed or not gone to plan. The condition of this piece of debris says it might've just worked after all.

[–]VideoPrincess 11ポイント12ポイント  (1子コメント)

It also confirms your speculation about the core number being the first few digits of the part number. This fact might be useful for future debris identification efforts.

[–]Here_There_B_Dragons 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

future debris identification efforts.

just awesome

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 10ポイント11ポイント  (0子コメント)

Dude, I think you should make this its own post. Well done.

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

Superb job!

[–]meltymcface 4ポイント5ポイント  (6子コメント)

Any chance you could update the BBC? ;-)

[–]OrangeredStilton 3ポイント4ポイント  (5子コメント)

I let them know, dumping a link to the confirmatory comment. I don't know if they'll pick it up any time soon.

[–]meltymcface 2ポイント3ポイント  (4子コメント)

Is there somewhere you can provide BBC info on such stories then?

[–]OrangeredStilton 4ポイント5ポイント  (3子コメント)

When I say "let them know", I just filled out the Editorial Feedback form.

[–]VideoPrincess 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

The BBC just amended the story online, they now quote "Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center" who says "All the geeks have been getting together and looking at fine details, and we're pretty sure it's a launch from September 2014 that successfully sent a cargo mission to the space station."

[–]OrangeredStilton 6ポイント7ポイント  (1子コメント)

We did it, Reddit!

[–]simmy2109 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

Holy shit the media listened?

[–]jayefuu 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Oooo that looks pretty compelling.

[–]Dr_God 2ポイント3ポイント  (5子コメント)

What are these bulges for? I guess they have to be something launch-specific?

[–]Jarnis 5ポイント6ポイント  (4子コメント)

...more like "results of consistent tinkering with the design". Small things can change between individual cores. They are basically building an evolving design by hand and there is an overactive R&D department constantly coming up with changes :)

[–]Dr_God 1ポイント2ポイント  (3子コメント)

Yeah that makes sense. Do you know what the purpose of these bulges is? Is it aerodynamic or just a result of the hardware underneath, something like a reinforced attachment point?

[–]peterabbit456 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

There could be a GoPro camera underneath the housing. Just a guess.

[–]Jarnis 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Sorry no clue. Some kind of sensor? Valve? Access point for something during assembly or mating?

[–]Wetmelon 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

The "holes" are probably for antennas. Signals don't pass through carbon fibre very well.

[–]VFP_ProvenRoute 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Nice work man!

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 5ポイント6ポイント  (5子コメント)

Great work, thank you!

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 5ポイント6ポイント  (4子コメント)

Out of curiosity, do you think it would be too difficult to flip over? I think we'd all like to see what's on the other side (if possible) :).

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 8ポイント9ポイント  (1子コメント)

It is being flipped over now.

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

It's like Christmas :)

Thanks, and also for the gold!

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

Once it's all cleaned up, I would have thought it would be possible!

[–]retiringonmarsWiki & FAQ editor 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yeah whole thing is probably at least 80% barnacles by weight. Will be much more maneuverabile once clean!

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 3ポイント4ポイント  (25子コメント)

how did you eliminate OG2 launch 1?

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 2ポイント3ポイント  (23子コメント)

Can't say sorry :/.

What I can say now is that I'd consider CRS-3 less likely now, but I can't rule it out.

I doubt I can narrow it down closer than this without knowing more information about what iterative changes SpaceX made to Falcon 9 during the late 2013-mid 2014 period.

[–]meltymcface 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

Well that's quite a tantalising tease!

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

How mysteriously interesting!

I think I'll get lots of photos at lunch time, when the friend who has the lovely job of cleaning it up can upload them for you all

[–]Qeng-Ho 6ポイント7ポイント  (6子コメント)

If the barnacles below the letter "O" and "N" are removed, another launch can be eliminated. Three of the launches have a distinctive bulge there while it is smooth for AsiaSat.

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 5ポイント6ポイント  (3子コメント)

Damn Good catch! Which AsiaSat photo is that please? 8 or 6?

Also, CRS-4 doesn't have it.

So... we are down to AsiaSat 8, AsiaSat 6, & CRS-4!

[–]VideoPrincess 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

This picture from /u/drucey seems to show a smooth area, with no bulge. Asiasat 8 seems to be a match, others might match too.

[–]Qeng-Ho 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

The image is from AsiaSat 8.

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

We need either a positive ID matching the part to a particular vehicle or a confirmation from an employee/Musk at this point.

[–]robbak 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

The picture attached to edit 1107 shows that area. On the thumbnail above that bulge appears to be there, but the full size image reveals that the apparent feature is just random barnacle deposit. So, would that identify it as Asiasat, or are there others without that ?vent??

[–]VideoPrincess 2ポイント3ポイント  (8子コメント)

The relevant area from CRS-3 looks like a close match: CRS-3 interstage

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 4ポイント5ポイント  (6子コメント)

Yes, but to be fair, all the interstages from late 2013 to mid 2014 look like that :/. There's no singular identifying feature.

Short of /u/drucey & co finding a part number that states the obvious like: "HELLO SAILORS, THIS IS THE INTERSTAGE OF F9-010", we need either Musk or an employee to confirm.

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 5ポイント6ポイント  (4子コメント)

Fs3-12910-f9 any use?

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 2ポイント3ポイント  (3子コメント)

Well, it tells us it's a Falcon 9, haha. That's more an internal parts number sadly.

The problem is there's quite a significant disconnect between the schema SpaceX employees use when manufacturing and assigning parts and what we fans call "the missions". Heck, employees don't often use the terms F9FT or F9v1.1 even. They always nearly need to be more precise than that which involves dictating, at a minimum, the core number (like, F9-010), and the core number is where public knowledge ends essentially.

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

Thanks EchoLogic! I'll continue to provide any other numbers found, just in case we do find the 'THIS IS FROM MISSION ###' graffiti scrawled somewhere

[–]Sonos 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

Elon woz here 2k14

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Fs3-12910-f9

I think it could be CRS-4 based off the 12 present in the part code. CRS-4 was F9-012.

[–]VideoPrincess 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

I can see what you mean! Thaicom-6 looks the same, I'm trying to find other closeups to see if we can eliminate anything.

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Updated OP with some closer photos of the 'bits' around the lettering

[–]Dr_God 2ポイント3ポイント  (4子コメント)

Why can't you say why?

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 5ポイント6ポイント  (1子コメント)

...I also can't tell you that.

[–]LockStockNL 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

You can, but than you'd have to kill him right? ;)

[–]YugoReventlov 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

He probably received inside info that, if revealed, could identify the source.

[–]darga89Launch Maps 8ポイント9ポイント  (0子コメント)

Wonder if that inside info is saying they already recovered the interstage for og2-1.

[–]Laika_fr 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

you could eliminate OG2 from this interstage photo https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Launch_of_Falcon_9_carrying_ORBCOMM_OG2-M1_%2816602895139%29.jpg edit : white bulge is not centered and actually closer to the n

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thought you might like this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyTDzHDdMF4

[–]hans_ober 2ポイント3ポイント  (4子コメント)

What's the small 'door' there for? Connectors underneath? Quick maintenance?

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 2ポイント3ポイント  (3子コメント)

No idea, but on rockets post CRS-5 when the grid fins were added, the black panel moved to beneath the U.S. flag.

The panel is present in the location it appears on the debris from a launch that occurred between SES-8 & CRS-4 (inclusive).

Definitely not from CRS-7.

[–]hans_ober 1ポイント2ポイント  (2子コメント)

Yeah, debris looks too big to be CRS7.

Engines/octaweb should have survived CRS7 though right?

[–]Jarnis 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

...and they are definitely at the bottom of the ocean.

[–]hans_ober 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

A salvage mission would be really interesting.

[–]meltymcface 2ポイント3ポイント  (5子コメント)

Knowing that it's from SES-8 to CRS-4, what's the range of launch dates? How long might this have been drifting across the Atlantic?

[–]Malky_10 2ポイント3ポイント  (4子コメント)

SES-8 launched 3. december 2013, CRS4 launched 21. september 2014.

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

I think CRS-4 & AsiaSat 6 are too late at this point. Every driftsim I've seen shows it taking at least 1 year 6 months for stuff to travel from Florida to the U.K..

Are there any open source climatological/oceanographic sites which report on actual rates of ocean drift? Ocean bouys? If we know precisely how strong the drift has been over the past year, we can probably either include or exclude these two missions.

[–]cwhitt 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

There is publicly available current data from NOAA buoys, but relatively few of them out in the open atlantic. Plus it's probably super hard and easy to screw up factoring any small bits of additional information into the models. I'd venture to say that there are models out there that already take into account publicly available current measurements.

[–]meltymcface 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

Thank you! I could probably have looked that up, but I'm much too lazy.

[–]Malky_10 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

No prob. I have understanding for laziness :)

[–]sk_2013 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Are you sure that's CRS-4? The image shown from the water lacks the black marks between the o and n.

[–][deleted] 18ポイント19ポイント  (0子コメント)

God please give us a launch soon. SpaceX trash thread is the most exiciting thing going on.

[–]jayefuu 15ポイント16ポイント  (8子コメント)

BBC got it pretty wrong: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34941386

[–]waitingForMars 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

All the news outlets were going off the guess of the UK coast guard guy, who probably only knew about the CRS-7 failure, or figured that any rocket part must come from a failed rocket. (They normally land and get reused, right? ;-)

[–]Rossi100 6ポイント7ポイント  (6子コメント)

Tusk, tusk, BBC you should know better.

[–]Sonos 5ポイント6ポイント  (5子コメント)

/u/jeyefuu, you can repot this as factually inaccurate here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/contact-us/editorial

[–]Ambiwlans 5ポイント6ポイント  (3子コメント)

I shot them a quick note.

[–]Sonos 6ポイント7ポイント  (1子コメント)

Same, boiled down to

Sort your shit BBC.

[–]rustybeancake 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

I think the problem is that they asked a guy who knew nothing about rockets. He seems to assume that the only way a rocket part could be in the ocean is if it blew up -- and hey! A rocket blew up in June! He doesn't seem to know that many successful rocket parts deliberately end up in the ocean.

[–]retiringonmarsWiki & FAQ editor 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

They actually got it right on the 6 o'clock News (live on tv approx 30 mins ago), saying it was from a rocket launched "in September 2014". They don't appear to have updated their website though :/

[–]jayefuu 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thanks I was looking for that page but couldn't find it. I've sent them an update with a link here to see Echo's summary.

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 30ポイント31ポイント  (8子コメント)

Honestly this is the most interesting thing that's happened on this subreddit in the past few months.

[–]Sonos 6ポイント7ポイント  (7子コメント)

That's what happens when flights are grounded.

But don't fear, it just means we are closer to the other cool shit, like FHeavy and Dragon 2.0

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 24ポイント25ポイント  (4子コメント)

That's true.

In a way, it's kind of refreshing too. We get debris reports very rarely so they're kind of enjoyable. There's no drama, no hassle, it's just a fun game of armchair forensic analysis, and to me, that's really cool.

[–]Sonos 5ポイント6ポイント  (3子コメント)

Impressive job nailing it down to 3 launches.

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 11ポイント12ポイント  (0子コメント)

You know what's more impressive than 3 launches? 1 launch :)

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 6ポイント7ポイント  (1子コメント)

Incredible work from this subreddit

[–]Sonos 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

It's amazing that it's happening not 200 miles from me, and in such a sleepy part of the country.

Images from this are world wide, although reporting it as CRS-7 (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

[–]TheBlacktom 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

Mars announcement?

[–]Sonos 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Oh god please.

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee[M] 13ポイント14ポイント  (6子コメント)

Hey drucy! Thanks for coming back, eveyone here is really grateful that you're doing this! I've flaired your post as 'Happening Now', let me know when you have to leave for the day and I'll deflair it then. Cheers.

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 21ポイント22ポイント  (5子コメント)

Oh my pleasure. This is making my inner-child-space-geek very happy. My disclaimer - I'm not currently on the island. It's home for me, but I'm at university about 400 miles away. I have friends and family feeding me photos and information for you guys. I'll update this post as soon as I get more.

[–]Sonos 2ポイント3ポイント  (4子コメント)

Plymouth?

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 3ポイント4ポイント  (3子コメント)

Newcastle. Much further.

[–]Sonos 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Oh jesus, yes.

I forget, 400 miles is more of a distance than I'm assuming it is.

[–]Magneto88 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

Damn, couldn't have gone much further away without heading into Scotland.

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yeah, takes me quite a while to get home for the holidays!

[–]TotesMessenger 8ポイント9ポイント  (0子コメント)

I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:

If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. (Info / Contact)

[–]LockStockNL 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thanks a million /u/drucey!

[–]jardeonWeReportSpace.com Photographer 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

Neat, CRS-4. I've got a couple of relevant pictures I can share :)

Pre-launch photo showing the interstage, 2nd stage and Dragon capsule

Launch photo showing the Falcon 9 and Dragon making their way to orbit on a Northeasterly track, seen from the roof of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building.

[–]Sonos 5ポイント6ポイント  (1子コメント)

You can contact the BBC here telling them its not CRS-7

[–]VFP_ProvenRoute 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thanks, done.

[–]waitingForMars 4ポイント5ポイント  (2子コメント)

/u/retiringonmars we need a Tweet on this find that we can re-tweet. This is major coup for the sub! /u/EchoLogic do you have access?

[–]retiringonmarsWiki & FAQ editor 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

Done! Sorry for the delay; was a busy day at work. Would've much rather spend the afternoon working this out with you guys!

[–]TweetsInCommentsBot 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

@r_SpaceX

2015-11-27 18:45 UTC

@SpaceX fans on Reddit discover Falcon 9 debris in Scilly is the interstage of CRS-4 booster. Join the conversation! http://bit.ly/1Q2o93b

This message was created by a bot

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[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 10ポイント11ポイント  (1子コメント)

First markings found 'FS3/1291 Sn66'

Hmm. This is not the first time I've seen that Snxx syntax. It was present on the DSCOVR fairing that was recovered from the Bahamas too. I wonder what it means.

Obviously SpX will know precisely what vehicle this part was present on so I'm sure we'll find out very soon ;).

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Updated with more markings!

[–]hans_ober 4ポイント5ポイント  (8子コメント)

What species is that?

barnacles

Those transparent rubber like tube things are.. umm... artificial looking.

[–]aguyfromnewzealand 13ポイント14ポイント  (2子コメント)

They look like gummi worms... I almost want to take a bite....

[–]WaitForItTheMongols 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

Uh. I just researched barnacles. Those things...

Those are barnacle penises.

[–]aguyfromnewzealand 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

I don't really want a bite anymore...

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 4ポイント5ポイント  (4子コメント)

Goose barnacles I've been told

and no idea! Definitely natural though

[–]Laika_fr 3ポイント4ポイント  (3子コメント)

Thx for the photos these barnacles are Lepas anatifera A photo of the "co n" area would be nice, strange black dots there.

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 2ポイント3ポイント  (2子コメント)

Looks like the paint has fallen off?

http://i.imgur.com/CVGzOhq.jpg (phone pic)

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

Yep, the vehicle is painted white to keep its cryogenic propellants cool during the hot days at Florida! (Not that it should affect the interstage mind you, but I think they prefer to keep it all white for aesthetics).

[–]simmy2109 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Presumably there's lots of electronics in the interstage area too. Keeping it white helps keep them cool too.

[–]Traumfahrer 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

What an awesome picture.

[–]TidalSky 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

I'd hang that in my living room!

[–]Arbitrage84 4ポイント5ポイント  (5子コメント)

hey neat! I was a NASA Social participant for the CRS-4 mission. http://i.imgur.com/L0NkNcf.jpg

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 2ポイント3ポイント  (4子コメント)

Can I ask what does being a social participant mean?

[–]EchoLogic#IAC2016 Attendee 6ポイント7ポイント  (1子コメント)

If you're like me, when I first heard about that program, I read it as NASA "social participant", rather than what it is, which is "NASA Social" participant :).

Basically NASA Social is a public engagement program run by NASA which invites people with a social media presence to get access (which is normally restricted to the formal press) to a rocket launch and any activities associated with it (press conferences, tours, any mementos, etc).

You simply apply online and state why you deserve the honor.

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thanks, that does sound interesting! My inner-space-geek has definitely been awakened after this..

[–]Arbitrage84 5ポイント6ポイント  (1子コメント)

full media access to all pre-launch press conferences plus tours of the facilities (HIF, launch pad, falcon-9 in situ pre-launch, causeway access for launch). I have been able to watch every shuttle launch my entire life since I live within ~90 miles of the Cape but this was by far the coolest experience of my life.

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Amazing!

[–]scarlaton 4ポイント5ポイント  (4子コメント)

What are you going to do with it? I'm from south UK, if it looks like it's going to end up not going anywhere I have some space for it in my workshop would interesting to get a good look at it and take some more photos or show it to people. I'm worried it looks like it's about to wash away

[–]druceyInterstage Sleuth[S] 10ポイント11ポイント  (1子コメント)

There is a great deal of interest in it! I guess it all comes down to whether Mr Musk would like it back. If not, Tresco has a fantastic collection of wrecked ship figure heads spanning hundreds of years.

I think it would be brilliant to show it to the public there. Wrecked ships, from the naval age to the space age.

[–]scarlaton 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

I just hope it gets looked after, it's a cool piece of a Falcon. I'll come to see it if it gets displayed somewhere local.

[–]Jarnis 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

I would imagine that the authorities would contact SpaceX and ask if they want to retrieve it. In theory any space related junk that is found should be cleaned up by the party that littered with it when found. No idea if the people finding it can keep it by claiming salvage.

[–]simmy2109 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

They probably can, if there is no data recording equipment on the piece. If there is data storage, SpaceX can argue that they intended to recover if possible. Otherwise, it's easily argued to be fair salvage, unless there's exceptions for items which could be considered weapons technology (eg part of a rocket).

[–]TMahlmanLaunch Photographer 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

CRS-4 was the first rocket launch I remember seeing, and SpaceX too. Along with /u/Arbitrage84 I was also a NASA Social participant. That was an epic launch. The first I ever saw was one of the Shuttle launches, my grandpa has photos of me watching it but I unfortunately don't remember. So cool!

[–]DecronymAcronyms Explained 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
CRS Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA
F9FT Falcon 9 Full Thrust or Upgraded Falcon 9 or v1.2
HIF Horizontal Integration Facility
OG2 Orbcomm's Generation 2 17-satellite network
RTF Return to Flight
SES Formerly Société Européenne des Satellites, comsat operator

Decronym is a community product of /r/SpaceX, implemented by request
I'm a bot, written in PHP. I first read this thread at 27th Nov 2015, 10:23 UTC.
www.decronym.xyz for a list of subs where I'm active; if I'm acting up, tell OrangeredStilton.

[–]Laika_fr 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

well done ! and it's more in line with a speedy gulf stream

[–]TheBruceMeister 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Someone let CNN know. They are saying its from CRS-7(?). The one that blew up after takeoff. I doubt they did research to confirm that.

[–]Smni 1ポイント2ポイント  (3子コメント)

Silly question maybe, but how does this float?

[–]bertcox 0ポイント1ポイント  (2子コメント)

Might be honey comb aluminum.

[–]Smni 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

Honeycomb core is often vented so I would think it would still take on water, but that's not always the case I suppose

[–]bertcox 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Saw lower it might be carbon fiber but that sinks too. Honeycomb carbon fiber?

[–]sjheld 2ポイント3ポイント  (2子コメント)

From CNN " Debris from failed SpaceX launch found 4,000 miles away off British isle"
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/27/europe/uk-spacex-rocket-debris-isles-scilly/index.html

[–]Sonos 9ポイント10ポイント  (0子コメント)

fucking amateurs.

[–]N314 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

Stuff like this is why my friends say "Why do you like SpaceX, they fail so much"... because apparently to the media every launch is a failure in some way... erg.

[–]Piscator629 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

The properties of the part make it so it doesn't deform even with that huge load of heavy barnacles.

[–]WaitForItTheMongols 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Man, it's all covered in worms too. Are those ocean worms that were on with the barnacles, or land worms that came up to check out the fairing?