SpaceX fairing recovery program
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mr. Steven |
| Owner | Mr. Steven, LLC, and Energent, L.P. |
| Operator | SeaTran Marine |
| Builder | Gulf Craft |
| Yard number | Home port, Berth 240, Port of Los Angeles[citation needed] |
| Christened | November 2014 |
| Identification |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Type | platform supply vessel |
| Tonnage |
|
| Length | 205 ft (62 m) |
| Beam | 34 ft (10 m) |
| Draft | 5 ft (1.5 m) |
| Depth | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Installed power | 10,300 hp |
| Propulsion | 4 × Cat 3516C DH |
| Speed | 32 kts |
| Capacity | 84 (maximum) |
| Notes | [1][2][3] |
Go Ms. Tree (formally known as Mr. Steven)[4] is a marine vessel being used as a platform for recovery of the SpaceX reusable rocket payload fairings. The ship has been used for fairing recovery experiments on a number of occasions in 2018 and early 2019. The ship successfully caught a descending fairing on June 25th 2019 during the STP-2 mission on a Falcon Heavy.[4]
History
The ship was originally built in 2014 for SeaTran as a platform supply vessel to support fast crew transport operations. The vessel is named after Steven Miguez, the father of SeaTran CEO Blake J. Miguez.[5]
The vessel subsequently was used in an experimental program operated by SpaceX to provide surface marine "catch and recovery" operations for a test program attempting to bring the large 5.2 by 13.2 meters (17 ft × 43 ft)[6] Falcon 9 launch vehicle satellite fairings—separated at high-velocity and high-altitude—through atmospheric reentry and parachute descent to the ocean surface in a controlled way, and then recover them for evaluation and potential reuse. Since satellite fairings are traditionally expended into the ocean, the fairings used for these tests were somewhat modified test articles. As part of that effort, Mr. Steven was fitted[when?] with four large arms which support an elevated horizontal net, similar to a giant trampoline or trapeze net.[7]
In the middle of 2019 Mr. Steven was renamed "Go Ms. Tree". [4]
Fairing reuse
As a part of the SES-10 mission in March 2017, SpaceX successfully performed a controlled landing of the payload fairing into the ocean for the first time. SpaceX was able to recover the fairing half from the water after it landed, aided by attitude-control thrusters and a steerable parachute, gently on water.[8][9] At the SES-10 news conference, the company announced its intent to land the fairings on a dry flexible structure, jokingly described by Elon Musk as a "floating bouncy castle", with the goal of reusing the fairings.[10][11] The cost of a fairing is about $6 million which accounts for 10 percent of overall launch costs.[7]
The "bouncy castle" idea led to SpaceX contracting for the fast vessel Mr. Steven which has had modifications to facilitate a large net being strung between long arms that extend considerably beyond the width of the ship. Mr. Steven is equipped with a dynamic positioning system and was first tested after the launch of the Paz satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in February 2017.[12][13] The test was not fully successful because the fairing missed the boat by a few hundred meters but landed safely in the water[14] before being recovered and taken back to port.[13] As of August 2018[update], all four attempts by SpaceX in the first half of 2018 to land a fairing on the recovery ship failed, despite fitting Mr. Steven with larger nets before the July 2018 attempt.[15][16]
In October 2018, to practice recovery outside mission situations, SpaceX performed drop tests of a fairing half from a helicopter with Mr. Steven's below.[17] The actual outcome of the tests is unclear.[18]
On the ArabSat-6A mission on April 11, 2019, SpaceX used the recovery boats Go Searcher and Go Navigator to recover both fairings halves quickly after they landed in the sea; Musk declared the recovery successful and plans to reuse the fairings in a future Starlink mission.[19][20] SpaceX used the same recovery method on May 24, 2019 on a Starlink launch. [21]
Modifications
In July 2018, Mr. Steven was upgraded to fit a broader net with an area of 3,700 m2 (0.91 acres), four times the original net size.[22] The upgrade included fitting four new arms, which are each supported and positioned by two extendable shock-absorbing booms.[23] Each arm can be removed and disassembled into six subsections.[24] These four shock-absorbing arms replaced the previous rigid arms.
See also
References
- ^ "Mr. Steven". www.seatranmarine.com. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ "Mr. Steven". MarineTraffic. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ "Vessel Documentation Query". www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ a b c Ralph, Eric (2019-06-25). "SpaceX successfully catches first Falcon Heavy fairing in Mr. Steven's/Ms. Tree's net". TESLARATI. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
- ^ Wattles, Jackie (31 March 2018). "SpaceX's latest launch and recovery attempt: We explain it all". CNNMoney. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^
"Falcon 9 Launch Vehicle Payload User's Guide, Rev 2" (PDF). October 21, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 14, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Clark, Stephen (June 1, 2018). "New photos illustrate progress in SpaceX's fairing recovery attempts – Spaceflight Now". spaceflightnow.com. Pole Star Publications Ltd. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ^ Henry, Caleb (March 30, 2017). "SpaceX demonstrates reusability". SpaceNews. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
- ^ Lopatto, Elizabeth (30 March 2017). "SpaceX even landed the nose cone from its historic used Falcon 9 rocket launch". The Verge. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
- ^ DeArmond, Chris (April 24, 2017). "Full Transcript: 3/30/17 SpaceX SES-10 Press Conference". Expedited Transcripts. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
- ^ Kelly, Emre (2017-03-31). "Things we learned after SpaceX's historic Falcon 9 relaunch and landing". Florida Today. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
- ^ Etherington, Darrell (February 20, 2018). "SpaceX to use a net boat called 'Mr. Steven' to recover next rocket fairing". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
- ^ a b Baylor, Michael (February 25, 2018). "SpaceX's Mr. Steven, the FSV fairing catcher – NASASpaceFlight.com". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
- ^ @elonmusk (February 22, 2018). "Missed by a few hundred meters, but fairing landed intact in water. Should be able catch it with slightly bigger chutes to slow down descent" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Bartels, Meghan (July 25, 2018). "SpaceX Lands Rocket in Harshest Conditions to Date and Attempts to Catch Fairing". Space.com. Purch. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ^ Wall, Mike (July 13, 2018). "SpaceX Gives Nose-Cone-Catching Boat 'Mr. Steven' a Bigger Net". Space.com. Purch. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ^ "SpaceX's Mr. Steven returns with Falcon fairing half in net after drop test practice". www.teslarati.com. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
- ^ Ralph, Eric (October 19, 2018). "SpaceX's Mr. Steven highlights ambiguity of Falcon fairing catches with port return". Teslarati.com. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ Forget Mr. Steven, Go Searcher Completes Recovery Quinfecta for SpaceX After Falcon Heavy Launch April 12, 2019.
- ^ Ralph, Eric (2019-04-12). "SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says Starlink launch will reuse Falcon Heavy's fairing". TESLARATI. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- ^ Musk, Elon (2019-05-23). "Fairing halves recoveredpic.twitter.com/F82LE8JlLJ". @elonmusk. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- ^ Miley, Jessica (18 July 2018). "SpaceX's Recovery Vessel 'Mr. Steven' Gets a Massive Net Upgrade". Interesting Engineering. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ "SpaceX fairing catcher Mr Steven armless once more for maintenance and upgrades". www.teslarati.com. 27 August 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ Ralph, Eric (1 October 2018). "SpaceX's Falcon 9 fairing catcher Mr Steven preps for October recovery attempt". www.teslarati.com. Retrieved 3 October 2018.