Dragon Launch today, but with problems

Dragon CRS-2 launched fine, but evidently had issues once on orbit.

My very limited understanding is right now it arrived on orbit with 3 of the
4 thruster pods not working.

At least 2 pods appear online now with the 3rd coming online.

They have (or will) deploy the solar panels now that 2 are online.

The questions I have a

1) Does anyone know what had happened?
2) Will this impact the ISS Berthing. I can see NASA saying "stay away until
we understand the problem"
3) Would these packs be used at all in the case of an abort of the manned
version of the Dragon?

In article ,
says...

Dragon CRS-2 launched fine, but evidently had issues once on orbit.

My very limited understanding is right now it arrived on orbit with 3 of the
4 thruster pods not working.

At least 2 pods appear online now with the 3rd coming online.

They have (or will) deploy the solar panels now that 2 are online.

The questions I have a

1) Does anyone know what had happened?

An initial report I read said something about a valve in the
pressurization system(s) not working correctly.

2) Will this impact the ISS Berthing. I can see NASA saying "stay away until
we understand the problem"

Dragon needs 2 out of 4 pods working before they can make their first
orbital change burn. But, it will need 3 out of 4 pods working in order
to approach ISS (according to NASA's rules). Not sure about how far it
has to stay away until it gets 3 out of 4 working.

3) Would these packs be used at all in the case of an abort of the manned
version of the Dragon?

Not sure about that. This would depend greatly on the design of the
system. I know the Super Draco's would be used in an abort, but have no
idea how they're integrated into the design. The devil is in the
details.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer

In message
"Greg \(Strider\) Moore" wrote:

Dragon CRS-2 launched fine, but evidently had issues once on orbit.

My very limited understanding is right now it arrived on orbit with 3 of the
4 thruster pods not working.

At least 2 pods appear online now with the 3rd coming online.

They have (or will) deploy the solar panels now that 2 are online.

The questions I have a

1) Does anyone know what had happened?

Propellant valve problem according to a message 15 minutes ago on the
SpaceX site. Solar arrays are deployed but how many clusters are running
isn't clear. Originally they were saying when they got two they'd deploy
the arrays, now it's when they get two they'll start rendevous burns..

3) Would these packs be used at all in the case of an abort of the manned
version of the Dragon?

Possibly, but they'd likely be active earlier. At a guess they're
inhibited on supply flights to prevent accidental firing during launch
throwing things off, but for flights with abort capability they'd
be active from launch.

Anthony

"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...

Dragon CRS-2 launched fine, but evidently had issues once on orbit.

My very limited understanding is right now it arrived on orbit with 3 of
the
4 thruster pods not working.

At least 2 pods appear online now with the 3rd coming online.

They have (or will) deploy the solar panels now that 2 are online.

The questions I have a

1) Does anyone know what had happened?

An initial report I read said something about a valve in the
pressurization system(s) not working correctly.

Yeah, that's what I heard. My guess (and see below) is the exact problem
will determine berthing or not. i.e. if they can demonstrate full control,
they're probably good. But if they have limited control or something NASA
might get nervous about things getting overpressurized or the pods losing
pressure on the way and and it drifting.


2) Will this impact the ISS Berthing. I can see NASA saying "stay away
until
we understand the problem"

Dragon needs 2 out of 4 pods working before they can make their first
orbital change burn. But, it will need 3 out of 4 pods working in order
to approach ISS (according to NASA's rules). Not sure about how far it
has to stay away until it gets 3 out of 4 working.

Makes sense, if it's not a common-system problem. I'd say normally the 3/4
makes sense with the assumption it's an isolated issue, when 1/4 are working
(or possibly even 0/4, it's not clear to me if 1 was fully operational all
along) and the problem seems to be common to all of the failed ones, I think
they'll be a bit more cautious.


3) Would these packs be used at all in the case of an abort of the manned
version of the Dragon?

Not sure about that. This would depend greatly on the design of the
system. I know the Super Draco's would be used in an abort, but have no
idea how they're integrated into the design. The devil is in the
details.

Yeah, that's what I was wondering myself.



Jeff

--
Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/
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