Since a number of cool things are happening in space exploration these days, we'll widen the scope of this thread a smidge. Conversation about all things space exploration are welcome, whether it be from NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, or anyone else. Chances are most of the discussion will still be about SpaceX since they love to make things public and fun, but nothing's off limits. I'll eventually get around to modifying the OP to include resources for other companies too, but in the meantime, feel free to post any cool stuff you run across.
Tim Dodd (Everyday Astronaut) - A "random dude" who got really into space (particularly SpaceX). He's a great resource for simple explanations of this stuff, as well as live hosting launches.
USLaunchReport - Lost of videos of the more mundane stuff (e.g., booster recovery operations). Not a ton of commentary.
NASASpaceFlight - Live hosting of most launches including a ton of video of Starlink operations.
Glossary
Spoiler!
Space discussions tend to get a little bogged down in jargon, so here's a list of terms you might encounter. (Others, please let me know of others that should be added.)
ASDS - Autonomous Spaceport Droneship - The "barges" that they sometimes land rockets on.
Dragon - The cone-shaped capsule that sits at the top of the rocket for ISS-bound launches that holds the cargo (or, in the future, humans).
F9 - Falcon 9, the name of the rocket itself.
FH - Falcon Heavy, the three-booster version.
GTO - Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, a type of orbit that will eventually result in the satellite orbiting the earth as it turns so that it seems to be in the same spot from the ground (such as DirecTV or Dish satellites). These types of launches are particularly challenging because they require a lot of power to get them into the right orbit, leaving very little fuel left for landing.
HIF - Horizontal Integration Facility - the building near the launch pad where they put all of the pieces of the rocket together before rolling it out to the pad.
ISS - The International Space Station
JRTI - Just Read The Instructions, the name of the "barge" that they land on for west-coast launches.
LEO - Low Earth Orbit, a fairly low orbit shared by many satellites and ISS. These launches usually require less power to achieve the proper orbit, so the first stage can often be landed back on land rather than on a drone ship.
LZ1 - Landing Zone 1, basically a big open slab of concrete at Cape Canaveral where the first stage will attempt to land (for some launches).
NET - No Earlier Than, basically the date they're hoping to launch, but rocket launches have a tendency of getting delayed.
OCISLY - Of Course I Still Love You, the name of the "barge" that they land on for east-coast launches.
RTLS - Return to Landing Site, a mission where the first stage comes back and lands at LZ1.
Starship - SpaceX's next-generation rocket (and spacecraft) that will hopefully one day take us to Mars. Starship is the "second stage" that will carry cargo or people, but also refers to the whole system. (It's confusing, but think of it like the Space Shuttle, which was both the shuttle itself and the entire launch system.)
Super Heavy - The giant booster that will carry Starship to space.
Random quotes from Elon from a sort of press conference today.
doing a six-hour coast before final second-stage burn; going through Van Allen Belts. Also fuel could freeze or oxygen lost.
Tesla will be placed into a heliocentric orbit and become a Earth-Mars cycler; only extremely tiny chance of hitting Mars in foreseeable future.
one area of concern is relative interactions of the three booster cores; could be resonance or shockwave impingement. Once second stage separates, we’re in much more known territory other than long-duration coast.
looks like development of BFR is moving quickly, and won’t be necessary to qualify Falcon Heavy for crewed spaceflight.
if we’re successful, offer near super-heavy-lift for little more than Falcon 9. “Game over” for all other heavy-lift rockets.
if successful with this test launch, we’ll be ready to put a satellite on the next Falcon Heavy launch.
if successful should be able to d another FH in three to six months. Can produce them at a pretty rapid rate.
if we wanted to, we could add to more side boosters, make it Falcon Super Heavy.
If FH blows up the pad, it'll take at least 9 - 12 months to get the pad back in action. It won't affect production.
However if it clears the pad and doesn't go well, can launch FH again in 3 to 4 months
The timing is the most interesting to me. Max-Q happens in only 1:06, and BECO (booster engine cutoff) happens at 2:29. And almost most interestingly, all three boosters will land within 21 seconds of each other at ~8 minutes - two on land and one at sea. [Reply]
My fiancé has been giving me a hard time because I have been talking nonstop about this for a week now. I have a viewing party set up at work and I may cry if this works like it should. [Reply]
Too go or not was going to be a last minute thing. Planned everything, just had to pull a series of triggers to make it happen. Unfortunately, my little guy came up with a fever of 101.8. Needless to say, our plans were scrapped. [Reply]
Originally Posted by aturnis:
Too go or not was going to be a last minute thing. Planned everything, just had to pull a series of triggers to make it happen. Unfortunately, my little guy came up with a fever of 101.8. Needless to say, our plans were scrapped.
If they don't blow up the launch pad today, they could have another launch in 3-4 months. [Reply]
The countdown clock has been reset to target a new Falcon Heavy launch time of 2pm EST (1900 GMT). Live coverage from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida: https://t.co/j9nQKPiCdXpic.twitter.com/sCHIy9EYb2
