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.
Since this was clearly a highly exciting launch (/s), here are the only things that you really need to know:
Mission success. All 10 satellites deployed and operating properly.
No landing attempt for the first stage on this one. They're still clearing out old boosters it seems.
Still no success on catching the fairing. Apparently they're having trouble getting the parafoil guidance system to work right because the fairing itself is messing with the air flow. Still a work in progress.
Dropped the ball on my usual 24-hour bump, but ISS-bound Dragon launches today at 4:30pm Eastern. No landing - they're still plowing through boosters apparently. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ThaVirus:
I’m at Cocoa beach today. Had no clue this was happening but about 15 minutes ago a bunch of people started pointing their cameras toward Canaveral.
Originally Posted by MagicHef:
Experimental landing maneuvers? Interesting, but we won't hear any more about it, apparently.
Yeah, they've been doing a bunch of weird stuff on the landings lately for these launches where they're dumping the booster. Probably not much that's exciting for us laymen - just seeing how far they can push the limits and still keep things in control. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Yeah, they've been doing a bunch of weird stuff on the landings lately for these launches where they're dumping the booster. Probably not much that's exciting for us laymen - just seeing how far they can push the limits and still keep things in control.
If they do it, it'd be a minimum of 45 launches and up to 250 to get it going. Guess they're counting on this reusability thing to actually work because that's a **** ton of launches.
Interesting, I'd seen it got approval but hadn't seen details. Fiber speeds sounds pretty crazy for satellite. Then again, fiber speeds doesn't really define much. If you're in the boonies, it's almost assuredly better than DSL though. [Reply]
24-hour bump for TESS. The launches are becoming a bit mundane, but this is the coolest payload SpaceX has ever launched. Assuming the mission goes well, you'll hear about the exoplanet discoveries being made with TESS for years. Here's a brief overview video:
Aside from that, there's this goofy bastard.
SpaceX will try to bring rocket upper stage back from orbital velocity using a giant party balloon