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.
Some cool stuff coming out from SpaceX this weekend. First, they've got the first crew Dragon test vehicle mounted to the booster and are doing fit tests. They're still a month or so from launching the first test, but the pictures are pretty damn cool (especially the one with the access arm leading out to the capsule).
Preparing to return human spaceflight capabilities to the United States, Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 went vertical at historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida. pic.twitter.com/igggZdCU9k
Also, they're starting to build the first "hopper" test vehicle for the Starship in Texas. They're hoping to do hop tests in the next couple months. Still likely years away from an actual launch, though.
Starship test vehicle under assembly will look similar to this illustration when finished. Operational Starships would obv have windows, etc. pic.twitter.com/D8AJ01mjyR
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Guess you haven't seen pictures of New Glenn...
Honestly, I haven't kept much interest in any of the companies after it turned out everybody was going to continue using old school rocket designs rather than developing newer concepts like aerospikes. I get why (profit, faster time table) but it doesn't really...inspire me, I guess, to pay real close attention. It sort of feels like watching the 60s all over again, which is cool but...it doesn't really feel like we're going anywhere new. Not that I was alive then, of course, but being a child of the 70s, space was always kind of a big deal. Point being that I'm watching launches now (and I do watch sometimes, it's still neat...) that look pretty much like launches I watched forty years ago. Yeah the computer tech is incredibly advanced now and we can land them on ships in the middle of the ocean, but it just feels...old, at a fundamental level to see us still using basically the same kind of engines we had fifty years ago. Or eighty...
Maybe the kid inside 45-year old me just expected us to have a much cooler, much more space-explore-y world than we do at this point in time. [Reply]
