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.
I'd like to learn more about how the first stage does a veritable about face. I presume that staging happens around 60 miles or so, and probably a few thousand MPH? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Donger:
I'd like to learn more about how the first stage does a veritable about face. I presume that staging happens around 60 miles or so, and probably a few thousand MPH?
This graphic gives you the basic gist at least:
As for the speeds, some geek on the SpaceX subreddit crunched all sorts of numbers from the launch...
According to the video, boostback started at 3:50 (230 seconds), so that would put it around 98km (58 miles) out and at about 1600m/s (3600 mph). [Reply]
Originally Posted by Donger:
That's pretty fucking amazing, really, thanks. And now I understand the logic behind the sea-based landings, which I hadn't before.
I just realized that I read the wrong column - the downrange distance would have been more like 111 km (69 miles) - I had read altitude instead. Fixed in my above post.
EDIT: And now the guy has revised his estimates and shows 94 km (58 miles). I give up updating after this though. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
I don't think anyone really knows. Musk did indicate on a call last night, though, that he doesn't think this one will ever fly again. I don't know what kind of museum can hold a 14-story rocket, but he seemed to think that's where it ultimately belongs.
That said, I bet that they at least fill it back up at some point and static fire it just to see what happens.
Agree, in 15 short minutes that puppy was stressed a bit.. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
I just realized that I read the wrong column - the downrange distance would have been more like 111 km (69 miles) - I had read altitude instead. Fixed in my above post.
EDIT: And now the guy has revised his estimates and shows 94 km (58 miles). I give up updating after this though. :-)
Yeah, like I said, I see now why they tried the barge idea. Dragon could basically just drop straight down after the flip instead of going back to land. Not very efficient. [Reply]
Originally Posted by GloryDayz:
Agree, in 15 short minutes that puppy was stressed a bit..
One good point that I read today is that this landing could be huge for reliability in addition to reusability. With the exception of the shuttle, we've never been able to open up a flown spacecraft and figure out what points were weakened before. They should be able to look for the weak points and make them stronger, both to boost reusability, but also to make them stronger in the first place. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Donger:
Yeah, like I said, I see now why they tried the barge idea. Dragon could basically just drop straight down after the flip instead of going back to land. Not very efficient.
Yep. If I'm understanding it correctly, the barge may still come out quite a bit for launches that require a little more oomph (and, thus, leave less fuel for landing). This one was only able to make it back because those satellites were pretty small in comparison to some other launches, and they were only going to LEO.
Hopefully they'll be able to stick the barge landings too next time. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Well, since the thread is bumped anyway, I'll just keep posting shit. :-)
I suspect that pic was in his Sig block when he replied to the Blue Origin with a simple, "Thanks" (in response to their "Welcome to the club" tweet). [Reply]
Don't get me wrong, what BO accomplished was fantastic and should be commended. Hopefully they'll be able to actually launch to orbit and land someday as well. It's just silly to pretend like what they accomplished was even in the same ballpark in terms of difficulty. [Reply]
