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.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket launched the STP-2 mission at 2:30am this morning. The two side cores, flying their second mission, returned to land successfully at Cape Canaveral.
Originally Posted by eDave:
That thing threw itself overboard at the last seconds. Gotta see that video again.
Yeah, if you look at it carefully, it fully-on tilts horizontal at the last second and pushes itself away from the drone ship. Wonder if that was a planned abort sequence to save the ship or if something went wrong with the landing sequence itself. [Reply]
:-)3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram
:-)000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Falcon Heavy’s nebula: The center core is continuing downrange (bottom right) as the rocket’s two side boosters perform boostback burns to reorient themselves back toward Cape Canaveral. The interactions between all the exhaust gases here creates an incredible, colorful spectacle that is equally dim — this image was shot at ISO 25,600! I’ve got to mention my good friend and amazing photographer @erikkuna who has been doing these shots recently and inspired me to go for it on a whim — go check out his page for a much cleaner shot, similar to this. His experience with this style of launch image shows!
:-)c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by :-)c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> John Kraus (@johnkrausphotos) on
In a follow-up, he says that the booster most likely aborted at the last second to save the ship. So we may have found the edge of what is really possible for the FH center core recovery. [Reply]
Hey, I actually have some non-SpaceX news to report in this thread! Boeing is gonna test their abort system in a week.
Got plans Tuesday, July 2? We're testing @NASA_Orion's launch abort system to verify that the crew capsule can be steered to safety if necessary. Watch the test flight that will help pave the way for #Artemis missions to the Moon and then to Mars: https://t.co/eoXd5kXhG7pic.twitter.com/uxFhQQulsv
It'll be broadcast starting at 7am EST next Tuesday (7/2) if anyone is interested. Hopefully all goes well - I'd love to see a manned launch this year regardless of whether Boeing or SpaceX gets there first. [Reply]
"The United Nations fears that the possibility of an asteroid smashing into a densely populated area isn’t being taken seriously enough, so it designated June 30 as International Asteroid Day to raise awareness about the potentially catastrophic occurrence."
Yet I don't read about it until after the fact. Hope they didn't spend much on the campaign. [Reply]
View from the fairing during the STP-2 mission; when the fairing returns to Earth, friction heats up particles in the atmosphere, which appear bright blue in the video pic.twitter.com/P8dgaIfUbl
View from the fairing during the STP-2 mission; when the fairing returns to Earth, friction heats up particles in the atmosphere, which appear bright blue in the video pic.twitter.com/P8dgaIfUbl
Originally Posted by mlyonsd:
PBS is airing a Summer of Space lineup that includes several different programs tied into Apollo 11. The one I'm looking forward to the most is a 6 hour documentary/movie called Chasing the Moon starting July 8th. It's made by the American Experience folks.