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.
The catching of the fairings, unless they can do something like add fins, drag (other than what it does naturally), chutes, or some kind of controlling thrust, seems like it's always going to be, at best, a game of chance [Reply]
Originally Posted by GloryDayz:
The catching of the fairings, unless they can do something like add fins, drag (other than what it does naturally), chutes, or some kind of controlling thrust, seems like it's always going to be, at best, a game of chance
My understanding, and I haven't looked recently, is that the fairings have both thrusters and a steerable parafoil. [Reply]
Originally Posted by SuperBowl4:
Space s a waste of money. Spend it on helping people on earth. So stupid.
I don't want to be too thin skinned, but I banned this guy from the thread. All he ever does in here is post snide comments about the stupidity of it all. [Reply]
Originally Posted by MagicHef:
Do we know if the fairing they caught was the instrumented half or not?
I'm not sure how much instrumentation is in them. Never thought about it.
I do remember that Starlink 1 (or 0.1?) flew with reused fairings from one of the FH flights. One was caught by Ms. Tree and the other hit the water but was still recovered and refurbished. The webcast said the missed fairing hit the water softly so I'm guessing both halves will be reused. [Reply]
Working date for SpaceX's Demo-2 launch is May 7. Dragon is in good shape.
Launch date is fluid and mission may move into late April, or push later into May depending on a number of variables not hardware related. No final decision yet on duration.
Yeah, Boeing is fucked. If they're lucky they'll get to refly their OFT and perform an IFA this year. The only reason they got to skip doing an IFA was because of they're "certified processes" and simulations. Add the last OFT failure and the parachute anomoly during launch pad abort (also a failure to adhere to processes) and I'm betting the upcoming NASA culture/process audit at Boeing recommends no human flight for a while. [Reply]
