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.
Originally Posted by FlintHillsChiefs:
The guys in the SpaceX control room look like they are still in high school. Sheesh. Most of them can't be older than 25.
I like the contrast between them and the NASA feed. NASA is all suited up. SpaceX not at all. [Reply]
On a side note, SpaceXStats has launched with a new web site with all sorts of info about past/future missions, as well as the most informative "live" feed I've seen:
On a side note, why are they testing from California? You lose delta-v on a westward burn as opposed to burning east like they do in Florida. Taking advantage of the earths rotation helps a lot. [Reply]
Originally Posted by FlintHillsChiefs:
On a side note, why are they testing from California? You lose delta-v on a westward burn as opposed to burning east like they do in Florida. Taking advantage of the earths rotation helps a lot.
They explained it in the webcast that it's a combination of 1) the shortest path to the orbit they need to reach and 2) taking a path that goes over land as little as possible (for safety).
Looks like a successful deployment, so primary mission success! I'm starting to think that the barge may be the issue rather than the rocket, so we'll see what happens in the future as they try and get the water landing figured out.
Next launch is in 3 weeks on February 6th! [Reply]
Interesting - it sounds like it wasn't the waves after all. Hopefully they can keep working out these little bugs.
On the plus side, they wouldn't have been able to actually reuse this one anyway since it was the old-style body (1.1) and wouldn't have been compatible with the full-thrust anyway. [Reply]
This is a failure, but it may be my favorite video yet. Great shot of it coming down and landing, but the leg just didn't lock. Bonus awesome explosion.
:-)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 lands on droneship, but the lockout collet doesn't latch on one the four legs, causing it to tip over post landing. Root cause may have been ice buildup due to condensation from heavy fog at liftoff.
:-)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 video posted by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on
