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.
Sounds like they're not very optimistic about landing this one. It's a HEAVY payload, so they can't boost back to land at all, and the barge landing will be way out there with little room for error in terms of fuel requirements. We'll see.
EDIT: Here's an actual tweet about it.
.@SpaceX on tomorrow night's launch and sea-landing attempt: "Given this mission’s unique GTO profile, a successful landing is not expected"
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Sounds like they're not very optimistic about landing this one. It's a HEAVY payload, so they can't boost back to land at all, and the barge landing will be way out there with little room for error in terms of fuel requirements. We'll see.
I looked, but can't find a link that says "SpaceX launch" tomorrow at 5:45pm. I even checked their page. Where do you go to watch live?
I have the NASAHD channel set to record, but what's listed aroung that time are "Video File" and "ISS Mission Coverage."
Originally Posted by GloryDayz:
I looked, but can't find a link that says "SpaceX launch" tomorrow at 5:45pm. I even checked their page. Where do you go to watch live?
I have the NASAHD channel set to record, but what's listed aroung that time are "Video File" and "ISS Mission Coverage."
Ugh.
It'll be up at the normal webcast link in the OP. NASA probably won't have any coverage of this one since it's a private launch.
Originally Posted by GloryDayz:
I looked, but can't find a link that says "SpaceX launch" tomorrow at 5:45pm. I even checked their page. Where do you go to watch live?
I have the NASAHD channel set to record, but what's listed aroung that time are "Video File" and "ISS Mission Coverage."
Ugh.
Spaceflightnow.com has a live feed and all Mission Status reports of all current and future launches. This is the site that most people at the Space Coast use. Launch window: 2346:14-0123 GMT (6:46:14-8:23 p.m. EST) [Reply]
SpaceXStats now has a "live" page for launches, which is pretty cool. You can pick what stream you want at the top, and a twitter-style update feed below with all the details. You can even do a side-by-side view of both the "glossy" feed and the "technical" feed if you want.
Originally Posted by :
T-3h 11m
There are currently no technical issues being worked. Everything is progressing smoothly toward an on-time liftoff.
T-3h 47m
Landing site weather shows waves of 1.8 meters, wind speed of 2.0 m/s, and gusts up to 3.0 m/s.
If they manage to get this thing off the ground today, this will be one of the smoothest launches they've done. Ever since they set the date, it's been smooth sailing (though everyone technically thought they might go for earlier in February - no official announcement was made to support that though). [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
If they manage to get this thing off the ground today, this will be one of the smoothest launches they've done. Ever since they set the date, it's been smooth sailing (though everyone technically thought they might go for earlier in February - no official announcement was made to support that though).
It will be interesting how close they come to landing first stage without the boostback. Should learn a lot there.
Also:
NASA awards SpaceX with five more cargo missions to the International Space Station. NASA's other commercial supplier got zero.
Originally Posted by DaFace:
SpaceXStats now has a "live" page for launches, which is pretty cool. You can pick what stream you want at the top, and a twitter-style update feed below with all the details. You can even do a side-by-side view of both the "glossy" feed and the "technical" feed if you want.
