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.
That's also 22 launches on the year, with up to 5 more in December (but probably just 1 or 2 more). 24 launches scheduled for 21 (2 heavy launches!), and that's not including Starlink. I would not be surprised to see SpaceX hit 2 launches per month just for Starlink next year. We may see them hit 50. [Reply]
Kind of crazy that they have only built 5 boosters this year for like 25 launches. I know that's the whole idea, but it's easy to miss how much money they're saving from all this. [Reply]
It's always tough to watch these things, as they don't really publish set times, so you just end up watching streams of a rocket sitting on a pad for hours. But it'll be fun if you can catch it.
Also, just to set expectations, I think it's highly likely that this results in a big boom. There's a shit ton of new stuff they're trying on this launch, so the likelihood of it actually flying, falling, and landing itself on the first try is pretty low. [Reply]
Are they actually going to try to land it on the pad at the complex? If so, I hope they have some contingency if things go wrong to keep it away from the complex and the village. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Donger:
Another static fire? Interesting.
Are they actually going to try to land it on the pad at the complex? If so, I hope they have some contingency if things go wrong to keep it away from the complex and the village.
Yes, the plan is to try and land it back at the complex. Like the F9 landings, it'll be over the water until the very end to try and prevent damage to the facility.
But that said, they've set a five-mile-radius exclusion zone for this (which goes beyond the village), so they clearly think there's a chance that things could get ugly. I don't think damage to the facility or village is out of the question. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Yes, the plan is to try and land it back at the complex. Like the F9 landings, it'll be over the water until the very end to try and prevent damage to the facility.
But that said, they've set a five-mile-radius exclusion zone for this (which goes beyond the village), so they clearly think there's a chance that things could get ugly. I don't think damage to the facility or village is out of the question.