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.
Even though SLS really needs to die, that sucks pretty bad. It's almost certain SLS won't fly in 2021 now.
Even though the programs are in dramatically different places, it's also striking how different it is for Starship vs. SLS. Starship finds some issues? Swap a couple of engines. Hopefully fly in a week. SLS finds some issues? Back to the drawing board. Hopefully fly next year. [Reply]
Kind of flew under the radar that Virgin managed to get to orbit yesterday! That doesn't sound like much, but they're only the third private company to do so (I think), and no one has ever done it from under a jet before. Pretty cool.
“Looks like the blue skies went to black!” We are overjoyed to share this new video of our Launch Demo 2 flight. The adrenaline is still flowing after we aced this flight and delivered satellites for nine different @NASA and university teams exactly to their target orbit. pic.twitter.com/nVX21hXywi
As a sign of things to come, SpaceX appears to have purchased two oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and named them Phobos and Deimos (moons of Mars). Doesn't take a rocket scientist (pun intended) to figure out that these will likely be involved in Starship down the road.
Following up on @thejackbeyer's find, I can confirm that Deimos and Phobos are the names of two oil rigs purchased by SpaceX – likely for conversion to support Starship operations.
ENSCO 8500 and ENSCO 8501 were the previous names of the rigs. They are nearly identical twins.
— Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) :-)?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2021
(more info if you click into the full thread) [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
As a sign of things to come, SpaceX appears to have purchased two oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and named them Phobos and Deimos (moons of Mars). Doesn't take a rocket scientist (pun intended) to figure out that these will likely be involved in Starship down the road.
Following up on @thejackbeyer's find, I can confirm that Deimos and Phobos are the names of two oil rigs purchased by SpaceX – likely for conversion to support Starship operations.
ENSCO 8500 and ENSCO 8501 were the previous names of the rigs. They are nearly identical twins.
— Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) :-)?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2021
(more info if you click into the full thread)
Makes complete sense. Those rigs are semi-submersibles. Or, half sunk. Or, half floating?
Originally Posted by kstater:
Is the thought to launch from them, or catch the booster?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Complete conjecture, but most likely both. Recent Twitter ramblings from Musk suggest they're trying to figure out how to basically catch the boosters on the launch pad itself so they can just fuel them up again and be ready to launch with a new payload. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Complete conjecture, but most likely both. Recent Twitter ramblings from Musk suggest they're trying to figure out how to basically catch the boosters on the launch pad itself so they can just fuel them up again and be ready to launch with a new payload.
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Complete conjecture, but most likely both. Recent Twitter ramblings from Musk suggest they're trying to figure out how to basically catch the boosters on the launch pad itself so they can just fuel them up again and be ready to launch with a new payload.
Just to be clear, catch and launch the Super Heavy, land the Starship. :-) [Reply]
You can tell how softly it sets down there. When watching the launch last week it was hard to tell if that soft landing worked or if the puff of dust was from the force of the landing. [Reply]
