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 Buehler445:
Crazy. I wouldn't think it would stay upright falling back to earth in the wind.
Yeah, that's the impressive part to me as well. I guess when you have computers that are three decades more advanced than those in the other technology being used, they're capable of some pretty crazy shit.
Of course, now they have to figure out a way to slow it down from falling at incredible speeds and THEN stabilize to land, but their track record gives them a lot of benefit of the doubt that they'll pull it off. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Guru:
This is amazing stuff. really looking forward to them getting things off the ground.
Yeah, as I alluded to in the OP, I knew they were making good progress and had already completed a few cargo missions to ISS, but I had no idea they were so close to manned missions.
You have to think their eyes lit up when Russia started making threats about not allowing U.S. astronauts to hitch a ride in the future. If they can figure it out, that company is going to make an enormous amount of money. [Reply]
General story is that this was a test flight, and some sort of anomaly was detected that would potentially carry the rocket outside their (very small) safe zone, so the rocket essentially self-destructed by design. [Reply]
NASA has just announced that Boeing and SpaceX have been selected to lead the Commercial Crew Program, founded in 2010. Boeing’s CST-100 and SpaceX’s Dragon V2 will be used to launch humans into Low Earth Orbit and to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral beginning in 2017. This will be the first human spaceflight launch on American soil since the space shuttle program retired in 2011.
i think we are going to see a resurgence of space travel and exploration in the 2nd half of this decade. My son is in school to be an astrophysicist. The field expects to grow in the next 10 years and explode in 20 years. It's the ground floor now.
They are expecting private businesses to sprout up. Not to just build the vehicles, but find minerals that they can profit from back on earth. Find water for the long voages. [Reply]
Just a heads-up for anyone who cares that SpaceX will be trying to land the rocket on a barge vertically after the launch to ISS this Friday at 12:20pm Central. They only give it a 50% chance of success, but it should be interesting to watch.
