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.
Ship is finally back in port. There are tons of pics out there in the usual places (and a whole time series being updated here), but here are a few good ones:
Also, live video from the Port Canaveral Webcam here:
Originally Posted by DaFace:
I think the barge itself is rocking all over the place. It's certainly possible that the big ass rocket landing on it caused it to dip on that side, though. :-)
In the shots they showed of it from the barge itself a minute or so later, it looks perfectly solid.
I don't think so. Even the pictures back at port show a lean. I bet one of the landing "feet" was damaged during the landing. [Reply]
This shot isn't anything new really, but I love having the workers in there for scale. It looks so small when it's all alone on the launch pad, but not so much.
Originally Posted by DaFace:
While we wait on some pics of the booster coming back, would you guys mind giving me some feedback on this thread itself? I enjoy having a place to chat about this stuff, but I'm well aware that about 1/3rd of the posts in here are mine. I don't have a problem with that since I'm doing a lot of posting from around the interwebs, but I don't want to go so crazy with it that it's annoying to have the thread bumped all the time with boring info either.
So if you would, let me know what you think. I'll add a poll just to give me some concrete numbers, but just generally let me know if you think the level of content I post in here should be 1) slowed down a bit, 2) kept about the same, or 3) dive even more into the minutiae into things like launch schedules, press conferences, etc.
Oh, and thanks to those who have let me know they enjoy keeping up with this stuff privately. I know there are at least a few - I just want to gauge interest from others. :-)
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EDIT TO ADD: I could also be convinced to re-brand this as the "Space Megathread" and talk about other cool space shit, but I don't want to overlap with Fish's science thread too much either.
sorry man been more of a lurker than poster. Great job with the thread. I'm up to speed on this because my son is studying Astrophysics. Still learn something new every time I look in the thread. [Reply]
