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.
I've always casually paid attention to what SpaceX is up to, but I had no idea they were this far along. I'll post a few articles and videos, but here are the high points:
It's a three-stage system, and their goal is that ALL THREE will be 100% reusable, dramatically reducing the cost of space flight.
The crazy thing about that is that the three stages will all land themselves on land (no splashdowns, no parachutes) right back at the launch site.
The passenger module can handle up to seven crew at a time (compared to 3 for the Soyuz), again increasing the ability to move people back and forth easily.
As you might imagine, the technology in this thing is way beyond the Shuttle or Soyuz, so in theory, it'll be considerably safer since it can handle more situations automatically.
Here's the announcement page from SpaceX to get you started.
Originally Posted by mikey23545:
OMG?!?!?! You mean we'll actually reach earth orbit again in 2016 because of our incredible effort to return to space!
It's looking like it will probably be 2017-2018 at this point just because of scheduling, but yes. And hopefully shortly after we'll actually break orbit again. It's been too long. [Reply]
For those who don't follow it very closely, this will be attempt #2 at landing the first-stage rocket vertically on a barge in the middle of the ocean. Last one was the first time they'd tried it, and they got close...
It's not quite as exciting but, by coincidence, the CRS-5 capsule returning from ISS will be splashing down in the ocean around 40 minutes after this one launches.
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Winds are too strong up high at the moment. Seems like every time they do one of these things at a time I can watch, they get postponed. :-)
Always a big letdown when they have to scrub. [Reply]
