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 Donger:
Why? The SRBs were rockets and they were re-used. It's impressive in the way these are recovered, certainly.
It's less the methodology (although a rocket landing evokes incredible images from classic science fiction that tickle the imagination), than the vision of the team doing it. It finally feels like space is attainable again. For man. Fast and affordable reuse (something the SRB was not) has been marked as a cornerstone for SpaceX vision of making access to space cheap and boring.
Regardless of NASA'a awesome achievements (in spite of Congress), that's one thing they could never achieve. Without cheap and ubiquitous space access, there is no chance of the common man seeing space. My Dad grew up thinking he may one day get to go to space, when the space race was all about manned exploration (well, manned patriotic achievements anyway). I grew up doubting my grandchildren would ever see space, thanks to the current vision of robotic exploration. SpaceX is taking us back to the vision of man wandering the stars.
A rocket, and hopefully soon a capsule, standing tall after a powered landing is simply the promise that someone is again working towards manned exploration. My son now has dreams of going into space. While I'm not that optimistic, I have hope for his children. [Reply]
Originally Posted by unlurking:
It's less the methodology (although a rocket landing evokes incredible images from classic science fiction that tickle the imagination), than the vision of the team doing it. It finally feels like space is attainable again. For man. Fast and affordable reuse (something the SRB was not) has been marked as a cornerstone for SpaceX vision of making access to space cheap and boring.
Regardless of NASA'a awesome achievements (in spite of Congress), that's one thing they could never achieve. Without cheap and ubiquitous space access, there is no chance of the common man seeing space. My Dad grew up thinking he may one day get to go to space, when the space race was all about manned exploration (well, manned patriotic achievements anyway). I grew up doubting my grandchildren would ever see space, thanks to the current vision of robotic exploration. SpaceX is taking us back to the vision of man wandering the stars.
A rocket, and hopefully soon a capsule, standing tall after a powered landing is simply the promise that someone is again working towards manned exploration. My son now has dreams of going into space. While I'm not that optimistic, I have hope for his children.
I wholeheartedly agree. Just pointing out an historical fact. [Reply]
Just a heads-up that we seem to be on track for a launch tomorrow morning around 9:30 Central. I'll barely even be getting to work at that time, so I probably won't be on much beforehand, but I'll try to bump it in the morning if they thread has fallen off the front page.
Another (yawn) barge landing for this one. :-) They'll be coming in hot again, so we'll see if they've really gotten the process down at this point - going for four in a row! [Reply]
