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 GloryDayz:
While I agree they're behind SpaceX (SpaceX is functional and making deliveries into space), Blue Origin seems to have the focus on manned flight.
I just appreciate what both are doing.
Blue Origin is probably 5+ years away from being to a point that they could reasonably be competing with SpaceX, but the advantage that they have is an enormous pile of money coming in every year through Bezos. Musk is super rich, no doubt, but he has to make his projects generate revenue. Bezos barely has a reason to care.
I wouldn't say Bezos is at Musk's level of out-of-the box thinking or altruism, but he's got more money to throw at everything, which can make a difference. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Blue Origin is probably 5+ years away from being to a point that they could reasonably be competing with SpaceX, but the advantage that they have is an enormous pile of money coming in every year through Bezos. Musk is super rich, no doubt, but he has to make his projects generate revenue. Bezos barely has a reason to care.
I wouldn't say Bezos is at Musk's level of out-of-the box thinking or altruism, but he's got more money to throw at everything, which can make a difference.
Does SpaceX have a projected plan for manned flight. I sure hope so. If they do, that could cover all the bases.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk [Reply]
I don't understand the Leaning Tower of Thaicom-8 reference. That isn't a used rocket, right? Surely they wouldn't try the first launch of Heavy with used hardware. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Not sure if I'm missing what you're asking. Like for tourists?
Obviously the whole point of SpaceX is sending people to Mars, and they hope to be sending people to ISS next year.
More the latter. I know the Mars thing, but keeping people alive and some other technical details need to get worked out before they strap anybody into that rocket.
So the ISS thing will be super exciting when it happens. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Donger:
I don't understand the Leaning Tower of Thaicom-8 reference. That isn't a used rocket, right? Surely they wouldn't try the first launch of Heavy with used hardware.
Actually they are indeed flying used hardware for the first launch (both side boosters - the center core will be new). The center cores are apparently having to be manufactured differently (they had hoped that the Heavy would be nothing but 3 F9's strapped together), so it can't be used until they recover an actual FH core.
As for the launch, Elon has described it as a "high risk" mission, so I'm guessing they're confident enough in the used cores that they don't think they will be the cause of a failure. And if they're worried about it making it in the first place, better to dump two previously-flown boosters than a new one. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Actually they are indeed flying used hardware for the first launch (both side boosters - the center core will be new). The center cores are apparently having to be manufactured differently (they had hoped that the Heavy would be nothing but 3 F9's strapped together), so it can't be used until they recover an actual FH core.
As for the launch, Elon has described it as a "high risk" mission, so I'm guessing they're confident enough in the used cores that they don't think they will be the cause of a failure. And if they're worried about it making it in the first place, better to dump two previously-flown boosters than a new one.
I get the logic.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Actually they are indeed flying used hardware for the first launch (both side boosters - the center core will be new). The center cores are apparently having to be manufactured differently (they had hoped that the Heavy would be nothing but 3 F9's strapped together), so it can't be used until they recover an actual FH core.
As for the launch, Elon has described it as a "high risk" mission, so I'm guessing they're confident enough in the used cores that they don't think they will be the cause of a failure. And if they're worried about it making it in the first place, better to dump two previously-flown boosters than a new one.
Alrighty then. I read that he is talking about trying to recover the second stage too. He is ambitious. [Reply]
You guys, I know this is super old news and is basically the convention at this point, but the vertical landing is just SO scifi. I can't believe it's actually happening. One of the few stupid things that were seen as futuristic back in the 50's and on has actually come to fruition. [Reply]