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 Hydrae:
Should have been working towards that for the last 40+ years, IMO. Biggest issue with killing the Apollo program back in the day.
Apollo served it's purpose of sending men to the moon. NASA tried to go to lesser expensive Near Earth Orbit space stations where crews could do science longer in space with Sky lab hoping to eventually prove long distance missions to Mars, etc but the money and excitement wasn't there. People wanted to solve issues on Earth which are still brewing today. Plus people love low taxes. Hard to do unless you are a private company like SpaceX is.
It is interesting that NASA has gone back to the Apollo era with their SLS system.
I hope Musk can pull it off. There is no reason we shouldn't have a base on the Moon, a space station around the moon and a long distance craft that can ferry men back and forth from Mars and beyond. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Donger:
Me likey, but let's fly Falcon Heavy first, boys...
To be fair, it pretty much sounds like they are chalking up FH as a mistake and are moving on pretty quickly. I'm excited to see it fly, but it's not on the critical path anymore, and I'll bet it flies no more than 5-10 times. [Reply]
So, sure, people can call it the Big Falcon Rocket if that makes them feel better, but it's pretty clear that that's not what redditors were thinking. And as for Elon himself, keep in mind he's the same guy who intentionally named his first three cars so that they spell out SEX. :-)
-----
Apparently Gwynne at least is rebranding it. But we all know the truth.
Evidently, Shotwell is calling BFR “Big Falcon Rocket”. We got a chuckle out of that.
Originally Posted by unlurking:
reddit stream discussion thinks there may be a fire on JRTI, apparently one of the engines didn't shut down after landing?
I didn't notice anything on the webcast
I thought I heard something on the call out about a fire. Surely they have a fire suppression system on the drone ship, though. [Reply]
