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 DaFace:
FWIW, I asked on reddit, and the universal response was that atmospheric drag really can slow it down that much.
That really does have to be the answer. There really isn't anything else going on to slow it. Maybe the numbers flashing by were just messing me up. [Reply]
It's definitely weird. The only official statement is that the F9 performed its duties fine. The payload is classified, so who knows if it ended up having an issue of its own or if it was some sort of test that didn't really require a true orbit. Or maybe it's up there just fine, and all of this secrecy is just to further conceal the mission's purpose.
I doubt we'll ever know, but it doesn't seem like SpaceX is reacting like anything went wrong at all. FH is rolling out for what is expected to be a Wednesday static fire, and there haven't been any rumblings at all about any other launches being delayed due to a failure.
In the meantime, this shot from the launch is really cool.
The picture is interesting, I get the two lines where the first stage did it's burns, and the gap seen in the arc between MECO and the second stage starting up, the up-loop showing the back-burn of the first stage, but I don't get why the first burn of the first stage's reentry burn appears higher than where the first and second stages separated.
Originally Posted by GloryDayz:
The picture is interesting, I get the two lines where the first stage did it's burns, and the gap seen in the arc between MECO and the second stage starting up, the up-loop showing the back-burn of the first stage, but I don't get why the first burn of the first stage's reentry burn appears higher than where the first and second stages separated.
Just angles?
It definitely kicks up higher the during the boostback burn. Some of it's probably angles, but it probably starts the reentry burn in about the same spot as separation.
This illustration's not to scale or anything, but should give you the gist.
Originally Posted by DaFace:
It definitely kicks up higher the during the boostback burn. Some of it's probably angles, but it probably starts the reentry burn in about the same spot as separation.
This illustration's not to scale or anything, but should give you the gist.
For what it's worth, here's Gwynne's official statement about Zuma:
Originally Posted by :
For clarity: after review of all data to date, Falcon 9 did everything correctly on Sunday night. If we or others find otherwise based on further review, we will report it immediately. Information published that is contrary to this statement is categorically false. Due to the classified nature of the payload, no further comment is possible.
Since the data reviewed so far indicates that no design, operational or other changes are needed, we do not anticipate any impact on the upcoming launch schedule. Falcon Heavy has been rolled out to launchpad LC-39A for a static fire later this week, to be followed shortly thereafter by its maiden flight. We are also preparing for an F9 launch for SES and the Luxembourg Government from SLC-40 in three weeks.
So basically, it sounds like the satellite itself was a loss, but at least for now, it looks like the issue was that the connector to the F9 second stage didn't release properly. In this case, that connector wasn't designed by SpaceX, so it's not on them.
So good news: no delays to FH or the rest of SpaceX's manifest. Bad news: the U.S. appears to have lost a very expensive satellite. [Reply]
