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.
The test firing, originally scheduled for Thursday, and then re-scheduled for Friday, will now happen no earlier than 5 p.m. on Saturday.
The Falcon Heavy rocket has been moved from its upright position and is now on its side at Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX has not said why the two test-fires have been scrubbed. [Reply]
Guess I'm not surprised, but it's not looking like FH will launch in January. They're now in a holding pattern on the static fire due to delays with the ULA Atlas V launch next door (which has priority over a test obviously). Hopefully they get it in someday soon, but I'm not holding my breath. [Reply]
Just for the record, launches are shutdown when the government is shutdown. So everything on the calendar right now is likely drifting to the right. [Reply]
I'm going to go ahead and put SES-16 on the clock for Tuesday. There's still technically a chance that FH could happen first, but I doubt it. You can bet I'll be posting it as soon as we have a time set for FH.
For what it's worth, SES-16 will be a previously-flown booster, but they're (by choice) not going to recover it. It's looking like they're gonna plow through a bunch of old Block 3 boosters and not try to recover them as they make way for Block 5 (the first of which is now out of assembly and will be used on an upcoming mission). This is probably also at least partially due to the fact that the center core of FH has to go somewhere, and it's looking like that's going to happen sooner than later. :-) [Reply]
Don't get me wrong - I'm excited about SLS in general. But it's been delayed so much and is going to be so damn expensive to fly, my expectations have been tempered significantly. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Don't get me wrong - I'm excited about SLS in general. But it's been delayed so much and is going to be so damn expensive to fly, my expectations have been tempered significantly.
If it entertains me, their money is no object. :-) [Reply]
I have been someone that has lurked this board for probably 10 years but never saw a point in creating a profile and getting into the mix of things.
But I wanted to create one to give a big shout out to DaFace for this thread. I never really payed attention to SpaceX until I started reading this thread (around the time of their first or second attempt to land) and I have been obsessed since then. I have the falcon heavy launch date on my calendar and I am organizing a launch party at work.
So thanks to DaFace for keeping this thread updated and spreading the excitement! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chitownchiefsfan:
I have been someone that has lurked this board for probably 10 years but never saw a point in creating a profile and getting into the mix of things.
But I wanted to create one to give a big shout out to DaFace for this thread. I never really payed attention to SpaceX until I started reading this thread (around the time of their first or second attempt to land) and I have been obsessed since then. I have the falcon heavy launch date on my calendar and I am organizing a launch party at work.
So thanks to DaFace for keeping this thread updated and spreading the excitement!
That's awesome man. Glad the thread helped you find something interesting to follow. The more people we can get to value experimentation and exploration, the better! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chitownchiefsfan:
I have been someone that has lurked this board for probably 10 years but never saw a point in creating a profile and getting into the mix of things.
But I wanted to create one to give a big shout out to DaFace for this thread. I never really payed attention to SpaceX until I started reading this thread (around the time of their first or second attempt to land) and I have been obsessed since then. I have the falcon heavy launch date on my calendar and I am organizing a launch party at work.
So thanks to DaFace for keeping this thread updated and spreading the excitement!
Welcome to the CP Space Club! In a few years, we may have enough members to have a get together in a small room. [Reply]
I love Elon for a wide variety of reasons, but among them is the fact that he can be at the forefront of all of these game-changing technologies while still acting like a complete goofball nerd. If you haven't followed, he's (somewhat playfully, but you never know) starting a tunnel-boring company called "The Boring Company." As a reference to Spaceballs, he said that, if they sold 50k hats, he'd make a flamethrower. Well, here he is playing with the damn thing around the office last night.
:-)000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Don’t do this. Also, I want to be clear that a flamethrower is a super terrible idea. Definitely don’t buy one. Unless you like fun.
:-)c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by :-)c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on
