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.
Updated the OP for the next launch in 10 days. This one's kind of a weird one. It's the lightest thing they've lifted in a long time (475kg) due to 1) this originally being planned for a Falcon 1 and 2)a ride-share partner bailing out. Not sure if that'll change anything, but they'll certainly have plenty of extra fuel to do some experimenting if they want it! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Cornstock:
For those of us who dont know anything, anyone want to give a quick recap of today? Looks like it went well. What was it for, or was it just a test?
Cool that Bulgaria's thing went well, but still don't really understand the full significance of it...
Bulgaria was several launches ago. Main significance there (IMO) is the fact that it is that nation's very first satellite. They likely would not have been able to afford a satellite launch on any other vendor. Without SpaceX they would still be without any satellites. Just another example of the impact SpaceX is having on access to space.
For the recent CRS-12 launch, I absolutely love the reddit threads. More data and lots of great links in the thread, but some of the cool bits...
Originally Posted by reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...ficial_launch/
... Some quick stats about this launch:
-This will be the 39th Falcon 9 launch.
-This will be the 35th Falcon 9 launch from the East Coast.
-This will be the 11th Falcon 9 launch this year.
-This will be the 9th launch of Falcon 9 out of Historic Launch Complex 39A.
-This will be the 103rd launch out of LC-39A, along with 12 Saturn V, 82 Shuttle and 9 Falcon 9.
-This flight will lift to space the dragon D 1-14 (113.1) for the CRS-12 Mission
-This will be the last flight of a new dragon v1 capsule
-This will be the first flight of falcon 9 block 4 first stage! (the block 4 second stage has debuted before before)
-This is the last launch from the original crs contract before it got extended
-This mission is to reuse landing legs
-The Static Fire Test was completed on August 10th 2017.
... Primary mission - successful launch of dragon to the iss
CRS-12 is the 3rd CRS mission of 2017 and the last one to use a newly built dragon capsule, all future capsules will reuse pressure vessels like already done on CRS-11. After being inserted into the highly inclined orbit of the International Space Station, Dragon will spend several days rendezvousing with the ISS. Following that, Dragon will slowly be guided in by the manually-operated Canadarm for its berthing with the station at the earth-facing port of the Harmony Module. Dragon will spend approximately a month attached to the station after which it is loaded with ground-bound experiments and waste before being unberthed for its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
This mission only carries a single piece of equipment in the un-pressurised part of the capsule, the trunk called the Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass (CREAM). CREAM weighs 1258kg or 2773.4 lbs
Here is some data about the experiment: The Cosmic-Ray Energetics and Mass investigation, known as CREAM, places a highly successful balloon-borne instrument aboard the International Space Station where it gathers an order of magnitude (ten times) more data, which has lower background interference because Earth's atmosphere is no longer interfering. CREAM's instruments measure the charges of cosmic rays ranging from hydrogen up through iron nuclei, over a broad energy range. The modified balloon instrument is carried aloft on a Space X Dragon Lab cargo supply mission and placed on the Japanese Exposed Module for a period of at least three years. when attached to the outside of the iss it will be called ISS-CREAM
The rest of the cargo is launched inside the capsule inside the pressurised cargo compartment. the cargo consists of:
-Science Investigations 2019.4 lbs. / 916 kg
-Crew Supplies 485 lbs. / 220 kg
-Vehicle Hardware 747.4 lbs. / 339 kg
-Spacewalk Equipment 66.1 lbs. / 30 kg
-Computer Resources 116.8 lbs. / 53 kg
... Secondary mission - First stage landing Because this mission is not particular heavy or goes into an high-energy orbit there will be a landing attempt of the first stage at LZ-1. The landing will probably be approximately 9 minutes after launch. if successful this will be the 14th landing and the 6th at lz1. The booster on this mission will not be a flight proven one, but an all new one with the serial number of: 1039.1
Launch Complex 39A - What's the big deal? LC-39A is the most historically significant orbital launch pad in the United States. Its first launch was Apollo 4 in 1967, and it went on to launch the rest of the Apollo missions, with the exceptions of Apollo 7 & 10. After the Saturn V and all its variants were retired, the pad was reconfigured for the Space Shuttle. Over the course of the program, it launched 82 of the 135 STS missions, including all five orbiters. Since the retirement of the Shuttle in 2011, it was sitting dormant until SpaceX began leasing it in 2014. Construction work began in earnest in 2015 and continued until early 2017, culminating in the successful static fire for this mission. This launch will also mark the 103rd launch out of 39a.
...
:-)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">First picture of SpaceX spacesuit. More in days to follow. Worth noting that this actually works (not a mockup). Already tested to double vacuum pressure. Was incredibly hard to balance esthetics and function. Easy to do either separately.
:-)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 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will deliver FORMOSAT-5, an Earth observation satellite for Taiwan’s National Space Organization (NSPO), to a low-Earth orbit (LEO). SpaceX is targeting launch of FORMOSAT-5 from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The 42-minute launch window opens on Thursday, August 24 at 11:51 a.m. PDT, or 18:51 UTC. The satellite will be deployed approximately 11 minutes after launch. A backup launch window opens on Friday, August 25 at 11:51 a.m. PDT, or 18:51 UTC. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will attempt to land on the “Just Read the Instructions” droneship that will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
Suit definitely looks better than previous pressure suits like the Shuttle astronauts wore...
...and a crap ton better than the Boeing suits (seriously ugly)...
Worth keeping in mind that SpaceX actually hired someone from Hollywood to make sure that style wasn't completely ignored. I think they actually look pretty good.
This is such a ridiculous launch. Satellite deploy is ~30 seconds after the first stage lands. I kind of wish we had a shot of how small that little satellite is inside the fairing. [Reply]
