Starlink Launch

[Yazata]

There should be another livestream by Chris Gephardt and Julia Bergeron here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvYjFNEPeSg

And another one by Tim Dodd here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0eto0Sx6kQ

Here's something that I'd never thought of...

Chris Gebhardt says, Homeschooling b/c of Coronavirus Quarantine? Would your kids like to watch a rocket launch? NASASpaceflight will bring you today's SpaceX rocket launch of 60 satellites called Starlink... AND answer your questions.

I like it.

https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/12...4338883585

Article on the Starlink launch, also touching on Falcon9 taking over the #1 spot as the American booster with the most launches, nudging aside ULA's Atlas 5. This will be Falcon9's 84th flight. If they can keep up the cadence of 2/month they will hit 100 at the end of the year. The article also has a summary of how many of the Starlinks are still up there and what kinds of orbits they are in.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/04/...-starlink/

[Yazata]

NSF stream is live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvYjFNEPeSg

[Yazata]

B1051 left Cape Canaveral.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1253043667343818754

The Starlinks were successfully deployed

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1253047783457619969

And B1051 is safely back on OCISLY.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1253045936005111809

https://twitter.com/julia_bergeron/statu...8140766208

And here's an absolutely wonderful shot by somebody in Suffolk England, showing the Starlinks passing overhead. The F9 second stage is visible and the Starlinks like two stacks of 30 pizza boxes slowly spreading out. Click on the twitter photo to get the whole thing. The reason why its so visible is because it was photographed not long after sunset in England while the stuff in space was still illuminated by the Sun and not yet in the Earth's shadow.

https://twitter.com/Eaglekepr/status/125...7161117696

SpaceX photo showing B1051.4 back on OCISLY on left after its fourth trip to space, while camera on the right is trying to show the second stage Merlin engine powering the Starlinks into orbit (the camera is dazzled by the Sun).

[Image: 1627593.jpg]

[Yazata]

B1051.4 has arrived back in Port Canaveral.

https://twitter.com/julia_bergeron/statu...3188835331

[Yazata]

If you didn't get enough SpaceX on Friday when SN4 blew up in a spectacular explosion, and on Saturday when DM-2 successfully launched Bob and Doug, and on Sunday when they successfully docked with the Space Station (SpaceX is better than Netflix), another batch of Starlinks is set to launch this evening at 9:25 pm EDT. It will be livestreamed on SpaceX (link below) and probably by NSF (link to youtube channel below).

Booster will be b1049.5 attempting its fifth launch and recovery. I believe that the most they have managed so far is four. They tried a fifth flight previously but while the rocket successfully achieved orbit, it blew one of its nine engines doing it and couldn't perform its landing and was destroyed.

They will attempt to recover b1049 on JRTI (Just Read the Instructions), the second landing barge which has just completed an extensive refit. OCISLY just returned the once-flown DM-2 rocket b1058 to Port Canaveral yesterday and can't recycle back to the landing zone that fast. There are rumors that a third and rather different landing barge is currently under construction. (In Louisiana? They convert them from off-shore oil rig barges.) They will once again be trying to catch the fairings with Ms Tree and Ms Chief.

https://www.spacex.com/launches/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSUu1li...kKtDOJdsBA

[Yazata]

T-7 minutes

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Ccp4jg0pHI4

Edit: The launch went well and b1049.5 has successfully landed on JRTI!

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/stat...7809187844

This is the first Falcon 9 that has successfully completed five flights.

The Starlinks have deployed.

[Image: index.php?action=dlattach;topic=51125.0;...1833;image]

[Yazata]

If tonight's Rocketlab lauch just wasn't enough, another batch of Starlinks is set to go in a few hours.

Booster will be twice-flown B1059 going for its third trip to space. Both halves of the fairing are what SpaceX calls "flight proven" and the rest of us call "used", with one previous flight.

https://www.spacex.com/launches/

Shooting for 5:21 AM EDT, 2:21 AM PDT (an ungodly hour) and a pleasant 9:21 AM UTC for our European friends to enjoy over a late Saturday breakfast.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/8riKQXChPGg

[C C]

[...] Both halves of the fairing are what SpaceX calls "flight proven" and the rest of us call "used", with one previous flight.

In contrast to SpaceX, it's difficult to imagine (non-profit?) NASA using commercially correct terminology to mask what could be conceived or misconceived by clients and laymen as an uncomplimentary status. Then again, NASA has had its image problems in the past that it has worried about.

I guess even political orthodoxy demands to color within approved lines are also underlain by promotional concerns. Making humans and their activities sound more ideal than they really are specifically. In the case of an inanimate and non-deliberating fairing, a refurbished one probably does live up to its publicized label (for _X_ number of re-uses, anyway.)

[Yazata]

The launch went well and B1059.3 landed safely on OCISLY. Haven't heard anything about the fairings.

Since the launch was right before dawn east coast time, it produced a spectacular light show along the southeast coast. (MR will love this!)

[Image: EaYhrBRX0AAaBuh?format=jpg&name=large]

The launch didn't only carry the typical 60 Starlinks, it also had three rideshare Earth photography satellites from Planet Labs along sharing the ride.

SpaceX photo showing two of the rideshare passengers fading into the distance, with the Starlinks in the foreground yet to deploy

[Image: 1939005.jpg]

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[...] Both halves of the fairing are what SpaceX calls "flight proven" and the rest of us call "used", with one previous flight.

Difficult to imagine (non-profit?) NASA using commercially correct terminology to mask what could be conceived or misconceived by clients and laymen as an uncomplimentary status.

It isn't so much NASA using the euphemism as SpaceX. I expect that it's marketing motivated. SpaceX hopes to improve the image of launches on used boosters that some customers might perceive as more risky. After customers spend many millions on their satellites, they typically prefer to fly them on what are perceived as the least risky rockets. That's why most of these multiply flown boosters end up flying SpaceX's own Starlinks. That and various small low-cost satellites whose owners are looking for the least expensive way to get them to space.

[Yazata]

Admit it, you can't sleep at night because you need to see more Starlinks. Well, you're in luck. Another batch is set to go up on Tuesday at 5:58 PM EDT (2:58 PDT, 21:58 UTC)

https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/statu...3466285060

All the usual livestreams should cover it.

Booster will be B1051.5 going for its fifth flight. OCISLY is underway and nearing the booster landing zone.

Payload will be 58 Starlinks (not the usual 60) along with two rideshares, Earth-imaging satellites from Black Sky (we saw Rocketlab launch a Black Sky satellite a while back). The Starlinks are a new model people are calling "visorsats", with a deployable plastic foam visor as a sunshade designed to keep the Sun from reflecting off them. That should make the astronomers a little happier. The plastic foam is transparent to radio waves, so it shouldn't degrade the Starlink's performance. They didn't want to just paint them black since that would mess up their thermal properties.

Starlink is preparing to roll out a beta-test version of their satellite high-speed internet service. They have a sign-up where you put in your location and your email, and they will notify you when/if it rolls out in your area. I think that the earliest service will be in North America up along the US/Canadian border, just because of the orbits that the first satellites are in. The idea is to offer quality internet service to rural areas where it isn't available now. But I live in silicon valley with some of the world's best internet, so they might not prioritize people like me as beta testers. The plan is to roll it out in the rest of the world as more satellites are put up. It should go worldwide by the end of 2021.

I signed up and got a welcome email, but nothing more since then. It will be a wonderful thing for Montana and the Dakotas though, to say nothing of Saskatchewan, areas with lots of wide open spaces and thin internet. It will be huge in Africa when it rolls out there, a place with no internet at all outside the larger cities.

https://www.starlink.com/

Photo by Mary of the "flying saucer" Starlink user terminal antennas. These are at Boca Chica. I think that individual users would only have one on their roof.

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