And SpaceX's stream will go live about 6:00 PM EST, 3:00 PM PST
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/zBxHrNIzp9w
And another cruise ship has just left Port Canaveral - Don't cause today's launch to be scrubbed Disney Dream Stay clear of the rocket range notmar exclusion zone.
Mind bogglingly good video from nasaspaceflight.com of the entry burn as it enters the atmosphere while firing its engines in the direction its going to slow itself down while the rocket plume envelops the rocket.
YazataFeb 2, 2022 05:00 AM (This post was last modified: Feb 2, 2022 05:11 AM by Yazata.)
If you need to see more sci-fi style RTLS action, there's another one scheduled for tomorrow (Feb 2, Wednesday) from Vandenberg Space Force Base. 12:18 PST, 3:18 PM EST. And there seems to be another bunch of Starlinks set to go from Cape Canaveral less than two hours later! I don't think that they've ever launched two within two hours of each other, that's unprecedented. (All the Falcons are handled by the same mission control, in Hawthorne. Two hours is pretty tight.) So I'm not 100% sure this will come off, or whether they will push the Starlinks back a day or two.
The Vandenberg one is called nrol-87 (a spy satellite) and it will be lofted by brand new B1071 making its first flight. Catch its shinyness while you can, since it will be all sooty when it returns to its California landing pad (LZ-4)
The Starlinks will launch from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, at 1:51 PM PST, 4:51 PM EST. The mission will be lofted by B1061 on its sixth flight. (It previously sent Crew-1 and Crew-2 to the Space Station, so it knows what it's doing.) Landing at sea on ASOG.
YazataFeb 2, 2022 07:21 PM (This post was last modified: Feb 2, 2022 07:28 PM by Yazata.)
As I half expected, they have pushed the Starlinks back to Thursday, 18:13 UTC, 1:13 PM EST, 10:13 AM PST
The Vandenberg RTLS is still on for today at 12:18 PM PST, 3:18 PM EST
YazataFeb 3, 2022 07:30 PM (This post was last modified: Feb 3, 2022 07:37 PM by Yazata.)
B1061.7 just put another flock of Starlinks up and nailed its landing on ASOG off the Bahamas. Literally right in the center of the circle on deck, within centimeters of the aiming point! (That accuracy is going to be important if the Boca Chica catcher-arm landings are going to work as planned. Each Falcon9 flight is a test flight for the software.) Sixth trip to space for B1061 so it knows its business by now.
YazataJun 18, 2022 02:51 AM (This post was last modified: Jun 18, 2022 03:01 AM by Yazata.)
If today's Friday June 17 13th launch of B1060 wasn't enough, SpaceX has a double header set for Saturday June 18!
First up is the SARah 1 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 7:19 AM PDT (10:19 AM EDT). This will be B1071 on its third flight. It will attempt a Return to Launch Site landing at Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg. (A land landing and not a sea landing on OCISLY, the west coast droneship.) Payload is to be a large radar satellite built by Airbus for the German government.
The day's second attraction will be Globalstar 2 launch from SLC 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:27 PM PDT (12:27 AM Sunday EDT) Booster will be B1061 on its ninth flight. (It launched both Crew-1 and Crew-2.) Payload will be a French/Italian voice/data communications satellite for Alcatel. And there's talk that there will be several orher payloads as well, but that these are secret US government payloads and nobody's talkin'. Recovery will be at sea on JRTI.
Often secret hush-hush satellites are spy satellites. But photographic spy satellites are typically large. These seem to be small since they are additional to the European comsat, so my speculation is that they are ferrets. These are electronic intelligence gathering satellites that scoop up radar emissions, communications and similar stuff. If they are tagging along with a European communications satellite that presumably will be in an orbit tailored to cover Europe, these US satellites will presumably be interested in Europe too. Very likely they will be watching Ukraine and Russian activities there.
(Jan 31, 2022 10:11 PM)Yazata Wrote:
And another cruise ship has just left Port Canaveral - Don't cause today's launch to be scrubbed Disney Dream Stay clear of the rocket range notmar exclusion zone.
stryderJul 1, 2022 10:56 AM (This post was last modified: Jul 1, 2022 10:57 AM by stryder.)
I know this will be a little off-topic however I was pondering some thoughts and wondered "Do current launch windows attempting to align with moon phases?"
Here's my rational... It's known as the moon phases from it's position it has either a greater or weaker effect on our gravity (This is proven with ocean/sea tides) that means in certain instances gravity is negated a small amount by the moon, in those particular instance it would actually suggest it would be the best time to launch a rocket since it would reduce how much gravity effects the forces required to lift (and therefore reducing how much fuel is required, further reducing it's weight).
The reduction in gravity's effect would also create a reduction in atmospheric pressure which in turn would means less physical displacement when trying to push a rocket up. (Which means the reduction in mass/fuel, would likely have to be rebalanced to push more exhaust out to displace mass replacing the absence of naturally occurant atmospheric pressure.)
Admittedly I took the pondering far further than just the small change (I actually considered how gravity might well be nullified if the moon got too close) and realised how harnessing such things could actually generate better ways of launching albeit just for the mascinations of scifi. (It would be as feasible as a Dyson Sphere). Maybe one day in the future on a planet far away, such methods could be used to launch (whereby tides aren't effect or life for that matter)
Jan 31, 2022 10:11 PM
(This post was last modified: Jan 31, 2022 11:13 PM by Yazata.)
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