User Panel
Supposed to be clear, but I'm not getting up for it.
Screws me up for the rest of the day. |
|
It's a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack
|
|
pretty cool video
|
|
|
Originally Posted By Chokey: pretty cool video
View Quote Insane! That gives a pretty good idea on what the Shuttle would go through. |
|
|
I wonder if those fairings will be reusable.
|
|
|
Originally Posted By Chokey: pretty cool video
View Quote
|
|
|
The Starlink 5-6 mission was a success.
|
|
|
I saw the train (line of close satellites) from the Starlink 5-6 launch last evening and they were naked eye objects.
www.heavens-above.com |
|
|
I'm trying to understand how those fairings survive reentry. They look like just white fiberglass. Are they made of heat shield material or is there some other factor in play here?
|
|
|
Originally Posted By ILfreedom: I'm trying to understand how those fairings survive reentry. They look like just white fiberglass. Are they made of heat shield material or is there some other factor in play here? View Quote I have no idea but these returned to Earth from about twice the normal height. |
|
|
Originally Posted By AmericanPeople: Here is the boat with the fairing halves from the Falcon Heavy launch. They look dark as if burned/scorched. Look at the video in the tweet in Post #3 above. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvYxADiWYAQgrgo?format=jpg&name=900x900 Credit: Kyle Montgomery@Kyle_M_Photo. Doug is currently just a few miles offshore waiting for some traffic to clear before it brings in its super toasty fairing from the Falcon Heavy launch #SpaceX #FalconHeavy #SpaceXFleet View Quote they don't look as bad as I though they would. I was expecting them to be all black, but you can see they're still "white". |
|
|
Originally Posted By ILfreedom: I'm trying to understand how those fairings survive reentry. They look like just white fiberglass. Are they made of heat shield material or is there some other factor in play here? View Quote
|
|
|
Originally Posted By AmericanPeople: I have no idea but these returned to Earth from about twice the normal height. View Quote While I understand this launch required all the boosters to be expended to put its payload into geo stationary orbit, why did the fairings have to remain with the rocket above the height that they usually jettison them for LEO launches? |
|
|
Originally Posted By DarkGray: While I understand this launch required all the boosters to be expended to put its payload into geo stationary orbit, why did the fairings have to remain with the rocket above the height that they usually jettison them for LEO launches? View Quote Again I do not know but the fairings are always jettisoned after the second stage separates from the first stage. Perhaps there is a collision avoidance issue. |
|
|
|
|
Originally Posted By AmericanPeople: Again I do not know but the fairings are always jettisoned after the second stage separates from the first stage. Perhaps there is a collision avoidance issue. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By AmericanPeople: Again I do not know but the fairings are always jettisoned after the second stage separates from the first stage. Perhaps there is a collision avoidance issue. That would make sense, I admittedly am not sure how soon they were jettisoned after stage sep. Originally Posted By Chokey: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvZXI6oWcAI87TC?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 Those look much better than I was expecting. |
|
|
Originally Posted By DarkGray: Those look much better than I was expecting. View Quote Same here. I was expecting something much more crispy. Still, this was a hell of a flight. Even with expending the entire rocket it does not feel like there was much margin for error. All delivered at much less cost than any other American launch provider could have bid... |
|
|
|
|
Mission: Falcon 9, Starlink 2-9
1) Background info: Source "A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink V1.5 internet satellites. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will land on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean." 2) Launch window: 1:09 PM PDT (10 May 2023). 3) Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California 4) Launch direction: South southeasterly 5) Webcast viewing options: a. SpaceX webcast (Starts about 5 minutes before liftoff) b. YouTube: Starlink Mission 6) Observation comments: None 7) Launch preparations: a. Boats heading out. Gav Cornwell@SpaceOffshore. 8 May 2023. Of Course I Still Love You droneship departed from Long Beach last night to support the upcoming SpaceX Starlink 2-9 mission. b. Satellites: See previous Starlink discussions. c. Ready for launch: Credit: Jack Beyer d. Navigation warning: Raul@Raul74Cz. LHA map for #Starlink Group 2-9 from VSFB SLC-4E NET 10 May 20:09 UTC, alternatively 11 to 16 May based on issued NOTAM/NOTMARs. B1075.3 planned landing with estimated fairing recovery 660 km downrange. Stage 2 debris reentry in South Pacific. 8) First stage return/ocean recovery/disposal: Drone ship OCISLY 9) Launch to deployment events/timeline: Hours:Minutes:Seconds after lift-off. Times approximate. 00:02:26 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO) 00:02:30 1st and 2nd stages separate 00:02:36 2nd stage engine starts (SES-1) 00:02:41 Fairing deployment 00:06:42 1st stage entry burn begins 00:07:01 1st stage entry burn ends 00:08:20 1st stage landing burn begins 00:08:40 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) 00:08:43 1st stage landing 00:17:21 Starlink satellites deploy 10) Orbit destination: Starlink Shell 2; 570 km circular 70° low-Earth Orbit (LEO), initial orbit 222 x 330 km orbit at 70º inclination. Source |
|
|
VAST ANNOUNCES THE HAVEN-1 AND VAST-1 MISSIONS |
|
|
Originally Posted By Chokey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS_afVESUwI View Quote Another step to Mars. Amazing. |
|
|
Originally Posted By Chokey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS_afVESUwI View Quote
|
|
|
Very cool. I have wanted something to supplement the ISS for years now. Hope it works out.
|
|
|
https://www.spacex.com/updates/index.html May 10, 2023 SPACEX TO LAUNCH VAST’S COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION AND FIRST HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT MISSION Vast announced today that SpaceX will launch what is expected to be the world’s first commercial space station, known as Vast Haven-1, quickly followed by two human spaceflight missions to said space station. Scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket to low-Earth orbit no earlier than August 2025. Haven-1 will be a fully-functional independent space station and eventually be connected as a module to a larger Vast space station currently in development. Upon launch of Haven-1, Falcon 9 will launch Vast’s first human spaceflight mission to the commercial space station, Vast-1. Dragon and its four-person crew will dock with Haven-1 for up to 30 days while orbiting Earth. Vast also secured an option for an additional human spaceflight mission to the station aboard a Dragon spacecraft. The Vast-1 crew selection process is underway and the crew will be announced at a future date. Once finalized, SpaceX will provide crew training on Falcon 9 and the Dragon spacecraft, emergency preparedness, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, as well as partial and full mission simulations including docking and undocking for return to Earth. Vast’s long-term goal is to develop a 100-meter-long multi-module spinning artificial gravity space station launched by SpaceX’s Starship transportation system. In support of this, Vast will explore conducting the world’s first spinning artificial gravity experiment on a commercial space station with Haven-1. This new partnership between Vast and SpaceX will continue to create and accelerate greater accessibility to space and more opportunities for exploration on the road to making humanity multiplanetary. |
|
|
Webcast is live.
|
|
“There is no sound, no voice, no cry in all the world that can be heard... until someone listens.”
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free and live in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." |
nailed it
|
|
|
|
|
Fetchez la vache!
|
It just occurred to me while watching today's launch that I don't know what they do with the 2nd stages of these star link launches. Do they make them burn up in reentry? Is there an orbiting Spacex spare parts junk yard where they park all the 2nd stages?
|
|
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.
Thomas Jefferson "He didnt punch anybody. He punched an idea." DrFrige |
It looked as if were going to miss the barge.
|
|
NRA Benefactor Life
|
So they just plop the 2nd stage into the ocean. Too bad they can't recover them like they do the fairings.
|
|
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.
Thomas Jefferson "He didnt punch anybody. He punched an idea." DrFrige |
Originally Posted By JCoop: So they just plop the 2nd stage into the ocean. Too bad they can't recover them like they do the fairings. View Quote It was considered. Adding thermal tiles to the upper stage. Perhaps even landing them like the first stage. But it was judged to be more trouble than it was worth. Rocket Lab is going with a disposable second stage to go with their upcoming reusable Neutron rocket and of course the plan with Starship is to be completely reusable once it’s development cycle is complete. Though they have built some disposable upper stages at Boca Chica. Bringing something back from orbital velocities is a heck of a technical challenge. The thermal protection system on Starship is much simplified from what they had on the Shuttle and it’s still a mess. What they had on the Shuttle... well... to call it an imperfect and high maintenance system would be quite an understatement. |
|
|
|
|
|
Double droneship landing?
Groovy. |
|
|
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.
Thomas Jefferson "He didnt punch anybody. He punched an idea." DrFrige |
|
SpaceX’s Falcon rocket family reaches 200 straight successful missions
"SpaceX’s launch of 51 more Starlink internet satellites Wednesday from California marked the 200th consecutive successful mission for the company’s Falcon rocket family, a record unmatched by any other space launch vehicle. The string of successes dates back to September 2016, when a Falcon 9 rocket exploded on a launch pad during pre-flight testing at Cape Canaveral, destroying the launch vehicle and an Israeli communications satellite already mounted on top of the rocket. Looking further back, SpaceX has logged 209 straight Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches since an in-flight rocket failure." Photo from SpaceFlightNow.com |
|
|
Mission: Falcon 9, Starlink 5-9
1) Background info: Source "A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink V1.5 internet satellites. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean." 2) Launch window: 1:03:50 AM EDT (14 May 2023). 3) Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida 4) Launch direction: East-southeasterly 5) Webcast viewing options: a. SpaceX webcast (Starts about 5 minutes before liftoff) b. YouTube: Starlink Mission 6) Observation comments: None 7) Launch preparations: a. Boats heading out.
Gav Cornwell@SpaceOffshore. May 10. Departure! Just Read the Instructions droneship is outbound to support the Starlink 5-9 mission. Tug Crosby Skipper is towing. Crosby Skipper + JRTI depart PC @ 7:43am ET (10 May 2023). Source: NASASpaceFlight.com b. Satellites: No change from previous missions. c. Ready for launch: Tom McCool@Cygnusx112. Falcon 9 is vertical on the pad for the Starlink launch in about 15 hours. d. Navigation warning: Raul@Raul74Cz. LHA map for #Starlink Group 5-9 from CCSFS SLC-40 NET 14 May 04:58 UTC, alternatively 15 to 20 May based on issued NOTAM/NOTMARs. Booster landing with fairing recovery approximately 660km downrange. S2 debris reentry area south of Cape Town. 8) First stage return/ocean recovery/disposal: Drone ship JRTI 9) Launch to deployment events/timeline: Hours:Minutes:Seconds after lift-off. Times approximate. 00:01:12 Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket) 00:02:28 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO) 00:02:31 1st and 2nd stages separate 00:02:38 2nd stage engine starts (SES-1) 00:02:46 Fairing deployment 00:06:13 1st stage entry burn begins 00:06:32 1st stage entry burn ends 00:08:08 1st stage landing burn begins 00:08:29 1st stage landing 00:08:36 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) 00:54:05 2nd stage engine starts (SES-2) 00:54:07 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2) 01:04:53 Starlink satellites deploy 10) Orbit destination: 298 x 340 kilometers at 43 degree inclination. |
|
|
Webcast is live.
|
|
|
Cloudy here.
|
|
|
Bullseye.
|
|
|
Originally Posted By AmericanPeople: SpaceX's Falcon rocket family reaches 200 straight successful missions "SpaceX's launch of 51 more Starlink internet satellites Wednesday from California marked the 200th consecutive successful mission for the company's Falcon rocket family, a record unmatched by any other space launch vehicle. The string of successes dates back to September 2016, when a Falcon 9 rocket exploded on a launch pad during pre-flight testing at Cape Canaveral, destroying the launch vehicle and an Israeli communications satellite already mounted on top of the rocket. Looking further back, SpaceX has logged 209 straight Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches since an in-flight rocket failure." https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/20230510star2-9.jpeg Photo from SpaceFlightNow.com View Quote |
|
"Your boos mean nothing. I've seen what makes you cheer."
|
|
"I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I do deny them my essence."
"Yes... yes. This is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... This Land." |
|
Mission: Falcon 9, Starlink 6-3
1) Mission Description: "A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of second-generation Starlink V2 Mini internet satellites. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean." SpaceFlightNow source 2) Launch window: 1:31 AM EDT (19 May 2023). 3) Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida 4) Launch direction: Southeast 5) Webcast viewing options: a. SpaceX webcast (Starts about 5 minutes before liftoff) b. YouTube: Starlink Mission 6) Observation comments: None. 7) Launch preparations: a. Boats heading out: Not found. b. Satellites: A side-by-side comparison of the Starlink V1.5 and the Starlink V2 Mini satellites. Credit: SpaceX / Spaceflight Now c. Ready for launch: Credit: SpaceFlightNow.com d. Navigation warning: Credit: Raul@Raul74Cz. LHA map for #Starlink Group 6-3 from CCSFS SLC-40 NET 19 May 04:30 UTC, alternatively 20 to 25 May based on issued NOTAM/NOTMARs. B1076.5 planned landing 637km downrange. Estimated fairing recovery ~681m downrange. S2 reentry areas in Indian Ocean. 8) First stage return/ocean recovery/disposal: Recover on drone ship ASOG. 9) Launch to deployment events/timeline: Hours:Minutes:Seconds after lift-off. Times approximate. 00:01:12 Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket) 00:02:26 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO) 00:02:30 1st and 2nd stages separate 00:02:37 2nd stage engine starts (SES-1) 00:03:06 Fairing deployment 00:06:10 1st stage entry burn begins 00:06:30 1st stage entry burn ends 00:08:00 1st stage landing burn begins 00:08:23 1st stage landing 00:08:39 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) 00:54:16 2nd stage engine starts (SES-2) 00:54:18 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2) 01:04:56 Starlink satellites deploy 10) Orbit destination: 530 km circular low-Earth orbit at 43 degrees inclination. Insertion orbit 314 x 323 km at 43 degrees |
|
|
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.