Science Space Exploration megathread - Page 320

**DaFace** · 07:17 AM

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.

Lists of Upcoming Missions

Spoiler!

How to Watch a Live Launch

Spoiler!

Where to Learn More

Spoiler!

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.

**Donger** · 01-13-2022, 09:09 AM

SpaceX is targeting Thursday, January 13 for a Falcon 9 launch of Transporter-3 to orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The 29-minute launch window opens at 10:25 a.m. EST, or 15:25 UTC, and a backup opportunity is available on Friday, January 14 with the same window.

Falcon 9’s first stage booster previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and five Starlink missions. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Transporter-3 is SpaceX’s third dedicated rideshare mission, and on board this launch are 105 spacecraft (including CubeSats, microsats, PocketQubes, and orbital transfer vehicles).

A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff.

**Donger** · 01-13-2022, 09:27 AM

T-4:00

**DaFace** · 01-18-2022, 09:14 PM

Falcon 9 delivers another round of Starlink internet satellites into orbit at 9:02pm EST pic.twitter.com/bgEexJxQFq
— Ben Cooper (@LaunchPhoto) January 19, 2022

unlurking · 01-19-2022, 08:53 PM

Almost finished. I can't believe it's gone so well.

Just in from the @NASAWebb team: All 18 primary mirror segments and the secondary mirror are now fully deployed! Congratulations to the teams that have been working tirelessly since launch to get to this point. Soon, Webb will arrive at its new home, L2!#unfoldtheuniverse pic.twitter.com/QsIyr5AWii — Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) January 19, 2022

eDave · 01-26-2022, 02:36 PM

Out-of-control SpaceX rocket on collision course with moon

Falcon 9 booster, launched from Florida in 2015 to deploy Deep Space Climate Observatory, has followed ‘chaotic’ orbit since and is on a collision course with the moon after spending almost seven years hurtling through space, experts say.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/...-with-the-moon

**DaFace** · 01-26-2022, 02:55 PM

I've always found it kind of crazy that none of the Apollo ascent stages ever crashed down. It seems like they'd eventually get dragged down, but apparently they're all still just kind of floating out there to this day (or at least we've never been able to find any of them).

**Donger** · 01-27-2022, 02:45 PM

Falcon 9 Block 5 | CSG-2
LZ-1
Thu Jan 27, 2022 23:11 UTC (4:11pm MST)
SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA

**DaFace** · 01-27-2022, 03:30 PM

Nice, another LZ-1 landing. I've missed those.

**Donger** · 01-27-2022, 04:23 PM

**Donger** · 01-27-2022, 04:57 PM

El scrubbo:

SpaceX is targeting Friday, January 28 for launch of the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 mission to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 6:11 p.m. EST, or 23:11 UTC.

**DaFace** · 01-27-2022, 05:01 PM

Lame.

**Donger** · 01-27-2022, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace

Lame.

Yeah, went from 60% favorable weather to scrub really quickly.

**Donger** · 01-31-2022, 04:07 PM

Fourth time's the charm?

SpaceX is targeting Monday, January 31 for launch of the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 mission to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 6:11 p.m. EST, or 23:11 UTC.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission previously supported the launch of Arabsat-6A and STP-2. After stage separation, Falcon 9 will return to Earth and land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. One half of the fairings supporting this mission previously supported Transporter-1, Transporter-2, and one Starlink mission, and the other half previously supported SAOCOM 1B, Transporter-2, and one Starlink mission.

A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff.

**Donger** · 01-31-2022, 04:57 PM

T-15:00

**DaFace** · 01-31-2022, 05:13 PM

Beautiful night for a launch!

06-01-2014, 09:40 AM
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-53101	Space Exploration megathread 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. Lists of Upcoming Missions Spoiler! General lists: https://nextspaceflight.com/ http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/ SpaceX specific list: https://spacexnow.com/upcoming.php How to Watch a Live Launch Spoiler! SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/launches/ ULA: https://www.youtube.com/user/UnitedLaunchAlliance RocketLab: https://www.youtube.com/user/RocketLabNZ NASATV will also cover some launches (primarily ISS resupply missions): https://www.youtube.com/user/NASAtelevision Where to Learn More Spoiler! Some cool pics... https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/ https://www.instagram.com/spacex/?hl=en Twitter feed is usually interesing... https://twitter.com/SpaceX https://twitter.com/elonmusk The SpaceX sub is a great source of info... https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/wiki/index And for a more forum-style discussion board... http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php#c17 And there are plenty of YouTube channels with great content... Joe Scott - Lost of "future" discussion. Some about rockets and space. Much that goes beyond. Scott Manley - Super smart dude (engineer) who reviews a lot of major events in space exploration. Frazer Cain (Universe Today) - Podcast-style videos that go in-depth into space topics. 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. Last edited by DaFace; 10-13-2024 at 07:17 AM..
Posts: 52,577	1 0

01-13-2022, 09:09 AM	#4786
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $8419900 VARSITY	SpaceX is targeting Thursday, January 13 for a Falcon 9 launch of Transporter-3 to orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The 29-minute launch window opens at 10:25 a.m. EST, or 15:25 UTC, and a backup opportunity is available on Friday, January 14 with the same window. Falcon 9’s first stage booster previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and five Starlink missions. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Transporter-3 is SpaceX’s third dedicated rideshare mission, and on board this launch are 105 spacecraft (including CubeSats, microsats, PocketQubes, and orbital transfer vehicles). A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff. __________________ I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down," verbally, don't you?
Posts: 187,547

01-13-2022, 09:27 AM	#4787
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $8419900 VARSITY	T-4:00 __________________ I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down," verbally, don't you?
Posts: 187,547	1 0

01-18-2022, 09:14 PM	#4788
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-53101	Falcon 9 delivers another round of Starlink internet satellites into orbit at 9:02pm EST pic.twitter.com/bgEexJxQFq — Ben Cooper (@LaunchPhoto) January 19, 2022
Posts: 52,577

01-19-2022, 08:53 PM	#4789
unlurking MVP Join Date: Aug 2003 Casino cash: $7737309	`Almost finished. I can't believe it's gone so well.` `Just in from the @NASAWebb team: All 18 primary mirror segments and the secondary mirror are now fully deployed! Congratulations to the teams that have been working tirelessly since launch to get to this point. Soon, Webb will arrive at its new home, L2!#unfoldtheuniverse pic.twitter.com/QsIyr5AWii — Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) January 19, 2022` __________________
Posts: 10,620

01-26-2022, 02:36 PM	#4790
eDave Banned Join Date: Jan 2013 Casino cash: $9998560	Out-of-control SpaceX rocket on collision course with moon Falcon 9 booster, launched from Florida in 2015 to deploy Deep Space Climate Observatory, has followed ‘chaotic’ orbit since and is on a collision course with the moon after spending almost seven years hurtling through space, experts say. https://www.theguardian.com/science/...-with-the-moon
Posts: 53,803

01-26-2022, 02:55 PM	#4791
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-53101	I've always found it kind of crazy that none of the Apollo ascent stages ever crashed down. It seems like they'd eventually get dragged down, but apparently they're all still just kind of floating out there to this day (or at least we've never been able to find any of them).
Posts: 52,577

01-27-2022, 02:45 PM	#4792
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $8419900 VARSITY	Falcon 9 Block 5 \| CSG-2 LZ-1 Thu Jan 27, 2022 23:11 UTC (4:11pm MST) SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA __________________ I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down," verbally, don't you?
Posts: 187,547

01-27-2022, 03:30 PM	#4793
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-53101	Nice, another LZ-1 landing. I've missed those.
Posts: 52,577

01-27-2022, 04:23 PM	#4794
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $8419900 VARSITY	__________________ I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down," verbally, don't you?
Posts: 187,547

01-27-2022, 04:57 PM	#4795
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $8419900 VARSITY	El scrubbo: SpaceX is targeting Friday, January 28 for launch of the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 mission to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 6:11 p.m. EST, or 23:11 UTC. __________________ I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down," verbally, don't you?
Posts: 187,547

01-27-2022, 05:01 PM	#4796
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-53101	Lame.
Posts: 52,577

01-31-2022, 04:07 PM	#4798
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $8419900 VARSITY	Fourth time's the charm? SpaceX is targeting Monday, January 31 for launch of the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 mission to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 6:11 p.m. EST, or 23:11 UTC. The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission previously supported the launch of Arabsat-6A and STP-2. After stage separation, Falcon 9 will return to Earth and land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. One half of the fairings supporting this mission previously supported Transporter-1, Transporter-2, and one Starlink mission, and the other half previously supported SAOCOM 1B, Transporter-2, and one Starlink mission. A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff. __________________ I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down," verbally, don't you?
Posts: 187,547

01-31-2022, 04:57 PM	#4799
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $8419900 VARSITY	T-15:00 __________________ I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down," verbally, don't you?
Posts: 187,547	1 0

01-31-2022, 05:13 PM	#4800
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-53101	Beautiful night for a launch!
Posts: 52,577