Science Space Exploration megathread - Page 82

**DaFace** · 03:36 PM

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.

KranzDictum · 09-29-2017, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hydrae

Should have been working towards that for the last 40+ years, IMO. Biggest issue with killing the Apollo program back in the day.

Apollo served it's purpose of sending men to the moon. NASA tried to go to lesser expensive Near Earth Orbit space stations where crews could do science longer in space with Sky lab hoping to eventually prove long distance missions to Mars, etc but the money and excitement wasn't there. People wanted to solve issues on Earth which are still brewing today. Plus people love low taxes. Hard to do unless you are a private company like SpaceX is.

It is interesting that NASA has gone back to the Apollo era with their SLS system.

I hope Musk can pull it off. There is no reason we shouldn't have a base on the Moon, a space station around the moon and a long distance craft that can ferry men back and forth from Mars and beyond.

ping2000 · 09-29-2017, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aturnis

Big Falcon Rocket

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Boring.

eDave · 09-29-2017, 07:14 PM

Here's a pic of re-entry taken by the ISS:

**DaFace** · 09-30-2017, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donger

Me likey, but let's fly Falcon Heavy first, boys...

To be fair, it pretty much sounds like they are chalking up FH as a mistake and are moving on pretty quickly. I'm excited to see it fly, but it's not on the critical path anymore, and I'll bet it flies no more than 5-10 times.

**DaFace** · 10-03-2017, 11:32 AM

Sounds like Falcon Heavy isn't gonna happen in 2017.

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/or...-heavy-lc-39a/

"We are targeting no earlier than the end of 2017 for Falcon Heavy’s inaugural flight from Launch Complex 39A in Florida."

aturnis · 10-03-2017, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace

Nah. It's definitely a synonym for carnal relations.

I mean, yeah, it is. Falcon is definitely a play on the word to insinuate "****ing".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFR_(rocket)

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

**DaFace** · 10-03-2017, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aturnis

I mean, yeah, it is. Falcon is definitely a play on the word to insinuate "****ing".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFR_(rocket)

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Elon didn't come up with the name - reddit did years ago when it was nothing but a vague rumor. It's a play on the BFG 9000 from Doom in the 90's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFG_(weapon)

So, sure, people can call it the Big Falcon Rocket if that makes them feel better, but it's pretty clear that that's not what redditors were thinking. And as for Elon himself, keep in mind he's the same guy who intentionally named his first three cars so that they spell out SEX.

-----

Apparently Gwynne at least is rebranding it. But we all know the truth.

Evidently, Shotwell is calling BFR “Big Falcon Rocket”. We got a chuckle out of that.
— Jeff Foust (@jeff_foust) October 5, 2017

-----

Also, SES has been bumped to the 11th.

**DaFace** · 10-08-2017, 02:43 PM

Heads up bump for the early birds tomorrow.

unlurking · 10-08-2017, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace

Heads up bump for the early birds tomorrow.

Alarm already set!

**DaFace** · 10-09-2017, 06:33 AM

Launch incoming.

**DaFace** · 10-09-2017, 06:45 AM

Good landing. Time for stage 2 to coast for a while.

unlurking · 10-09-2017, 06:45 AM

ho hum

'nuther day, 'nuther landing

nuthin' ta see here

unlurking · 10-09-2017, 06:52 AM

reddit stream discussion thinks there may be a fire on JRTI, apparently one of the engines didn't shut down after landing?

I didn't notice anything on the webcast

**DaFace** · 10-09-2017, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unlurking

reddit stream discussion thinks there may be a fire on JRTI, apparently one of the engines didn't shut down after landing?

I didn't notice anything on the webcast

I thought I heard something on the call out about a fire. Surely they have a fire suppression system on the drone ship, though.

unlurking · 10-09-2017, 07:10 AM

Supposedly they have water cannons on board, I've just never seen them used. I'm assuming it's a non-issue.

06-01-2014, 09:40 AM
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $1926899	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.youtube.com/user/spacexchannel 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; 12-10-2020 at 03:36 PM..
Posts: 51,840

09-29-2017, 07:14 PM	#1218
eDave Banned Join Date: Jan 2013 Casino cash: $9998560	Here's a pic of re-entry taken by the ISS:
Posts: 53,803

10-03-2017, 11:32 AM	#1220
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $1926899	Sounds like Falcon Heavy isn't gonna happen in 2017. http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/or...-heavy-lc-39a/ "We are targeting no earlier than the end of 2017 for Falcon Heavy’s inaugural flight from Launch Complex 39A in Florida."
Posts: 51,840

10-08-2017, 02:43 PM	#1223
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $1926899	Heads up bump for the early birds tomorrow.
Posts: 51,840

10-09-2017, 06:33 AM	#1225
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $1926899	Launch incoming.
Posts: 51,840

10-09-2017, 06:45 AM	#1226
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $1926899	Good landing. Time for stage 2 to coast for a while.
Posts: 51,840

10-09-2017, 06:45 AM	#1227
unlurking MVP Join Date: Aug 2003 Casino cash: $7737309	ho hum 'nuther day, 'nuther landing nuthin' ta see here __________________
Posts: 10,620

10-09-2017, 06:52 AM	#1228
unlurking MVP Join Date: Aug 2003 Casino cash: $7737309	reddit stream discussion thinks there may be a fire on JRTI, apparently one of the engines didn't shut down after landing? I didn't notice anything on the webcast __________________ Last edited by unlurking; 10-09-2017 at 06:59 AM..
Posts: 10,620

10-09-2017, 07:10 AM	#1230
unlurking MVP Join Date: Aug 2003 Casino cash: $7737309	Supposedly they have water cannons on board, I've just never seen them used. I'm assuming it's a non-issue. __________________
Posts: 10,620