Space Exploration megathread

[DaFace]

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.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Huh, didn't realize that it had an intentional "skip." Interesting.

I didn't either.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Kinky.

Going in dry.

[DaFace]

Glad to see such a smooth mission after so many years of delays.

[DaFace]

Uhh... that's not ideal.

The leak observed over the course of more than three hours on Wednesday night emanating from a Soyuz spacecraft was jarring. Here's what we know right now:https://t.co/N0ICoTY1MC

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) December 15, 2022

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Uhh... that's not ideal.

The leak observed over the course of more than three hours on Wednesday night emanating from a Soyuz spacecraft was jarring. Here's what we know right now:https://t.co/N0ICoTY1MC

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) December 15, 2022

In space, would that not also create propulsion and send the craft spinning in circles?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by GloryDayz

In space, would that not also create propulsion and send the craft spinning in circles?

Theoretically, but I don't think this was near that energetic.

[Donger]

Three Falcon 9 launches scheduled for tomorrow. One from VSFB and two from the Cape. The two in Florida are 33 minutes apart.

[Donger]

SpaceX is targeting Friday, December 16 for a Falcon 9 launch of the SES O3b mPOWER mission to medium-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for 5:21 p.m. ET (22:21 UTC), and a backup opportunity is available on Saturday, December 17 with an 87-minute launch window opening at 4:21 p.m. ET (21:21 UTC).

The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G and one Starlink mission. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

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

[Donger]

T-5:00

[DaFace]

RIP InSight. It's always amazing how these missions always vastly outperform their expected life. It made it 4 years after a planned duration of 2.

After more than four years, 1,300 marsquakes, and countless scientific discoveries, our @NASAInSight lander has reached the end of its mission.

InSight may be retiring, but its legacy—and its findings from the deep interior of Mars—will live on: https://t.co/8884Slrbxr pic.twitter.com/UKozd4P28g

— NASA (@NASA) December 21, 2022

[PHOG]

Didn't know where else to put this, but still cool. Around Feb. 1st, a comet.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techn...ded6ecd57cfce9

Spoiler!

Comet to Approach Earth for First Time since Neanderthals Lived
Story by Aristos Georgiou • 1h ago
Comments


Aa


Acomet that only orbits the sun once every 50,000 years is expected to be visible from Earth with the naked eye. The last time the comet visited, the Sahara desert was wet and fertile, Neanderthals and woolly mammoths still walked the Earth, and humans were—as far as we know—yet to reach North America.

Stock image: An illustration of a comet. A recently discovered comet could become visible with the naked eye from Earth soon.
Stock image: An illustration of a comet. A recently discovered comet could become visible with the naked eye from Earth soon.
© iStock
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C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was first spotted by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) on March 2, 2022 and is set to reach its closest point to the sun, or perihelion, on January 12, 2023. ZTF is an astronomical survey conducted by the Palomar Observatory in California.

Comets are "cosmic snowballs" made up of frozen gases, dust and rock that orbit the sun. As they approach our star, these fragile constructs are blasted with increasing amounts of radiation, a process that can produce two vast tails of gas and dust.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is currently located around 117 million milesfrom Earth. It is scheduled to make a close approach to our planet in early February, 2023, coming within roughly 26 million miles of us on the first day of the month. This is equivalent to more than 109 times the average distance between the Earth and the moon.

Predicting the brightness of comets with accuracy is very challenging. But current data indicates that C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is expected to reach at least magnitude +6 by around the time of its close approach to Earth.

When measuring the brightness of astronomical objects, the brighter a given object is, the lower its magnitude. For example, an object with magnitude +2 is brighter than one that has a magnitude of +8.

"It's notoriously hard to predict the brightness of comets, however, sky watchers everywhere have been keeping track of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) since it was discovered in March 2022, and the current prediction is that it might reach magnitude +6—the limit of what the naked eye can see—or even slightly brighter when it's at its closest approach to the Earth on the 1st of February," Tania de Sales Marques, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in the United Kingdom, told Newsweek.

Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the U.K. Royal Astronomical Society, told Newsweek under very good conditions the comet, which is estimated to complete one orbit around the sun every 50,000 years, might be visible to the naked eye as soon as the second half of January. The predicted peak brightness of the object is around magnitude 4.7 around February 1.

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If current brightness predictions are correct, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be the first naked eye comet since NEOWISE put on a spectacular show in 2020. But expectations for C/2022 E3 (ZTF) should be lower, Massey said.

"I've seen rising interest in this comet, though it won't be anything like NEOWISE," he said.

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is currently visible with good binoculars or a telescope in the early hours of the morning before dawn and is passing through the constellation of Corona Borealis, in the north-west direction. It will get easier to spot the comet over the next few weeks as it gradually brightens.

"It's traveling in the general direction of Polaris, the North Star, where we'll be able to find it in early February," Marques said. "By then, it should be visible throughout the night."

Massey said the comet will not be the easiest object to find. He recommends looking on a clear night from a dark site—away from light pollution—when the moon is not in the sky, so it is best to avoid the days around the full moon on February 6.

"I would recommend the use of a finder chart like this one to help find it with binoculars," Massey said. "Binoculars are ideal for beginners trying to find a comet as they're easy to use, whereas a telescope has a much smaller field of view. If you can see it with binoculars then try with your naked eye."

Since the comet will still be quite faint around the time of its close approach, people in areas with dark skies might be able to spot it with their own eyes, but a pair of binoculars will improve your chances of success, Marques said.

"Although it's unlikely that it will be as impressive as comet NEOWISE, it's still worth trying to catch a glimpse of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) since it won't return for another 50,000 years," Marques said.

The comet will likely fade below naked eye visibility by the second week of February next year. And by April it will be close to the sun in the sky and significantly fainter, so will be very hard to find even with a telescope.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by PHOG

Didn't know where else to put this, but still cool. Around Feb. 1st, a comet.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techn...ded6ecd57cfce9

Spoiler!

Comet to Approach Earth for First Time since Neanderthals Lived
Story by Aristos Georgiou • 1h ago
Comments


Aa


Acomet that only orbits the sun once every 50,000 years is expected to be visible from Earth with the naked eye. The last time the comet visited, the Sahara desert was wet and fertile, Neanderthals and woolly mammoths still walked the Earth, and humans were—as far as we know—yet to reach North America.

Stock image: An illustration of a comet. A recently discovered comet could become visible with the naked eye from Earth soon.
Stock image: An illustration of a comet. A recently discovered comet could become visible with the naked eye from Earth soon.
© iStock
The Brilliant Way To Pay Off $10,000 In Credit Card Debt
Ad
CompareCards
The Brilliant Way To Pay Off $10,000 In Credit Card Debt
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was first spotted by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) on March 2, 2022 and is set to reach its closest point to the sun, or perihelion, on January 12, 2023. ZTF is an astronomical survey conducted by the Palomar Observatory in California.

Comets are "cosmic snowballs" made up of frozen gases, dust and rock that orbit the sun. As they approach our star, these fragile constructs are blasted with increasing amounts of radiation, a process that can produce two vast tails of gas and dust.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is currently located around 117 million milesfrom Earth. It is scheduled to make a close approach to our planet in early February, 2023, coming within roughly 26 million miles of us on the first day of the month. This is equivalent to more than 109 times the average distance between the Earth and the moon.

Predicting the brightness of comets with accuracy is very challenging. But current data indicates that C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is expected to reach at least magnitude +6 by around the time of its close approach to Earth.

When measuring the brightness of astronomical objects, the brighter a given object is, the lower its magnitude. For example, an object with magnitude +2 is brighter than one that has a magnitude of +8.

"It's notoriously hard to predict the brightness of comets, however, sky watchers everywhere have been keeping track of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) since it was discovered in March 2022, and the current prediction is that it might reach magnitude +6—the limit of what the naked eye can see—or even slightly brighter when it's at its closest approach to the Earth on the 1st of February," Tania de Sales Marques, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in the United Kingdom, told Newsweek.

Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the U.K. Royal Astronomical Society, told Newsweek under very good conditions the comet, which is estimated to complete one orbit around the sun every 50,000 years, might be visible to the naked eye as soon as the second half of January. The predicted peak brightness of the object is around magnitude 4.7 around February 1.

Related video: Beware! 140-foot 'potentially hazardous' asteroid is rushing towards Earth | DNA India News (DNA)

Play
Current Time 0:06
/
Duration 1:21
LQ
CaptionsFullscreen
Beware! 140-foot 'potentially hazardous' asteroid is rushing towards Earth | DNA India News
Unmute
0
View on Watch
More videos
Massive Asteroid Set to Make Close Pass by Earth
Cover Media/Cover Media
Massive Asteroid Set to Make Close Pass by Earth
1:30
Asteroid danger looms! Colossal 170-foot space rock heading for Earth today, says NASA | DNA India
DNA/DNA
Asteroid danger looms! Colossal 170-foot space rock heading for Earth today, says NASA | DNA India
1:28
If current brightness predictions are correct, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be the first naked eye comet since NEOWISE put on a spectacular show in 2020. But expectations for C/2022 E3 (ZTF) should be lower, Massey said.

"I've seen rising interest in this comet, though it won't be anything like NEOWISE," he said.

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is currently visible with good binoculars or a telescope in the early hours of the morning before dawn and is passing through the constellation of Corona Borealis, in the north-west direction. It will get easier to spot the comet over the next few weeks as it gradually brightens.

"It's traveling in the general direction of Polaris, the North Star, where we'll be able to find it in early February," Marques said. "By then, it should be visible throughout the night."

Massey said the comet will not be the easiest object to find. He recommends looking on a clear night from a dark site—away from light pollution—when the moon is not in the sky, so it is best to avoid the days around the full moon on February 6.

"I would recommend the use of a finder chart like this one to help find it with binoculars," Massey said. "Binoculars are ideal for beginners trying to find a comet as they're easy to use, whereas a telescope has a much smaller field of view. If you can see it with binoculars then try with your naked eye."

Since the comet will still be quite faint around the time of its close approach, people in areas with dark skies might be able to spot it with their own eyes, but a pair of binoculars will improve your chances of success, Marques said.

"Although it's unlikely that it will be as impressive as comet NEOWISE, it's still worth trying to catch a glimpse of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) since it won't return for another 50,000 years," Marques said.

The comet will likely fade below naked eye visibility by the second week of February next year. And by April it will be close to the sun in the sky and significantly fainter, so will be very hard to find even with a telescope.

That's VERY cool. Thanks for posting...

[Donger]

T-10:00

SpaceX is targeting 9:56 a.m. ET (14:56 UTC) on Tuesday, January 3 for Falcon 9’s launch of the Transporter-6 mission to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34 and 10 Starlink missions. Following stage separation, Falcon 9 will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Transporter-6 is SpaceX’s sixth dedicated smallsat rideshare mission. There will be 114 payloads on this flight, including CubeSats, microsats, picosats, and orbital transfer vehicles carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time.

A live webcast of this mission will begin about 10 minutes prior to liftoff.

[Donger]

Clear blue sky and LZ-1. Should be some great visuals.

[DaFace]

If I'm reading it correctly, I think there are 2 SpaceX launches tonight under an hour apart.