SpaceX Falcon 9 historic landing thread (1st landing attempt & most recent missions)

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I'm more annoyed at the falsehoods by SpaceX blaming NOAA for the whole webcast being cut short, an those who continue to spread those falsehoods. And I really LIKE Scott Manley, but he glossed over the fact that it was SpaceX who chose to end the webcast early, NOAA did not require them to end it, just not show onboard video).

The license thing is still unsolved. Apparently it's a law from congress that's been on the books since the 90's (they stuck NOAA with that task), to deal with the then-fledgling commercial Earth satellite photography companies who were developing satellites that could in effect the "Spy Satellites".

But was never considered for onboard technical video until the Falcon Heavy Tesla extravaganza made it all-too-apparent. It will probably be resolved but do not know when. Odd thing though is that it's OK for NASA spacecraft launches, the CRS-14 webcast had live video onboard till after the Dragon separated from the 2nd stage and deployed its solar panels.

Anyway, I'm done with this. it was already a dead issue here until it was brought up again the other day. Believe whatever you want.

On to other things, THIS:

DagS3IcWkAYecP0.jpg


From: https://twitter.com/nasa_tess/status/984057626706239488

The @SpaceX #Falcon9 fairing for @NASA_TESS arrived over the weekend to meet #TESS for encapsulation @NASAKennedy. After launch, TESS will find new planets around other stars, called exoplanets, that scientists will study for decades to come.

With this also being a NASA payload, the webcast will probably also show live onboard video till after satellite deployment.

Static firing for the booster was done today, and the data was good. So it's planned to launch April 16th, from Pad 40 at the Cape.
 
...
Odd thing though is that it's OK for NASA spacecraft launches, the CRS-14 webcast had live video onboard till after the Dragon separated from the 2nd stage and deployed its solar panels.
...

The law from the 90's specifically exempted work that was being done for the government. I'd guess that this was to keep anyone from having to share US government spysat imagery with NOAA since that would dramatically increase the risk of leaks.
 
TESS launch is planned for Monday April 16th, at 6:32 PM EDT.

The booster is the last "new" Block 4 Falcon-9, #B1045. So, as a new booster they will try to recover it for a second flight later. It will go for an ASDS landing on the recovery barge "Of Course I Still Love You" (OCISLY).

transiting-exoplanet-with-brightness-graph-anim.gif


The above is animation of the method that NASA's TESS satellite will use for look for planets, by the drop in apparent brightness of a sun as they transit across a sun. It's an exaggeration. Of course they'll miss 99+% of possible planets since this method only works for planets whose orbital plane is very close to edge-on from our perspective, among other issues (And I wonder about the sensor sensitivity since a small planet around a massive sun won't block much light. But it's the most practical way to look for any at all.

FAR more info here:

https://www.nasa.gov/content/about-tess

BTW - the "Bangabandhu-1" launch, first one to use a block 5 Falcon, has been shifted again to May 4th.

So after TESS (barring a long delay), that'll be a final total of 2 for April, and 3 scheduled for May.
 
I don't think anything describes their planning and development process better than the fact that the Falcon 9 Full-thrust was not in fact the strongest iteration of the vehicle.

This is just a larger scale example of "Report_final-version_(2)_forrealthistime.docx
 
And then there was this post from Elon Musk overnight:


Elon Musk
‏@elonmusk

SpaceX will try to bring rocket upper stage back from orbital velocity using a giant party balloon
7:04 PM - 15 Apr 2018
 
Apparently this is the real deal, they are going to use a balloon on the upper stage to slow it down to a trajectory that can then be guided to a Mr. Steven type catchers mitt.
 
WiFi is out at home, could be for hours or days (I'm at another location as I type this). I need to remember to set the DVR to record the NASA channel since this is a NASA payload.

Hope for a good flight and landing.
 
Guidance navigation and control.

In other words, figuring out in which direction the pointy end of the rocket should be pointed to, figuring out into which direction the pointy end is currently pointed to (also where the rocket is) and making the pointy end of the rocket point in the right direction. I hope I made that point clear. :cyclops:

Reinhard
 
In other words, figuring out in which direction the pointy end of the rocket should be pointed to, figuring out into which direction the pointy end is currently pointed to (also where the rocket is) and making the pointy end of the rocket point in the right direction. I hope I made that point clear. :cyclops:

Reinhard

https://w3.uwyo.edu/~jimkirk/guidance.wav
 
In other words, figuring out in which direction the pointy end of the rocket should be pointed to, figuring out into which direction the pointy end is currently pointed to (also where the rocket is) and making the pointy end of the rocket point in the right direction. I hope I made that point clear. :cyclops:

Reinhard

Ah got it, so at it's basic function, pointy end up.
 
I still have no WiFi at home, so can only get access at places that have free WiFi, when I have time.

Launch is go for 6:51 PM EDT today.

Webcast:

[video=youtube;aY-0uBIYYKk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY-0uBIYYKk[/video]
 
Anyone know why they don't have a technical webcast anymore?
 
SpaceX Dragon Nose Cone washed up in France - photos

https://imgur.com/a/PR7B2

Russia appears to have surrendered to SpaceX in the global launch market
"The 4 percent stake isn’t worth the effort to try to elbow Musk and China aside."
18 Apr 2018

https://arstechnica.com/science/201...ndered-to-spacex-in-the-global-launch-market/

Excerpt:

According to an independent analysis, the global launch market is worth about $5.5 billion annually. Losing its half-share of this market, therefore, has probably cost the Russians about $2 billion, which is a significant fraction of its non-military aerospace budget.

Rogozin is correct that satellite manufacturing is a considerably larger industry, worth about $14 billion a year. But like launch, this is also a competitive industry, and Russia has historically not had a dominant position in the satellite manufacturing and services industry like it has had in launch.

What seems most remarkable about Rogozin's comment is that, for the first time publicly, the world's most storied launch provider appears to be ceding the commercial launch market to other providers—most notably a rocket company that didn't exist until 2002, and flew its first orbital rocket less than a decade ago.
 
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