StupidAndy Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Blackness! my favorite part of the launch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman4308 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Just now, CatastrophicFailure said: That’s a loooooong boostback burn... Maybe an RTLS? Maybe they are trying to test something? Also, I suppose I should not be so disappointed that we never got footage of the Zuma payload. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Just now, StupidAndy said: Blackness! my favorite part of the launch! That’s why it’s called “black ops.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racescort666 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 (edited) 5 minutes ago, StupidAndy said: Blackness! my favorite part of the launch! The feed is just censored because of the secret government nature of the launch. Edited January 8, 2018 by Racescort666 spelling... or maybe the government... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Entry burn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman4308 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 And successful landing! Secondary mission complete, and primary mission is "aaaaaargh still not telling anybody anything". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAL59 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 SUCCESS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Just now, Starman4308 said: And successful landing! Secondary mission complete, and primary mission is "aaaaaargh still not telling anybody anything". There was no primary mission. You saw nothing. Swamp gas refracted the light from Venus... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sh1pman Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 For a second I thought the fairing failed to deploy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSEP Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Okay, now we got that out of the way, can't wait for crystal clear Falcon Heavy launch dates! 1 minute ago, sh1pman said: For a second I thought the fairing failed to deploy. Zuma probably has super laser weapons to break through if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jim Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 24 minutes ago, cubinator said: Post pics! Good news, bad news... Good news: We could see it great from here tonight. right up to the end of the main engine burn!!! Really cool!!! Bad news: sorry, my camera only got a red, blurry dot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubinator Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 2 minutes ago, Just Jim said: Good news, bad news... Good news: We could see it great from here tonight. right up to the end of the main engine burn!!! Really cool!!! Bad news: sorry, my camera only got a red, blurry dot. What's your estimate of the orbital inclination? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jim Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 1 minute ago, cubinator said: What's your estimate of the orbital inclination? From here??? I couldn't begin to guess... up, and veering slightly north... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubinator Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 (edited) 9 minutes ago, Just Jim said: and veering slightly north... That's a start. If you know roughly how many degrees it moved, how long it took, and at what MET we could more or less figure out it's orbital plane. I think both of us are already too far into Earth's night side to see it when it comes back around, but maybe in the coming days it will fly overhead again. Edited January 8, 2018 by cubinator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jim Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 11 minutes ago, cubinator said: That's a start. If you know roughly how many degrees it moved, how long it took, and at what MET we could more or less figure out it's orbital plane. Ahhh, sorry, couldn't really tell you, I was busy trying to get a halfway decent picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB666 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 yeah, right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sh1pman Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said: Curse you, daily like limit! X2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubinator Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 (edited) Based on analysis of the above photo and data from @Just Jim I believe the Zuma spacecraft was launched with an inclination of about 40 degrees. The second stage may have fired again at some point, so it may be in a different, higher orbit by now. However, since Stage 1 performed a RTLS rather than landing on the barge, Zuma probably isn't incredibly far from where I projected it to be. Unless the spacecraft itself did a major burn, which can't be ruled out entirely. Edited January 8, 2018 by cubinator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchz95 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Missed the launch to watch Star Trek: Discovery, but managed to catch the landing during a commercial break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Making it look routine. Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PakledHostage Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 1 hour ago, Mitchz95 said: Missed the launch to watch Star Trek: Discovery, but managed to catch the landing during a commercial break. Well, clearly, your priorities are wrong... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB666 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 41 minutes ago, PakledHostage said: Well, clearly, your priorities are wrong... There wasn't that much to see, I guess the camera down view of the landing was interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerbiloid Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Why Zuma, not Zumah? Zumah. Zoomer. Zoom. A spyglass. A spysat with a spyglass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shpaget Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Maybe it is just a typo in press release, since we know less about it than we know about other hush hush NRO payloads. 2 hours ago, kerbiloid said: Why Zuma, not Zumah? Zumah. Zoomer. Zoom. A spyglass. A spysat with a spyglass. Zoom All Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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