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SpaceX Discussion Thread


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5 hours ago, zolotiyeruki said:

I asked this several pages ago, but I didn't see an answer.  We're planning to trek out there to watch on Tuesday, and I want to be able to find out ASAP if it gets scrubbed, so we can fall back to Plan B.  What's the best way to get real-time updates on the launch status for FH? 

Twitter’s been working great for me. If anything changes you’ll get besieged by half a dozen tweets in about 3 seconds informing you of it. :D

23 minutes ago, IncongruousGoat said:

With all the Falcon Heavy hype, it's easy to forget that the next F9 launch will be carrying the first two Starlink test satellites. This seems like it's going to be a very good month for SpaceX.

*fingers crossed*

I’m very curious to see how that Starlink thing goes. I’d love to ditch the stupid cable company and be an early adopter. 

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11 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

I’m very curious to see how that Starlink thing goes. I’d love to ditch the stupid cable company and be an early adopter. 

I would love to go to the past and tell myself that Ironman will make spaceflight cheaper and fix your internet in the future.

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1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Twitter’s been working great for me. If anything changes you’ll get besieged by half a dozen tweets in about 3 seconds informing you of it. :D

Any particular twitter accounts I should follow?  I don't think I even have a Twitter account (I mighta made one a couple years ago?).

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50 minutes ago, zolotiyeruki said:

Any particular twitter accounts I should follow?  I don't think I even have a Twitter account (I mighta made one a couple years ago?).


Chris G is good. He's there, and reporting for NSF.

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1 hour ago, zolotiyeruki said:

Any particular twitter accounts I should follow?  I don't think I even have a Twitter account (I mighta made one a couple years ago?).

Like @tater said, Chris_G is a great source of all-around info. Also SpaceX, ElonMusk, NasaSpaceFlight, NextLaunch. I'm probably getting the names wrong but you can search them, and the app will give you suggestions, too. I finally broke down and got an account myself, it's been great for keeping up to date on spacey stuff.

Now if I can just resist the urge to broadcast stupid, un-thought-out remarks to the entire world... :rolleyes:

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8 hours ago, Nefrums said:

After thinking more about it it is as simple as using the cold gas thruster at the top to push away and at the same time use the engine gimbal to prevent any rotation. Then both the engine and the thruster will push the booster away in a controlled way.

I imagine that the boosters will aim to acheive some horizontal separation from each other before turning for the boostback burn, and this may be a more restrictive requirement than the need to clear the core stage - at this point in flight, the core is gaining its own length in roughly two seconds, according to the amateur acceleration plots. First stage turn and boostback is very quick in recent flights, so perhaps the separation and turn will be combined into a single maneuver.

Also, the F9 first stage has to stop the engine in order to separate, because the second stage isn't firing - effectively, matching the accelerations of the two stages. But since the core will still be firing when the boosters separate, will it actually be necessary to cut off all the booster engines? Or can a booster transition from straight firing at low throttle to match the core acceleration, into firing at low throttle for the boostback?

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16 minutes ago, cubinator said:

I'm willing to bet there's going to be at least one post here for every second of the terminal count on Tuesday.

I’m not liking anything starting at 10:30 my time tomorrow so I’ll have plenty saved up. :D

 

1 hour ago, CSE said:

Also, the F9 first stage has to stop the engine in order to separate, because the second stage isn't firing - effectively, matching the accelerations of the two stages. But since the core will still be firing when the boosters separate, will it actually be necessary to cut off all the booster engines? Or can a booster transition from straight firing at low throttle to match the core acceleration, into firing at low throttle for the boostback?

Someone could probably math this, there are some decent numbers available for thrust from a throttled down single Merlin in an almost empty booster vs all 9 on a nearly full stack, right?

I wonder how “aware” the boosters are of each other? Might they have some kind of avoidance software?

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23 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

I’m not liking anything starting at 10:30 my time tomorrow so I’ll have plenty saved up. :D

**likes**

23 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Someone could probably math this, there are some decent numbers available for thrust from a throttled down single Merlin in an almost empty booster vs all 9 on a nearly full stack, right?

I wonder how “aware” the boosters are of each other? Might they have some kind of avoidance software?

TWR for the core would be higher than a single Merlin on the boosters at sep.

However, as I said, I do not believe there is a plan to keep a single Merlin firing through separation.

I'm sure each booster is programmed to follow its own trajectory, which keeps it far from the other one.

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11 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

(that’s Florida time)

hypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehypehype Wooo wooo! :cool:

nuuuu I've got class...

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3 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

You should be watching it in class!

Heh, I sure will be! Well, I luck out in that it's sort of a free time and then launch would occur during...:0.0:

*lunch

*explodes*

Edited by cubinator
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8 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

You should be watching it in class!

Just checked my schedule - Its a passing period! So I might be able to steal a peek....

Edit - Oh wait its tuesday. Still do have class. Hopefully can convince teacher to watch it. Maybe.

Edited by qzgy
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Okay, I have a plan!

I'm going to borrow either a friend's phone or my mom or dad's phone (more ideal) for Tuesday. Window opens during, I think English(?) or maybe lunch... I got too sick to go to school this entire week so I forgot the times things happen at.

If only I had gotten sick four days later, this would be easy...

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37 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Okay, I have a plan!

I'm going to borrow either a friend's phone or my mom or dad's phone (more ideal) for Tuesday. Window opens during, I think English(?) or maybe lunch... I got too sick to go to school this entire week so I forgot the times things happen at.

If only I had gotten sick four days later, this would be easy...

It’s at 1:30 EST/10:30PST.

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3 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Aww, man, they're throwing away a perfectly good spacesuit too?

Oooooh but there's the camera mount! 

Wait, how are they going to decouple the car tho? Arrgh, I find this lack of zoom disturbing!

A car going that fast just has to be driven by The Stig.

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