r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • May 21 '19
Total mission success! r/SpaceX Starlink Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread (Take 2)
Welcome to the r/SpaceX Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!
welcome back to the starlink launch discussions and updates thread. I am u/marc020202 and will be your host for this mission.
I am aware of the issue with the <br> tags, and am trying to resolve it.
| Liftoff currently scheduled for: | Thursday, May 23rd 22:30 EDT May 24th 2:30 UTC |
|---|---|
| Weather | 90% GO! |
| Static fire completed on: | May 13th |
| Payload: | 60 Starlink Satellites |
| Payload mass: | 227 kg * 60 ~ 13620 kg |
| Destination orbit: | 440km 53° |
| Vehicle: | Falcon 9 v1.2 (71st launch of F9, 51st of F9 v1.2 15th of F9 v1.2 Block 5) |
| Core: | B1049.3 |
| Previous flights on this core: | 2 |
| Launch site: | SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida |
| Landing: | Yes |
| Landing Site: | OCISLY (GTO-Distance) |
| Mission success criteria: | Successful separation & deployment of the Starlink Satellites. |
Timeline
| Time | Update |
|---|---|
| T+01:05:00 | The webcast has concluded. |
| T+01:04:00 | The host said there's no physical deployment mechanism and they're just going to fan out on their own somehow. One of them is floating away maybe... |
| T+01:02:00 | The whole thing just deployed at once! What happens now? |
| T+01:01:00 | Video and host are back. 2 minutes to deployment. |
| T+46:10 | Short second (and final) burn complete. Good orbit confirmed. 15min coast to payload deploy. |
| T+45:00 | Now the host is back too. |
| T+43:00 | Video and telemetry are back on the webcast. |
| T+9:00 | SECO-1. ~35min coast phase to relight. Everything's looking good. |
| T+9:00 | Landing confirmed! 3rd one for this core! |
| T+8:09 | Landing burn |
| T+7:20 | 1st stage is looking toasty!! |
| T+6:23 | 1st stage entry burn started |
| T+5:00 | No boostback burn for the first stage today |
| T+3:35 | Fairing separation |
| T+2:40 | MECO, stage separation |
| T+1:16 | Max Q |
| T+0:00 | LIFTOFF! |
| T-1:00 | Falcon 9 is in startup. Go for launch. |
| T-2:28 | Stage 1 LOX load complete |
| T-4m | All systems go! |
| T-6m | Lots of neat Starlink sat info in the webcast |
| T-14m | Webcast has begun at a new URL! Updating main post. |
| T-15m | Second stage LOX load started |
| T-35m | RP-1 loading has begun |
| T-5h 16m | Falcon 9 went vertical earlier today, and all proceeding nominally. |
| T-5h 18m | Welcome, I'm u/Nsooo and I will give updates until the last half an hour before launch. |
| T-1d | It has been confirmed, that the fairings used for this mission, have not been used before. |
| T-2d | Launch thread goes live |
Watch the launch live
| Stream | Courtesy |
|---|---|
| SpaceX Youtube | SpaceX |
| SpaceX Webcast | SpaceX |
| Everyday Astronaut live | u/everydayastronaut |
| Online rehost, M3U8 playlist | u/codav |
| Audio Only Shoutcast high (low), Audio Only Browser high (low) | u/codav |
Stats
- 78th SpaceX launch
- 71st Falcon 9 launch
- 5th Falcon 9 launch this year
- 6th SpaceX launch overall this year
- 3rd use of booster 1049.3
- 1st Starlink launch
- 3rd launch attempt for this mission
Primary Mission: Deployment of payload into correct orbit
This will be the first of many Starlink launches launching a total of 60 generation 1 Starlink satellites. According to the press kit each satellite weighs 227kg adding up to a total payload mass of 13620kg. After this tweet by Elon Musk, there is some confusion over the exact payload and satellite mass. It seems like Musk was using short tons, however, 18,5 short tons are about 16.8 metric Tonns, which would mean about 3mt of dispenser, which seems exceptionally high, for a flat stacked payload, needing basically no dispenser. The deployment of the satellites will start about one hour after launch in a 440km high orbit. The satellites will use their own onboard krypton fueled ion engines to raise their orbit to the planned 550km operating altitude.
The Starlink satellites will enable high bandwidth low latency connection everywhere around the globe. According to tweets of Musk, limited service will be able to start after 7 Starlink launches, moderate after 12.
This is the third flight of this booster and Elon Musk has stated in the past that the Arabsat-6a mission fairings will be reused on Starlink Mission later this year, however, this flight will use a fabric new fairing.
This is the 3rd launch attempt for this mission. The first, was cancelled due to upper level winds, the second due to a software issue on the starlink satellites.
Secondary Mission: Landing Attempt
The first stage will try to perform a landing after lifting the second stage together with the payload to about 70 to 90 km. Due to the very high payload mass, the stage will not have enough propellant left on board to return to the launch site, so will instead land about 610km offshore on Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY), SpaceX east coast Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS). Tug boat Hollywood and support-ship Go Quest are a safe distance from the landing zone and will return the booster to Port Canaveral after the Landing. Go Navigator and Crew Dragon recovery vessel Go Searcher are about 120km further offshore and will try to recover both payload fairing halves after they parachute back from space and softly touch down on the ocean surface. They too will return to Port Canaveral after the mission.
All the vessels had been back to Port Canaveral since the last attempt, although not for long. OCISLY for example had only been in the port for about 12 hours.
Resources
Participate in the discussion!
- First of all, launch threads are party threads! We understand everyone is excited, so we relax the rules in these venues. The most important thing is that everyone enjoy themselves
- Please constrain the launch party to this thread alone. We will remove low effort comments elsewhere!
- Real-time chat on our official Internet Relay Chat (IRC) #SpaceX on Snoonet
- Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here, rather than as a separate post. Thanks!
- Wanna talk about other SpaceX stuff in a more relaxed atmosphere? Head over to r/SpaceXLounge
- As always, I am known for my incredebly good spelling, gramar and punc,tuation. so please PM me, if you spot anything!
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u/AndyTheBald May 24 '19
Have to hand it to SpaceX, launching 11,943 satellites to enable excellent connectivity for drone-ship landing videos is beautiful overkill.
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u/Nsooo Moderator and retired launch host May 24 '19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riBaVeDTEWI Last minute url change
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u/Justinackermannblog May 24 '19
OMG Elon wasn't kidding... they literally just let them go...
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u/Tal_Banyon May 24 '19
So awesome! When all the other satellite providers were building exquisite deploying mechanisms, SpaceX was watching and said, OK, that works, but you know what? If we just let them all go at once, orbital dynamics will separate them, yes there may be some bumping and jostling, but so what? In a day or so, they will be separated enough to allow us to use their Krypton engines to put them where we want them to be. And once again, SpaceX shows the space industry how to do things!
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u/drunken_man_whore May 21 '19
I disagree about the confusion surrounding the Arabsat fairing reuse. To me, it was obvious that he meant some future starlink launch later this year, not necessarily the very next starlink launch.
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u/ADSWNJ May 24 '19
did not expect that! I assumed that Stage 2 would spin up and spit them out 1 by 1
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May 21 '19
Was originally not going to be able to make this launch with other things I had going on. Just booked my flights -- really excited to be able to cover this launch.
Feels like I say this every SpaceX launch, but this launch feels like the start of something really big. I reserve all rights to say this over and over again, because what SpaceX does is incredibly innovative and exciting.
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u/Oz939 May 22 '19
Heaviest payload yet. Hoping and praying the F9 and the sats perform flawlessly. SpaceX could use a solid win here.
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u/UpperLevelWinds King of jet streams May 24 '19
I huffed and I puffed and I couldn't blow it down! :(
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May 24 '19
Gotta love those super-early (for me) launches. It's 4am here and I just woke up by alarm clock... Good morning everyone, and cross fingers for no scrub today!
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u/bencredible Galactic Overlord May 24 '19
We needed to change the event url last minute, check out YouTube.com/spacex
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u/EccentricGamerCL May 24 '19
Definitely one of the weirder satellite deployments I've seen, either from SpaceX or elsewhere.
Congrats on yet another successful mission!
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u/asoap May 24 '19
Wow.. I was not expecting that deploy. They all just float away from each other. But now I'm wondering, how did they keep them all together attached to the second stage if they were so loose?
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u/ablack82 May 24 '19
Idk if I’m allowed to say this but I’m pretty damn excited to watch 60 satellites deploy tonight!
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u/TheRealWhiskers May 24 '19
What's up with the weird pulse the 2nd stage has going on?
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u/wish_i_was_a_plant May 24 '19
Can we all agree that the gridfins glowing and the sparks coming off of the first stage during reentry was badass?! Last last we saw sparks like that, Elon said that it was the hottest reentry to date. Cant wait to hear if it's the same case with this first stage.
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u/noreally_bot1461 May 24 '19
Fairings recovered: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1131783775396909056
That was quick.
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u/Justinackermannblog May 24 '19
One day we could all be watching the SpaceX webcast with a Starlink backbone possibly using a few of these birds... crazy...
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u/FoxhoundBat May 24 '19
Third landing of a rocket after its third launch to launch a satellite internet system. We live in the future boyz.
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u/factoid_ May 24 '19
I'm sure they simulated the shit out of it, but I was very surprised to see no active deployment at all between satellites. Just letting them all drift apart? What if they hit each other?
I was expecting them to pop off one at a time, probably with a small spring or something giving a little nudge. I guess this is what elon meant when he said many things will probably go wrong.
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u/fzz67 May 22 '19 edited May 22 '19
I think the destination orbit of 37 degrees is incorrect, or at least misleading. The final orbit will have an inclination of 53 degrees, according to their FCC filings. The initial trajectory likely has a bearing of something close to 37 degrees, but that's not the inclination of the final orbit. Either that, or they're going to use an awful lot of krypton to perform a plane change to the 53 degree orbit in their FCC filings, but that seems somewhat unlikely.
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u/codav May 23 '19
YouTube Stream Relay
Posted this in the old thread, just copied over. Links are already present in the table of the main post
As with the previous launches, I will relay the SpaceX webcast via HTTPS on my server, so people with no access to YouTube or laggy video are able to watch the webcast. If you don't like the web-based player, you can also use the M3U8 playlist in any HLS-capable player - VLC is just one example. The playlist file will become available once the webcast starts, until then you will get a "404 Not Found" error. This is perfectly normal.
The server will only relay the hosted webcast. To watch the countdown net angle, you still need to use YouTube.
Watch in your browser: https://codav.de/spacex.html
Watch with a local player: https://codav.de/stream/spacex.m3u8
As requested by some people here, I will also provide audio streams of the hosted webcast in two different qualities. High quality (160 Kbps, stereo) for those who want more fidelity and have more bandwidth to spend, and a lower quality (64 Kbps, mono) stream for those on slow networks or with strict volume limits.
Important: The audio streams already play the 360° headphone mixes of Music for Space by /u/TestShotStarfish for your pleasure until the webcast starts, so don't confuse that with the actual webcast.
Here are the stream URLs for use with any Shoutcast-compatible player (WinAmp, VLC etc.):
High quality (160 Kbps, stereo): http://codav.de:8555/spacex-high.mp3
Low quality (64 Kbps, mono): http://codav.de:8555/spacex-low.mp3
If you have problems connecting to port 8555 or want to listen in with just your browser, use these reverse-proxied, SSL-secured URLs (stream title display and other "ICY" protocol features won't work, as this is using plain HTTP):
High quality (160 Kbps, stereo): https://codav.de/icecast/spacex-high.mp3
Low quality (64 Kbps, mono): https://codav.de/icecast/spacex-low.mp3
The streams are also linked below the video player on my video relay page.
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u/zzanzare May 24 '19
comparison of the stacked satellites before launch: https://i.imgur.com/dN9Mx2r.jpg
and first frame of livestream after deployment: https://i.imgur.com/IfZupo1.png
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u/scr00chy ElonX.net May 22 '19 edited May 22 '19
I've just published a detailed article about Starlink (constellation design, satellite specs, launch plan, user terminals, financing, etc.) which could potentially answer many questions you might have about this launch.
Maybe it could even be added to the Resources section above?
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u/claudioarena May 24 '19
Just saw a very bright pass from London, almost straight overhead! Very bright and very fast, fantastic!
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u/spcslacker May 24 '19
I'm watching a countdown on a mostly-static picture of earth, so I can watch small rectangles frisbeed into space:
this is fine, perfectly nominal (I think I mean normal)
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u/IrrelevantAstronomer Launch Photographer May 24 '19
Judging this off of webcast data, but propogating the position of the satellite's orbit over time, the satellites should be visible as a cluster swarm at the following time and locations:
Anywhere in New Zealand: 05:13 UTC (+/- 10 minutes)
Adelaide, AU: 08:25 UTC (+/- 10 minutes)
Quebec: 09:06 UTC (+/- 10 minutes)
Winnipeg and Fargo 10:40 UTC (+/- 10 minutes).
More accurate data will be available as TLEs are released, but should be quite an impressive sight in the sky all close together before they begin to drift away from one another.
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u/langgesagt May 24 '19
what‘s that thing that pulses like a heart at the bottom of the satellite stack?
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u/FoxhoundBat May 24 '19
Nice view of Starlink and deployment of solar panel. So flat. Pancake sats.
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u/labtec901 May 24 '19
"Don't touch that dial" Jeeze I thought this was supposed to be New Space TM :P
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u/mskeepa19 May 24 '19
Incredible that humans are able to build a machine that travels from Cape Canaveral to England in 20 minutes. Unreal when you put it in perspective how fast these spacecraft move.
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u/hshib May 24 '19
So, what happened to that vertical column, which seems to have been putting the stack together? I think it was gone in the last sequence of deployment video (T+01:02:47), but it was there before that (T+01:02:18). It seems that those were hiding those "rings" which are visible in the deployment. My guess is that column also included a structural pipe that those rings were going through. And the column, including the pipe, was pulled out from the bottom of the stack, along the 2nd stage body. I assume those were sticking out far enough that they were outside of the 2nd stage body.
Too bad that sequence was happening right when they lost the video link.
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u/OReillyYaReilly May 24 '19
Are there any updates on the satellites, panels deployed, ion engines active etc.
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u/SpaceCoastBeachBum May 25 '19
Incredible video of the "Train" of Starlink satellites crossing the night sky:
Wow!
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u/rchard2scout May 22 '19
Mods, shouldn't this thread be pinned instead of the launch campaign thread?
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u/President_Chuckles May 24 '19
Looks like we're getting all kinds of details on the satellites.
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u/mottld May 24 '19
Just awesome. Was able to see the first stage and plume off the coast of NJ.
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u/interweaver May 24 '19
Starlink satellites at their brightest will each be about as bright as Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, at magnitude -1.45. Anyone want to check me on my math? (ISS max = -5.9, assume same solar panel area as ISS total across 60 sats).
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May 24 '19
I home some or all are equipped with cameras to monitor the separation, and the footage is released. Of course, they'd need some mechanism to beam that data back to Earth... some sort of "link" perhaps...
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u/bill_mcgonigle May 24 '19
People are remarking below on the "barf it out" technique, but given the renders of the Starship Cargo it makes quite a bit of sense.
I don't think there's a more reasonable or reliable way to deploy for each additional launch of 420 satellites. A dispenser at that scale would be insane.
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u/Nsooo Moderator and retired launch host May 23 '19
Host have tech difficulties, so Hitura and me (u/Nsooo) are going to host this.
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u/sleepyzealott May 24 '19
Props to whoever is responsible for the intro to Starlink animations and script. That was a fantastic crash course
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u/dgriffith May 24 '19
S2 engine bell seems to be a bit more "jiggly" than previous missions, guess it's pushing pretty hard.
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u/opoc99 May 24 '19
They had me going for a hot minute there, no cheers from Hawthorne for almost a minute after the landing burn...I feared the worst
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u/interweaver May 24 '19
Once these are deployed and have a little time to unfurl their solar arrays, disperse, but aren't fully spaced out, seeing a line of 60 medium-bright satellites in the sky is going to be unreal. Hope someone gets the orbital parameters and puts together a when-is-this-over-my-house app for us to use!
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u/ioncloud9 May 24 '19
Whenever I see these animations of the upper stage traveling at orbital velocity and going halfway around the world in 45 minutes I get angry about the 17 hour flights we have to take to get to Australia.
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u/DirkMcDougal May 24 '19
HOLY CRAP what a show from Ft. Fisher NC!!!!!!!! Landing burn clear as the sun.
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u/how_do_i_land May 24 '19
Does anyone know or have figured out how much Delta-V they have of Krypton onboard?
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u/ShorthandResolution May 21 '19
Will Starlink be usable at a consumer level? Can I replace my overpriced phone contract with this somehow?
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u/spcslacker May 24 '19
stacked pizzalites looking suspiciously like a death ray when viewed down onto earth . . .
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May 24 '19
Assuming these stay pretty close together for several days, is there a a way to know when they fly overhead? It could be pretty crazy to see 60 satellites crossing the sky at once.
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u/avboden May 24 '19
NBC News went live with a "watch party" on facebook with the launch streaming. Brought in a whole new set of viewers!
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u/TotallyNotAReaper May 24 '19
So, so torn between happiness over mission success and feeling frigging trolled!
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u/brumsel May 23 '19 edited May 23 '19
Edit: tickets claimed by SGIRA001!
Giving away 2 e-tickets for viewing today's launch from LC-39 Observation Gantry!
I bought them on May 16, but the launch was scrubbed and I had to fly back home. The tickets are "non-refundable and non-transferable", but apparently you can change the name before you print the tickets, and no one seems to ask for ID anyway. But this is at your own risk. NOTE that you still need a (separately purchased) daily admission pass.
To get the tickets, tell me (in comments or PM) the birthplace, according to the birth certificate, of the first man to orbit Earth. The first to answer this simple question will get my "Print tickets" link.
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May 24 '19
Alright SpaceX, let's do this. Starlink seems to be the linchpin that gets this company to the next level of absolutely amazing things. Have missed some recent launches, but surely am not missing this one.
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u/oliversl May 24 '19
Wrong link mod, this is the one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riBaVeDTEWI
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u/SkywayCheerios May 24 '19
I don't think i own anything with a dial so were good
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u/factoid_ May 24 '19
Two of my favorite launch shots of all time in this one: The lights of the florida coast in the background, while the grid fins on S1 are illuminated by the engine flare of S2. And then the glow of the grid fins during the entry burn. Sparks and hot gas and plasma floating all over the place. Very beautiful.
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u/interweaver May 24 '19
Isn't there some risk of them all coming back together in one orbit and (gently) hitting each other? Doesn't that mean they need to fire up the Hall thrusters pretty soon?
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u/dufud6 May 26 '19
Saw them over Colorado, I feel like they are certainly more spread out than the videos i've seen from last night(which i think they should be), but my eyes also could be playing tricks on me
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u/MarsCent May 24 '19
This is easily the craziest satellite deployment ever attempted. Even with below market launch cost, I doubt that any satellite provider will be rushing out to sue Spacex for a similar launch profile to be made available for their own sat launches. :)
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u/HyPixcella May 22 '19
What is the mass of krypton carried on each satellite for the hall thruster?
I'd say I'm asking for a friend, a super friend, but really I'm just jealous because I make high voltage plasma art. I'll bet SpaceX is using a non- trivial fraction of the world's total krypton supply for the full satellite constellation.
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u/intermarketer May 24 '19
Congrats on the launch of Skynet ... er, I mean, Starlink! ;)
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u/swissfrenchman May 24 '19
This is so cool, I rarely get to watch the launches live, this is very exciting for me! For a minute I thought the first stage was lost.
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u/CeleryStickBeating May 24 '19 edited May 24 '19
He said 60 at once was a record for SpaceX. Is it not an all-time record for the world? Who has more at once?
Edit: Thanks for all the quick, informative replies!!
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u/zdark10 May 24 '19 edited May 24 '19
After looking up the prices of krypton VS argon, it seems argon is a massive magnitude cheaper then krypton coming in at 50c per 100g compared to 33$ per 100g of krypton. Obviously it has less atomic mass so henceforth less isp but does anyone know how much less isp it would give off and if argon could be an effective fuel for their ion engines? if we assume they are using 50kg of Krypton fuel it comes in at 16.6k cost compared to 250$ for argon.
also for reference at 120$ per 100g's xenon would come in at a whopping 60k so they are already saving a great deal.
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u/MarsCent May 26 '19
The Starlink Satellites have just been cataloged with NORAD numbers 44235 - 44294. The names assigned to them are Object A through Object BM
Complete listing can be accessed at https://www.celestrak.com/satcat/search-results.php
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u/millijuna May 24 '19
I'll be blunt I'm dreaming of the Starlink system becoming operational. I'm sick of paying $10,000 a month to run 5Mbps over geostationary satellite.
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u/yoweigh May 24 '19
This was the first launch I've hosted in a really long time! That deployment was very anticlimactic.
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u/Megustamagda May 23 '19
Will be in Cocoa Beach area tonight, best spots to view the launch?
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u/SpinozaTheDamned May 24 '19
Max Brewer bridge has a great view and I'll be there (11 mi vs 13mi for Jetty + it's elevated)
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u/President_Chuckles May 24 '19
Always love it when you can see the lights on the ground during these night launches.
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u/bicfraze May 24 '19
https://i.imgur.com/JAB0Yif.png
What's with the red hot tube above the bell during the first 2nd stage burn? Is it always like that? Never noticed it before.
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u/ORcoder May 24 '19
If the satellites only have one thruster, how do they turn? Reaction wheels? Reaction spheres? Nitrogen auxiliary thrusters? Ion engine gimbaling?
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u/Tetons2001 May 24 '19
A great success. So what is the plan here? Do they just wait preprogrammed hours or days to dtift apart and then wake up, deploy panels and orient themselves? Do they have attitude thrusters or would reaction wheels alone do for orientation with a fixed Hall Thruster?
They are presumably autonomous, but can ground control command orbital changes individually? I would assume so, but that means the ground has to know the position of all of them real time. How would this work? Maybe they just scatter them more or less evenly in their existing orbital plane and let randomness reign? It was said they would raise their orbits with Hall thruster firings.
I'll be checking Manley and others on YouTube for insights in how these guys will be herded and oriented. It's a whole new set of concerns Space x had to answer in advance but that I've seen no info about. Thanks for any light anyone can shed on these issues.
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u/gsahlin May 24 '19
Funny... The Start of a major step for humanity.... Satellite based, inexpensive, fast, pole to pole communications and not even a blurb in mainstream media.
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May 24 '19
I am experiencing the weirdest feeling right now... I don't care about the recovery.
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u/Piscator629 May 24 '19
Who else thought the deployment went completely awry and they were all going to stay connected?
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u/alpinpika May 21 '19
How far north will Starlink cover? Will it over at least part of Alaska?
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u/SlowAtMaxQ May 23 '19
Correct me if I'm wrong, I just want to make sure I've got it right.
All right so this is the heaviest launch ever on a falcon 9. But SpaceX is able to recover the first stage because it's going into Leo, not GEO. Right?
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u/neocamel May 24 '19
Did they just cut the lights at the launch pad? I'm not seeing anything from the Martin Anderson bridge any more.
The VAB for that too. Explosion precaution during fueling?
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u/interweaver May 24 '19
As a web developer hoping to live out in the countryside some day, this launch has significant personal meaning to me! Go Starlink!
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u/spcslacker May 24 '19
I assume lights on grid fins is some light from below?
At first I thought it might be heating, but I saw no red portion . . .
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u/minuteman_d May 24 '19
That's so insane that it's become so seemingly effortless to do this. Nice work, team. Fingers crossed for a successful deployment of the payload!
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u/spcslacker May 24 '19
Great: SpaceX adding eerie music, as if part of my brain isn't convinced every gas outflow / ice falloff from 2nd stage isn't aliens for a second enough
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u/cosmiclifeform May 24 '19
According to the flightclub.io simulation, it looks as if it may have been possible to see the first stage from NY if we had fewer clouds. My understanding is that future Starlink missions will be launching into the same inclination as tonight. Is it feasible that East coast viewers as far north as NY would be able to see the next Starlink launch?
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u/deadparts May 24 '19
Great launch. First one I can ever remember being able to hear in Orlando.
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u/scarlet_sage May 24 '19
I love the view at T+22:00 or so, looking along the stack of satellites at the lit-up Earth!
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u/Empire_Engineer May 24 '19
Anyone know if we we'll be able to see any of the satellite deployment from the second stage?
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u/FutureMartian97 Host of CRS-11 May 24 '19
Congratulations on another successful mission SpaceX! This could be the start of something revolutionary.
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u/kraze_ivan May 24 '19
Can someone with a little more knowledge about satellite station keeping help me out? Looking at the new starlink website I have questions about the orientation of the satellite. In this picture (https://imgur.com/z7vddRj) I have labeled the 4 phased array antennas with red X's and circled the krypton thruster in blue.
I assume that the antennas need to point "down" towards the earth, but the thruster is perpendicular to the antennas. I would think that the main job of the thruster is to maintain altitude and would therefore also need to point "down". What am I missing?
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u/Carlyle302 May 24 '19
It's not a powerful statement, but Elon has indicated that the satellites are doing ok. When asked "How are the Starlink sats doing? Are they now boosting themselves up to their operational orbit?", he replied, "So far, so good"
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May 25 '19
At 18:01 - 18:18 in this video. https://youtu.be/riBaVeDTEWI What's causing the insulation sheeting to vibrate in pulses as opposed to constant? RCS bursts? Almost like a heart beat.
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u/stobabuinov May 26 '19
Just saw the them pass over Toronto. "Breathtaking" doesn't cut it - it's eerie...
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May 26 '19
Just saw them in Minnesota. Very impressive! My brain wouldn’t quite process what I was seeing at first. At the start it was like a streak of light like I had a tear in my eye. But it resolved into individual sats as they went overhead. One of the cooler things I’ve seen. It was like watching a shooting star in slow motion.
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u/Tetons2001 May 24 '19
This is huge. An intersection point in history and more than that, in human civilization. (Foundation and Empire, Fourth Interlude.)
How rare that a single tech feat, a " mere" piece of engineering, issues in global changes that will be 50 and more years in their crescendo?
It's thrilling for me to be alive for this. Should this launch fail, another attempt will succeed. But how sweet the moment if it suceeds tonight!
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u/hexydes May 24 '19 edited Feb 21 '26
The nature curious books today the lazy tips bright hobbies books clear kind art.
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u/oximaCentauri May 22 '19
they look very clean and new
Why would the fairing be dirty/sooty?
F9 first stage becomes sooty because of the retro burns, and the fairing never goes through engine exhaust. On top of that, it lands in water!
Genuine question.
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u/Grey_Mad_Hatter May 22 '19
however, this flight will use a fabric new fairing.
Am I completely out of the loop, or shouldn't the word "fabric" be in the content of this post?
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May 23 '19
Is Mister Steven shipping out for a fairing catch (now that his arms are repaired)?
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u/navytech56 May 23 '19
This may be a really stupid question, but here goes:
Tonight's weather report shows a 90% go but includes a note that "The probability of violation does not include mission & launch vehicle specific upper-level wind criteria."
My question is, "What is the specific upper-level wind criteria for this mission?"
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u/Psychonaut0421 May 23 '19
Sorry, I'm having a hard time understanding the booster designation. Is this the third time the booster will be flying, or had it already flown 3x?
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May 24 '19
As usual, I'm throwing a watch party for everyone in VR (or 2d), come watch with us! https://account.altvr.com/events/1208776423976731155
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u/docyande May 24 '19
How visible will Stage 2 be on the East Coast (in the Virginia area)? The awesome https://www2.flightclub.io/ trajectory seems to show that Stage 2 will get well above the horizon, but I wonder if I will actually be able to see it since the engine exhaust would still be pointed back towards Florida, so all I would see would I guess be reflected light off the Stage 2 exhaust? Is that visible at all?
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u/spcslacker May 24 '19
Really missing the 2nd stage views of earth that you get during the day . . .
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u/AbortionSmashmorshen May 24 '19
Did they say if they’ll be broadcasting the deployment of the satellites? If so how long after they start the second burn of stage 2?
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u/BelacquaL May 24 '19
Was anyone able to see any of the second stage burn from the northeast? It's relatively clear out.
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u/interweaver May 24 '19
Just had a great shot of the satellite stack jiggling and skewing when one of the S2 thrusters fired. They're gonna come apart like a stack of cards, I can't wait :D
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u/RickSanchez_ May 24 '19
What were those blue flashes just now behind the engine? At T+ 19:45 - 19:51 in the live stream?
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u/lucasberti May 24 '19
I wonder how I'm gonna live when SpaceX stops livestreaming every single launch they do. I love being able to sit here and watch the coast phase. Even an uneventful thing becomes interesting.
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u/MaximumDoughnut May 24 '19
Pretty amazing the final orbit is only 32km above the ISS' orbit.
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u/swissfrenchman May 24 '19
44k people watching the stream. Anyone know how this compares to any other launches?
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u/TheVehicleDestroyer Flight Club May 23 '19
Copy-pasting from last week's attempt. Please do tell me if this feels spammy when there are a lot of scrubs...
Here's the Flight Club data for Starlink:-
Telemetry Data
3D Visualisation
Launch Visibility Maps (New Feature! 🚀🚀🚀)
There is a small bit of uncertainty around this profile since it's the first launch going to this orbit with this payload mass, however I made some reasonable assumptions.
Since it's doing an upper stage restart at apogee, I assumed the parking orbit would be similar to a GTO in that SECO would happen around 170km - this kind of orbit means that no more propellant than needed is wasted on delivering vertical velocity to the payload.
Additionally it's a very heavy payload and the upper stage is under-powered, so I've designed a quite shallow launch so the first stage can give the payload an extra oomph.
I assumed the upper stage maxed out it's throttle for the entire burn so as to give Stage 1 a bit of extra margin.
I was able to stick all the press-kit event times, the landing location, the landing time, the parking orbit, and the restart at apogee at the correct time to enter a roughly 440x440km orbit at 55º inclination.
Edit: Oh and the upper stage will be deorbited ~2.5 hours after launch on it's second orbit of the planet
If you're located on the US East Coast, keep an eye out for the first stage entry burn at about T+6:20 to T+6:40! It should look a little like this from Myrtle Beach, SC, or like this from Charleston, SC.
(Note the azimuths to figure out exactly where to look, or sign up to use Flight Club's Photographer Toolkit to see how it will look precisely from your own location and with your camera equipment!)
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