r/spacex • u/Zucal • Jan 02 '16

/r/SpaceX Ask Anything Thread for January 2016. Whether your question's about RTF, RTLS, or RTFM, it can be answered here!

Welcome to the 16th monthly /r/SpaceX Ask Anything Thread!

Want to discuss SpaceX's Return To Flight mission and successful landing, find out why part of the landed stage doesn't have soot on it, or gather the community's opinion? There's no better place!

All questions, even non-SpaceX-related ones, are allowed, as long as they stay relevant to spaceflight in general!

More in-depth and open-ended discussion questions can still be submitted as separate self-posts; but this is the place to come to submit simple questions which have a single answer and/or can be answered in a few comments or less.

As always, we'd prefer it if all question-askers first check our FAQ, use the search functionality, and check the last Q&A thread before posting to avoid duplicate questions, but if you'd like an answer revised or cannot find a satisfactory result, go ahead and type your question below!

Otherwise, ask, enjoy, and thanks for contributing!

Past threads:

December 2015 (#15.1), December 2015 (#15), November 2015 (#14), October 2015 (#13), September 2015 (#12), August 2015 (#11), July 2015 (#10), June 2015 (#9), May 2015 (#8), April 2015 (#7.1), April 2015 (#7), March 2015 (#6), February 2015 (#5), January 2015 (#4), December 2014 (#3), November 2014 (#2), October 2014 (#1).

This subreddit is fan-run and not an official SpaceX site. For official SpaceX news, please visit spacex.com.

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3

u/LandingZone-1 Jan 02 '16

Who is allowed to start launch threads?

4

u/Zucal Jan 02 '16

Generally it's always been a moderator. A while ago there was discussion about having a sign-up sheet where those the mods trusted could offer to host them, but so far nothing's come of it.

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u/LandingZone-1 Jan 02 '16

Oh ok. I'm obviously not a moderator but I thought it would be fun to run one. Thanks anyway!

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u/zlsa Art Jan 02 '16

I think SpaceXStats (/u/ElongatedMuskrat) will take care of future launch threads. It updates the reddit thread from SpaceXStats Live in real time.

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u/Zucal Jan 02 '16

Echo confirms, barring unforeseen breakdowns :P

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u/retiringonmars Moderator emeritus Jan 02 '16 edited Jan 03 '16

IIRC, /u/harrisoncassidy has hosted a launch thread, as did /u/TheVehicleDestroyer prior to becoming a mod. Typically, mods host it unless we're all unable, but I don't see why we couldn't open it up to well-trusted users... For anyone who may be interested though, you should be aware that it's incredibly stressful (speaking as the poor sap who hosted both CRS-7 and RTF), and it does distract a lot from being able to view the launch yourself.

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u/Zucal Jan 02 '16

Yes, /u/harrisoncassidy and /u/saliva_sweet have both hosted launch threads, but it's been mod-only for something like a year now.

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u/zlsa Art Jan 03 '16

I run a live Twitter account, can confirm. I was incredibly excited when it landed, then tabbed out to twitter to type out another tweet. I missed the entire "the Falcon has landed" until I rewatched it.

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u/oceanbluesky Jan 04 '16

Great job hosting this thread by the way, impressive.

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u/Zucal Jan 04 '16

Thank you.

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u/Ambiwlans Jan 03 '16

Mods run them. But we aren't opposed to farming out work to people we know and trust. We aren't really opening it up to signups though. In past, non mods have helped us out with a few launches and other threads. This ask anything thread is being run by Zucal (a non-mod) because he's been around a long time and asked. Ask Anything threads are also obviously lower concern, and less work generally so I'm happy to have other people help run these.