Space Launches, Landings, and Destinations - SpaceX Thread #3

[SpaceChampion]

Someone's visualization of what stacking 240 Starlink satellites in one Starship would look like:

For a constellation of up to 42,000 sats (yikes!) that's at least 200 Starship launches.  They could do 40 launches a year for 5 years to meet their schedule for deployment, and then have to start replacing the oldest sats as their orbits decay or otherwise malfunctions.

[Free Northman Reborn]

6 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

Someone's visualization of what stacking 240 Starlink satellites in one Starship would look like:

For a constellation of up to 42,000 sats (yikes!) that's at least 200 Starship launches.  They could do 40 launches a year for 5 years to meet their schedule for deployment, and then have to start replacing the oldest sats as their orbits decay or otherwise malfunctions.

That is a fan made visualisation depicting 240 sats. SpaceX themselves have stated that Starship will launch 400 sats at a time.

[SpaceChampion]

GPS satellite launch by an Falcon 9 today for the Space Force:

 

[A True Kaniggit]

3 minutes ago, SpaceChampion said:

GPS satellite launch by an Falcon 9 today for the Space Force:

 

Steve Carell is doing an outstanding job.  

[SpaceChampion]

RocketLab launch failure, losing a flock of Earth Observation sats for Planet (formerly Planet Labs).

 

[SpaceChampion]

ANASIS-II mission on Falcon 9 for South Korea:

Mission notable for reuse of the booster that launched crew dragon last month.

[Fragile Bird]

The Mars 2020 Mission Perseverance rover is now at it's launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Launch is planned for 7:50 am EDT on July 30, tomorrow.

[SpaceChampion]

NASA's launch stream:

 

[SpaceChampion]

 

[Fragile Bird]

48 minutes ago, SpaceChampion said:

 

What does that mean?

[Leofric]

I think it means they fired up and ran all the engines for the total  length of time they would be needed for an actual launch, but not at full thrust so the rocket wouldn't actually move.

[SpaceChampion]

4 hours ago, Leofric said:

I think it means they fired up and ran all the engines for the total  length of time they would be needed for an actual launch, but not at full thrust so the rocket wouldn't actually move.

Close, but backwards -- it's a "wet" dress rehearsal, fired at full thrust but for only a few seconds, while the rocket is bolted down.  This essentially proves all systems are ready to go for the 150m hop.

Static firings of the individual engines would have been done earlier when they weren't attached to the rocket, and those were likely to full duration of the launch -- usually on it's side.

 

[Corvinus85]

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

NASA is officially back in the human spaceflight business.  They've successfully gone there and back. 
 

 

[Fragile Bird]

Good lord, seeing those parachutes bringing down a capsule sure brought back memories! I think I watched every single televised splashdown during my teen years.

The astronauts used to climb out while it was still in the water, of course, into a raft, the only thing I missed. But that sight, seeing astronauts safely back on earth, was a really big thing back then.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Is it just me, or is the shot they're using making the capsule look like a Stormtrooper's helmet?

So awesome this was a success. When you hear just how excited the experts are, it really lets you know how important this is. Hats off to everyone involved, and hopefully this is a great step in the ultimate goal: Mars. 

[SpaceChampion]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/07/even-before-crew-dragon-returns-from-space-nasa-endorses-reuse-for-humans/?comments=1

NASA embracing reuse more quickly that anyone expected.  The Crew-2 flight will reuse this Dragon capsule and the booster that launched it.

With Demo-2 safely down, Crew-1 is next up on the queue for launch in late September, with Crew-2 some time in spring 2021.   They announced the crew for the latter recently too.

[SpaceChampion]

 

 

[Altherion]

The 150m SN5 hop might be today:

Quote

After successfully completing a static fire test of its Starship prototype last Thursday, SpaceX engineers and technicians in Boca Chica have been preparing the vehicle for its first test flight.

This brief hop, to an altitude of 150 meters, may come as early as today. According to the Federal Aviation Administration's temporary flight restrictions, SpaceX has a "launch window" from 8am local time in South Texas to 8pm. This means the window closes at 01:00 UTC Tuesday.

 

[SpaceChampion]

Everyday Astronaut's livestream has started.  No idea when the hop might be, but the launch permits are until 8pm CST -- so about until 2 and half hours from now.