@spacex_problems

Beautiful shot of the ABS deployment.

http://i.imgur.com/oUdQaLM.png

They are really nailing the videos. That Stage 1 separation was glorious.

Official word:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ascent phase &amp; satellites look good, but booster rocket had a RUD on droneship</p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/743096769001578498">June 15, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Looks like thrust was low on 1 of 3 landing engines. High g landings v sensitive to all engines operating at max.</p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/743097337782763521">June 15, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

LMAO

I've always loved engineer-speak.

It's actually a joke of sorts. Elon is well-known for hating acronyms, so it's ironic that he uses that one (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) rather than just saying "it blew up."

--

OP is updated for the next launch in 30 days. I BELIEVE this one will be a landing at LZ-1 (on land), so hopefully that means it'll be a high probability of success!

And with that, time to actually get some work done today. :)

I had to look to see what RUD meant. Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly. ROFL

Really cool video of the landing elon posted on Twitter.

Check out @elonmusk's Tweet: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/...226653184?s=09


The other ones didn't hover like that as far as I can remember. It's almost like they were seeing how long they could do it for, kinda showing off or something.

Yeah, I definitely don't recall seeing it come to almost a complete stop like that. I wonder if they were trying to slow it down a little more after the last one almost broke a leg and overdid it. I still hope we'll get on-board video at some point to see what exactly happened and why it looked like it had landed safely for a few seconds.

Here's the full string of tweets about it from today:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Turns out the landing was not as fast we thought, but still hard enough to destroy the primary airframe and accordion the engines</p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/743602229307805696">June 17, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Looks like early liquid oxygen depletion caused engine shutdown just above the deck <a href="https://t.co/Sa6uCkpknY">pic.twitter.com/Sa6uCkpknY</a></p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/743602894226653184">June 17, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As mentioned at the beginning of the year, I&#39;m expecting ~70% success rate on landings for the year. 2016 is the year of experimentation.</p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/743603466631733248">June 17, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Here's a stabilized version of the video. It's pretty clear that it ran out of fuel and just dropped the last few meters onto the deck.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p5_hvVbxAAo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The joint Mars venture they're doing with NASA is an exciting next step in space exploration. Very cool to see and hopefully SGSS sees some benefits.

I wish I could have a year of experimentation with multi million dollar spaceships.

Musk is such a badass.

The beauty of it is that it's not really even costing them anything (at least in terms of how you'd normally think of it). They're still getting paid the same price for these launches as they were when they were just letting the booster burn up in the atmosphere.

There are still plenty of costs involved (R&D, costs of the ships, crew, added costs for the landing-specific stuff like legs and grid fins, a little extra fuel), but those are insignificant compared to the cost of the rocket itself.

If you're feeling like a night owl, the next launch attempt is slated for Sunday night/Monday morning at 11:45pm Central. This one is an ISS-bound launch, so the launch window is instantaneous (meaning that scrubs are a little more likely than the past few).

For the first time since the first successful landing back in December, they're trying to land this one back at "Landing Zone 1" in Cape Canaveral rather than on the barge, so it should be quite a show for anyone fortunate enough to be down there to watch.

If it's not up already, I'll be sure to bump the thread on Sunday, but I figured some might want a heads-up if you care enough to plan to be up a little late that night.

In!

I started putting together a glossary for the OP to help new people figure out WTF we're talking about in here. Let me know what other stuff I should add (preferably in the same format as in the OP so I can just copy and paste stuff in there).

I also cleaned up the OP a bit for the same reason - just to be clear what info is there. Let me know if there are suggestions for improvements.

That looks a lot better than it did.
I'll probably stay up and watch the launch and hopefully the recovery.

Some cool pics...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/
https://www.instagram.com/spacex/?hl=en

Twitter feed is usually interesing...

https://twitter.com/SpaceX
https://twitter.com/elonmusk

The SpaceX sub is a great source of info, I'm usually over there during launches...

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/wiki/index

Cool. Added that (with a couple tweaks) as a section in the OP.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">All systems go &amp; weather 90% favorable for launch of Dragon to <a href="https://twitter.com/Space_Station">@Space_Station</a>. Liftoff slated for Monday, 12:45am ET <a href="https://t.co/aPQq6qKfhO">pic.twitter.com/aPQq6qKfhO</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/754474468123156480">July 17, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I wonder what the chances are that we'll pickup the docking on this HD ISS Ustream feed?

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iss-hdev-payload

Even if you can't see it well on that stream, NASA always covers berthing and unberthing events on NASA TV. That said, it's not as interesting to watch as you might guess - takes a LONG time and nothing moves very fast.

I'd still watch, at least once.

I really want a space elevator. We should be doing that instead of rockets.

Reddit launch thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...ch_discussion/

There can't be many situations in the world where a slab of concrete is noteworthy, so we might as well experience it.

http://i.imgur.com/60sJbQK.jpg

NASA TV coverage is live if you care enough to watch "pre-game". Nothing but silent views of the rocket at the moment, though.

This is the first time I've ever paid any attention to the NASA broadcasts before maybe T-10 minutes. It's even worse than I expected.

SpaceX webcast is live.

This, I keep going back to "Pacific Rim" that I taped.

Hosted stream is live.

About 10 minutes away
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">About 15 minutes from launch. Watch here → <a href="https://t.co/tdni53IviI">https://t.co/tdni53IviI</a> <a href="https://t.co/tTg3MekyXq">pic.twitter.com/tTg3MekyXq</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/754895886828773377">July 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[QUOTE=BigRedChief;12320667]About 10 minutes away


Will you be able to see it from your hood?

[QUOTE=eDave;12320671]Nah, about the same part of the state horizontally but still on the opposite side of the state.

Crap. I just got banned from /r/spacex. Damnit!

Ha - what did you do?

I said the hosted stream lady was a hottie. I broke Rule 2: Please be respectful and civil.

They're bizarrely strict over there. Hope it gets lifted at some point.

So far so good. It's crazy how fast MECO happens on ISS missions.

Hell Yea !

Making it look easy.

Shot of Dragon from the 2nd stage. Neat.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">First stage landing confirmed at LZ-1. Second stage and Dragon continuing to orbit <a href="https://t.co/tdni53IviI">https://t.co/tdni53IviI</a> <a href="https://t.co/6u7BCidoth">pic.twitter.com/6u7BCidoth</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/754902271515701248">July 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

:toast:

Here's one to SpaceX.

:toast:

That pic is spectacular. Love the moon photobomb

Try this one:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dragon on its way to <a href="https://twitter.com/Space_Station">@Space_Station</a>, Falcon on its way home <a href="https://t.co/EpfUKBmoWi">pic.twitter.com/EpfUKBmoWi</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/754906212429238272">July 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Falcon on LZ-1 at Cape Canaveral <a href="https://t.co/dBkjBCDIRs">pic.twitter.com/dBkjBCDIRs</a></p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/754908615757234176">July 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

T'was awesome...

Way cool. It's fantastic to see science and business combine for the betterment of us all. :clap:

We should pool our money and send Dave Lane out there to get some CP pics some time. Put some Chiefs stuff in the view finder...

Land the Lander:

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/768...ef=producthunt

I just realized the coolest part of that photo. If you zoom in at full resolution....

http://i.imgur.com/v9gEUbZ.jpg

You can actually see the first stage starting its "flip" while the second stage continues onward. Pretty cool.

I get forward momentum, maintaining energy in a turn, centrifugal force, centripetal force, and all jazz, but after they use the cold-gas release to flip it, I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around how does a rocket get going back the other way to make it back over land (in the near weightlessness it's in)? At least not without another burn, or unless the flip is more of a slow turn to allow momentum to ultimately send you back the other way?

While I don't claim to fully understand it myself, I think the key is that there's a lot more force being applied during that boost back burn than you'd think based on the brightness of it. It's burning a TON of fuel during that little arc to turn itself around and start heading back to land. The thrusters flip it around, the main engines are used to make it actually change direction.

I think this diagram is at least reasonably accurate (though it's boosting back further to make it to land).

http://i.stack.imgur.com/3zJ0c.png

Also, another thing to keep in mind is that the first stage weighs MUCH less at that point than the original rocket did (given that there's no second stage at all, and a majority of the propellant has already been used up), so it's quite a bit easier to slow down than you might think.

That makes sense actually. We know they do barge landings because they "don't have the fuel", but that not having fuel might be a combination of pushing a heavier load up, thus not having that amount of fuel to use on the boost back. And I found similar drawings for those barge-based landings, I just didn't find one that was noted-up like that for land-based landings.

Perhaps a trip to SpaceX (to ask questions) would be a wise vacation for me... :D

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk (so spelling be damned!!!)

Official pics are up:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex

-----

Also, the next launch will be JCSAT-16, but there's not an exact date for it yet - just "sometime in August." I'll take the countdown clock out of the OP until we have a firm date.

<iframe width="600" height="368" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4Ca6x4QbpoM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Well that video clears-up how the stages boost back to land. Woot. Thanks..

It's gonna be a hell of a sight to see, for sure. I'd almost make a vacation down to Florida to watch if it wasn't for the high likelihood of delays.

VPN? Telework?

Another good one I stumbled across.

https://youtu.be/txLmVpdWtNc

Oh, I could easily work remotely for work. It's more that that launch will probably be a moving target, and I don't think I could take Florida for more than a week or so.

Truth, but KC has been like Fla for a week now..

Atlas V went up today. Who knew?

http://i.imgur.com/HHtRsSs.jpg

Sorry for the derail. Launches are becoming more routine.

Full-length test fire of the one from May (not the one they're planning to re-fly). Kind of cool.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SZQY902xQcw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Na, as came up earlier in the thread, any cool stuff about space is welcome. It's just that it's hard to get excited about a lot of the other companies as much since it's kind of same ol' same 'ol every time.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Watch SpaceX test a million pounds of reusable rocket thrust <a href="https://t.co/eYc49Haio6">https://t.co/eYc49Haio6</a> <a href="https://t.co/L7hCAOBNkT">pic.twitter.com/L7hCAOBNkT</a></p>&mdash; Popular Science (@PopSci) <a href="https://twitter.com/PopSci/status/759048436167487488">July 29, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That thrust must have rotated earth a bit. It's 2 minutes later now.

Next launch has a date - late night August 13th (early morning August 14th). OP is updated with the new info.

I believe the last one of these kinds of satellites (JCSAT) was the first one they were able to land on the barge after launching to GTO. So it'll be another one "coming in hot". Hopefully they will have learned something from the last one that ran out of fuel a bit early.

Meant share this prior. Great app for tracking launches.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...spacelaunchnow

Thanks. Downloaded. Rep applied.

NASA’s new High Dynamic Camera Records SLS Rocket Test



https://fat.gfycat.com/FlimsyWellwor...icwildass.webm

Whoa. Trippy.

That looks strangely fake. Like CGI special effects or something. Here's a short article about the HDR and a still image from a normal camera to compare to. Very cool.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete....html?ITO=1490

Mohr,,,