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**DaFace** · 06-01-2014, 09:40 AM

Since a number of cool things are happening in space exploration these days, we'll widen the scope of this thread a smidge. Conversation about all things space exploration are welcome, whether it be from NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, or anyone else. Chances are most of the discussion will still be about SpaceX since they love to make things public and fun, but nothing's off limits. I'll eventually get around to modifying the OP to include resources for other companies too, but in the meantime, feel free to post any cool stuff you run across.

Lists of Upcoming Missions

Spoiler!

How to Watch a Live Launch

Spoiler!

Where to Learn More

Spoiler!

Glossary

Spoiler!

Space discussions tend to get a little bogged down in jargon, so here's a list of terms you might encounter. (Others, please let me know of others that should be added.)

ASDS - Autonomous Spaceport Droneship - The "barges" that they sometimes land rockets on.
Dragon - The cone-shaped capsule that sits at the top of the rocket for ISS-bound launches that holds the cargo (or, in the future, humans).
F9 - Falcon 9, the name of the rocket itself.
FH - Falcon Heavy, the three-booster version.
GTO - Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, a type of orbit that will eventually result in the satellite orbiting the earth as it turns so that it seems to be in the same spot from the ground (such as DirecTV or Dish satellites). These types of launches are particularly challenging because they require a lot of power to get them into the right orbit, leaving very little fuel left for landing.
HIF - Horizontal Integration Facility - the building near the launch pad where they put all of the pieces of the rocket together before rolling it out to the pad.
ISS - The International Space Station
JRTI - Just Read The Instructions, the name of the "barge" that they land on for west-coast launches.
LEO - Low Earth Orbit, a fairly low orbit shared by many satellites and ISS. These launches usually require less power to achieve the proper orbit, so the first stage can often be landed back on land rather than on a drone ship.
LZ1 - Landing Zone 1, basically a big open slab of concrete at Cape Canaveral where the first stage will attempt to land (for some launches).
NET - No Earlier Than, basically the date they're hoping to launch, but rocket launches have a tendency of getting delayed.
OCISLY - Of Course I Still Love You, the name of the "barge" that they land on for east-coast launches.
RTLS - Return to Landing Site, a mission where the first stage comes back and lands at LZ1.
Starship - SpaceX's next-generation rocket (and spacecraft) that will hopefully one day take us to Mars. Starship is the "second stage" that will carry cargo or people, but also refers to the whole system. (It's confusing, but think of it like the Space Shuttle, which was both the shuttle itself and the entire launch system.)
Super Heavy - The giant booster that will carry Starship to space.

**mlyonsd** · 07-15-2020, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eDave

I don't believe it is visible in the morning. Look how far it traveled between mine and Daface's pics which were both taken at 4:30 local. And mine has mountains in front of the true horizon. She's outta there. I'm going to hike up a small neighborhood mountain I use to view monsoons coming up from the south through Indian territory and try and get a view but I bet S. Mountain will block my view looking north. May drive out tomorrow for another shot. Maybe climb S. Mountain but it sucks coming down at night.

Good info. I hope the tail is still as visible when it comes up at night.

**DaFace** · 07-15-2020, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Good info. I hope the tail is still as visible when it comes up at night.

I think it will be getting higher each night for a few nights, but it'll also get dimmer. Good luck!

**mlyonsd** · 07-15-2020, 09:33 PM

Got it. Visible right now. At the 5 o'clock from the big dipper. You can see it with the naked eye but a much better view with binocs. Will fire up the telescope from now on.

**DaFace** · 07-15-2020, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Got it. Visible right now. At the 5 o'clock from the big dipper. You can see it with the naked eye but a much better view with binocs. Will fire up the telescope from now on.

Nice, glad you caught it!

**Donger** · 07-16-2020, 06:41 AM

Any updates on this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_2020

MagicHef · 07-16-2020, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donger

Any updates on this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_2020

Looks like they put the rover and capsule on the rocket on 7/7.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/0...navirus-cases/

Current launch time is 7:50 am EST on 7/30, but the window for launch extends until 8/15.

**Donger** · 07-16-2020, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagicHef

Looks like they put the rover and capsule on the rocket on 7/7.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/0...navirus-cases/

Current launch time is 7:50 am EST on 7/30, but the window for launch extends until 8/15.

Thanks!

**DaFace** · 07-17-2020, 11:39 AM

NASA's Johnson Space Center public affairs officer Kyle Herring says that SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour is getting ready to return from the space station on August 2: https://t.co/rQzuKiEia5
— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) July 17, 2020

**DaFace** · 07-18-2020, 07:03 PM

This is as cheesy as you'd expect from NASA, but here's a little about the next Mars rover set to launch soon.

Hog's Gone Fishin · 07-18-2020, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace

NASA's Johnson Space Center public affairs officer Kyle Herring says that SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour is getting ready to return from the space station on August 2: https://t.co/rQzuKiEia5
— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) July 17, 2020

This is awesome!

rydogg58 · 07-18-2020, 07:15 PM

So, Perseverance is going to have a small helicopter drone inside that will fly out and scout the terrain? That's pretty amazing. It's crazy how far technologically we've come since the first time we landed a rover on Mars. I love it.

**DaFace** · 07-18-2020, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rydogg58

So, Perseverance is going to have a small helicopter drone inside that will fly out and scout the terrain? That's pretty amazing. It's crazy how far technologically we've come since the first time we landed a rover on Mars. I love it.

Yeah, that was the big news to me. That could be a really useful tool.

**DaFace** · 07-20-2020, 12:22 PM

Here's a super cool shot. (click for the full version - you can't see the comet in the small version)

Comet NEOWISE over Falcon 9 and ANASIS-II vertical on SLC-40. Today’s launch window opens at 5:00 p.m. EDT and closes at 8:55 p.m. EDT, and weather is looking 70% favorable → https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK pic.twitter.com/5ITydgvQVI
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 20, 2020

Launch coming up here in a few hours.

**DaFace** · 07-20-2020, 03:28 PM

T-2 minutes

eDave · 07-20-2020, 03:29 PM

Sweeet bump bro. Thanks

Landing video was nice this time.

06-01-2014, 09:40 AM
DaFace Kind of a mod DaFace's Avatar Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land	Space Exploration megathread Since a number of cool things are happening in space exploration these days, we'll widen the scope of this thread a smidge. Conversation about all things space exploration are welcome, whether it be from NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, or anyone else. Chances are most of the discussion will still be about SpaceX since they love to make things public and fun, but nothing's off limits. I'll eventually get around to modifying the OP to include resources for other companies too, but in the meantime, feel free to post any cool stuff you run across. Lists of Upcoming Missions Spoiler! General lists: https://nextspaceflight.com/ http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/ SpaceX specific list: https://spacexnow.com/upcoming.php How to Watch a Live Launch Spoiler! SpaceX: https://www.youtube.com/user/spacexchannel ULA: https://www.youtube.com/user/UnitedLaunchAlliance RocketLab: https://www.youtube.com/user/RocketLabNZ NASATV will also cover some launches (primarily ISS resupply missions): https://www.youtube.com/user/NASAtelevision Where to Learn More Spoiler! 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... https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/wiki/index And for a more forum-style discussion board... http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php#c17 And there are plenty of YouTube channels with great content... Joe Scott - Lost of "future" discussion. Some about rockets and space. Much that goes beyond. Scott Manley - Super smart dude (engineer) who reviews a lot of major events in space exploration. Frazer Cain (Universe Today) - Podcast-style videos that go in-depth into space topics. Tim Dodd (Everyday Astronaut) - A "random dude" who got really into space (particularly SpaceX). He's a great resource for simple explanations of this stuff, as well as live hosting launches. USLaunchReport - Lost of videos of the more mundane stuff (e.g., booster recovery operations). Not a ton of commentary. NASASpaceFlight - Live hosting of most launches including a ton of video of Starlink operations. Glossary Spoiler! Space discussions tend to get a little bogged down in jargon, so here's a list of terms you might encounter. (Others, please let me know of others that should be added.) ASDS - Autonomous Spaceport Droneship - The "barges" that they sometimes land rockets on. Dragon - The cone-shaped capsule that sits at the top of the rocket for ISS-bound launches that holds the cargo (or, in the future, humans). F9 - Falcon 9, the name of the rocket itself. FH - Falcon Heavy, the three-booster version. GTO - Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, a type of orbit that will eventually result in the satellite orbiting the earth as it turns so that it seems to be in the same spot from the ground (such as DirecTV or Dish satellites). These types of launches are particularly challenging because they require a lot of power to get them into the right orbit, leaving very little fuel left for landing. HIF - Horizontal Integration Facility - the building near the launch pad where they put all of the pieces of the rocket together before rolling it out to the pad. ISS - The International Space Station JRTI - Just Read The Instructions, the name of the "barge" that they land on for west-coast launches. LEO - Low Earth Orbit, a fairly low orbit shared by many satellites and ISS. These launches usually require less power to achieve the proper orbit, so the first stage can often be landed back on land rather than on a drone ship. LZ1 - Landing Zone 1, basically a big open slab of concrete at Cape Canaveral where the first stage will attempt to land (for some launches). NET - No Earlier Than, basically the date they're hoping to launch, but rocket launches have a tendency of getting delayed. OCISLY - Of Course I Still Love You, the name of the "barge" that they land on for east-coast launches. RTLS - Return to Landing Site, a mission where the first stage comes back and lands at LZ1. Starship - SpaceX's next-generation rocket (and spacecraft) that will hopefully one day take us to Mars. Starship is the "second stage" that will carry cargo or people, but also refers to the whole system. (It's confusing, but think of it like the Space Shuttle, which was both the shuttle itself and the entire launch system.) Super Heavy - The giant booster that will carry Starship to space. Last edited by DaFace; 12-10-2020 at 03:36 PM..
Posts: 51,768

07-15-2020, 09:33 PM	#3078
mlyonsd Supporter Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Spink, SD	Got it. Visible right now. At the 5 o'clock from the big dipper. You can see it with the naked eye but a much better view with binocs. Will fire up the telescope from now on.
Posts: 38,861	1 0

07-16-2020, 06:41 AM	#3080
Donger "Think BOOM!" Donger's Avatar Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W	Any updates on this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_2020
Posts: 180,689

07-17-2020, 11:39 AM	#3083
DaFace Kind of a mod DaFace's Avatar Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land	NASA's Johnson Space Center public affairs officer Kyle Herring says that SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour is getting ready to return from the space station on August 2: https://t.co/rQzuKiEia5 — Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) July 17, 2020
Posts: 51,768	1 0

07-18-2020, 07:03 PM	#3084
DaFace Kind of a mod DaFace's Avatar Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land	This is as cheesy as you'd expect from NASA, but here's a little about the next Mars rover set to launch soon.
Posts: 51,768

07-18-2020, 07:15 PM	#3086
rydogg58 Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Bismarck	So, Perseverance is going to have a small helicopter drone inside that will fly out and scout the terrain? That's pretty amazing. It's crazy how far technologically we've come since the first time we landed a rover on Mars. I love it.
Posts: 1,214

07-20-2020, 12:22 PM	#3088
DaFace Kind of a mod DaFace's Avatar Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land	Here's a super cool shot. (click for the full version - you can't see the comet in the small version) Comet NEOWISE over Falcon 9 and ANASIS-II vertical on SLC-40. Today’s launch window opens at 5:00 p.m. EDT and closes at 8:55 p.m. EDT, and weather is looking 70% favorable → https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK pic.twitter.com/5ITydgvQVI — SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 20, 2020 Launch coming up here in a few hours.
Posts: 51,768

07-20-2020, 03:28 PM	#3089
DaFace Kind of a mod DaFace's Avatar Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land	T-2 minutes
Posts: 51,768

07-20-2020, 03:29 PM	#3090
eDave Banned Join Date: Jan 2013	Sweeet bump bro. Thanks Landing video was nice this time. Last edited by eDave; 07-20-2020 at 03:40 PM..
Posts: 53,803