6 ms·

Yeah, at least this time we expected that to happen. (SpaceX webcast guy indicated the rocket shakes the uplink dish so hard on approach it's likely to lose sig

by dtparr 11y ago

Yeah, at least this time we expected that to happen. (SpaceX webcast guy indicated the rocket shakes the uplink dish so hard on approach it's likely to lose signal every time).

daeken 11y ago
I do wonder why they don't have a separate small barge with a couple fiber runs between them, to do the comms (e.g. host the dish(es)). I guess it just isn't that important.
- dtparr 11y ago
  That was asked on the spacex sub-reddit. The response was something like "you underestimate the power of a Merlin" which I took to mean that a reasonable distance to avoid the effects is too far to reasonably run ship-to-ship cabling.
  - daeken 11y ago
    That's totally reasonable, too. I had assumed that the wash from the rocket would be largely straight down, but that's probably way wrong.
    - igjeff 11y ago
      It is probably pretty much straight down...until it impacts the flat surface of the ship.
  - mark-r 11y ago
    Fiber optic cable is relatively light weight and strong for the bandwidth it supplies. This seems like a cop-out.
    - spdustin 11y ago
      I'm sorry, but is it possible that the literal rocket scientists have given it more thought than you've given it credit for? I've only been posting here for a bit over a year. Has HN always had an issue with these sorts of pragmatic speech mis-queues where one posits that the experts are not aware of some painfully obvious solution? I find it to be condescending, but I'm not sure that such commenters realize it, and so I struggle with pointing it out - in case they didn't honestly realize the issue - or keeping my mouth shut, thereby avoiding potential conflict with someone who either can't be swayed or may actually be smarter than the group whose collective knowledge is being challenged. EDIT: I asked a legitimate question. Down votes don't teach people who want to learn, people.
      - mark-r 11y ago
        Sorry, I don't know who gave you the downvote - it wasn't me. It does seem to me that the rocket scientists would have had their hands full with all the other issues around the launch and recovery. My guess is that the live feed isn't a priority for them, knowing that they can get what they need after the fact.
        niels_olson 11y ago
        Probably the naval architects who designed the barge are well-aware of underway replenishment procedures and know perfectly well how to connect two vessels underway. And probably asked the rocket scientists about some of these issues before drawing up the barge. Because, selling an unrep solution is going to cover a really nice year end bonus. The raw steel would cost more than half your lifetime earnings.
      - Dylan16807 11y ago
        >I asked a legitimate question. Down votes don't teach people who want to learn, people. When "have you guys always screwed up this way" is your only non-rhetorical question, I call shenanigans on intent to learn. You solidly earned that downvote by being so patronizing. That said, it's very easy for a solution to be both painfully obvious and at the same time not worth the effort. The rocket scientist is busy doing rocket science. If they give a flippant answer, it's okay to point out that the answer is flippant. It's not condescending. It doesn't imply they are "not aware" of the solution. They simply lack infinite spare time to implement every solution to everything.
- bsaul 11y ago
  Or just a flying army-like drone that would point to the barge, flying from a distance ?
  - baq 11y ago
    this is a no-no unless you get some serious telephoto hardware so you can get a good image from outside the no-fly zone. which has been done when the landing was happening in the daytime; not sure if the aircraft was manned, but there are aerial movies of a past failed attempt.
rbanffy 11y ago
It would make sense to record it in high quality while streaming lower bandwidth signals and, as soon as possible, send the original recording through the uplink.

by dtparr 11y ago

Yeah, at least this time we expected that to happen. (SpaceX webcast guy indicated the rocket shakes the uplink dish so hard on approach it's likely to lose signal every time).

daeken 11y ago

I do wonder why they don't have a separate small barge with a couple fiber runs between them, to do the comms (e.g. host the dish(es)). I guess it just isn't that important.

dtparr 11y ago
That was asked on the spacex sub-reddit. The response was something like "you underestimate the power of a Merlin" which I took to mean that a reasonable distance to avoid the effects is too far to reasonably run ship-to-ship cabling.
- daeken 11y ago
  That's totally reasonable, too. I had assumed that the wash from the rocket would be largely straight down, but that's probably way wrong.
  - igjeff 11y ago
    It is probably pretty much straight down...until it impacts the flat surface of the ship.
- mark-r 11y ago
  Fiber optic cable is relatively light weight and strong for the bandwidth it supplies. This seems like a cop-out.
  - spdustin 11y ago
    I'm sorry, but is it possible that the literal rocket scientists have given it more thought than you've given it credit for? I've only been posting here for a bit over a year. Has HN always had an issue with these sorts of pragmatic speech mis-queues where one posits that the experts are not aware of some painfully obvious solution? I find it to be condescending, but I'm not sure that such commenters realize it, and so I struggle with pointing it out - in case they didn't honestly realize the issue - or keeping my mouth shut, thereby avoiding potential conflict with someone who either can't be swayed or may actually be smarter than the group whose collective knowledge is being challenged. EDIT: I asked a legitimate question. Down votes don't teach people who want to learn, people.
    - mark-r 11y ago
      Sorry, I don't know who gave you the downvote - it wasn't me. It does seem to me that the rocket scientists would have had their hands full with all the other issues around the launch and recovery. My guess is that the live feed isn't a priority for them, knowing that they can get what they need after the fact.
      - niels_olson 11y ago
        Probably the naval architects who designed the barge are well-aware of underway replenishment procedures and know perfectly well how to connect two vessels underway. And probably asked the rocket scientists about some of these issues before drawing up the barge. Because, selling an unrep solution is going to cover a really nice year end bonus. The raw steel would cost more than half your lifetime earnings.
    - Dylan16807 11y ago
      >I asked a legitimate question. Down votes don't teach people who want to learn, people. When "have you guys always screwed up this way" is your only non-rhetorical question, I call shenanigans on intent to learn. You solidly earned that downvote by being so patronizing. That said, it's very easy for a solution to be both painfully obvious and at the same time not worth the effort. The rocket scientist is busy doing rocket science. If they give a flippant answer, it's okay to point out that the answer is flippant. It's not condescending. It doesn't imply they are "not aware" of the solution. They simply lack infinite spare time to implement every solution to everything.
bsaul 11y ago
Or just a flying army-like drone that would point to the barge, flying from a distance ?
- baq 11y ago
  this is a no-no unless you get some serious telephoto hardware so you can get a good image from outside the no-fly zone. which has been done when the landing was happening in the daytime; not sure if the aircraft was manned, but there are aerial movies of a past failed attempt.

rbanffy 11y ago

It would make sense to record it in high quality while streaming lower bandwidth signals and, as soon as possible, send the original recording through the uplink.