8 ms·

But, wouldn't it be interesting if one of the reasons we had such great ground coverage was somehow related to the NRO being a customer?

by mmjaa 10y ago

ragebol 9y ago
They couldn't/wouldn't show footage of the 2nd stage, so more attention for the 1st stage. Fine by me, it was amazing to watch
- rtkwe 9y ago
  Couldn't, it's a NRO launch which are very secretive. Usually the most description you get out of an NRO launch is that it's for the NRO and a video from the ground of the launch.
- valuearb 9y ago
  The first stage is such an attention whore. It usually gets most of it anyways, this time it punted the first stage entirely off the show.
gus_massa 9y ago
I guess the better coverage of the first stage is that they landed in land and not in a small ship in the middle of the sea. It's more difficult to put cameras in the sea and keep a good connection. I think it's indirectly related. Probably, the satellite has a low orbit to have a better sight, and they don't expect to have the satellite for too long so care about some drag. So the rocket has more fuel to a return to land maneuver. Also, it was very strange that they cut the transmission so soon. Usually they continue with the second stage and they highlight many times that the main mission is the satellite and they transmit as much of the satellite as possible in case they have an RUD. This time they closed the transmission as soon as the first stage landed. Anyway, an amazing transmission.
- rohit89 9y ago
  > Also, it was very strange that they cut the transmission so soon. That's an NRO requirement.
  - Symmetry 9y ago
    Yes, to keep the position secret in theory. Though I bet Russian and Chinese space surveillance radars will pick up it's orbit the first time it passes over their territory and amateurs will find out where it is eventually too.
  - ceejayoz 9y ago
    Yep. Same reason the cheering crowd at SpaceX was much smaller than a usual launch - only folks with clearance allowed in.
    - dtparr 9y ago
      I wonder how much was that, and how much was the fact the launch window opened at 4am.
- joezydeco 9y ago
  Pretty sure the NRO wasn't want anyone to know which direction and how high up that satellite was heading.
  - VLM 9y ago
    Or its mass. You can determine that by the second stage acceleration.
deleted 9y ago
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rtkwe 9y ago
I wouldn't be too surprised if that view was something they'd had before but didn't use because you had the more interesting second stage feed during a normal launch. Today they couldn't show anything from stage 2 because it was an NRO launch and there's a lot of secrecy around what those even look like.

But, wouldn't it be interesting if one of the reasons we had such great ground coverage was somehow related to the NRO being a customer?

by mmjaa 10y ago

But, wouldn't it be interesting if one of the reasons we had such great ground coverage was somehow related to the NRO being a customer?

ragebol 9y ago

They couldn't/wouldn't show footage of the 2nd stage, so more attention for the 1st stage. Fine by me, it was amazing to watch

rtkwe 9y ago
Couldn't, it's a NRO launch which are very secretive. Usually the most description you get out of an NRO launch is that it's for the NRO and a video from the ground of the launch.
valuearb 9y ago
The first stage is such an attention whore. It usually gets most of it anyways, this time it punted the first stage entirely off the show.

gus_massa 9y ago

I guess the better coverage of the first stage is that they landed in land and not in a small ship in the middle of the sea. It's more difficult to put cameras in the sea and keep a good connection. I think it's indirectly related. Probably, the satellite has a low orbit to have a better sight, and they don't expect to have the satellite for too long so care about some drag. So the rocket has more fuel to a return to land maneuver. Also, it was very strange that they cut the transmission so soon. Usually they continue with the second stage and they highlight many times that the main mission is the satellite and they transmit as much of the satellite as possible in case they have an RUD. This time they closed the transmission as soon as the first stage landed. Anyway, an amazing transmission.

rohit89 9y ago
> Also, it was very strange that they cut the transmission so soon. That's an NRO requirement.
- Symmetry 9y ago
  Yes, to keep the position secret in theory. Though I bet Russian and Chinese space surveillance radars will pick up it's orbit the first time it passes over their territory and amateurs will find out where it is eventually too.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  Yep. Same reason the cheering crowd at SpaceX was much smaller than a usual launch - only folks with clearance allowed in.
  - dtparr 9y ago
    I wonder how much was that, and how much was the fact the launch window opened at 4am.
joezydeco 9y ago
Pretty sure the NRO wasn't want anyone to know which direction and how high up that satellite was heading.
- VLM 9y ago
  Or its mass. You can determine that by the second stage acceleration.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

rtkwe 9y ago

I wouldn't be too surprised if that view was something they'd had before but didn't use because you had the more interesting second stage feed during a normal launch. Today they couldn't show anything from stage 2 because it was an NRO launch and there's a lot of secrecy around what those even look like.