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"Seems that @SpaceX often suspiciously "looses" the live video feed of landings until after success/internal review. https://youtu.be/Y8mLi-rRTh8?t=1520 https:/

"Seems that @SpaceX often suspiciously "looses" the live video feed of landings until after success/internal review. https://youtu.be/Y8mLi-rRTh8?t=1520 https://youtu.be/Y8mLi-rRTh8?t=1520 " https://twitter.com/purpleidea/status/878473127600283648 https://twitter.com/purpleidea/status/878473127600283648

comradesmith 9y ago
Try keeping a solid satellite connection while holding your dish in your hands. Now do it on a boat, trying to compensate for waves and exhaust gases from a 27.4 tonne rocket.
binarytransform 9y ago
This is tinfoil hat nonsense. The feed goes out for a couple of seconds due to the vibrations caused by the incoming 10-story booster retropropulsing its way to the deck. It always comes back after the rocket has shutdown.
- mikeyouse 9y ago
  And whenever they launch a NASA payload, they get the extra telemetry and video support which allows videos like this: https://youtu.be/1sJlFzUQVmY https://youtu.be/1sJlFzUQVmY
gpm 9y ago
Or you know... maintaining a high bandwidth satellite link on a barge in the ocean with three rocket engines pounding down on it is difficult and not particularly high priority. They have never not shared footage afterwards, and we've got footage all the way down live once or twice (not with a three engine landing burn mind you, since this is the first time they tried that). The man in charge of this (/u/bencredible on reddit) has also explicitly stated that it's not intentional.
- marvin 9y ago
  It's always been the dodgiest landings that "accidentally" lose video coverage for the longest. I don't believe this explanation, even if it's the official account. No big criticism though; I'm super happy that they do the launch webcasts. Super exciting to watch.
  - ajnin 9y ago
    The barge are in the middle of the ocean and need a satellite link to communicate. Satellite antennas need good alignment and it's logical that the worst landings would also be the ones which perturbate the alignment the most, causing the longest video feed loss. There's an explanation that does not involve nefarious intent.
  - huhtenberg 9y ago
    Exactly! It does look like there's a "PR filter" in the video stream and it kicks in when the landing looks iff-ish. This makes perfect sense too if you think about it. If they were to crash yesterday and there were a video cap to go with it, it would've been all over news in no time. But with no visuals the news like this are far less likely to be reported, leave alone to go viral.
    - matthewmacleod 9y ago
      Let me see if I understand - you think SpaceX will refuse to release footage of failed landings?
      - abcd_f 9y ago
        No, you don't understand. It's not about withholding the footage, it's about releasing it in a controlled fashion.
  - callmeal 9y ago
    >It's always been the dodgiest landings that "accidentally" lose video coverage for the longest. Maybe you haven't seen some of the earlier ones that had RUD. Take this[1] one for instance from the SpaceX channel. Looks like they stopped using helicopters to stream the landing. Makes sense, because once you have all the kinks worked out, you no longer need redundant instrumentation. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhMSzC1crr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhMSzC1crr0 Edit: Adding a successful one[2]. See how the rocket comes in, pointing away from the barge and then straightens up. [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYmQQn_ZSys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYmQQn_ZSys

comradesmith 9y ago

Try keeping a solid satellite connection while holding your dish in your hands. Now do it on a boat, trying to compensate for waves and exhaust gases from a 27.4 tonne rocket.

binarytransform 9y ago

This is tinfoil hat nonsense. The feed goes out for a couple of seconds due to the vibrations caused by the incoming 10-story booster retropropulsing its way to the deck. It always comes back after the rocket has shutdown.

mikeyouse 9y ago
And whenever they launch a NASA payload, they get the extra telemetry and video support which allows videos like this: https://youtu.be/1sJlFzUQVmY https://youtu.be/1sJlFzUQVmY

gpm 9y ago

Or you know... maintaining a high bandwidth satellite link on a barge in the ocean with three rocket engines pounding down on it is difficult and not particularly high priority. They have never not shared footage afterwards, and we've got footage all the way down live once or twice (not with a three engine landing burn mind you, since this is the first time they tried that). The man in charge of this (/u/bencredible on reddit) has also explicitly stated that it's not intentional.

marvin 9y ago
It's always been the dodgiest landings that "accidentally" lose video coverage for the longest. I don't believe this explanation, even if it's the official account. No big criticism though; I'm super happy that they do the launch webcasts. Super exciting to watch.
- ajnin 9y ago
  The barge are in the middle of the ocean and need a satellite link to communicate. Satellite antennas need good alignment and it's logical that the worst landings would also be the ones which perturbate the alignment the most, causing the longest video feed loss. There's an explanation that does not involve nefarious intent.
- huhtenberg 9y ago
  Exactly! It does look like there's a "PR filter" in the video stream and it kicks in when the landing looks iff-ish. This makes perfect sense too if you think about it. If they were to crash yesterday and there were a video cap to go with it, it would've been all over news in no time. But with no visuals the news like this are far less likely to be reported, leave alone to go viral.
  - matthewmacleod 9y ago
    Let me see if I understand - you think SpaceX will refuse to release footage of failed landings?
    - abcd_f 9y ago
      No, you don't understand. It's not about withholding the footage, it's about releasing it in a controlled fashion.
- callmeal 9y ago
  >It's always been the dodgiest landings that "accidentally" lose video coverage for the longest. Maybe you haven't seen some of the earlier ones that had RUD. Take this[1] one for instance from the SpaceX channel. Looks like they stopped using helicopters to stream the landing. Makes sense, because once you have all the kinks worked out, you no longer need redundant instrumentation. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhMSzC1crr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhMSzC1crr0 Edit: Adding a successful one[2]. See how the rocket comes in, pointing away from the barge and then straightens up. [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYmQQn_ZSys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYmQQn_ZSys