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The video feed drops like that on every droneship landing.

• hodgesrm 9y ago
  Do you know why that happens? This is the first time I've seen it live.
  • craftyguy 9y ago
    According to the SpaceX media commentary folks that were talking as it was happening, it's because "intense vibrations are interfering with the antenna".
    • mannykannot 9y ago
      Meanwhile, in the background, a monitor appears to be showing smoke clearing from the deck of the barge, with no booster present. https://twitter.com/Darkphibre/status/960990105581240321 https://twitter.com/Darkphibre/status/960990105581240321
      • craftyguy 9y ago
        Right, because the rocket ultimately didn't land on the ship. This does not invalidate anything they said about interference.
        • eps 9y ago
          It clearly does. They both say Oh exactly at the moment when the smoke clears, meaning that they themselves are looking at the live feed while pretending it was lost. Also the chances that Spacex doesn't have any other presence next to the droneship are zero. There in no reason for them to be beaming the data feed via a finicky satellite connection only.
          • mariuolo 9y ago
            > Also the chances that Spacex doesn't have any other presence next to the droneship are zero. Would you keep manned boats in the area where a rocket is coming down?
            • Udik 9y ago
              They keep people in the area where rockets liftoff and land (a few kms away) and besides, they launch rockets in space, do you really think they lack the technology to, for example, send the video feed to another ship waiting at a few kms distance?
            • effie 9y ago
              Not a manned boat, but it seems obvious that they would want to have another unmanned boat with instruments recording the landing event. This could be much smaller and thousands of meters away from the landing site so there would be very little risk of it getting inoperable by the landing rocket.
            • Mithaldu 9y ago
              From previous crashes we know they keep observers nearby.
          • woodandsteel 9y ago
            Besides, I am sure the rocket itself had radios that were reporting on what was going on. When they all stopped sending signals at the very point the rocket should be touching down, that was a pretty sure signal it had crashed.
  • Klathmon 9y ago
    They use a satellite link on the barge, and the vibrations and pressure from the landing booster almost always cause the link to drop until things calm down. They have said in the past that it's "solveable", but it's not exactly a high priority by any means as they can always retrieve the footage when they get to the barge.
  • wrigby 9y ago
    The satellite antennas used to uplink a video feed like this have a very small beamwidth (around 1° depending on antenna size and the frequency they're using), so you need to keep them pointed precisely at a specific point in the sky. They rely on a sensitive IMU (accelerometers) and fast motors to actively track the satellite while the platform moves. They're quite impressive to watch in action[1], but I'm guessing they're no match for the shock and vibe of the rocket landing. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k79vfwUkeYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k79vfwUkeYk