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If you are curious about the trajectory that the first orbital launch might follow, have a look at this article: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/05/13/spacex-o
by _Microft 5y ago
If you are curious about the trajectory that the first orbital launch might follow, have a look at this article:
https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/05/13/spacex-outlines-plans-for-around-the-world-starship-test-flight/ https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/05/13/spacex-outlines-plans-...
They are aiming to fly Starship over the Straits of Florida (i.e. between Florida and Cuba) which means it will be low inclination. I assume that this is to avoid overflying inhabited area 'early' into the flight and especially not for too long, a trajectory bit further to the south would e.g. mean that they had to fly over the full length of Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I would expect them to be "out of the woods" already at this point in the flight though. The next critical part would be reentry north-west of Hawaii.
- jcims 5y agoThe filing linked from the article is at the FCC b/c they plan to use Starlink terminals on the second stage to maintain telemetry connectivity during the flight (particulary reentry where RF on the windward side is blocked due to plasma effects)
- _ph_ 5y agoI have tried to draw a circle around the globe based on the images in the article and there is actually a circle which basically misses everything in the Caribean that just goes south of the Caicos islands, crosses southern Africa, skips barely west of Australia and ends slightly west of Hawaii.