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Falcon 9 GEO Transfer Mission [video]
- paragraft 13y agoWhy is the countdown stuck at T-00:13:00? Shouldn't it be counting down? Edit: Nvm, saw the overlay saying they're on a hold.
- gilgoomesh 13y agoThere's a valve on the first stage that they're concerned about (looking at a "signature" problem, whatever that means). They think they can resolve their concerns and still make the launch window (which is a little over an hour long). Clock is running again now. Delay of roughly 20 mins to 22:55 UTC launch. Edit: so they counted down to T-6min then stopped and reset again to T-13mins due to a first stage internal power problem. They're waiting on trajectory coordination before trying a third time today. Edit 2: and they've aborted again at T-3:40 due to what looks like a LOX problem. That'll be it for today; the launch window has elapsed.
- demallien 13y agoFor info, even in a completely "nominal" launch there are holds. This is particularly true when you have a tight launch window. The idea is to build some slack into the countdown to allow for the possibility if correcting any unforeseen problems. This is possible because at certain points in the countdown you can safely wait for fairly long durations. So the countdown is started early with respect to its launch window, and if any minor problems crop up they can be corrected during the planned pauses without slipping the launch time, and hence missing the launch window.
- martythemaniak 13y agoI played a few games of Kerbal Space program recently, so I can understand what's happening a little better now. I'd love to have a place somewhere where I can "watch" launches in a way similar to KSP's map view. You would be able to see the rocket, including it's essential info (altitude, speed, the ball thing) and also be able to see the manoeuvres they do.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- MrZongle2 13y agoMan, I hope SpaceX has far more success with their launches than I do in KSP, otherwise Orlando is going to have quite a fireworks show.
- daeken 13y agoI'd settle for just seeing things like their delta-V maps. It's one thing for me to make my own for KSP missions, it's another to see one for a real world situation.
- unspecified 13y agoWhile I'm a mere Kerbalnaut myself, here is some napkin math that almost checks out. For a GTO payload, the Falcon 9 http://www.spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-v11.html http://www.spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-v11.html has: S1 Mass full: 490,300kg (that's both stages, fuel in both, plus the fairing and payload) S1 Mass empty: 100,300kg (S1 mass minus stage one fuel) S1 ISP: 282s (sea level) to 311s (vacuum) S2 Mass full: 82,300kg (second stage, fuel, fairing and payload) S2 Mass empty: 11,500kg (S2 mass minus stage two fuel) S2 ISP: 340s (unspecified) According to this delta-v calculator http://www.strout.net/info/science/delta-v/ http://www.strout.net/info/science/delta-v/, that would give delta-v values of: S1 delta-v: 4388m/s to 4840m/s S2 delta-v: 6562m/s Total delta-v: 10.8km/s to 11.3km/s For GTO, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta-v http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta-v gives a delta-v value of 11.8km/s to 12.5km/s, so these numbers fall just under the low end of that range. However, maybe the highly elliptical orbit that this launch is aiming for is slightly more efficient than whatever orbit is assumed for that chart on Wikipedia.
- unspecified 13y agoI agree. NASA's MAVEN launch last week had a fantastic live stream that included commentary plus telemetry data, it was space nerd heaven. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/40966344 http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/40966344 I couldn't find a better video, that one cuts off 6 minutes into the launch, before they get to the good part where the telemetry shows orbital information. The stream went on for at least 45 more minutes, I grabbed a screenshot 51 minutes into the launch: http://imgur.com/LUD6XUk http://imgur.com/LUD6XUk
- TallGuyShort 13y agoI'm pretty sure I just heard someone in the background saying over the radio, "What you talkin' 'bout, Willis? We going up top. Totally different". Not what I remember hearing as a kid during NASA launches :)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jvoorhis 13y agoThanks for this. I heard it too, but thought for sure that I had imagined it.
- maaku 13y agoThe beauty of not being a NASA launch ;)
- AYBABTME 13y agoSecond language speaker here, what does this sentence mean?
- ra88it 13y agoIt is a humorous reference to an American sitcom from the 80's called 'Different Strokes'. A lighthearted way of expressing disagreement. [edit: While I'm at it: the main character 'Arnold' would express disagreement with his brother 'Willis' by saying "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?" something like once per episode. This was a running joke for the sitcom.]
- ramidarigaz 13y agoCountdown aborted at T-6:11. Looks like they still have some issues to resolve.
- Symmetry 13y agoI think I heard them mention a computer that hadn't come up properly. Still, they have a reputation for fixing things quickly.
- Shivetya 13y agoI thoroughly enjoyed watching their first mission where their programmers made changes while the craft was sitting outside of the ISS because the position markers weren't being spotted as they expected. They do have an amazing ability to change on the fly, not what you expect from a space program except in SciFi
- mwilcox 13y agoJust reset to 13 minutes.
- sillysaurus2 13y agoNow they're trying again! T minus 13 minutes! So cool!
- ulfw 13y agoOMG so so so cool
- InclinedPlane 13y agoHeld, reset to T-13m. They have an hour+ long launch window so they have a good chance of lauching today. Edit: clock is counting down again, launch estimated to be 3:30pm PST.
- JumpCrisscross 13y ago66 minute launch window through 6:43PM ET. T-13 cycle must start no later than 6:30PM ET.
- bond 13y agoHere comes their favorite word..."nominal"... :)
- ssewell 13y agoIn orbit 1/4 the distance to the moon? Wow! I didn't realize we put satellites into orbit at that height.
- peeters 13y agoWe put lots of them up there! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosynchronous_orbit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosynchronous_orbit
- kindredlight 13y agoGeosynchronous is nowhere near 1/4 distance to the moon. This sat is temporarily going to a highly eccentric transfer orbit on its way to GEO.
- ssewell 13y agoYep. Keyword is "transfer" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_transfer_orbit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_transfer_orbit
- mnw21cam 13y agoLooks like a bi-elliptic transfer to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi-elliptic_transfer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi-elliptic_transfer
- peeters 13y agoYou're right of course, although I would argue that the difference between 1/11 the distance to the moon (geostationary orbit) and 1/4 the distance to the moon are not off by an order of magnitude, compared to LEO or other lower orbits.
- deletes 13y agohttps://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/404067161175379968 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/404067161175379968
- 13y ago
- soperj 13y agoI hate that this requires flash. Anyone who can continue updating for us that can't watch, that'd be great. Thanks :)
- thekos 13y agoHere's the direct streams: http://livestream-f.akamaihd.net/142499_129958_13c898be_1_2000@5981 http://livestream-f.akamaihd.net/142499_129958_13c898be_1_20... Or lower quality: http://livestream-f.akamaihd.net/142499_129958_13c898be_1_550@5981 http://livestream-f.akamaihd.net/142499_129958_13c898be_1_55... http://livestream-f.akamaihd.net/142499_129958_13c898be_1_150@5981 http://livestream-f.akamaihd.net/142499_129958_13c898be_1_15...
- S201 13y agoThere's a live update thread on reddit. http://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/1rfc17/rspacex_falcon_9_v11_ses8_official_launch/ http://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/1rfc17/rspacex_falco...
- soperj 13y agothanks to the both of you :)
- TallGuyShort 13y agoEven with Flash it's not the greatest video streamer. On Firefox on Linux it kept freezing every 5 or 6 seconds.
- greglindahl 13y agoFlash or h.264, apparently, the video works fine on an iPad.
- bri3d 13y agoIt looks like the countdown overlay is polling every 1 second but is off from the backing timer - some displayed "seconds" last more than a second while the next lasts much less.
- ProCynic 13y agohttp://www.waitingforfriday.com/index.php/Vetinari's_Clock http://www.waitingforfriday.com/index.php/Vetinari's_Clock
- bri3d 13y agoAborted again due to a flight computer bringup issue (again); looks like they might not meet their window tonight :( EDIT: I think the most precise real cause heard was "abnormal data," actually. My bad and thanks to "kindredlight."
- Aco- 13y agoargh, so nerve-wracking
- ra88it 13y agoWhen can we confirm that they missed their window? (Edit: new window is Thanksgiving day, one minute later than today. Might have to stream this one to the Apple TV for the whole family…)
- conradev 13y agoThey just did on the livestream.
- jadyoyster 13y agoJust confirmed. It'll launch on Thursday instead.
- nakkiel 13y agoIt's been called off. Next launch window in three days, one minute later than today's window.
- ars_technician 13y agoEntertainment during Thanksgiving dinner. :-)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- bri3d 13y agoJust confirmed on webcast but even before the launch window only extended to 6:43 EST, not enough time to reset the countdown.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- MrZongle2 13y agoAborted for today. Next launch window in.... 3 days it sounded like?
- ramidarigaz 13y agoWell, I know what I'll be doing right before Thanksgiving dinner :)
- lukateake 13y agoThey will try again on Thanksgiving (Thursday) at 22:48 UTC.