Quote:Only thing maybe still up in the air is the fairing recovery, if applicable.
I'm pretty sure they aren't still up in the air. Only one of the fairing catcher boats was out there, since the other one was damaged last time and is undergoing repairs. (A fairing crashed through its net and took out some antennas and stuff.) So at least one fairing will be fished out of the sea. SpaceX usually tweets what happened with the fairings and nothing yet.
YazataNov 13, 2020 06:04 PM (This post was last modified: Nov 13, 2020 06:29 PM by Yazata.)
Today is a United States spy satellite nrol-101.
This will be placed into a Molniya orbit, a highly elliptical orbit that has the satellite spending most of its orbit above a particular hemisphere. The Russians pioneered this with their Molniya satellites, hence the name of the orbit. This is done in preference to a geostationary orbit because geostationary orbits only work over the equator, meaning that the satellite is low in the sky over high latitudes. So the Russians started using these elliptical orbits for communications satellites designed for use in Russia.
Since this is a spy satellite, it's evidently intended to spy on a high latitude country. (Probably those damned Canadians.)
Launch day is 11-13-20 at 22:13 UTC. (5:13 PM EST, 2:13 PM PST)
It will be flying to orbit atop a large ULA Atlas V. This rocket launched the Perseverance Mars lander, so it's powerful. It's also the rocket that will be launching the Boeing Starliner commercial crew capsule whenever it gets flying. (SpaceX's Crew-1 is slated to go tomorrow.)
Ironically, given the potential target of the spy satellite, the Atlas V uses Russian-made first stage rocket engines.
(Nov 13, 2020 06:04 PM)Yazata Wrote: Since this is a spy satellite, it's evidently intended to spy on a high latitude country. (Probably those damned Canadians.)
A lot of the country is high, higher than you think.
ULA photo taken about an hour ago showing the rocket on its pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (now part of the Space Force but not officially renamed yet). Fueling should be underway by now so the rocket will be surrounded by vapor.
Tomorrow is CRS-21 cargo resupply mission to the Space Station. This will be the first flight of a Dragon 2 cargo variant of the Crew Dragon.
The familiar old Dragon 1 Cargo Dragons have been retired. I believe that SpaceX prefers to have just one Dragon in service since that simplifies their manufacturing, allowing them to have just one assembly line for both crew and cargo variants. These Cargo Dragon 2's are basically the Crew Dragons simplified, without the seats, controls, life support or abort engines. They still use the same pressure vessel, flight control computers and docking and reentry systems.
Time will be 16:39 UTC, 11:39 AM EST, 8:39 AM PST on Saturday Dec 5.
Booster will be reliable old B1058, up for its fourth trip to space. It was Bob and Doug's excellent ride on its first outing, then it launched a Korean military satellite and then a flock of Starlinks. Recovery will be on OCISLY.
YazataJan 23, 2021 04:59 AM (This post was last modified: Jan 23, 2021 05:06 AM by Yazata.)
Tomorrow SpaceX will launch ten more Starlinks along with 133 small rideshare cubesats, for a total of 143 satellites in one launch! That will be a new world record. The mission is called Transporter-1 and is designed to permit organizations like universities to have more affordable access to orbit. (The satellites have to be small and they have to share the ride with lots of others that are sharing the cost.)
Booster will be B1058 back for its fifth trip to space. (The record is eight flights, successfully set just the other day.) If B1058 sounds familiar, it's because it's Bob and Doug's ride on Demo-2. Then it flew a Korean military satellite, a batch of Starlinks, the first Dragon-2 Cargo variant and now this world record rideshare.
Time will be 14:40 UTC, 6:40 AM PST, 9:40 AM EST.
Launch site will be Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
YazataFeb 15, 2021 01:25 AM (This post was last modified: Feb 15, 2021 02:08 AM by Yazata.)
There's a chance of a double header this evening. Two launches back to back... weather permitting.
1. First up is another batch of Starlinks set to go from space launch complex 40 (space industry insiders call these SLC's 'slicks' as in 'slick 40') at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Booster will be B1059 up for its sixth trip to space. But... weather is only forcasted to be 40% go. The sky looks reasonably clear at the Cape but maybe not so good downrange at the booster landing area where OCISLY is standing by.
Launch time is 04:21 UTC (11:21 PM EST, 8:21 PM PST)
2. The second act comes to you all the way from remote Kazakhstan! It's a Soyuz booster launching an uncrewed Progress supply capsule to the Space Station. Bad weather doesn't bother the Russians. As Chris Bergin once said, only Sharknados can stop Soyuz launches. These boosters date back to the 1960's but are exceedingly tough and reliable.
The Progress capsule isn't just delivering supplies. It will dock to the Russian Pirs space station module and when it is time for it to leave, it will remain attached to Pirs and back away with its thrusters, pulling the Pirs separate from the space station! (After all the disconnects have been disconnected and hatches closed, of course.) The reason they are separating the Pirs module is that the Russians will soon be sending up their new 'Nauka' (Russian for 'science') laboratory module to replace Pirs. So the Russian side of the station is going to get an upgrade and they have to make room for the new module. The Progress capsule will act like a space tug and I believe that both Progress and Pirs will eventually burn up in the atmosphere.
Launch time is 4:45 UTC (11:45 PM EST, 8:45 PM PST)
NSF will be streaming both launches here (They will be showing both the SpaceX and Roscosmos feeds, plus they have their own cameras at Cape Canaveral) -
YazataFeb 15, 2021 05:23 AM (This post was last modified: Feb 15, 2021 05:26 AM by Yazata.)
The Starlink launch scrubbed due to weather at the landing zone.
Weather looks pretty bad at Baikonur too. But the Russians just laugh at bad weather and their Soyuz is vertical and venting vapor, preparing to go. That stream is live on NASA TV. As expected, it's showing the Roscosmos video with English language commentary.
Nov 6, 2020 03:03 AM
(This post was last modified: Nov 6, 2020 03:06 AM by Yazata.)
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