SpaceX Falcon 9 SES9 Launch

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Rumpltzer

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2003
4,815
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Oh right, are they going to try to land the second stage too?

What normally happens traditionally, do stages just end up as space junk or do they eventually get deorbited and burn up?
Normally, the first stage ends up falling into the ocean. They can potentially recover it, but it's a lot of work, time, and expense to refurbish after salt water exposure.

Say you landed it on a barge instead. Turn-around time and expense is significantly less.

Current first stage has nine engines. Second stage is one engine (designed to work in the vacuum of space). You want that first stage.
 

Brovane

Diamond Member
Dec 18, 2001
6,372
2,578
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They can send a rocket to space and bring it back, but can't figure out how to reliably stream video

Try streaming video from 200+ miles in the Ocean, isn't as easy as it looks. Also from a mission aspect, video is a nice to have and the telemetry is critical.
 

Brovane

Diamond Member
Dec 18, 2001
6,372
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Wow was it already near geostationary orbit when it released that satellite? That seemed fast. Or does the sattelite actually have enough thrust to get itself there?

The satellite was launched into what was called GTO. The satellite then uses it's on-board fuel to put itself into it's final GSO destination. Commercial operators don't procure direct to GSO launch services, not that the Falcon-9 is capable of doing this.

Oh right, are they going to try to land the second stage too?

It would penalize the payload to much to try and land the 2nd stage. SpaceX did talk about doing it years ago but they realized that it wasn't possible. If kg of fuel they carried into orbit to try and land the 2nd stage would be one less kg of payload they can carry into orbit.

Oh right, are they going to try to land the second stage too?
What normally happens traditionally, do stages just end up as space junk or do they eventually get deorbited and burn up?[/QUOTE]

The 1st stage since it never reaches orbital velocity just winds up on the bottom of the Ocean. The Ocean off Florida is littered with space debris. The 2nd stage is deliberately de-orbited after satellite separation to minimize orbital debris.
 
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Darwin333

Lifer
Dec 11, 2006
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ouch, wish we had video though

We will tomorrow afternoon after the pull the memory from the actual cameras. I'm pretty sure that a "hard landing" on a barge that is 200KM out to sea from a friggen rocket that just reentered the atmosphere after delivering a payload into geostationary orbit might tend to fuck up your video feed. Frankly the fact that they hit the barge is an achievement in itself.
 

NoTine42

Golden Member
Sep 30, 2013
1,387
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Try streaming video from 200+ miles in the Ocean, isn't as easy as it looks. Also from a mission aspect, video is a nice to have and the telemetry is critical.
It's 2016. We had a live moon landing broadcast in 1969.
 

Brovane

Diamond Member
Dec 18, 2001
6,372
2,578
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It's 2016. We had a live moon landing broadcast in 1969.

Yeah, but they didn't have to deal with a exploding moon rocket. I suspect that part of the issue with the loss of video feed was the fact that rocket hit the ASDS hard and exploded. Events like this tend to have a negative impact on things like satellite dishes uploading video feeds.
 

Brovane

Diamond Member
Dec 18, 2001
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Pffft. That was on a sound stage in West Hollywood.

america-moon-landing-fake-wrestling-real_zpsi2pph52h.jpg
 

Brovane

Diamond Member
Dec 18, 2001
6,372
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wow is that a hole in the upper left?

Yes, that looks to be a hole. That is also looks to be right near the location of the live video feed camera that is mounted above the blast wall. They probably have some good footage from the go-pros mounted around the deck. Hopefully they will eventually share it with us.