The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond

Glaucus · 22 Dec 2015 at 14:34

I think Space Mike is a little bit excited,

Cosimo · 22 Dec 2015 at 15:33

This year:

Glaucus · 22 Dec 2015 at 20:06

In daylight, debate why part of the body is so clean with crisp lines. Apparently that's where the LOx tank is, so may have been protected by ice.

Monkeynut · 22 Dec 2015 at 20:17

So what happens now? I assume they tear it down to see how damaged it is?

Glaucus · 22 Dec 2015 at 20:22

Monkeynut said:
So what happens now? I assume they tear it down to see how damaged it is?

Yep, this one wont fly again. It'll be torn down and analysed. And any modifications needed will be made to new rockets.

But they'll be landing two more in January if all goes to plan.

Monkeynut · 22 Dec 2015 at 20:42

Glaucus said:
Yep, this one wont fly again. It'll be torn down and analysed. And any modifications needed will be made to new rockets.

But they'll be landing two more in January if all goes to plan.

I guess the next half dozen or so won't be flown again though - they'll just iterate those improvements in and see how robust they can get it?

Glaucus · 22 Dec 2015 at 20:44

Monkeynut said:
I guess the next half dozen or so won't be flown again though - they'll just iterate those improvements in and see how robust they can get it?

I think it really depends what they find when they tear it down.

I also wonder as the fuel is cheap only $200k if they'll fly one with a dummy payload.

Cosimo · 23 Dec 2015 at 06:48

Cosimo · 23 Dec 2015 at 07:17

Coming down...

ORBCOMM-2 by SpaceX Photos, on Flickr

Cosimo · 23 Dec 2015 at 09:04

We leave an awful lot of it. There are almost 20,000 pieces of space debris are currently orbiting the Earth.

An interactive visualisation - The story of space debris:

http://www.rigb.org/docs/debris/

with it's accompanying video:

Cosimo · 23 Dec 2015 at 10:08

Russian cargo spacecraft, Progress 62 docking live now:

http://www.ustream.tv/NASAHDTV

Docking in around 23 minutes time.

Docked!

Trig · 23 Dec 2015 at 10:52

What about the second stage and the rest of the module that housed the 11 satellite's?

Was talking to my 7 year old about this last night and she was asking about why it was a big deal, what happens to the rest of it etc, I presume it just burns up on re-entry?

Martytoon · 23 Dec 2015 at 11:03

Trig said:
What about the second stage and the rest of the module that housed the 11 satellite's?

Was talking to my 7 year old about this last night and she was asking about why it was a big deal, what happens to the rest of it etc, I presume it just burns up on re-entry?

I think the first stage is by far the most expensive, so they are moving towards a fully reusable vehicle which will reduce costs dramatically - by how much I don't know. Must admit to jumping up and down when I saw it land - much to bemusement of my family.

Martytoon · 23 Dec 2015 at 11:08

Cosimo said:
We leave an awful lot of it. There are almost 20,000 pieces of space debris are currently orbiting the Earth.

I've come across online resource at stuffin.space which provides a real-time visualisation of all the satellites and known debris in space. It pulls the data from space-track so I'm led to believe it is fairly accurate. Managed to lose a whole afternoon pointing and clicking at the various orbiting objects - fascinating stuff!

Glaucus · 23 Dec 2015 at 13:41

Trig said:
What about the second stage and the rest of the module that housed the 11 satellite's?

Was talking to my 7 year old about this last night and she was asking about why it was a big deal, what happens to the rest of it etc, I presume it just burns up on re-entry?

As said the first stage is the most expensive, 9 motors instead of 1, much bigger fuselage etc.

If they have soare fuel, which they did with this launch. Then after satellites are released, they burn retrograde, to lower the orbit and burn up in the atmosphere.
Even when they don't have enough fuel, generally, one side of the orbit is low enough that over weeks, months or years, depending on rocket, orbit etc that they will re enter and burn up.'

SpaceX does have plans to land and reuse the second stage, but at the moment it's all about the first stage.

Cosimo · 23 Dec 2015 at 15:24

Glaucus · 23 Dec 2015 at 17:37

Nasa Insight has been suspended, and is going to miss the launch window.

man this sucks.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4805

Cosimo · 24 Dec 2015 at 06:30

Two more views of SpaceX Falcon 9/ORBCOMM-2:

Cosimo · 24 Dec 2015 at 10:12

This year from ESA:

Trig · 24 Dec 2015 at 11:27

Oh my days...
One of the video suggestions for that Highlights video was this..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgoumLpLz0o

** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond