The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond

Cosimo · 16 Jun 2017 at 07:45

Russian ISS Progress 67 cargo ship heads for the station:

Cosimo · 16 Jun 2017 at 17:19

Progress 67 arrives at the station:

Cosimo · 17 Jun 2017 at 07:10

Mid year report:

Cosimo · 20 Jun 2017 at 08:10

The Roll-Out Solar Array Experiment (ROSA) deploys on the station:

The Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) was deployed from the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm Sunday, June 18 outside the International Space Station. ROSA is an experiment to test a new type of solar array that rolls open in space like a party favor and is more compact than current rigid panel designs. The ROSA investigation tests deployment and retraction,characterizes changes when the Earth blocks the sun, vibration and other physical challenges to determine the array’s strength and durability. ROSA has the potential to replace solar arrays on future satellites, making them more compact and lighter weight. Satellite radio and television, weather forecasting, GPS and other services used on Earth would all benefit from high-performance solar arrays. The payload will remain deployed for seven days before retracting and will be stowed back inside the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo vehicle. Note: footage of deploy is sped up 300%

Glaucus · 23 Jun 2017 at 17:31

Just a heads up SpaceX launch tonight at 19:10 (and its a reused first stage) first of what will hopefully be 2 launches this weekend, next one on Sunday at 20:24

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/6isph2/welcome_to_the_rspacex_bulgariasat1_official/ said:
Primary Mission - Separation and Deployment of BulgariaSat-1
BulgariaSat-1 will be the 4th GTO comsat launch of 2017 and 15th GTO comsat launch overall for SpaceX. BulgariaSat-1 is a commercial telecommunications satellite built by Space Systems Loral (SSL) for BulgariaSat, an affiliate of Bulsatcom. It has a mass of approximately 3669 kg and it will be delivered to GTO, but the Delta V to GEO (It can range from 1450 m/s to 1850 m/s usually) is currently unknown.

BulgariaSat-1 is a geostationary communications satellite intended to be located at the Bulgarian orbital position, which will provide direct-to-home television (DTH) and data communications services to South East Europe and other European regions. BulgariaSat-1 will provide reliable satellite communications solutions to broadcast, telecoms, corporate and government customers. It is the first geostationary communications satellite in the history of the country.

The satellite is built on the SSL-1300 platform and carries 3 Ku-band FSS transponders and 30 Ku-band BSS transponders. It will be positioned at 2° East.

Secondary Mission - First Stage Landing
As usual, this mission will include a post-launch landing attempt of the first stage, and like all the previous GTO missions, there isn't enough fuel for a Boostback burn, so the landing will occur on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS) named Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) currently positioned at 28° 13' 48" N 73° 40' 51" W, 679 km downrange. If successful, this will be the first rocket booster the have launched and landed on both the West and East Coasts.

The booster used on this mission is B1029.2, which was launched and recovered January this year. After touchdown the booster was secured on the Droneship deck and transported to the Los Angeles port, where it was lifted by a crane, had its landing legs removed and sent directly to Florida for its next flight. At this time we can expect a similar flow, but with some differences: after touchdown, this could be the first time the "Octagrabber" or "Roomba" robot could be used to secure the first stage, but we will most likely know only once the ASDS reaches Port Canaveral, where it will be moved back to land. It is unknown what the fate of this booster will be, but it is unlikely it will fly again due to the hot landing it will face and it being a block 3 or less core.

darkgen · 23 Jun 2017 at 18:06

Cosimo said:
The Roll-Out Solar Array Experiment (ROSA) deploys on the station:

Surprised at the amount of movement while the array unrolled. Not sure what I was expecting but certainly not a wind like effect!

uvarvu · 23 Jun 2017 at 20:21

Wow that landing was close to the edge!

Glaucus · 23 Jun 2017 at 20:23

uvarvu said:
Wow that landing was close to the edge!

yep and toasty, it was the highest and fastest landing of the first stage. Unlike the last few they said there was a chance of losing it due to the reentry heat.

shame they cut away wanted to see if roomba was being used.

Glaucus · 25 Jun 2017 at 17:09

this is so cool, an aerospike engine is actually going to be flown, scheduled for August sometime. Cant wait for this one, aerospikes are so cool and where planned on some of the coolest rockets that never came to be.

Also don't forget another spaceX launch tonight at 21:24

ianh · 25 Jun 2017 at 20:15

I really want to see that Aerospike engine work IRL just to prove it works as the methodology is amazing but that ARCA team looks extremely small, almost semi-amateur so I'm not sure it's a "good enough" example to make other companies take notice should it work which is a shame

Glaucus · 25 Jun 2017 at 20:22

ianh said:
I really want to see that Aerospike engine work IRL just to prove it works as the methodology is amazing but that ARCA team looks extremely small, almost semi-amateur so I'm not sure it's a "good enough" example to make other companies take notice should it work which is a shame

it also depends on the rocket, it wouldn't make much sense with say the Falcon 9.
theres been so many tests we know what aerospikes are capable off, we just haven't had a vehicle that would really utilise them, apart from the shuttle replacement which was scrapped mainly due to fuel tanks.

yeah I'm not sure who arca really are but they are a rocket rocketlabs competitor and if they meet their price even cheaper. Essentially a cube sat launcher.

uvarvu · 25 Jun 2017 at 21:38

Amazing landing - did you see the drone ship rocking in the water? Nice

Glaucus · 25 Jun 2017 at 21:43

yeha that was pretty rough seas

Glaucus · 28 Jun 2017 at 22:00

Not sure there's going to be a rumble in the jungle tonight, currently Ariane 5 is on hold due to weather.
Man, I love the rumble in the jungle guy, I hope it is him. It's like an over-excited American baseball presenter.

edit - were go for launch

spacex are planning for a Sunday launch that would be 3 in 9 days, have to see if they can hold to that or slip. Not sure what pads it from, I'm assuming 39a they must get better at fixing them up. although this one would be in disposable configuration, satellite is too heavy for even a barge landing attempt.

Edit 2 - No Rumble in the Jungle guy

I haven't seen enough Ariane launches to know when he's about or how that works.

Glaucus · 3 Jul 2017 at 00:42

a computer abort at T- 9seconds. although no one seems to know why the computer aborted at the minute, despite it being a few minutes after the abort. There's a windows 1minute earlier tomorrow, if they can resolve the issue.

Liquiduk · 3 Jul 2017 at 01:36

Glaucus said:
a computer abort at T- 9seconds.

9 seconds! Wow that's cutting it fine

. Does this sort thing happen often?

Glaucus · 3 Jul 2017 at 01:38

Liquiduk said:
9 seconds! Wow that's cutting it fine . Does this sort thing happen often?

reasonably, there's even been a fair few when engines are lit but rocket still being held down.

Cosimo · 5 Jul 2017 at 07:38

Dragon returns to earth:

Liquiduk · 5 Jul 2017 at 18:28

Is anyone aware of how close (in miles) they plan to fly Juno over the great red spot of Jupiter on the 10th?

ICDP · 5 Jul 2017 at 22:27

Liquiduk said:
Is anyone aware of how close (in miles) they plan to fly Juno over the great red spot of Jupiter on the 10th?

http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/get-ready-to-see-jupiters-great-red-spot-up-close-and-personal

9,000km according to this article at bad Astronomy.

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

The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond