You guys beat me all to it! I totally forgot the launch happened until about half way through class and doh’d that I forgot to convince our prof to let us watch it.
I’m happy the launch was a success. The landing is still something that’s never been done before, and you can’t always win! Sooner or later(hopefully the next launch, which is in a few weeks) will get good weather and land. I’m going off memory here but I think this sort of launch(past GEO) was one of the requirements for the airforce’s EELV program and that this checks off another hurdle for them to get certified.
Quite literally the bane of space travel’s existence. That damn rocket equation… I’ve played too much Kerbal to know all about launch windows and how precious a good payload fraction is.
I left that in as a disclaimer in case what I had said was not a good enough explanation for Lucas’ so I could try from a different angle. It always comes down to fuel though…
Speaking of fuel I’ve been thinking about starting a thread on the EM drive for better or for worse. Although I still remain skeptical, should it prove itself solid it could change a theory or two of physics, and how to get around our solar system. Exciting stuff, even if it is error I’m very curious to see what’s causing it.
Given the scale of the landing pad, I’d say they were right on target
10m from target, I would assume to mean their intended target on the pad. In such case, 10m off ~30’, puts in inside the yellow circle on the pad (just)
However, 10m from the pad would put it in the ocean.
I have a feeling they intentionally put it into the ocean due to the weather…they could have attempted to put it on the pad but probably st the risk of further damage that wasn’t worth it. I read that the barge lost one of its 4 thrusters which probably played a role in the decision as well
The ABS/Eutelsat-1 launch is currently targeted for Sunday, March 1, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The launch window opens at 10:49pm EST.
Well, I totally forgot about the launch but I couldn’t have watched it anyways. Damn roadtrips.
I just checked the google and it looks like it was successful so woohoo! 2 Sats off to GEO. The continued successful track record can only mean better and better things for SpaceX if they keep it up.
Looks like the two items on SpaceX’s agenda this month are a launch(currently dated the 31st) and their Dragon V2 Launch abort which should be awesome. The deadline for the CCP milestone is this month, so it has to be done unless they get another extension.
Sadly I can’t find the mention again, but Elon has stated that SpaceX is working on a design that allows even the GTO missions to have a recoverable first stage. I assume that also covers supersynchronous transfer orbits.
I did not know that! Thank you!! That’s incredible news. I honestly can’t believe that’s even possible. I wonder why colder LOX improves ISP by that much. I need an engineer, stat!
At first I thought you were talking about the BFR with their next generation engine, the Raptor. It will use a methalox(Liquid methane, liquid oxygen) mixture, have one the largest specific impulses’ next to the shuttles SSME, and has as much thrust as the SSME(Space shuttle main engine) engine. Now I haven’t read up on it in awhile, so I’m very likely to be wrong.
I was, had to edit, some grammar may be off. Here’s the wiki for your own interests:
Edit: KSP forums to the rescue!
You guessed right - deep-cryo oxygen is liquid oxygen which is much colder than its boiling point. It is so very cold that far less of it boils off during launch preparations. This in turn means they can fill the tanks to brimming and be sure they will still be very full at launch - which means they get more dV with no extra hardware. At present they have to allow for a certain percentage of the oxygen boiling off, which means they always launch with partly empty tanks, so less dV and excess weight.
Essentially, since the lox is colder, they can compress more in the same tanks and therefor carry more fuel and dv. I’m sure that’s not the only upgrade, but very cool nonetheless.
Doubledit: this is the coolest thing I’ve seen all day
I’m jealous…I can see the launches from Vandenberg for a few seconds as long as its not too cloudy. I’m a few hours out but you can see the launches from miles away.
