They really poured on the PR, lots of people going "Hi, I'm lead mechanical engineer for this or that" and then delivering a perfect speech that would have taken a lot of prectice to deliver to a camera as smoothly like that. It's nice to see a lot of the lessons from media training. :D
SpaceX launch webcast: Orbcomm-2 Mission [video]
111–120 of 444 posts
Re: SpaceX launch webcast: Orbcomm-2 Mission [video]
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
He knows, but the public doesn't and he can say what he wants to twist the perception in his favor and give the impression that the feats were equally challenging. Not to remove any merit to Blue Origin's achievement, but it's nowhere near what SpaceX just pulled off.
The public that cares about this achievement (or Blue Origin's) likely understands the difference.
Re: SpaceX launch webcast: Orbcomm-2 Mission [video]
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe there was a secondary thruster somewhere to provide some separation. I went back and recorded the release speed (km/hr), altitude (km) for each drop: 25960 626 25954 627 25950 628 25944 630 25937 632 25935 632 A circular orbit at that height is about 29000 km around; 25 km/hour of difference between release 1 and 6 would give them a separation of 6 degrees longitude/day, or ~50 days until the faster satellites…
The satellites themselves usually have small thrusters but I'm not sure what kind of orbital change the can effect, usually they are there for detailed maneuvering and to boost the satellite to a slightly higher orbit as it decays. When it runs out of fuel it dies so you'd try to use as little of that as possible during launch.
>Because OG2 satellites are launched in groups of several spacecraft, they require propulsion systems to place the satellite into different nodal planes to begin operations.
There's the answer, courtesy Orbcomm.
Re: SpaceX launch webcast: Orbcomm-2 Mission [video]
#114I live on the south end of Merritt Island, FL (~25 miles from the launch complex) and the sudden noise reminded me I wanted to watch this! For a second, based on the sound, I thought it may have catastrophically failed until I caught the live stream and people cheering. Are there any replay videos?
Re: SpaceX launch webcast: Orbcomm-2 Mission [video]
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Welcome to the club"? Wow, that was classless. What Blue Origin did was impressive, but it was utterly trivial compared to what just happened with this flight.
Really, 'classless'? The achievement is landing a space-capable booster vertically, after an actual mission above 100km, which can then be reused. And, Blue Origin managed that first, no two ways about it. I think it's probably pretty classless to imply that what Blue Origin managed to do was 'trivial'. Just because SpaceX is the current hacker's favourite, doesn't mean you have to downplay everyone else. I think Mus…
Re: SpaceX launch webcast: Orbcomm-2 Mission [video]
#116"Congrats @SpaceX on landing Falcon's suborbital booster stage. Welcome to the club!" Oy... someone needs to tell Bezos it's a whole different scale than what he did. https://twitter.com/JeffBezos/status/679116636310360067
Dear Mr Bezos: people will care about your rocket when you offer free shipping to space for Prime customers
Re: SpaceX launch webcast: Orbcomm-2 Mission [video]
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Welcome to the club"? Wow, that was classless. What Blue Origin did was impressive, but it was utterly trivial compared to what just happened with this flight.
Really, 'classless'? The achievement is landing a space-capable booster vertically, after an actual mission above 100km, which can then be reused. And, Blue Origin managed that first, no two ways about it. I think it's probably pretty classless to imply that what Blue Origin managed to do was 'trivial'. Just because SpaceX is the current hacker's favourite, doesn't mean you have to downplay everyone else. I think Mus…
They're in the same club like a general aviation pilot landing his Piper Cub on a giant runway and a navy pilot landing his F-14 on a carrier are "in the same club". While it's technically true, pointing it out would be pretty tacky...
Re: SpaceX launch webcast: Orbcomm-2 Mission [video]
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
The satellites themselves usually have small thrusters but I'm not sure what kind of orbital change the can effect, usually they are there for detailed maneuvering and to boost the satellite to a slightly higher orbit as it decays. When it runs out of fuel it dies so you'd try to use as little of that as possible during launch.
>A hydrazine propulsion system is installed on the spacecraft for orbit adjustment maneuvers and orbit maintenance providing a delta-v budget of more than 100 meters per second for each satellite. >Because OG2 satellites are launched in groups of several spacecraft, they require propulsion systems to place the satellite into different nodal planes to begin operations. There's the answer, courtesy Orbcomm.
Re: SpaceX launch webcast: Orbcomm-2 Mission [video]
#119I must have missed it, but can anyone explain why Orbcomm wants 11 satellites in the same orbit? The stage 2 engine isn't firing in between letting the satellites go.
Leo, they are so low they don't cover a whole lot of territory. The oribits may be at slightly different altitudes simply because of the inertia of the second stage, I really should have monitored that altitude indicator during the releases, were they identical?
Re: SpaceX launch webcast: Orbcomm-2 Mission [video]
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Leo, they are so low they don't cover a whole lot of territory. The oribits may be at slightly different altitudes simply because of the inertia of the second stage, I really should have monitored that altitude indicator during the releases, were they identical?
Maybe there was a secondary thruster somewhere to provide some separation. I went back and recorded the release speed (km/hr), altitude (km) for each drop: 25960 626 25954 627 25950 628 25944 630 25937 632 25935 632 A circular orbit at that height is about 29000 km around; 25 km/hour of difference between release 1 and 6 would give them a separation of 6 degrees longitude/day, or ~50 days until the faster satellites…