The Perpetual MEGA Space Thread

[BattlingTrain]

SpaceX and the Space Force keep pushing USSF-52 to the right by exactly 24 hours and only have a 10 minute launch window. I'm wondering if it is just shenanigans to mess with the Russians/Chinese because you know there are watching the X-37. A launch getting pushed to the right is nothing special, but twice by exactly 24 hours and such a short launch window is weird.

 

[sevenhelmet]

SpaceX and the Space Force keep pushing USSF-52 to the right by exactly 24 hours and only have a 10 minute launch window. I'm wondering if it is just shenanigans to mess with the Russians/Chinese because you know there are watching the X-37. A launch getting pushed to the right is nothing special, but twice by exactly 24 hours and such a short launch window is weird.

There are myriad reasons why a launch window might be so specific, such as mission schedule, location of other objects in orbit, range clearances for ascent and/or descent of stage components, and geospatial effects. Likely it is some combination of all of those, or some factors I haven’t thought of- it’s not always intuitive. There were numerous shuttle missions that had similar restrictions, so it’s really nothing new.

“Just to mess with Russia/China” might be nice, but is likely not the driving factor.

 

[Brett327]

There are myriad reasons why a launch window might be so specific, such as mission schedule, location of other objects in orbit, range clearances for ascent and/or descent of stage components, and geospatial effects. Likely it is some combination of all of those, or some factors I haven’t thought of- it’s not always intuitive. There were numerous shuttle missions that had similar restrictions, so it’s really nothing new.

“Just to mess with Russia/China” might be nice, but is likely not the driving factor.

100% this. Look at you, being all smart on range ops? ?

Biggest drivers for us are collision avoidance in orbit and CI, but it gets complicated pretty fast. For the last Starship launch, the short launch window on the first day was because of the time needed to reset everything in case the backup day was used. FAA gets a vote, as they’re redirecting traffic around the hazard area, etc.

 

[Flash]

Every Musk owned company would be better off if he went and hibernated in a cave for the next 30 years.

It just keeps getting better and better. The pièce de résistance though has to be:

Not long after Jones was reinstated, Musk invited the Infowars founder to an X Spaces conversation on Sunday. Jones was joined by a panel of far-right figures that included Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Andrew Tate...During a discussion that saw Jones ask who left their phone unmuted as they were peeing during the live stream (it was Ramaswamy), Musk asked Jones about Sandy Hook.

 

[jmcquate]

Saturn V tour. Long, but fascinating.

 

[Swanee]

SpaceX launches giant Starship rocket into space on epic 3rd test flight (video)

SpaceX's megarocket reached orbital speed with a space test flight under its belt.

www.space.com

Starship tried again.

 

[Random8145]

SpaceX launches giant Starship rocket into space on epic 3rd test flight (video)

SpaceX's megarocket reached orbital speed with a space test flight under its belt.

www.space.com

Starship tried again.

Yep, but this time the rocket didn't explode and made it to orbit. It spent an hour in orbit performing tests, such as refiring the rocket engines and opening the payload door. They then steered it into reentering the atmosphere but lost contact with it and so it likely burned up. But I'd say overall a much more successful launch than the last two times.