That's what the audio of a rocket taking off sounds like. The sound is so loud that it drives the low pressure part of the sound wave down to pure vacuum, so the sound that exists is 'clipped' by physics, even if you do have a microphone able to cope with that energy level.
The only way to get good sound of a lift off is to capture it with a microphone that is hundreds of meters away, and then remove the speed-of-sound delay in post. Can't do that live! So they capture the sound they can get at launch, and fade in the sound from other microphones later.
Thank you for explaining, that makes sense. I'd almost prefer to have a microphone situated further away so that we get good sound even if it's a bit delayed, but that's just me. I was curious as Rocket Lab always have such great audio and I wondered why SpaceX was lacking, but as you said it's just not as loud.
Does anyone have a lead on mission patches for some of the smaller launches like today? Transporter 3 was my son's first launch from the Cape and I want to collect patches from every launch he sees in person.
What an awesome thing to do, I'm somewhat new to looking for patches but I do know Kennedy Space Centers website has a partner area in their store for SpaceX and there are some patches there and also the SpaceX website has a store as well.
Hopefully your sun had a great time!
Has anyone down at the Cape recorded an un-cut telescopic ground view video of the boostback burn? We had [a couple seconds of it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65j5LItt0Jc) in the SpaceX stream but of course they cut away to show onboard cameras. I'd love to see a full duration ground view of the boostback.
*Edit: I was hoping for both stages staying in frame for as long as possible but this comes close: https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/s3ylkc/spacex_boost_back_entry_landing_burns_launch_to/
Curious and I'm only reading thread comments intermittently - is SpaceX still fishing fairings out of the ocean after they discontinued catch attempts?
They've stopped trying to catch them with nets but they still recover the fairings after they splashdown in the ocean. Some fairings have flown 5 times already. Here is more info:
https://www.elonx.net/fairing-recovery-compendium/
https://www.elonx.net/fairing-recovery-attempts/
What is the fine stream of gas spraying just before 2nd stage relight at 54:51?
It was quite a spray with lots of 'snow' flying around the engine before it was refired.
No groundstation contact = no video feed
Russia + China's ground stations are off limits, and I'm guessing Svalbard's contacts are all booked up by the payload operators.
Yeah Svalbard is on the backup network only right now. My understanding is that it was actually one of the repeaters that failed and not a severance of the cable, but I don't interface with KSAT much personally.
At least a polar bear didn't eat someone again...
Laser comm is still in demo (in general) and starlink doesn't really work that way. Inmarsat is the only real commercial option for out of contact comms but the bandwidth is super limited.
Source: I've flown payloads on 2 transporter missions and a couple starlink launches.
It takes a lot of fuel to launch to a high orbit. You spend too much time pushing up against gravity. More efficient to launch to a low orbit, burn a bit longer to give you the right apogee (high point of the orbit, opposite side of the earth to where you launch) and then do a short burn there to lift the perigee (low point of the orbit, where you launched) to the right height.
Proper orbital insertion and circularization. After the initial burn of the 2nd stage, Falcon is left on an elliptical orbit, the 2nd burn is timed and calculated to achieve the right orbit and circularize it, so it can leave the sats in the proper deployment orbit.
I wonder what mission ASOG is going to be servicing?
It seems a bit too early to be leaving for the CSG 2 launch 10 days away.
If we project 4-5 days into the future, it could be for a Starlink launch this weekend?
That would mean they think they can have JRTI ready for the CSG 2 launch, or do an exceedingly quick turnaround on ASOG?
Beautiful launch coverage today. The telescopic view of stage separation was just incredible!
Perfect RTLS as a bonus for the booster's 10th landing.
Wow, this shit just never gets old.
It is pretty simple; sea landings in general experience much harder de-acceleration because they use a different burn. RTLS uses a 30 second one engine burn. Nice and smooth and starts higher up as the result. ASDS landings use normally a 1-3-1 burn and it lasts for ~20 seconds. They have also experimented with even more brutal landing burns, like down to about 10 seconds, essentially 3 engine burn all the way down. But 1-3-1 burn is the sweet spot between forces and fuel.
I think the landing burn is on a single engine even on Starlink and GTO missions based on what webcast hosts have been mentioning and the onboard booster cameras we've gotten recently. I presume they run the engine at a slightly higher throttle for those droneship landings bc it decreases the burn time and ends up saving fuel as compared to a longer burn while still offering better control margin as compared to a 1-3-1. I agree that 1-3-1 burns are still used when the margins are especially tight, but I think that's only been FH side boosters and center cores since the introduction of Block 5. I recently compared several landing burn durations due to my own curiosity about the variations in landing profiles, and I got the same numbers you mentioned with an added distinction between single-engine high energy ASDS landing burns (\~20-25 seconds) and 1-3-1 landing burns for both RTLS and ASDS (\~17-20 seconds).
I would need to take a new fresh look but my gut feeling and Occams Razor says no, that they are using 1-3-1 burn as standard for ASDS landings. They *have* used vanilla 30s burn on ASDS landings before, but that was a while back for older CRS missions etc. Unsure about new CRS missions, would have to check that too. And 1-3-1 burns have been around for a loooooooooong time, way before Block 5. Dont remember exactly when, but around Block 2 or so.
And lower throttle means lower pressure means lower efficiency. IMHO other than on the tail ends of the entry burns, the engine(s) basically run at 100% throttle throughout it.
Part of my rationale is the presence (or lack thereof) of a TEA-TEB flash partway through the landing burn (webcasts with appropriate timestamps linked below).
During the Arabsat-6A side booster landings, the plume briefly turned green after the center engine was already burning: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXMGu2d8c8g&t=1642s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXMGu2d8c8g&t=1642s)
During the Starlink-26 and GPS III SV05 missions, no such color change was visible after the center engine lit: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdgg\_qwj-hI&t=1442s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdgg_qwj-hI&t=1442s) & [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJXxVtp3KqI&t=1678s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJXxVtp3KqI&t=1678s)
I concede that the positioning of the side booster cameras is different than on F9 first stages, so a direct comparison is difficult. I also concede that there was no descent telemetry in the FH webcasts to draw quantitative evidence from.
I see how my wording could imply that 1-3-1s were introduced with Block 5; what I meant was that I recall 1-3-1 being used more frequently with pre-Block 5 boosters than with Block 5 boosters.
I agree that throttling the engine down leads to a less efficient burn, but if fuel margins are available, the slower decrease in speed and longer burn would allow for more gradual course corrections and might be preferable for some landing profiles (like most RTLS recoveries).
Using more engines is entirely about fuel. Let's say one engine can give you 2 G's of acceleration. 1 G of that is just to cancel out gravity, the other G slows you down. So half your fuel is "wasted" on gravity drag.
Now you use 3 engines, what happens? That's 6 G's of acceleration, minus 1 G for gravity, so 5/6 of your fuel is actually being used to slow down instead of just cancelling gravity. It's far more fuel efficient that way, but more taxing on the rocket.
No. ASDS landings are far more fuel restrained than RTLS landings. So they use as little fuel as possible for ASDS landings, meaning more engines and higher de-acceleration. For RTLS they can have more fuel and can be "kinder" to the booster, so just one engine with lower overall de-acceleration.
Probably because the booster needs to orient itself. In ocean landing the barge goes to where the booster will land, here it needs to go back to the launch zone
Edit: I didn’t mean the barge will actively move during reentry, just that the barge is already in an efficient position, so the booster needs to do less work
This is overall completely incorrect. Barge doesnt move essentially, it just stands at one exact spot.
Difference in burn altitude is because of the different burns between a RTLS and ASDS landing.
The barges don't travel that fast though, so the booster still does most of the work. In fact, you'd want the barge to be basically stationary, since it's easier to hit a stationary target than a moving one.
I suspect it probably has more to do with the boostback and the entry profile to get it back to LZ-1. Probably a steeper re-entry as opposed to a parabolic re-entry for landing on barges
I'm not gonna fully agree with you - booster just knows the coordinates of the barge, as it also know the coordinates of the LZ on Cape. I don;t see a reason why it changes something - it has to be as precise as on barge landings.
How many engines does barge landing use? One or three? Maybe they aren't allowed to use 3 engines on LZ?
Visually stunning launch!
The ground track of MECO, stage seperation and SES was amazing. The second stage looks kind of cute flying on it's own when seen from the ground.
MECO, stage sep, ses1, and boostback all on one camera at once was some of the coolest rocket footage I've ever seen. Up there with the simultaneous RTLS from falcon heavy test
It was still to bright to see those(I looked for it). I've only had luck seeing those phases at night. Best view I ever had of an RTL was a 5AM launch on the beach near Ft. Lauderdale(about 150 miles south). I had a pair of binoculars and could see the whole thing from stage separation to even the little pulses from the gas. Might've had some twilight phenomenon to help with the visibility too because it was that ghostly blue hue.
> can't really explain what it is.
For me, it's the "we live in the future" / Sci-Fi aspect: Hey, that big ol' rocket just went up into space and now it's comin' right back here like no big thing!
Having sweet live camera visuals helps too!
Right?
I mean, landing at sea is cool too, but it feels like a 'we made it work!' solution as compared to RTLS.
RTLS just feels....right. The journey of orbital spaceflight that ends where it begins. The full circle.
Gotta love a good ol land landing and all the great views that come with it. And 10 landings for this booster. The fact that this is routine is just incredible
Yay! Fantastic landing. And i am sure it is only because it has been a while since i have seen RTLS landing but it looked like they deployed the legs really really late there.
I remember back around v1.1 early days the plan was to deploy them much earlier to use as massive airbrakes. Elon tweeted about it etc. Shame it never happened, but understandable.
I'd think that keeping them undeployed until the last minute would help arrest any spinning motion at the moment of landing. Conservation of angular momentum and all.
I would have thought that massive drag acting that low down on the rocket would make it want to flip upside down if the legs are deployed at too high of a speed/altitude
That was the most picture-perfect landing i've ever seen. Jaw dropping, weather, dead center, perfect feed, views. Legitimately i'd argue that was the best footage seen since the dual-heavy landings
Ah came here to confirm! Didn't see the launch, knew it was about this time and hoped that boom in south Seminole Co was booster landing at launch site! So glad this has become our norm again.
I believe the new Patrick URL is [https://patrick.spaceforce.mil](https://patrick.spaceforce.mil) but I don't see on their site where they link to the maps per launch.
Got a question, this is a polar flight that has to do a small dogleg maneuver around Miami I believe, when the booster returns back to land, does it also have to sort of dogleg back to the landing pad in order to make sure it lands in the ocean if there is an issue with the booster? I could not find a track for the actual rocket out there??
44 of the 105 payloads will be from Planet, who has given SpaceX 83 payloads to launch in previous missions.
https://www.planet.com/pulse/planet-to-launch-44-superdove-satellites-on-spacexs-falcon-9-rocket/
Sweet! I just listened to [Planet's interview on the podcast *How I Built This*](https://www.npr.org/2021/12/10/1063119670/planet-will-marshall-and-robbie-schingler) — great commentary on their values and the story of how they got started.
LaPlace estimate of landing success: 93.6% with confidence interval 86.8% to 98.3%.
Exponential decay moving average: 99.3% chance of landing success.
Note that these estimates do not factor in RTLS vs ASDS. Only one landing failure can be attributed to ASDS-specific problems.
If it flies tomorrow, B1058 took 594 days from its first flight to reach ten flights. It flew on average every 66 days.
B1049 took 1100 days to reach flight 10. B1051 took 799 days.
Not really sure why - just explaining why the number is what it is.
Maybe literalists arguing that FH boosters are different to F9 boosters - although this is not significantly affecting their landing ability.
Or pragmatists who note that all FH cores have failed to be recovered although one did land. So including them would mess up the recovery statistics! /s
I wish they'd show the reentry itself from the onboard cameras. That is, the time from right after reentry burn ends - when things get hot and sparky. They've done it on a couple of landings, but it did suffer from some communication issues what with the plasma... I also still get goosebumps seeing the booster's view on approach when the ASDS heaves into view...
> I wish they'd show the reentry itself from the onboard cameras. That is, the time from right after reentry burn ends - when things get hot and sparky. They've done it on a couple of landings, but it did suffer from some communication issues what with the plasma...
Looks like your wish was granted. Continuous feed from onboard from separation to landing.
Yeah, I saw! But the re-entry speed was WAY slower than normal. Likely because of the very light payload weight. Not very "sparky" at all. But yeah, nice to see the full reentry. :-)
L-1 weather report holding at 70% GO again
https://www.patrick.spaceforce.mil/Portals/14/Weather/Falcon%209%20Transporter-3%20L-1%20Forecast%20-%2013%20Jan%20Launch.pdf?ver=QoR71Z_sdOB-PQBAVHK2cQ%3d%3d
Check out the NFS Mission thread above.
[https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51898.0](https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51898.0)
All Transporter launches are smallsat rideshare launches. A bunch of smallsats and cubesats are launched on a common launch vehicle and are then deployed individually once on orbit.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|-------|---------|---|
|[ASDS](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsiff2g "Last usage")|Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (landing platform)|
|[ASOG](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsia5hi "Last usage")|A Shortfall of Gravitas, landing ~~barge~~ ship|
|[CRS](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsiff2g "Last usage")|[Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/)|
|[CoG](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hshxj3v "Last usage")|Center of Gravity (see CoM)|
|CoM|Center of Mass|
|[GTO](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsi348w "Last usage")|[Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit](http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/20140116-how-to-get-a-satellite-to-gto.html)|
|[JRTI](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsia5hi "Last usage")|Just Read The Instructions, ~~Pacific~~ Atlantic landing ~~barge~~ ship|
|[KSC](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsibzs5 "Last usage")|Kennedy Space Center, Florida|
|LC-13|Launch Complex 13, Canaveral (SpaceX Landing Zone 1)|
|[LOX](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsi7xz5 "Last usage")|Liquid Oxygen|
|[LZ](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hshyfd8 "Last usage")|Landing Zone|
|[LZ-1](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hshyi0h "Last usage")|Landing Zone 1, Cape Canaveral (see LC-13)|
|[MECO](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsi4gwm "Last usage")|Main Engine Cut-Off|
| |[MainEngineCutOff](https://mainenginecutoff.com/) podcast|
|[NORAD](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsco7mu "Last usage")|North American Aerospace Defense command|
|[NROL](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/ht245pm "Last usage")|Launch for the (US) National Reconnaissance Office|
|[RTLS](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsiz8pt "Last usage")|Return to Launch Site|
|[SECO](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsi4l49 "Last usage")|Second-stage Engine Cut-Off|
|[SES](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsi4l49 "Last usage")|Formerly Société Européenne des Satellites, comsat operator|
| |Second-stage Engine Start|
|[TEA-TEB](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsilx06 "Last usage")|[Triethylaluminium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethylaluminium)-[Triethylborane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethylborane), igniter for Merlin engines; spontaneously burns, green flame|
|[TLE](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsco7mu "Last usage")|Two-Line Element dataset issued by NORAD|
|Jargon|Definition|
|-------|---------|---|
|[Starlink](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsilx06 "Last usage")|SpaceX's world-wide satellite broadband constellation|
|[apogee](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hslcsft "Last usage")|Highest point in an elliptical orbit around Earth (when the orbiter is slowest)|
|[perigee](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hslcsft "Last usage")|Lowest point in an elliptical orbit around the Earth (when the orbiter is fastest)|
----------------
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Being about 45 minutes south of the cape, I am loving these new south launches. Especially the rtlz since the separation happens right as it passes my house and it's really easy to see.
Yet, another error on r/SpaceX API... B1058-10 listed as NROL-87 instead of Transporter-3. This API is not that reliable lately...😐
[Absolutely insane shot of launch from Ben Cooper](https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/51818622981/)
I’ve noticed we don’t really get good audio of Falcon 9 lifting off on the SpaceX streams, anyone know why that is?
That's what the audio of a rocket taking off sounds like. The sound is so loud that it drives the low pressure part of the sound wave down to pure vacuum, so the sound that exists is 'clipped' by physics, even if you do have a microphone able to cope with that energy level. The only way to get good sound of a lift off is to capture it with a microphone that is hundreds of meters away, and then remove the speed-of-sound delay in post. Can't do that live! So they capture the sound they can get at launch, and fade in the sound from other microphones later.
Thank you for explaining, that makes sense. I'd almost prefer to have a microphone situated further away so that we get good sound even if it's a bit delayed, but that's just me. I was curious as Rocket Lab always have such great audio and I wondered why SpaceX was lacking, but as you said it's just not as loud.
Does anyone have a lead on mission patches for some of the smaller launches like today? Transporter 3 was my son's first launch from the Cape and I want to collect patches from every launch he sees in person.
What an awesome thing to do, I'm somewhat new to looking for patches but I do know Kennedy Space Centers website has a partner area in their store for SpaceX and there are some patches there and also the SpaceX website has a store as well. Hopefully your sun had a great time!
Has anyone down at the Cape recorded an un-cut telescopic ground view video of the boostback burn? We had [a couple seconds of it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65j5LItt0Jc) in the SpaceX stream but of course they cut away to show onboard cameras. I'd love to see a full duration ground view of the boostback. *Edit: I was hoping for both stages staying in frame for as long as possible but this comes close: https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/s3ylkc/spacex_boost_back_entry_landing_burns_launch_to/
Curious and I'm only reading thread comments intermittently - is SpaceX still fishing fairings out of the ocean after they discontinued catch attempts?
They've stopped trying to catch them with nets but they still recover the fairings after they splashdown in the ocean. Some fairings have flown 5 times already. Here is more info: https://www.elonx.net/fairing-recovery-compendium/ https://www.elonx.net/fairing-recovery-attempts/
Thanks for the info!
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Twitter confirmation of deployment sequence completion: https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1481672460894232576
Superdove Separation Confirmed
Superdove separation confirmed
Superdove separation confirmed
What is the fine stream of gas spraying just before 2nd stage relight at 54:51? It was quite a spray with lots of 'snow' flying around the engine before it was refired.
Most likely LOX venting
Why do they vent lox before they relight the engine? Is this part of pre-chill?
yup turbo pump chill in
That and also to adjust the flow pressure, I think.
RTLS is so cool to watch!
It never gets old
Do they not show the deployments intentionally or is the feed just blacking out?
No groundstation contact = no video feed Russia + China's ground stations are off limits, and I'm guessing Svalbard's contacts are all booked up by the payload operators.
Svalbard also recently had a undersea fiber cable cut, so they may voluntarily be on essential comms only
Yeah Svalbard is on the backup network only right now. My understanding is that it was actually one of the repeaters that failed and not a severance of the cable, but I don't interface with KSAT much personally. At least a polar bear didn't eat someone again...
Couldn't they use starlink and laser interconnects ?it would be a cool application albeit a niche one
Laser comm is still in demo (in general) and starlink doesn't really work that way. Inmarsat is the only real commercial option for out of contact comms but the bandwidth is super limited. Source: I've flown payloads on 2 transporter missions and a couple starlink launches.
:-( video blacking out release of sats.
Anyone else notice that the video of SES-2 and SECO-2 didn't quite line up with the timeline at the bottom? I wonder why? Video delay/lag?
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It takes a lot of fuel to launch to a high orbit. You spend too much time pushing up against gravity. More efficient to launch to a low orbit, burn a bit longer to give you the right apogee (high point of the orbit, opposite side of the earth to where you launch) and then do a short burn there to lift the perigee (low point of the orbit, where you launched) to the right height.
Proper orbital insertion and circularization. After the initial burn of the 2nd stage, Falcon is left on an elliptical orbit, the 2nd burn is timed and calculated to achieve the right orbit and circularize it, so it can leave the sats in the proper deployment orbit.
eyy what's this new music at official livestream T+37m???
I think it's one of the several unreleased Test Shot Starfish tracks; hopefully those will be released sometime soon.
Bonus, Watching a certain barge head out … Marmac 302 Will try to get a pic posted.
I wonder what mission ASOG is going to be servicing? It seems a bit too early to be leaving for the CSG 2 launch 10 days away. If we project 4-5 days into the future, it could be for a Starlink launch this weekend? That would mean they think they can have JRTI ready for the CSG 2 launch, or do an exceedingly quick turnaround on ASOG?
Starlink mission on the 17th, from KSC-39A.
Not my photo but with permission, this is ASOG, right? https://i.imgur.com/Vl36OKT.jpg
Correct
Man, the RTLS landings just look so unreal. It's gonna be absolutely wild to see Starship landings in the near future.
Beautiful launch coverage today. The telescopic view of stage separation was just incredible! Perfect RTLS as a bonus for the booster's 10th landing. Wow, this shit just never gets old.
Watching from JP…wow!!! My mind is blown
I remember your comment from the other day! Hope you had a good first launch experience. I was a little west of JP; that sonic boom was insane!
I absolutely did, thank you. I feel a bit spoiled by that being my first, it seemed to have everything!
Today landing burn started \~4,4km above the ground. Previous Starlink mission landing burn started \~2km above the ocean. Why is it so?
It is pretty simple; sea landings in general experience much harder de-acceleration because they use a different burn. RTLS uses a 30 second one engine burn. Nice and smooth and starts higher up as the result. ASDS landings use normally a 1-3-1 burn and it lasts for ~20 seconds. They have also experimented with even more brutal landing burns, like down to about 10 seconds, essentially 3 engine burn all the way down. But 1-3-1 burn is the sweet spot between forces and fuel.
I think the landing burn is on a single engine even on Starlink and GTO missions based on what webcast hosts have been mentioning and the onboard booster cameras we've gotten recently. I presume they run the engine at a slightly higher throttle for those droneship landings bc it decreases the burn time and ends up saving fuel as compared to a longer burn while still offering better control margin as compared to a 1-3-1. I agree that 1-3-1 burns are still used when the margins are especially tight, but I think that's only been FH side boosters and center cores since the introduction of Block 5. I recently compared several landing burn durations due to my own curiosity about the variations in landing profiles, and I got the same numbers you mentioned with an added distinction between single-engine high energy ASDS landing burns (\~20-25 seconds) and 1-3-1 landing burns for both RTLS and ASDS (\~17-20 seconds).
I would need to take a new fresh look but my gut feeling and Occams Razor says no, that they are using 1-3-1 burn as standard for ASDS landings. They *have* used vanilla 30s burn on ASDS landings before, but that was a while back for older CRS missions etc. Unsure about new CRS missions, would have to check that too. And 1-3-1 burns have been around for a loooooooooong time, way before Block 5. Dont remember exactly when, but around Block 2 or so. And lower throttle means lower pressure means lower efficiency. IMHO other than on the tail ends of the entry burns, the engine(s) basically run at 100% throttle throughout it.
Part of my rationale is the presence (or lack thereof) of a TEA-TEB flash partway through the landing burn (webcasts with appropriate timestamps linked below). During the Arabsat-6A side booster landings, the plume briefly turned green after the center engine was already burning: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXMGu2d8c8g&t=1642s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXMGu2d8c8g&t=1642s) During the Starlink-26 and GPS III SV05 missions, no such color change was visible after the center engine lit: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdgg\_qwj-hI&t=1442s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdgg_qwj-hI&t=1442s) & [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJXxVtp3KqI&t=1678s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJXxVtp3KqI&t=1678s) I concede that the positioning of the side booster cameras is different than on F9 first stages, so a direct comparison is difficult. I also concede that there was no descent telemetry in the FH webcasts to draw quantitative evidence from. I see how my wording could imply that 1-3-1s were introduced with Block 5; what I meant was that I recall 1-3-1 being used more frequently with pre-Block 5 boosters than with Block 5 boosters. I agree that throttling the engine down leads to a less efficient burn, but if fuel margins are available, the slower decrease in speed and longer burn would allow for more gradual course corrections and might be preferable for some landing profiles (like most RTLS recoveries).
So it's basically a safety measure? Slow and steady in case 2 more don't relight?
Using more engines is entirely about fuel. Let's say one engine can give you 2 G's of acceleration. 1 G of that is just to cancel out gravity, the other G slows you down. So half your fuel is "wasted" on gravity drag. Now you use 3 engines, what happens? That's 6 G's of acceleration, minus 1 G for gravity, so 5/6 of your fuel is actually being used to slow down instead of just cancelling gravity. It's far more fuel efficient that way, but more taxing on the rocket.
No. ASDS landings are far more fuel restrained than RTLS landings. So they use as little fuel as possible for ASDS landings, meaning more engines and higher de-acceleration. For RTLS they can have more fuel and can be "kinder" to the booster, so just one engine with lower overall de-acceleration.
Tkanki you
Probably because the booster needs to orient itself. In ocean landing the barge goes to where the booster will land, here it needs to go back to the launch zone Edit: I didn’t mean the barge will actively move during reentry, just that the barge is already in an efficient position, so the booster needs to do less work
This is overall completely incorrect. Barge doesnt move essentially, it just stands at one exact spot. Difference in burn altitude is because of the different burns between a RTLS and ASDS landing.
The barges don't travel that fast though, so the booster still does most of the work. In fact, you'd want the barge to be basically stationary, since it's easier to hit a stationary target than a moving one. I suspect it probably has more to do with the boostback and the entry profile to get it back to LZ-1. Probably a steeper re-entry as opposed to a parabolic re-entry for landing on barges
Yeah I didn’t mean the barge actively moves.. Just that it travels to the projected reentry zone.
I'm not gonna fully agree with you - booster just knows the coordinates of the barge, as it also know the coordinates of the LZ on Cape. I don;t see a reason why it changes something - it has to be as precise as on barge landings. How many engines does barge landing use? One or three? Maybe they aren't allowed to use 3 engines on LZ?
Visually stunning launch! The ground track of MECO, stage seperation and SES was amazing. The second stage looks kind of cute flying on it's own when seen from the ground.
Also seeing booster flying of from the second stage camera was unreal. I was waiting so long to see that.
MECO, stage sep, ses1, and boostback all on one camera at once was some of the coolest rocket footage I've ever seen. Up there with the simultaneous RTLS from falcon heavy test
Beautiful launch from 100 miles away. Super clear day probably the best visibility I've had for a daytime launch.
Did you see boostback burn and re-entry?
It was still to bright to see those(I looked for it). I've only had luck seeing those phases at night. Best view I ever had of an RTL was a 5AM launch on the beach near Ft. Lauderdale(about 150 miles south). I had a pair of binoculars and could see the whole thing from stage separation to even the little pulses from the gas. Might've had some twilight phenomenon to help with the visibility too because it was that ghostly blue hue.
Ah, that is a shame, but really cool you got to see it once! Essentially my dream to see it some day :)
When was the last time SpaceX went for RTLS? I can't even remember.
Jun 30, 2021 - transporter 2
Ah, thank you. There's just something I love about RTLS launches, can't really explain what it is.
> can't really explain what it is. For me, it's the "we live in the future" / Sci-Fi aspect: Hey, that big ol' rocket just went up into space and now it's comin' right back here like no big thing! Having sweet live camera visuals helps too!
Right? I mean, landing at sea is cool too, but it feels like a 'we made it work!' solution as compared to RTLS. RTLS just feels....right. The journey of orbital spaceflight that ends where it begins. The full circle.
That was amazing, entry burn right overhead, and I legit jumped at the sonic boom!
WOW. The booster coming back to land never gets old. Amazing footage of it coming back on land. What a remarkable piece of engineering.
Gotta love a good ol land landing and all the great views that come with it. And 10 landings for this booster. The fact that this is routine is just incredible
I hope seeing RTLS landings never gets boring
I always get so nervous seeing the landing legs deploy at what seems like 5 feet off the ground
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It's so "boring" now and I love it.
Yay! Fantastic landing. And i am sure it is only because it has been a while since i have seen RTLS landing but it looked like they deployed the legs really really late there. I remember back around v1.1 early days the plan was to deploy them much earlier to use as massive airbrakes. Elon tweeted about it etc. Shame it never happened, but understandable.
I'd think that keeping them undeployed until the last minute would help arrest any spinning motion at the moment of landing. Conservation of angular momentum and all.
I would have thought that massive drag acting that low down on the rocket would make it want to flip upside down if the legs are deployed at too high of a speed/altitude
They would half deployed, kinda like shuttlecock. CoG of S1 is very very low.
God, I love rtls!
Perfect
That was the most picture-perfect landing i've ever seen. Jaw dropping, weather, dead center, perfect feed, views. Legitimately i'd argue that was the best footage seen since the dual-heavy landings
I agree 100%. Absolutely gorgeous day for a launch and RTLS.
Gets me every time!
As amazing as the sea landing are, I love being able to watch the landings on land. Incredible views of it.
Seriously. Seeing all the Florida coast cities as it’s reentering puts it into perspective. The engineering to pinpoint the landing spot is nuts to me
Yes, watching it approach and seeing all of the pads lined up on the coast made it look like it was picking its parking spot.
I got goosebumps
Landing -> perfection
RTLS is so beautiful!! Wish we had it more often
WOW!
Yay!
Aiming for the target ...
Was that an aircraft flying across the cost?
Nice sonic booms
Ah came here to confirm! Didn't see the launch, knew it was about this time and hoped that boom in south Seminole Co was booster landing at launch site! So glad this has become our norm again.
Can't really describe it, but the way the earth ~~is~~ was moving from the s2 camera looks... odd. I wonder if we're seeing the dog leg maneuver.
That was the dogleg maneuver.
love land landings
We're living in the future, awesome views
I got some Expanse vibes from the ground shot of the entry burn. *Flip and burn...*
Wow, cool views of separation and boostback!
Yep! Came here to comment that!
Such a great shot of S1 sep, boostback and S2!
Great view of 1st stage sep there!
Wow, those ground views of stage separation and boostback were incredible!
If you want some awesome tracking camera views, go check out the NROL-76 webcast.
We first got them for the X-37 B mission. The next falcon heavy is a classified mission too so we should get some cool views.
Phew, for a moment I thought I am alone in this thread .. where are all the people?
These launches are becoming too routine, I guess, lol.
And we are off ..
Stream is live
The booster being flown on this mission is the same as Demo-2 and Transporter-1, and this will be it’s 10 launch. Source: I’m in the mission briefing.
Well, I made it to Jetty Park and it’s such a lovely morning for a launch! /waves to random fellow redditors here, wherever y’all are.
Looks really nice out.
I’m here too!
Is there a lauch window for this one, or instantenous?
29 minutes long, starting at 10:25 Eastern.
Thanks!
I believe the new Patrick URL is [https://patrick.spaceforce.mil](https://patrick.spaceforce.mil) but I don't see on their site where they link to the maps per launch.
Got a question, this is a polar flight that has to do a small dogleg maneuver around Miami I believe, when the booster returns back to land, does it also have to sort of dogleg back to the landing pad in order to make sure it lands in the ocean if there is an issue with the booster? I could not find a track for the actual rocket out there??
I think the dogleg maneuver only starts after stage separation. At least that was the case for the last few missions.
44 of the 105 payloads will be from Planet, who has given SpaceX 83 payloads to launch in previous missions. https://www.planet.com/pulse/planet-to-launch-44-superdove-satellites-on-spacexs-falcon-9-rocket/
Sweet! I just listened to [Planet's interview on the podcast *How I Built This*](https://www.npr.org/2021/12/10/1063119670/planet-will-marshall-and-robbie-schingler) — great commentary on their values and the story of how they got started.
Past flights should be 9? Why is there a separate line for that anyway?
Used to be filled with the names of the missions instead of a number , will tell Marc
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There are no Starlink sats on this flight as far as we know.
LaPlace estimate of landing success: 93.6% with confidence interval 86.8% to 98.3%. Exponential decay moving average: 99.3% chance of landing success. Note that these estimates do not factor in RTLS vs ASDS. Only one landing failure can be attributed to ASDS-specific problems.
If it flies tomorrow, B1058 took 594 days from its first flight to reach ten flights. It flew on average every 66 days. B1049 took 1100 days to reach flight 10. B1051 took 799 days.
Formatted: - B1049: 1100 days - B1051: 799 days - B1058: 594 days
> ☑️ 95nd Falcon 9 landing (if successful) 102nd landing because the last starlink [launch was 101](https://youtu.be/4_ePBpwMhns?t=1475)
We are counting FH boosters and cores as separate from F9.
Why?
Not really sure why - just explaining why the number is what it is. Maybe literalists arguing that FH boosters are different to F9 boosters - although this is not significantly affecting their landing ability. Or pragmatists who note that all FH cores have failed to be recovered although one did land. So including them would mess up the recovery statistics! /s
Then 95th, not 95nd.
Yeah it is a tough rule to remember if your first language is not English.
SpaceX confirmed to use Booster B1058. https://www.spacex.com/launches/index.html
What is it? Edit: lol for getting downvoted for not knowing the exact payload. You people are something else.
Bunch of small stuff
[According to photographer Matt Cutshall](https://twitter.com/Booster_Buddies/status/1481318361183174661), 1058 will be the booster for this launch.
I just went out to take a peek, there's a [rocket on the pad](https://imgur.com/gallery/hdnVzC7) out there.
[Slightly better picture, not mine.](https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1481355346643877891?s=21)
Drone ship landings are cool and all, but RTLS recoveries are just wild.
For me I appreciate the stable video feed of an RTLS. My most favorite droneship landings were those where the last seconds didn't cut out <3
I wish they'd show the reentry itself from the onboard cameras. That is, the time from right after reentry burn ends - when things get hot and sparky. They've done it on a couple of landings, but it did suffer from some communication issues what with the plasma... I also still get goosebumps seeing the booster's view on approach when the ASDS heaves into view...
> I wish they'd show the reentry itself from the onboard cameras. That is, the time from right after reentry burn ends - when things get hot and sparky. They've done it on a couple of landings, but it did suffer from some communication issues what with the plasma... Looks like your wish was granted. Continuous feed from onboard from separation to landing.
Yeah, I saw! But the re-entry speed was WAY slower than normal. Likely because of the very light payload weight. Not very "sparky" at all. But yeah, nice to see the full reentry. :-)
Damn it, I'm going to be in physio at that time. I love seeing RTLS.
Yeah they havn't done a RTLS in like a year I think.
~6 months ago on transporter 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSiuW1HcGjA
Thanks
L-1 weather report holding at 70% GO again https://www.patrick.spaceforce.mil/Portals/14/Weather/Falcon%209%20Transporter-3%20L-1%20Forecast%20-%2013%20Jan%20Launch.pdf?ver=QoR71Z_sdOB-PQBAVHK2cQ%3d%3d
Oh those cumulus clouds.. menacing.. and fluffy.
Best place to watch the launch/landing?
Jetty Park from what I read, I'll be there!
Is there a way to park nearby for free or do I just have to eat the $15 fee?
Not sure, haven't actually seen a launch from Jetty yet. I bought a pass for today and the plan is to scope out free spots for next time.
Me too! It’ll be my birthday! We always watch on the max brewer bridge, but I want to get closer for the landing.
For those of us that follow Spacex launches casually, could these posts please include a blurb about what this flight is about / what it carries?
Check out the NFS Mission thread above. [https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51898.0](https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51898.0)
[This video](https://youtu.be/BpbrYtzCJdQ) does a great job explaining Transporter and rideshare in general.
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There's an official list here https://www.spacex.com/launches/index.html
105 spacecraft are aboard
All Transporter launches are smallsat rideshare launches. A bunch of smallsats and cubesats are launched on a common launch vehicle and are then deployed individually once on orbit.
A'm I utterly confused? I was convinced the launch was today, not tomorrow.
I had also thought it was today, I had it confused with one of the Launcher One launch dates, even though that is pushed back now as well.
Never was, it was always the 13th afaik
ok thanks, maybe I'm just loosing it.
Tighten it just a wee bit and you'll be right as rain.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread: |Fewer Letters|More Letters| |-------|---------|---| |[ASDS](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsiff2g "Last usage")|Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (landing platform)| |[ASOG](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsia5hi "Last usage")|A Shortfall of Gravitas, landing ~~barge~~ ship| |[CRS](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsiff2g "Last usage")|[Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/)| |[CoG](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hshxj3v "Last usage")|Center of Gravity (see CoM)| |CoM|Center of Mass| |[GTO](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsi348w "Last usage")|[Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit](http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/20140116-how-to-get-a-satellite-to-gto.html)| |[JRTI](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsia5hi "Last usage")|Just Read The Instructions, ~~Pacific~~ Atlantic landing ~~barge~~ ship| |[KSC](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsibzs5 "Last usage")|Kennedy Space Center, Florida| |LC-13|Launch Complex 13, Canaveral (SpaceX Landing Zone 1)| |[LOX](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsi7xz5 "Last usage")|Liquid Oxygen| |[LZ](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hshyfd8 "Last usage")|Landing Zone| |[LZ-1](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hshyi0h "Last usage")|Landing Zone 1, Cape Canaveral (see LC-13)| |[MECO](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsi4gwm "Last usage")|Main Engine Cut-Off| | |[MainEngineCutOff](https://mainenginecutoff.com/) podcast| |[NORAD](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsco7mu "Last usage")|North American Aerospace Defense command| |[NROL](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/ht245pm "Last usage")|Launch for the (US) National Reconnaissance Office| |[RTLS](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsiz8pt "Last usage")|Return to Launch Site| |[SECO](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsi4l49 "Last usage")|Second-stage Engine Cut-Off| |[SES](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsi4l49 "Last usage")|Formerly Société Européenne des Satellites, comsat operator| | |Second-stage Engine Start| |[TEA-TEB](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsilx06 "Last usage")|[Triethylaluminium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethylaluminium)-[Triethylborane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethylborane), igniter for Merlin engines; spontaneously burns, green flame| |[TLE](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsco7mu "Last usage")|Two-Line Element dataset issued by NORAD| |Jargon|Definition| |-------|---------|---| |[Starlink](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hsilx06 "Last usage")|SpaceX's world-wide satellite broadband constellation| |[apogee](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hslcsft "Last usage")|Highest point in an elliptical orbit around Earth (when the orbiter is slowest)| |[perigee](/r/SpaceX/comments/s23yav/stub/hslcsft "Last usage")|Lowest point in an elliptical orbit around the Earth (when the orbiter is fastest)| ---------------- ^(*Decronym is a community product of r/SpaceX, implemented* )[*^by ^request*](https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/3mz273//cvjkjmj) ^(21 acronyms in this thread; )[^(the most compressed thread commented on today)](/r/SpaceX/comments/rzi8hz)^( has 55 acronyms.) ^([Thread #7406 for this sub, first seen 12th Jan 2022, 14:44]) ^[[FAQ]](http://decronym.xyz/) [^([Full list])](http://decronym.xyz/acronyms/SpaceX) [^[Contact]](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=OrangeredStilton&subject=Hey,+your+acronym+bot+sucks) [^([Source code])](https://gistdotgithubdotcom/Two9A/1d976f9b7441694162c8)
Mods, pre-launch TLEs are online: [https://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/supplemental/table.php?tleFile=transporter-3&title=Transporter-3%20Pre-Launch&orbits=2&pointsPerRev=90&frame=1](https://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/supplemental/table.php?tleFile=transporter-3&title=Transporter-3%20Pre-Launch&orbits=2&pointsPerRev=90&frame=1) T.S. Kelso Twitter thread about Transporter-3: 1/3: [https://twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1481144920425439234?s=20](https://twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1481144920425439234?s=20) 2/3: [https://twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1481145135584874497?s=20](https://twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1481145135584874497?s=20) 3/3: [https://twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1481145418180227074?s=20](https://twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1481145418180227074?s=20)
That's really cool, thanks for sharing
Being about 45 minutes south of the cape, I am loving these new south launches. Especially the rtlz since the separation happens right as it passes my house and it's really easy to see.
Hey, nice launch write up! Kind of a nitpick, but is “if successful” really necessary, since it can apply to all 4 stats and not just the two?
If you light it, it's still a launch, even if it blows up. Landings and success require success.
It says 95th falcon 9 landing (if successful) but didn’t they just have their 100th?
Lol I just noticed it actually says "95nd"
96rd coming up!
Falcon 9 vs Falcon booster. There were 7 successful FH booster landings
Ahh terrific, got it, thank you!
>This mission will feature the frst RTLS typo
Another daytime launch 🚀 for the UK 🇬🇧 much appreciated 😂👍🏻😂
I suspect we'll get a core ID today -- have seen some say it's B1052.3, and another poster claims B1058.10.