Also renders these complaints moot, unless NASA now criticizes SpaceX for doing the same.https://spacenews.com/bridenstine-criticizes-china-for-uncontrolled-rocket-reentry/ - Ed Kyle
Jonathan McDowell reports that "The Falcon 9 second stage from the Oct 6 Starlink launch reentered over Inner Mongolia at 1401 UTC Oct 30."https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/132234962918327091342N 110.9E 53 deg Ascending track Big open spaces out there. If anything survived, China will find it....
Quote from: Bob Shaw on 10/30/2020 02:36 pmRoll on Starship, with all stages recoverable!As long as everything works. Keep in mind that this Falcon 9 second stage was supposed to have deorbited itself on launch day. - Ed Kyle
Roll on Starship, with all stages recoverable!
Quote from: edkyle99 on 10/30/2020 04:05 pmQuote from: Bob Shaw on 10/30/2020 02:36 pmRoll on Starship, with all stages recoverable!As long as everything works. Keep in mind that this Falcon 9 second stage was supposed to have deorbited itself on launch day. - Ed KyleNever change, Ed. SpaceX makes the most effort of any launch provider to actively de-orbit their upper stages, but on the rare occasion it fails, you raise a stink about it. I’m sure you’ll manage to count it as a mission failure somehow or add another asterisk on your statistics.
Jonathan McDowell reports that "The Falcon 9 second stage from the Oct 6 Starlink launch reentered over Inner Mongolia at 1401 UTC Oct 30."https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/132234962918327091342N 110.9E 53 deg Ascending track Big open spaces out there. If anything survived, China will find it.Also renders these complaints moot, unless NASA now criticizes SpaceX for doing the same.https://spacenews.com/bridenstine-criticizes-china-for-uncontrolled-rocket-reentry/ - Ed Kyle
However, the rocket’s core stage, 31.7 meters long and 5 meters in diameter, was left in a low, uncontrolled orbit.That core stage reentered at 11:33 a.m. Eastern May 11 off the coast of west Africa, according to the U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron. However, local reports suggest debris from that 20-ton stage appears to have survived reentry and landed in the African nation of Côte d’Ivoire, along the vehicle’s trajectory but more than 2,000 kilometers downrange from the reentry point. That debris included a pipe or conduit about 12 meters long.
Falcon 9 second stages re-enter uncontrolled from GTO missions. Once difference is the inclination of the orbit. The ground track of the Starlink orbit might go over more landmass vs a lower inclination GTO orbit.There was some mention of not enough margin for the re-entry burn on reddit. The person also mentioned that it was a known risk that the burn might not occur.
Never change, Ed. [...] I’m sure you’ll manage to count it as a mission failure somehow or add another asterisk on your statistics.