SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1/Thaicom-6 Pad Thai Party Thread

[Chris Bergin]

Yeah, it's another party thread.......yay.

You know its purpose. Has to be about the mission. This isn't one of those "increase your post count" threads you see on some forums.

[Kabloona]

About the mission: new poll. Will SpaceX attempt a water landing and recovery of stage 1? If so, will this be first mission to recover stage intact?

Correct prognostications get free ice cream cones from Chris.  ;

[kevin-rf]

It's Thaicom's party and they can launch if they want to...

...besides, they are picking up the tab after all

Merry Space X-mas!

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Anyone betting on this launch happening on December 30/31 EST? I might be tempted to offer my 0.0001 BitCoin if there are enough people joining in...... 

Evidence:

I have checked the previous US launch records of the past 25 years - there were a few orbital launches that were made very, very close to the new year:

Commercial Titan III - Skynet 4A & JCSAT-2 - December 31, 1989 (7:07 pm EST - actually this happens 7 minutes after the new year if you are counting GMT!)

Atlas-E - NOAA-14 - December 30, 1994

Delta II - XTE - December 30, 1995

There are quite a few more launches that happens in December 20-23, as well as in early January.

So maybe SpaceX can really pull this one off before the new year.....if more than everything goes in the right One Direction? 

[Kabloona]

I'm betting it will launch in January.

[kevin-rf]

It would be more awesome if T-0 occurred at 7:00:00.000 EST / 12:00:00.000 UTC

That way we could debate forever what day it actually occurred on.  If SES-8 is a guide, that should be close to the end of the window.

[Jason1701]

About the mission: new poll. Will SpaceX attempt a water landing and recovery of stage 1? If so, will this be first mission to recover stage intact?

Correct prognostications get free ice cream cones from Chris.  ;

No, it will be the same 1st stage profile as SES-8.

[neoforce]

About the mission: new poll. Will SpaceX attempt a water landing and recovery of stage 1? If so, will this be first mission to recover stage intact?

Correct prognostications get free ice cream cones from Chris.  ;

No, it will be the same 1st stage profile as SES-8.

Actually, I'm not sure we know what the profile of 1st stage after separation was for SES-8 or if Thaicom-6 will be the same or different.  The best that I can figure out here is what we know:

- from Elon they won't try for first stage recovery on Thaicom-6
- from videos showing stage 1 thrusters post separation (and other hints) there was activity after separation in some way during the SES flight. 

The speculation is that they are doing testing and getting data to understand more about the first stage flight envelope.  Therefore, I would actually guess that the Thaicom-6 post separation profile will be different from SES-8 post separation, so they can keep expanding that data set. 

Of course, Jason 1701's point was there won't be recovery... in that case I agree.  So, no ice cream after our Pad Thai!   

[Kabloona]

About the mission: new poll. Will SpaceX attempt a water landing and recovery of stage 1? If so, will this be first mission to recover stage intact?

Correct prognostications get free ice cream cones from Chris.  ;

No, it will be the same 1st stage profile as SES-8.

Has something changed from 2 days ago when Musk said they might attempt recovery? Just asking whether your statement is a prognostication or statement of fact, since you seem to have an inside track.

www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/12/04/spacex-launch-successful/3866655/

Quote: "Musk said SpaceX might try to recover that rocket's first stage from the ocean, depending in part on data collected during the SES-8 mission."

[neoforce]

About the mission: new poll. Will SpaceX attempt a water landing and recovery of stage 1? If so, will this be first mission to recover stage intact?

Correct prognostications get free ice cream cones from Chris.  ;

No, it will be the same 1st stage profile as SES-8.

Has something changed from 2 days ago when Musk said they might attempt recovery?

www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/12/04/spacex-launch-successful/3866655/

Quote: "Musk said SpaceX might try to recover that rocket's first stage from the ocean, depending in part on data collected during the SES-8 mission."

Hmm... sorry I'm spreading dis-information, I clearly I missed when he said that.  Do you have a link or more info?

Thanks for the edit with the USA today link on Elon's comment.  Sorry again for spreading wrong information.

<edit after link was added above>

[baldusi]

It would be more awesome if T-0 occurred at 7:00:00.000 EST / 12:00:00.000 UTC

That way we could debate forever what day it actually occurred on.  If SES-8 is a guide, that should be close to the end of the window.

Regrettable that launch windows are just early night. I would love that corner case so much! BTW, I still think it will be around Jan 7th. But that's just a guess.

[kevin-rf]

Actually the SES-8 launch window opened (22:41 UTC 17:41 EST ) just after local sunset 17:26 EST and closed close to 19:00 EST (7pm).

In 4 weeks local sunset should be at 17:41 EST, which should shift the close of the window even closer to 19:00 EST, which is 24:00 UTC. So it is possible, but like you said, more likely to occur in early January.

[Joffan]

Way too much sensible discussion for a party thread.

Woohoo! SpaceX gunning for another 2013 launch with their now-proven updated launch pad! Rumours of a glowing red nose on the fairing are completely unsubstantiated.

[Chris Bergin]

Way too much sensible discussion for a party thread.

Makes Chris a happy man!

Way too much sensible discussion for a party thread.

Woohoo! SpaceX gunning for another 2013 launch with their now-proven updated launch pad! Rumours of a glowing red nose on the fairing are completely unsubstantiated.

Heh!

[dcporter]

What's the purpose of the party threads? I understood it to be a place to let off steam before and during big events, keeping the update and discussion threads on topic. Where's the line for off-topic or Chris-angering on these?

[Lars_J]

A preview of the how the fairing will look, as painted with Pad Thai? 

[Elvis in Space]

Way too much sensible discussion for a party thread.

Woohoo! SpaceX gunning for another 2013 launch with their now-proven updated launch pad! Rumours of a glowing red nose on the fairing are completely unsubstantiated.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Rocket? I'd be cool with that if they launch before Christmas. Seems like bad mojo to make New Year's firework parallels.

I know they probably have to make a launch date soon but I'd settle for just knowing when they are going to set the date. It will be most interesting to see how quickly they can work out all the bugs in the launch process.

[Chris Bergin]

A preview of the how the fairing will look, as painted with Pad Thai? 

Oh wow!

[AJW]

What's the purpose of the party threads? I understood it to be a place to let off steam before and during big events, keeping the update and discussion threads on topic. Where's the line for off-topic or Chris-angering on these?

Be polite, and bad puns may result in a Thai rant.

[baldusi]

A preview of the how the fairing will look, as painted with Pad Thai? 

Clap! Clap! Clap!