LIVE: SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 - Thaicom-6 - January 6 - LAUNCH UPDATES

[corrodedNut]

http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/01/08/thaicom-6-mission-overview

Lovely picture! I presume that's from most of the way out to the altitude of geostationary orbit?

From SpaceX Facebook: "On Monday, Falcon 9 delivered the THAICOM 6 satellite 55,000 miles above Earth (& took some great pics)."

[Comga]

http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/01/08/thaicom-6-mission-overview

Lovely picture! I presume that's from most of the way out to the altitude of geostationary orbit?

From SpaceX Facebook: "On Monday, Falcon 9 delivered the THAICOM 6 satellite 55,000 miles above Earth (& took some great pics)."

I am amazed by the framing of that photo. It is great.
Do we think it indicates that the ACS was still working or did they just pick the best shot from several taken while tumbling?  (Not that we will ever know for sure.)
Any estimate on the distance from which this photo was taken, and hence the operational time on the second stage?

[pericynthion]

Hard to say given the weird fisheye lens geometry they use on those rocket cams.

[Joffan]

I am amazed by the framing of that photo. It is great.
Do we think it indicates that the ACS was still working or did they just pick the best shot from several taken while tumbling?  (Not that we will ever know for sure.)
Any estimate on the distance from which this photo was taken, and hence the operational time on the second stage?

Based on shots from the webcast, where the Earth is clearly filling a great deal of the view - many many times the visual size of the nozzle - I would have to estimate that the photo is from more than two Earth diameters altitude, ie > 25000km.

[Avron]

Hard to say given the weird fisheye lens geometry they use on those rocket cams.

There must be a optics person who can do the calcs.. the lens cannot have changed from launch.. using the know measurements at launch ( frame grab)  one can get some idea from  the dimension of earth in the video frame grab (i.e. image posted)  will give us the altitude

[Joffan]

Thaicom 6 itself has undertaken a perigee-raise/inclination-change burn and is now at 13,674 x 90,298 km, 6.9°.

http://www.heavens-above.com/SatInfo.aspx?satid=39500&lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=CET&cul=en-GB

[pechisbeque]

New video:
Mission Overview | THAICOM 6 Launch

[Lars_J]

Nice! Here is a cropped screen cap of the impressive flame trail...

[ugordan]

Notice the Moon right above the nozzle before MVac restart.

[IanO]

I didn't remark at the time, but the 2nd stage separation video is a great demonstration of how a material may only be reflective at some wavelengths.  The niobium MVac nozzle is matte black in the normal rocket cam footage at visible wavelengths, but has a mirror finish as seen by the infrared camera.  Just a little extra bling to add to that of the mirror-polished first stage Merlins!

[Joffan]

Per my previous link, Thaicom seems to be in working position,  35,784 x 35,789 km, 0.1°