SpaceX F9 : Nusantara Satu (PSN VI)/GTO-1/SpaceIL : Feb. 21/22, 2019: Discussion

[whatsup]

I don't know if it's just me, but the youtube stream is doing extremely poorly tonight.

It's not just you, maybe post-live it'll be back to normal compression.

[matthewkantar]

I think that is the Moon in shot of landed stage?

[dorkmo]

[brettreds2k]

Why were they saying tonight’s landing was going to be the most challenging to date? Once on the drone ship the seas seemed very calm and skies looked clear?

[boog]

Was that the near full moon shining through the grid fins on reentry - or what was that - seemed very bright!

[dorkmo]

Why were they saying tonight’s landing was going to be the most challenging to date? Once on the drone ship the seas seemed very calm and skies looked clear?

probably speed angle and heat

[Lar]

pretty cool seeing those sparks coming off the bottom before the feed cut

What were those? I hate to be all newb but I was scared.

[brlavalamp]

Why were they saying tonight’s landing was going to be the most challenging to date? Once on the drone ship the seas seemed very calm and skies looked clear?

The sky does seem clear, but when I review the droneship cam footage, ISTM the ship is rolling quite a bit.

[whatsup]

pretty cool seeing those sparks coming off the bottom before the feed cut

Yeah, and it was after the entry burn, so it's still going fast enough to ignite those

[brettreds2k]

Those sparks had me worried, I’ve never seen that on any other landing

[dorkmo]

pretty cool seeing those sparks coming off the bottom before the feed cut

What were those? I hate to be all newb but I was scared.

I think someone was down there with an angle grinder

[lonestriker]

I think we've seen sparks on other night flights as well.

[OxCartMark]

Interesting, no boostback burn.  Must be that they know a block 5 will handle zooming in with some speed.

But why the discreet sparks rather than a dispursed ablation (for lack of a better term)?  That's a new one.  And strange seeing it coming offa the business end while not seeing the grid fins get visibly hot (or maybe the titanium fins have not been showing heat?).

[cyloncat]

Boostback burn is for return to launch site. Not required for landing on drone ship.

[envy887]

Those sparks had me worried, I’ve never seen that on any other landing

It's just the ablative titanium heat shielding. No worries

We've seen lots of sparks on previous night reentries. And one when the aluminum grid fins actually burst into all-out flames, but it still landed.

[niwax]

The ablative shield previously known as engine? Another great euphemism, ad-hoc ablative.

[envy887]

The ablative shield previously known as engine? Another great euphemism, ad-hoc ablative.

I'd worry more about the parts that don't get intentionally and repeatedly lit on fire.

[mme]

Why were they saying tonight’s landing was going to be the most challenging to date? Once on the drone ship the seas seemed very calm and skies looked clear?

The seas were about 3.2 m last report I saw.  I think it looks calm because all you can see is the deck. Seas were bad enough that Mr. Steven threw in the towel.

Rough waves still at the LZ, though not as violent as earlier:

https://twitter.com/SpaceXFleet/status/1098755176838639617

[brettreds2k]

Why were they saying tonight’s landing was going to be the most challenging to date? Once on the drone ship the seas seemed very calm and skies looked clear?

The seas were about 3.2 m last report I saw.  I think it looks calm because all you can see is the deck. Seas were bad enough that Mr. Steven threw in the towel.

Rough waves still at the LZ, though not as violent as earlier:

https://twitter.com/SpaceXFleet/status/1098755176838639617

Oh wow, didn’t know they called off Mr. Stevens.

[SpaceDave]

Really clear skies tonight. Landing burn was visible from CCAFS - an unexpected delight.