SpaceX Falcon 9 : JCSAT-18/Kacific-1 : December 16/17, 2019 - DISCUSSION

[AndrewRG10]

Congrats to SpaceX for a successful landing. Looking forward to successful mission after payload sep.
Amazing landing, as tense as always and I can't be the only person who saw the stage rising up slightly before cutting off the engines.

[ZachS09]

Is it just me, or is SpaceX getting better at keeping the drone ship signal strong during the landing? It didn't look like there were any dropouts.

[LouScheffer]

SpaceX seems to have not pushed the first stage very hard.  Cutoff was at 8207 km/hr = 2280 m/s.   For comparison, the last GTO launch with recovery (Nusantara Satu) staged at 8517 km/hr = 2366 m/s.    The extra mass of the payload can only account for about 10 m/s of this.  So SpaceX seems to be being more conservative.

Subtracting 80 m/s from the separation should have the same effect on final V.  So I'm revising my apogee to 19,000 km (down from 21,000 km).  Final dV remaining to GEO should increase by the same amount.

[webdan]

Congrats to SpaceX and all.

Great launch and landing. Saw it from my driveway on the west coast (of FL). Was coaching my friend who is currently in St. Augustine.

iPhone pic is so so, but just so beautiful in binoculars.

[EspenU]

Telemetry has been stuck for a while. Someone needs to point the ground antennas properly :-p

[PreferToLurk]

I agree, drone ship video has gotten more reliable last few launches. Not that I wouldn't appreciate more terminal guidance shots 😉

[Rocket Science]

Great work on the broadcast gents, thank you!

[hektor]

Curious to hear if they say something about next launch, commercial, Starlink or Ascent abort test.

[Brian45]

Any word on the fairing recovery?

[ZachS09]

Any word on the fairing recovery?

Fairing recovery won't happen until around 45 minutes after launch; by that point, payload deployment would have already occurred.

[MATTBLAK]

When is the Dragon in-flight Abort test happening?

[ZachS09]

When is the Dragon in-flight Abort test happening?

January 4th; it'll occur sometime in the morning range.

http://www.launchphotography.com/Delta_4_Atlas_5_Falcon_9_Launch_Viewing.html

[Perchlorate]

Any word on the fairing recovery?

Fairing recovery won't happen until around 45 minutes after launch; by that point, payload deployment would have already occurred.

Yeah, but enough time has passed now.  Time for some word from "My Fair(ing) Ladies!"  Wouldn't it be luverly?

[Steven Pietrobon]

Congratulations to SpaceX, SKY Perfect JSAT and Kacific for the successful launch and landing!

GTO cutoff was 33,700 km/h at 281 km. Assuming a 27 degree initial inclination, I get an apogee of 20463.1 km and a delta-V to GEO of 2169.5 m/s.

http://www.sworld.com.au/steven/space/speed.zip

Enter initial perigee height (km): 281
Enter SpaceX speed (km/h): 33700
Enter initial orbit inclination (deg): 27

Estimated inertial speed = 9793.8 m/s
Estimated apogee height = 20463.1 km

Enter required inclination change (deg): 27
Enter final orbit height (km): -1
Geosynchronous altitude = 35786.0 km

Burn at   281.0 km: theta1 =  0.27 deg, dv1 =  377.1 m/s
Burn at 35786.0 km: theta2 = 26.73 deg, dv2 = 1792.4 m/s
dv = 2169.5 m/s

[Lar]

Any word on the fairing recovery?

Fairing recovery won't happen until around 45 minutes after launch; by that point, payload deployment would have already occurred.

Yeah, but enough time has passed now.  Time for some word from "My Fair(ing) Ladies!"  Wouldn't it be luverly?

Two almosts, zero actually caught it

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1206741550694158338

Here's an interesting pic of the smaller nets the ladies have

https://twitter.com/SpaceXFleet/status/1206742351538008064

[LouScheffer]

Looks like SpaceX was just being more conservative here.

Compared to Nusantara Satu, the first stage cut off at 80 m/s less, with a correspondingly lower altitude.

The fuel saved allowed them to do a longer re-entry burn (23 sec vs 17), and a longer landing burn (27 sec as opposed to 20 sec - likely a single engine burn, as opposed to 1-3-1.)

My guess (and it's only a guess) is that the contract called for a 20,000 km apogee, and SpaceX figured they could meet that number with a trajectory that's a little easier on the booster and a little less risky.

[Nomadd]

Is it just me, or is SpaceX getting better at keeping the drone ship signal strong during the landing? It didn't look like there were any dropouts.

I told Elon how to fix it a few months ago. Maybe he was listening.

[penguin44]

Is it just me, or did it look like the core almost took back off from OCISLY?  Maybe it was just an optical illusion from all the shadows, but I swear it looked like engine cutoff was a little late. 

Congrats regardless on the bulls eye landing, optical illusion or no.

Oh good it just wasn't me. It looked like it was moving across the deck a bit before shutdown.

[getitdoneinspace]

Can anyone tell me when OCISLY is returning to Port? I came down from Charlotte to see the launch and hoping to see the core returning before I return. Thanks

[Semmel]

Is it just me, or is SpaceX getting better at keeping the drone ship signal strong during the landing? It didn't look like there were any dropouts.

I told Elon how to fix it a few months ago. Maybe he was listening.

I would have thought that Jami ( https://mobile.twitter.com/GLTCprincess ) would be the right person to talk on this. As far as I know, Jami is in charge of webcasts of SpaceX.

Out of interest, what did you tell them?