Author Topic: SpaceX F9 : Iridium NEXT Flight 7 : July 25, 2018 : Vandenberg - DISCUSSION (Read 35705 times)

Steven Pietrobon · « **Reply #20 on:** 07/11/2018 06:54 am »

Quote from: Chris Bergin on 07/10/2018 12:04 pm

Iridium Announces Updated Dates for Iridium-7 Launch and Second-Quarter 2018 Earnings Call

MCLEAN, Va. – July 10, 2018 – Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) announced today an updated launch date for the seventh Iridium® NEXT launch and as a result, a revised date for its second-quarter 2018 earnings call. The Iridium-7 mission is now targeting July 25, 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California with an instantaneous launch window of 4:39:26 am PDT (11:39:26 UTC). This updated schedule comes after SpaceX informed Iridium that more time was needed to prepare the rocket for launch.

If my calculations are correct, this means Iridium 7 will launch only 14 minutes after VA244!

codav · « **Reply #21 on:** 07/20/2018 09:07 am »

Quote from: shuttlefan on 07/19/2018 03:00 pm

Static fire date?

If the launch date holds, static fire should happen today or tomorrow. VAFB static fires are always sneaky, most times we just get to know about it by the confirmation from SpaceX after the test.

Robotbeat · « **Reply #22 on:** 07/20/2018 01:06 pm »

Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 07/11/2018 06:54 am

Quote from: Chris Bergin on 07/10/2018 12:04 pm
Iridium Announces Updated Dates for Iridium-7 Launch and Second-Quarter 2018 Earnings Call

MCLEAN, Va. – July 10, 2018 – Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) announced today an updated launch date for the seventh Iridium® NEXT launch and as a result, a revised date for its second-quarter 2018 earnings call. The Iridium-7 mission is now targeting July 25, 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California with an instantaneous launch window of 4:39:26 am PDT (11:39:26 UTC). This updated schedule comes after SpaceX informed Iridium that more time was needed to prepare the rocket for launch.

If my calculations are correct, this means Iridium 7 will launch only 14 minutes after VA244!

...for those who haven’t memorized these things, that’s an Ariane 5 Launch.

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #23 on:** 07/21/2018 04:16 am »

Copying from the updates thread:

Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 07/21/2018 04:15 am

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1020520790108672000?s=19

SpaceX
@SpaceX
Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete— targeting July 25 launch of Iridium-7 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Wolfram66 · « **Reply #24 on:** 07/23/2018 04:29 pm »

More Cryptic symbology in mission patch?
Red = obvious
Blue = maybe
V for Plane 5

Joffan · « **Reply #25 on:** 07/23/2018 05:03 pm »

Quote from: Wolfram66 on 07/23/2018 04:29 pm

More Cryptic symbology in mission patch?
Red = obvious
Blue = maybe
V for Plane 5

10 whiskers alluding to the 10 satellites (orbital tracks?)
General launch flame effect on the fur
Reference to howling at the moon = satellite.
Black star, gap yet to be filled = launch 8

(the white stars are all the same size so I don't know which is launch 7

)

RubberToe · « **Reply #26 on:** 07/24/2018 07:39 pm »

Does the fairing recovery ship only try and capture a single fairing? If so, what happens to the other one? Will there ever be two recovery ships to capture both halves?

RT

envy887 · « **Reply #27 on:** 07/24/2018 08:16 pm »

Quote from: RubberToe on 07/24/2018 07:39 pm

Does the fairing recovery ship only try and capture a single fairing? If so, what happens to the other one? Will there ever be two recovery ships to capture both halves?

RT

Yes. It splashes and get fished out of the ocean. Probably, but we don't know yet.

cscott · « **Reply #28 on:** 07/24/2018 08:21 pm »

Quote from: RubberToe on 07/24/2018 07:39 pm

Does the fairing recovery ship only try and capture a single fairing? If so, what happens to the other one? Will there ever be two recovery ships to capture both halves?

RT

See https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=46033.0

RubberToe · « **Reply #29 on:** 07/24/2018 08:35 pm »

Quote from: cscott on 07/24/2018 08:21 pm

Quote from: RubberToe on 07/24/2018 07:39 pm
Does the fairing recovery ship only try and capture a single fairing? If so, what happens to the other one? Will there ever be two recovery ships to capture both halves?

RT
See https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=46033.0

Thanks, I read a story on another site about the ship departing to catch the fairing and there was no mention in the entire story about the fact that there were two fairings and only one ship. It seemed like an oversight in the story.

Looking forward to seeing at least one fairing captured tomorrow if all goes well.

RT

deruch · « **Reply #30 on:** 07/25/2018 07:05 am »

Quote from: RubberToe on 07/24/2018 08:35 pm

Quote from: cscott on 07/24/2018 08:21 pm
Quote from: RubberToe on 07/24/2018 07:39 pm
Does the fairing recovery ship only try and capture a single fairing? If so, what happens to the other one? Will there ever be two recovery ships to capture both halves?
See https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=46033.0

Thanks, I read a story on another site about the ship departing to catch the fairing and there was no mention in the entire story about the fact that there were two fairings and only one ship. It seemed like an oversight in the story.

Looking forward to seeing at least one fairing captured tomorrow if all goes well.

Maybe a bit of jargon confusion. There is only one fairing. But that fairing separates into 2 distinct halves which come down independently. The ship is currently only attempting to catch a single half and, supposing both halves survive, will probably fish the second half out of the water.

Lar · « **Reply #31 on:** 07/25/2018 11:54 am »

Murkiest/darkest successful landing pic yet?

WindyCity · « **Reply #32 on:** 07/25/2018 01:02 pm »

It was a perfect launch. Just not picture perfect. Congrats, SpaceX!

SciNews · « **Reply #33 on:** 07/25/2018 01:05 pm »

Main events of the launch and landing

View of the first stage on the droneship and Iridium-7 satellites deployment

docmordrid · « **Reply #34 on:** 07/25/2018 01:09 pm »

Quote from: Joffan on 07/23/2018 05:03 pm

Quote from: Wolfram66 on 07/23/2018 04:29 pm
More Cryptic symbology in mission patch?
Red = obvious
Blue = maybe
V for Plane 5

10 whiskers alluding to the 10 satellites (orbital tracks?)
General launch flame effect on the fur
Reference to howling at the moon = satellite.
Black star, gap yet to be filled = launch 8

(the white stars are all the same size so I don't know which is launch 7 )

Arctic wolves? IIRC they're carrying Aireon hosted payloads for NAV Canada. 10 whiskers on the wolf, 10 satellites, 10 Aireon paylods.

cscott · « **Reply #35 on:** 07/25/2018 01:48 pm »

Any wild speculation as to why the lights went out on the ASDS? My theory is just that the cameras were set to auto-exposure, and the one bright/hot bit of flame/metal (depending if the camera was IR or visible) was irising everything down, and it gradually fixed itself over the next 30 minutes as the flame burnt out/metal cooled down.

But also possible that someone switched off the landing lights on the ASDS by accident, or something like that? I don't think 30min is enough time for the support ship landing crew to board, so it probably wasn't something that got toasted or would need to be fixed by a human.

HarryM · « **Reply #36 on:** 07/25/2018 02:39 pm »

Looked great from here in Paso Robles, esp at stage separation the plume and vapor was making a really beautiful flower-like pattern in the binoculars. Could also see the reentry burn of stage 1 though it was behind some trees and partially obscured. The rocket plume is a rather pretty orange color, makes it quite visible esp in low-light.

Jet Black · « **Reply #37 on:** 07/25/2018 03:05 pm »

How bad was the wind shear around Mr Stephen?

cscott · « **Reply #38 on:** 07/25/2018 05:09 pm »

Quote from: Jet Black on 07/25/2018 03:05 pm

How bad was the wind shear around Mr Stephen?

From the fairing recovery thread:

Quote from: dkovacic on 07/25/2018 01:17 pm

[...] high winds (16 knots) and waves (2-6 meters in the area). This was found using www.windy.com

But those are surface-level winds I believe. Wind shear refers to a sudden change in wind speed vs altitude; I don't think there's public data on that. SpaceX would have released weather balloons from their support ships to get that data.

HarryM · « **Reply #39 on:** 07/25/2018 06:53 pm »

You can go to https://www.ventusky.com/ and play around with it. I looked at today's data for @5:00 am and noticed, there was a 16MPH wind from NNW at ground level in the general area where the fairings might come down. Play with the altitude for wind and at about 4200M it leveled off. Then at 9000M it was coming from the S at 20MPH. Not official of course but interesting to look at...