SpaceX F9 : Starlink v0.9 : May 23, 2019 - DISCUSSION

[matthewkantar]

Looks like we have a slow BBQ roll going on

Spinning up the stage and sats for the release?

[king1999]

SpaceX has purchased the starlink domain.

http://www.starlink.com

[Herb Schaltegger]

Does anyone know why the graphic showing the second stage shows 2 orbital paths?

Ground tracks for the current and next orbit.

[webdan]

I watched the launch from my Clearwater, FL driveway and dragged out my sleepy g/f outside too.

Beautiful and never ending “red flare” exhaust in a dark, dry and starry sky. We watched as the first stage’s exhaust grow and finally flare out, followed by the 2nd stage lighting up.

Did not bring binoculars out, but the entry burn was easy to spot albeit much lower in inclination. Lasted about 7-8 secs and sure enough confirmed watching replay online, so that matches.

Yeah, my youth’s space enthusiasm is finally catching up with me

[rakaydos]

Does anyone know why the graphic showing the second stage shows 2 orbital paths?

The current orbit, and the ground track of next orbit as the planet rotates under it.

[Lars-J]

It was a perfectly timed pulsing of the Mylar cover.  What's even strange is that you could see the same pulsing on the bottom of the sat stack in the video....I've watched a lot of launches from SpaceX...never seen the perfect pulsing before....strange....

It's not a new thing. There seems to be some periodic light gas release under the mylar for most (or all) launches, but the light conditions make it more or less obvious.

[Herb Schaltegger]

What is with the pulsing of the protective sheet over the Mvac?  I have never seen that before.

It's not doing it about about 2 min after however...

Happens often since SpaceX started covering the MVac plumbing with Mylar. I seem to notice it on every launch. I think there’s a vent underneath that captures and slowly releases purge gas (GOX tapped off the propellant feedline perhaps?)

No this was different.  It was a perfectly timed pulsing of the Mylar cover.  What's even strange is that you could see the same pulsing on the bottom of the sat stack in the video....I've watched a lot of launches from SpaceX...never seen the perfect pulsing before....strange....

At what time?

It starts are t+ 2:58-3:29.  You can see the same "pulse" on the bottom center of the sat stack at t+3:30

Well, I’ve launched them all myself and didn’t think anything looked specifically different but I’ll rewatch after the stream is archived.

[JimO]

When/where is the deorbit burn?

[Robotbeat]

Welp, nothing at all like my Kerbal Space Program deployment... will have to modify...

[king1999]

The deployment was anticlimactic 

[ulm_atms]

LOL...that was anti-climatic....

Congrats SpaceX on another launch success!  On to the next!

[chawleysnow]

Convenient loss of signal there while the deployment mechanism actuated

[Hauerg]

The deployment was anticlimactic 

Which is good.

What better way to start a day. (5:38 am locally)

[king1999]

I was expecting the S2 spinning and the sats leaving one by one 

[Pete]

e]

No this was different.  It was a perfectly timed pulsing of the Mylar cover.  What's even strange is that you could see the same pulsing on the bottom of the sat stack in the video....I've watched a lot of launches from SpaceX...never seen the perfect pulsing before....strange....

Nope. Every single launch has that. Go watch the previous launch videos, you just missed it the previous 50 times.

[meekGee]

Hahaha  Brownian deployment....  Musk is the father of all Trolls, I swear...

[ZachF]

I guess "Fan out like a deck of cards" means a game of 52 pick-up.... 

[meekGee]

Fun fact: Midway through deployment, satellite release rate exceeded 6000 satellites per second.

[Scylla]

Bah, who needs fancy timed deploying and deploying mechanisms. Just toss them all, they'll figure out where they need to be.

[Joffan]

So, flat spin for deployment, not barbecue or flip. And like most everyone else not really the deployment I expected, but a very simple (= cheap) release the stack & let 'em drift apart.