Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 11/11/2019 03:06 pmHere's that reused fairing heading for an ocean recovery.Didn't they say they were not recovering the fairings due to weather conditions?
Here's that reused fairing heading for an ocean recovery.
Would be cool if SpaceX would be able to turn around and continue to use 1048.x for Starlink flights. Would be a great way to verify the amount of times F9 can be reused, as well as give customer confidence for highly reused boosters.
We had a glimpse of a tension rod just at the end there.
Unlike the previous Starlink satellite release, this second stage was not spinning to impart a differential momentum to the satellites, thus causing them to slowly separate from each other. There must be some other mechanism to separate the satellites from each other this time.
Quote from: marsbase on 11/11/2019 03:25 pmUnlike the previous Starlink satellite release, this second stage was not spinning to impart a differential momentum to the satellites, thus causing them to slowly separate from each other. There must be some other mechanism to separate the satellites from each other this time.The webcast said they just sorta bump into each other and drift apart that way.
I'm sure releasing the tension bars causes a spring like motion which then propells and spreads the sats away from the stage and eachother. Just a guess but it seems pretty logical, things under tension just tend to spring back once thetension is released.
It was said up-thread that this batch of satellites do not have the inter-satellite laser links. Does anyone know when that will be added? It seemed like the whole "link" part of Starlink and an important component for faster global communications.Thanks
>The 60 satellites that we already flew are capable of operations, but the next version will have upgraded technology. By late next year, we'll be flying satellite with lasers that allow them to talk to each other in space and share data, which ensures customers will never lose service.>>
Quote from: Captain Crutch on 11/11/2019 03:45 pmI'm sure releasing the tension bars causes a spring like motion which then propells and spreads the sats away from the stage and eachother. Just a guess but it seems pretty logical, things under tension just tend to spring back once thetension is released.You may be right, but that's not what SpaceX thought on the previous launch. They were very deliberate in spinning the second stage and explained that this would provide the necessary differential momentum. Maybe there are small springs between the satellites that are released at the time the tension bar is released. Something is different this time.
Quote from: mainmind on 11/11/2019 03:50 pmIt was said up-thread that this batch of satellites do not have the inter-satellite laser links. Does anyone know when that will be added? It seemed like the whole "link" part of Starlink and an important component for faster global communications.ThanksGwynne Shotwell at IAC2019,CNN...Quote>The 60 satellites that we already flew are capable of operations, but the next version will have upgraded technology. By late next year, we'll be flying satellite with lasers that allow them to talk to each other in space and share data, which ensures customers will never lose service.>>
Does anybody have preliminary two line elements for this batch of satellites, or a link to a ground track display? I would love to see them this time.
Quote from: marsbase on 11/11/2019 03:49 pmQuote from: Captain Crutch on 11/11/2019 03:45 pmI'm sure releasing the tension bars causes a spring like motion which then propells and spreads the sats away from the stage and eachother. Just a guess but it seems pretty logical, things under tension just tend to spring back once thetension is released.You may be right, but that's not what SpaceX thought on the previous launch. They were very deliberate in spinning the second stage and explained that this would provide the necessary differential momentum. Maybe there are small springs between the satellites that are released at the time the tension bar is released. Something is different this time.The second stage was clearly rotating at separation for this launch as well.
Quote from: eriblo on 11/11/2019 03:59 pmQuote from: marsbase on 11/11/2019 03:49 pmQuote from: Captain Crutch on 11/11/2019 03:45 pmI'm sure releasing the tension bars causes a spring like motion which then propells and spreads the sats away from the stage and eachother. Just a guess but it seems pretty logical, things under tension just tend to spring back once thetension is released.You may be right, but that's not what SpaceX thought on the previous launch. They were very deliberate in spinning the second stage and explained that this would provide the necessary differential momentum. Maybe there are small springs between the satellites that are released at the time the tension bar is released. Something is different this time.The second stage was clearly rotating at separation for this launch as well.Aha! You are right. It's not rotating as rapidly as last time, but there is a spin there. Also not much background to view it against. Ok, I retract my observation.
So the network topology they're going for with the current iteration is akin to bent-pipe reflectors taking between users and ground stations? And that's the version that's going to go live for northern US and parts of Canada next year? How many ground stations do they have set up now?