SpaceX F9 : Starlink 5 (v1.0 L4) : Feb. 17, 2020 : Master Thread

[LouScheffer]

Hans: Last launch had a landing failure due to the winds that the booster encountered not being as predicted. Therefore, the booster decided to divert to a water landing to protect the droneship.

Ha!   I called it!

Between the entry burn and the landing burn, the rocket is only guided by the grid fins, with a little help from the RCS.  So the entry burn should target the ship, assuming some model of the intervening winds.  If the winds were then different than predicted, the booster might not have enough cross range to reach the barge.  (And the winds were changing quite a bit day to day, prior to the launch.)

[Draggendrop]

WRT the booster landing abort...intelligent feature.

ASDS OCISLY is the only mobile recovery unit in operation until work is completed on JRTI.

With Starlink and booked customers, this platform needs to be ready every 2-4 weeks for booster recovery. If the ASDS takes a bad hit, repair time may exceed this interval and booster(s) will get splashed. A splashed booster does not have future revenue potential...at this time...

It will be nice to see LZ-1 in use for tonights CRS mission. Having ASDS JRTI in future rotation will ease the pressure a little and allow for marine repairs and inspections.

[Comga]

The Falcon 9 second stage from the most recent Starlink launch reentered at 1344 UTC Mar 5 over the NE Pacific, 1000 km west of Portland, Oregon

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1235989732531855364

So that’s about 17 days
A quick approximation suggested that the drag integrated around the elliptical orbit was several times greater than the previous (330 km?) orbit, due to the low perigee.
How long did it take the Starlink 4 L3 second stage to renter?