Full NASA livestream - the current official one on YouTube has missed the first 15 or so minutes due to technical glitch:
Congratulations to the entire launch campaign team! ❗️🎉🥳🚀
Thank you, NSF webcasters, for tonight's webcast! 🎖👏👍
Thank you, Steven and catdlr, for tonight's launch thread coverage! 🌟💐✨️
NASA webcast ends with launch replay.
Thanks zubenelgenubi and let's not forget Future Space Tourist for his support. I enjoy working with the NSF coverage team.
Some reusability stats for this launch (PACE):
Booster B1081.4 turnaround time:
51 days 2 hours 32 minutes(its previous mission was Starlink Group 6-34 on Dec 19, 2023 UTC).
FYI: median turnaround time for Falcon 9 / Heavy boosters is currently 50.16 days *
* – based on the last 30 launches, excluding new first stages.
Launchpad SLC-40 turnaround time:
8 days 13 hours 26 minutes(the previous launch from this pad was Cygnus NG-20 on Jan 30, 2024 UTC).
FYI: median turnaround time for SLC-40 is currently 5.24 days *
* – based on the last 30 launches.
The same type of stats for previous SpaceX launches may be found on
this spreadsheet online.
P.S. The first launch attempt was planned on February 6 at 06:33 UTC, but the mission was delayed because of unfavorable weather conditions. If the launch wasn't scrubbed on February 6, the turnaround times would be:
-
49 days, 2 hours, 32 minutes for B1081.4;
-
6 days, 13 hours, 26 minutes for SLC-40.
Viewership:
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NASA 29.2K 23%
Space Affairs 2.5K 2%
Total: 127K
I was under the impression that even for a polar orbit SpaceX had to dog-leg around the Miami metropolitan rather than a direct overflight. Seems problematic. This flight path from NASA LSP is inconsistent with the one posted previously in this thread? Perhaps they are overgeneralizing?
Previous post from OneSpeed along with his interpretation.
From the SpaceX webcast telemetry, PACE did as LSP suggested, and overflew the most populous areas of Florida. This does not mean that the instantaneous impact point (IIP) did the same. The IIP would have been south of those areas at all times that the spacecraft was over them.
However, I could not have predicted this ground track from the NGA notices, because of the orientation of the failed boostback burn area, which implied a booster flightpath further to the East. It will be interesting to see if this launch trajectory is repeated.
I was under the impression that even for a polar orbit SpaceX had to dog-leg around the Miami metropolitan rather than a direct overflight. Seems problematic. This flight path from NASA LSP is inconsistent with the one posted previously in this thread? Perhaps they are overgeneralizing?
Previous post from OneSpeed along with his interpretation.
From the SpaceX webcast telemetry, PACE did as LSP suggested, and overflew the most populous areas of Florida. This does not mean that the instantaneous impact point (IIP) did the same. The IIP would have been south of those areas at all times that the spacecraft was over them.
However, I could not have predicted this ground track from the NGA notices, because of the orientation of the failed boostback burn area, which implied a booster flightpath further to the East. It will be interesting to see if this launch trajectory is repeated.
Onespeed,
Check this video (
posted above) run at 400% (at 1:50 into the launch) indicates the engines are thrust vectoring the booster to perform the dogleg as you initially plotted from the NGA notice. The SpaceX webcast telemetry plot screengrab you provided from the NASA feed is too far away, (that late in the launch sequence) and will not be as precise as we would have seen back in those days when SpaceX provided two video feeds, one (The NET) showed far better resolution for ground tracks.
Don't discount your detailed effort, I believe your tracking is the correct one until otherwise refuted by a NASA PAO.
Best
Tony.
Are they correct about this Fact?? Might be the first for NASA but not for SpaceX. Is that right?
PACE is LSP’s first launch to polar orbit from the East Coast and it’s the first for NASA since 1960. Other launches to polar orbit have been from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Check out tonight's launch trajectory!
You miss the detail that it is the first NASA LSP polar launch not the first NASA polar launch from the East Coast.
terrible coverage by nasa
terrible coverage by nasa
I prefer the NASA Media Channel coverage. No graphic overlays that hide what is happening and no repeating mindless scrolls that also hide what is happening.
An added benefit, no "X" that suddenly stops working.
- Ed Kyle
terrible coverage by nasa
An added benefit, no "X" that suddenly stops working.
- Ed Kyle
That made me laugh, thanks Ed. I watch it on NASA+, but I didn't make the effort to look up the stats.
Re: solar arrays… If they launch in the middle of the night, wont’t a sun synchronous orbit always keep it at night, so with no power most of the time?
It depends on equatorial crossing time. If it is at 6 am/6 pm, then it will always be in daylight.
If its later in the day, half the orbit will be in daylight and half will be in night.
Radar satellites typically use all daylight orbits, to get maximum power.
Visible/IR Earth observation satellites don't want long shadows, so they launch later in the day.
(my bolding)
To be precise, at minimum almost two thirds of that mid-day Sun synch orbit will be in sunlight, and at most about one third will be in the Earth's shadow, depending on the altitude, ascending node, season, etc.
(The Earth subtends about 136 degrees from a 500 km LEO, and 136/360~38%)
There are those portions of the orbit where the satellite is sunlit but above darkened nighttime below. Those are the times we get to see the satellite passes.
