SpaceX F9 : Starlink 7 (v1.0 L6) : April 22, 2020 : Discussion

[wannamoonbase]

Updating software.

That will be interesting to see the results.  The fairing recovery ships will hopefully tighten up that process.

Congratulations SpaceX on the return to flight (of sorts) it looked flawless.

I love that we are seeing reused first stages and fairings flying now. 

Starlink going active for customers and full reuse of rockets doesn't seem too far away now.

Bring on Starlink 8!

[Steven Pietrobon]

Congratulations to SpaceX for the launch of Starlink L6!

Here's the droneship and fairing capture ship I missed capturing during the webcast.

[lucspace]

Just watched the stack flying over the Netherlands from Hilversum!

[Apollo-phill]

Starlink stage just overflew UK couple minutes back .

Great view.

Going back outside now look for previous Starlink sat train that should cross just below Ursa Major ( the Plough) at 9 pmish UK time (2000-ish GMT)

Apollo-phill

[AZspaceman]

Where's this camera located? Stage 2 tank?  There are a couple of frames in today's launch video.  Looks like something you would see as video channels were switched.

[Eerie]

Where's this camera located? Stage 2 tank?

Yes.

[CrazyHorse80]

Where's this camera located? Stage 2 tank?  There are a couple of frames in today's launch video.  Looks like something you would see as video channels were switched.

So cool! Truly amazing.

[Mike_1179]

Where's this camera located? Stage 2 tank?

Yes.

Stage 2 LOX tank to be specific. That black thing on the side is one of the bottles that holds helium for pressurization as LOX is depleted

[CraigLieb]

Where's this camera located? Stage 2 tank?  There are a couple of frames in today's launch video.  Looks like something you would see as video channels were switched.

So cool! Truly amazing.

Of course it’s cool... it’s LOX.   (Crawling back to the party thread)

[Perchlorate]

Any word on fairing catching?

[AndrewRG10]

Any word on fairing catching?

We know they both splashed down, just not how softly, might not know till they're in port.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Sorry it is hard to see, but here are the satellites/upperstage flying over Cambridgeshire

I've enhanced the image so as to see the trail.

[Rocket Science]

Catching up a bit looks like COVID fever back the past few days again.. Thanks for the coverage. Did they upgrade the camera on the first stage it looked so good or was it just clean and clear?

[Vettedrmr]

Catching up a bit looks like COVID fever back the past few days again.. Thanks for the coverage. Did they upgrade the camera on the first stage it looked so good or was it just clean and clear?

I think it was the same camera as always; just didn't get dirty.

[edkyle99]

Where's this camera located? Stage 2 tank?

Yes.

Stage 2 LOX tank to be specific. That black thing on the side is one of the bottles that holds helium for pressurization as LOX is depleted

A nearly empty LOX tank too, which is what a launch provider wants to see at the end of the burn.  Still a bit of residual LOX there though.

 - Ed Kyle 

[OnWithTheShow]

A nearly empty LOX tank too, which is what a launch provider wants to see at the end of the burn.  Still a bit of residual LOX there though.

 - Ed Kyle

Do Starlink 2nd stages on the current profile perform a deorbit burn or are they allowed to naturally decay? I imagine with the low perigee it would only take an orbit or two but the accuracy of the rentry area would be reduced.

[Vettedrmr]

Do Starlink 2nd stages on the current profile perform a deorbit burn or are they allowed to naturally decay? I imagine with the low perigee it would only take an orbit or two but the accuracy of the rentry area would be reduced.

AIUI 2nd stage does not deorbit.  How long it stays in orbit IDK.

[edkyle99]

Do Starlink 2nd stages on the current profile perform a deorbit burn or are they allowed to naturally decay? I imagine with the low perigee it would only take an orbit or two but the accuracy of the rentry area would be reduced.

AIUI 2nd stage does not deorbit.  How long it stays in orbit IDK.

Post earlier in this thread detailed a Stage 2 reentry zone, supposedly during first orbit, which would I think require some type of retro delta-v, maybe from RCS and/or blowdown if not a restart. 
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=50376.msg2068585#msg2068585

 - Ed Kyle

[ulm_atms]

A nearly empty LOX tank too, which is what a launch provider wants to see at the end of the burn.  Still a bit of residual LOX there though.

 - Ed Kyle

Do Starlink 2nd stages on the current profile perform a deorbit burn or are they allowed to naturally decay? I imagine with the low perigee it would only take an orbit or two but the accuracy of the rentry area would be reduced.

It has to do a small Dv change to de-orbit in a specific area as if it only took an orbit or two...all the starlink sats would renter as it takes a few orbits to spread out enough to deploy the solar panels without running into each other.

I think Ed is on the money.  RCS or blowdown.

[kdhilliard]

Where's this camera located? ...

They used to show a lot more LOX tank video.  Below is a clip from the January 2015 launch of CRS-5, showing ten seconds of the booster's LOX tank around MECO and a couple minutes of the second stage LOX tank, with views during the last few minutes of flight, then during and after SECO.  So cool!  I'd pay movie theater prices to see a good quality, full-flight-duration views of the LOX tanks.

Do we know why they rarely show it anymore?  Are there there ITAR or IP protection concerns?  They way they rapidly switched through it on this flight (13 frames here, 14 frames there, then 7 more there) left me wondering if it was shown only accidentally.