SpaceX F9 : Starlink v1.0 L23 : CCSFS SLC-40 : 7 April 2021 (1634 UTC)

[mn]

Too many people were trying to intercept SpaceX telemetry (and publish it on the twitters)

Probably led to the issues with camera views

https://twitter.com/r2x0t/status/1379843322152431622

Now these same people want to try to decrypt it

I *seriously* doubt that had anything whatsoever to do with the SpaceX video feed issues at launch and continuing through the first few minutes of flight. Otherwise you’re claiming SpaceX can’t decrypt their own video feed. Bear in mind that serious video feed encryption is literally consumer-grade technology at this point.

If they implement new encryption in the feed, the receiving end must be on the same page, so it's at least possible that this is what caused the missing video, it took them a few minutes for someone to walk the key on a usb stick over to the video desk. (not saying what happened, just saying it's plausible)

[cscott]

I've done written too much software to discount it.  Adding an extra feature, which "should" work, but is low priority and isn't tested "live" until the rocket is in the air---I 100% believe that someone discovered in real time the 1 remaining place in the production video pipeline that didn't have the proper decryption key provisioned.  I wouldn't expect this to recur, once fixed it's fixed.

[Jansen]

Good deployment

[Chris Bergin]

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1379851301425704961

[wannamoonbase]

Booster 1058 is really a work horse, it could get to 8 flights in under 12 months.

That's simply amazing.

Great job SpaceX making the launch and deployment of 60 satellites look so routine!

[Jansen]

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1379851411840593925

SpaceX confirms deployment successful

[HVM]

Too many people were trying to intercept SpaceX telemetry (and publish it on the twitters)

Probably led to the issues with camera views

https://twitter.com/r2x0t/status/1379843322152431622

Now these same people want to try to decrypt it

I *seriously* doubt that had anything whatsoever to do with the SpaceX video feed issues at launch and continuing through the first few minutes of flight. Otherwise you’re claiming SpaceX can’t decrypt their own video feed. Bear in mind that serious video feed encryption is literally consumer-grade technology at this point.

SpaceX also build their own cameras, and some mission they don't work... Also comparing consumer-grade radio links to ones in the orbit is like me saying my tractor has turbomachinery in it and it's very reliable; why can't SpaceX build as reliable Raptor turbopumps.

[ugordan]

I've done written too much software to discount it.  Adding an extra feature, which "should" work, but is low priority and isn't tested "live" until the rocket is in the air

As a software developer myself, I can concur. Losing a single 1st or 2nd stage camera could be down to hardware or telemetry issues. Losing both was suspicious, regaining both at virtually the same time even more so, especially as both stages are separated a fair bit by that point in time for tracking purposes. Somewhere along, in the pipeline chain, there was a snafu regarding this change, that much should be fairly evident. Wouldn't even be the first time this kind of snafu happened. First FH launch had 2 copies of the same side booster camera feed. The mission ground track visualization was delayed many seconds on at least one FH launch, etc.

Oh well, I was waiting for this to happen - them encrypting the streams - despite some people arguing they wouldn't as there would be no point in doing so. After all, if they wanted people seeing prolonged shots of the LOX tank, they wouldn't have been cutting away from live video any time the onboard feed switched to that camera.

[Lars-J]

F9 "Tokyo Drift"  (see image)

It is interesting to watch the seconds after this to see the rocket pretty quickly change attitude to prepare for stage separation.

[mlindner]

Chris G said on the stream at 25:30 for this launch that you can't launch Starship to a polar orbit for Starlink launches. I'm pretty sure that's false. Boca Chica juts out a decent amount into the Gulf of Mexico and the coastline south of that location is almost due south so a dogleg wouldn't even be needed much. Starship should be able to launch polar starlink launches from that location without issue.

Chris G also gave out some other misinformation and stated that the facility at Boca Chica is being designed to "not attract lightning strikes" which is fundamentally impossible. Lightning strikes strike anything tall, no matter the material. Before it became common to put lightning rods on buildings, brick and wooden buildings used to burn down because of lightning strikes hitting them. He also compared to airlines saying airlines are designed to not attract lightning strikes which is also incorrect. Lightning doesn't strike airliners much because they're not grounded to the ground.

[kdhilliard]

The S2 view appeared at T+7:07, and the S1/S2 split screen at T+07:23, but the Booster camera was visible on the Mission Control screen seen behind Youmei Zhou (Dragon Propulsion Engineer and today's launch co-host) when they cut to her at T+06:33, with the Entry Burn Startup visible 10 seconds later, though they cut away from her at T+06:56 before the burn was complete.

It might have been just a production issue, with the onboard camera feeds not initially available to the webcast video engineer.

SpaceX Falcon 9 B1058-7 lands on OCISLY.
Great onboard view for this one!
...

Yes, and at T+08:05, OCISLY can be seen sneaking into view at the inboard left corner of the left grid fin.

[Lars-J]

Chris G said on the stream at 25:30 for this launch that you can't launch Starship to a polar orbit for Starlink launches. I'm pretty sure that's false. Boca Chica juts out a decent amount into the Gulf of Mexico and the coastline south of that location is almost due south so a dogleg wouldn't even be needed much. Starship should be able to launch polar starlink launches from that location without issue.

I doubt it. The extended overflight over Mexico would be a much risker than a narrow Cuba and Panama flyover. Perhaps when Starship flights are well established, but that might be a while. But this not the topic for this discussion I think.

[mlindner]

Chris G said on the stream at 25:30 for this launch that you can't launch Starship to a polar orbit for Starlink launches. I'm pretty sure that's false. Boca Chica juts out a decent amount into the Gulf of Mexico and the coastline south of that location is almost due south so a dogleg wouldn't even be needed much. Starship should be able to launch polar starlink launches from that location without issue.

I doubt it. The extended overflight over Mexico would be a much risker than a narrow Cuba and Panama flyover. Perhaps when Starship flights are well established, but that might be a while. But this not the topic for this discussion I think.

It wouldn't overfly Mexico until near the southern part of Mexico, when the vehicle is close to orbital velocities. The IIP wouldn't be over land for very long. (Starlink doesn't even technically need a 90 degree inclination to have full coverage of the South Pole either.) There's also no need for downrange recovery.

[cscott]

The S2 view appeared at T+7:07, and the S1/S2 split screen at T+07:23, but the Booster camera was visible on the Mission Control screen seen behind Youmei Zhou (Dragon Propulsion Engineer and today's launch co-host) when they cut to her at T+06:33, with the Entry Burn Startup visible 10 seconds later, though they cut away from her at T+06:56 before the burn was complete.

It might have been just a production issue, with the onboard camera feeds not initially available to the webcast video engineer.

Yeah.  Not surprising at all that they tested the "real" pipeline, the one they use for video in mission control, and the oversight was in reconfiguring the separate webcast video pipeline.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

SpaceX launch photos by Ben Cooper

[OneSpeed]

Here is a comparison of the public booster telemetry from Starlink L22 and L23.

Unlike recent missions, the L23 booster appears to maintain a high AoA all the way to MECO (normally the rocket pitches down (more) just before MECO). As a result, the ballistic coast has an apogee about 10km higher at 126km, and consequently the booster lands some 18km further downrange at 633km.

Additionally, you can see that although the entry burns both peak at around 4.5g, the velocity after the entry burn is higher for L23, as is the acceleration due to drag as it hits the sensible atmosphere. For L23, the peak acceleration is over 5g, and will mean increased heating compared to previous Starlink missions.

Edit: For completeness, I've added the S2 telemetry, which confirms L23's more lofted trajectory, as well as the very similar insertion altitude and velocity (within about 4m/s).

[Lars-J]

Here is a comparison of the public booster telemetry from Starlink L22 and L23.

Unlike recent missions, the L23 booster appears to maintain a high AoA all the way to MECO (normally the rocket pitches down just before MECO). As a result, the ballistic coast has an apogee about 10km higher at 126km, and consequently the booster lands some 18km further downrange at 633km.

No, watch the sequence again, it definitely pitches down. Maybe not all the way, but it does most of the way.

[klod]

I heard some info that SpaceX choose not to show webcams from 1st stage during ascends of Starlinks missions. It could lower chances of getting issues. They have had them.

[gin455res]

What was the splash that happened in the top right of the feed at T=+8:53 (27:58 in the webcast)

[SMS]

https://twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1380080100750675971