Author Topic: SpaceX F9 : Starlink v1.0 L24 : CCSFS SLC-40 : 28/29 April 2021 (0344 UTC) (Read 39993 times)

Jansen · « **Reply #60 on:** 04/29/2021 04:30 am »

SES-2 and nominal orbit insertion

cuddihy · « **Reply #61 on:** 04/29/2021 04:30 am »

Even if it’s just invisible gas, it’s a whole lot of it squirting out where it’s a virtual vacuum, so it’s going to reflect noticeable light if any is available.
It wouldn’t happen quite so visibly at lower altitude, although there you get the cool jet causing condensation & more normal atmospheric effects you’d expect.

AC in NC · « **Reply #62 on:** 04/29/2021 04:40 am »

Quote from: chopsticks on 04/29/2021 04:21 am

Is it ok to comment in here?

Something that I can't ever figure out about night launches: why can we see the RCS firing at night? It's cold nitrogen gas, isn't it? Yet, you could easily see thruster pulses when you couldn't see any of the rocket being illuminated. I've never understood this. Does the RCS produce visible light or is there something else going on here? I've noticed this on other nighttime launches as well.

Sent from my Redmi Note 7 using Tapatalk

Broadcast mentioned that the moon was providing some of the "ambient" light that would be reflected by the gas.

Tangentially, Jesse fumbled a little bit saying that "sunlight" was providing the illumination that showed the grid fin deploy when in fact it would've been the S2 MVac.

Jansen · « **Reply #63 on:** 04/29/2021 04:48 am »

Starlink deployment successful

Some have been painted white for thermal reasons

chopsticks · « **Reply #64 on:** 04/29/2021 04:48 am »

Yeah, I caught that Jesse wasn't quite right there with the light coming from the sun when in fact it was from the second stage. I'm just a bit confused as to why you can't see the grid fins for example, but can easily see the thrusters. Maybe the expanding gas is just much more reflective than the rest of the rocket and picks up the moonlight?

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Comga · « **Reply #65 on:** 04/29/2021 04:50 am »

Much of the first stage flight was visible from Delray Beach FL (inland). It’s about 175 miles or 280 km distant. Went into a cloud before MECO.
Tiny but neat to see. Second SpaceX launch I’ve seen from here.

And the RCS plumes would be visible in the moonlight.
On a previous F9 launch I was able to see the second stage plume in the moonlight for several minutes. It almost stays the same size as it expands with altitude around the rate it recedes into the distance.

Jansen · « **Reply #66 on:** 04/29/2021 04:52 am »

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1387630218752450563

SPKirsch · « **Reply #67 on:** 04/29/2021 04:53 am »

https://mobile.twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1387630426253008897

SMS · « **Reply #68 on:** 04/29/2021 04:56 am »

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1387630400210604033

https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews/status/1387630225647935489

scr00chy · « **Reply #69 on:** 04/29/2021 05:06 am »

https://twitter.com/scr00chy/status/1387628605178585088

Note: I meant to say reused boosters flew on 59 different missions. There were 61 reused boosters in total due to Falcon Heavy.

SMS · « **Reply #70 on:** 04/29/2021 05:17 am »

https://twitter.com/ken_kremer/status/1387636943454932992

SMS · « **Reply #71 on:** 04/29/2021 05:18 am »

https://twitter.com/AmericaSpace/status/1387637008873439232

Jansen · « **Reply #72 on:** 04/29/2021 05:22 am »

Quote

Falcon 9 Marks 4th Launch in Four Months With Midnight Starlink Mission

That is a horribly written headline lol.

But yes, 4th launch of the year for B1060.

SMS · « **Reply #73 on:** 04/29/2021 05:51 am »

https://twitter.com/GregScott_photo/status/1387642434847444992

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #74 on:** 04/29/2021 06:53 am »

https://twitter.com/mike_seeley/status/1387618021267677184

Quote

The #SpaceX #Falcon9 meets the Moon as another batch of #Starlink satellites are sent to orbit.

Congrats to @elonmusk & team on another successful launch & landing!

(📷: me / @WeReportSpace)

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #75 on:** 04/29/2021 07:00 am »

Couple of launch photos from SpaceX

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #76 on:** 04/29/2021 07:05 am »

https://twitter.com/therealjonvh/status/1387628567807283200

Quote

Beautiful launch this evening by SpaceX with their Falcon 9 rocket on their 25th #Starlink mission.

We went "Exploring" tonight can't wait for the next one!

Special huge thanks to @flightclubio

📷: me for @gospacelaunch

OneSpeed · « **Reply #77 on:** 04/29/2021 08:36 am »

Here is a comparison of the telemetry from Starlink L23 and L24.

1. L24 has gone for a flatter bottomed throttle bucket, as opposed to L23's vee shaped one.
2. Like L23, L24 maintained a higher AoA to MECO than other recent Starlink missions, giving it the same S1 ballistic apogee of 126km.
3. Ignoring the spikes, the S2 L23 and L24 profiles were very similar.

nalawod · « **Reply #78 on:** 04/29/2021 01:27 pm »

This is the first time in a long time that I was able to see the booster re-entry burn on the horizon. Time of that linked my video description.

Sorry my time-lapse is so awful, I'm going to need to use a different camera than my Nikon P1000- it really can't do time-lapse of night rocket launches because auto exposure gets blasted out and I need more manual control. It does great for everything else.

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #79 on:** 04/29/2021 07:27 pm »

More images from SpaceX