I wonder if anybody here with insight into the matter can help me to some info.
For a typical SpaceX Starlink launch, what is the deorbit sequence for the Falcon 9 upper stage?
I assume it is this:
0) payloads release
1) possible Falcon 9 avoidance burn to get away from the payloads
2) Falcon 9 deorbit burn
3) Falcon 9 excess fuel blow-out.
What I want to know is whether there might be a fuel vent *before* the deorbit burn.
This in order to interpret camerarecords of a recent Falcon 9 pass close to deorbit. In the record, we see an object envelopped in a diffuse fuel/exhaust cloud, followed a few minutes later by a sudden brightening. I contemplate this sudden brightening being the actual deorbit burn (there is some evidence for that), but why is there a fuel cloud *before* this burn, if it is a burn?
Many thanks for any insight in the matter...
Which videos?
Images by Spanish meteor cameras, capturing the Falcon 9 upper stage from the Feb 16th Starlink launch on its final revolution, some 20-30 minutes before deorbit over the Indian Ocean. I am currently cooperating with with my Spanish colleagues in analyzing the imagery.
