T+1 hour 2 minutes and 17 seconds. Expected separation.
Thanks, Steven for the excellent launch coverage.
More views from SoCal; third photo shows what looked like some sort of thruster firing from the fairings shortly after separation...
Views of the booster dropping out of the sky while the 2nd stage continues to orbit
This Post contains a montage of various other videos submitted.
https://twitter.com/rawsalerts/status/1769938743454998738🚨#BREAKING: Thousands of people are witnessing a spectacular jellyfish vapor across night sky
📌#LosAngeles | #California
Currently, across Southern California and into Arizona, millions are witnessing a spectacular event after SpaceX launched their Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, producing a stunning jellyfish-like vapor trail. Some people are concerned, thinking it might be a nuclear warhead launching or even calling it a UFO, but its just SpaceX doing their thing.
🚨#UPDATE: More incredible footage shows the jellyfish rocket vapor from the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch, as seen from Arizona.
Can someone help me with the math? I plug in 137 km altitude at 27361 km/hr to some equations and I get that it should be in an orbit of 137 km x -550 km orbit (that's negative, i.e. within the earth). Does SpaceX use earth's surface based numeric displays?
Can someone help me with the math? I plug in 137 km altitude at 27361 km/hr to some equations and I get that it should be in an orbit of 137 km x -550 km orbit (that's negative, i.e. within the earth). Does SpaceX use earth's surface based numeric displays?
The quoted speed is Earth-relative, not inertial.
Edit: I estimate from the SupTLEs that SECO-1 was over 113W 26N more or less at an azimuth of 141 deg. That means Vr = 27361 km/hr = 7.6003 km/s has components Vr cos (51 ) east, Vr sin (51) south. Earth rotation vel is 0.4651 km/s at the equator, so 0.418 km/s east at 26N. Adding these gives inertial velocity Vi = (4.783, 5.906) + (0.418, 0.000 ) = (5.201, -5.906) which has norm |Vi| = 7.869 km/s.
137 km perigee with Vi = 7.869 km/s at perigee results in a 137 x 297 km orbit.
A couple tweaks: taking into account the flattening of the Earth, this is actually only 134 km above the 'spherical fiducial Earth' which would give 134 x 287 km.
But: the result is VERY sensitive to the assumed latitude of the burn. If SECO-1
was at 22N instead of 26N, and that's a more realistic estimate when I model the orbit more carefully, the Vi increases to 7.883 km/s and the orbit is 134 x 334 km. So there's a lot of slop given the uncertainties in the input data.
Can someone help me with the math? I plug in 137 km altitude at 27361 km/hr to some equations and I get that it should be in an orbit of 137 km x -550 km orbit (that's negative, i.e. within the earth). Does SpaceX use earth's surface based numeric displays?
The quoted speed is Earth-relative, not inertial.
Earth-relative to where? The launch site? Do I need to do a 3D vector subtraction?
Can someone help me with the math? I plug in 137 km altitude at 27361 km/hr to some equations and I get that it should be in an orbit of 137 km x -550 km orbit (that's negative, i.e. within the earth). Does SpaceX use earth's surface based numeric displays?
The quoted speed is Earth-relative, not inertial.
Earth-relative to where? The launch site? Do I need to do a 3D vector subtraction?
Relative to the rotating Earth surface, or more precisely to a coordinate frame rotating with the Earth.
See edited post above.
Go Beyond returned to PoLB on Mar 20 @ 6:30am PT / 9:30am ET
Lindsay C + OCISLY + B1075 returned to PoLB on Mar 20 @ 12:17pm PT / 3:17pm ET
Interestings. I wonder what Hartman's sources are that mean he thinks he can confirm.
It's possible; we'll see if appropriate catalog entries eventually appear. But I am not convinced yet.
Cross-posting a summary of what we currently know. No new "USA" satellites catalog entries yet.
[Love the reaction shot GPSST included.]
https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1769921066594639961
Cosmic Penguin @Cosmic_Penguin
BTW it looks all but certain 2 out of 22 Starlink satellites on just-launched Group 7-16 are actually Starshield sats of the US military:
* Mysterious drop outs in live cam feeds from the 2nd stage during ascent
* No forward looking camera views seen as per usual practices.
