Category Archives: Rockets

Multiple media, Rockets, Space Systems

Videos: SpaceX Falcon 9 launch makes for awesome light show over SoCal

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully placed 10 Iridium satellites into polar orbits on Saturday evening from Vandenberg AFB in California. The launch produced an amazing light show visible over much of Southern California.

Note that the second light spot visible in the plume is the first stage making a controlled descent. This previously flown booster did not land on a sea-going platform but did otherwise follow a landing style return. SpaceX has run out of storage space for this generation of boosters, which will only be re-flown once. A new version will be introduced in a few months that can be flown a dozen times with only inspection between flights and many more with some refurbishment.

Update: In this view, the two clam shell-like fairings around the satellites can be seen after they separate from the rocket. SpaceX has been developing ways to fly back and recover the fairings. In the video, firings of the cold-gas thrusters on the fairings can be seen:

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Rockets, Space industry and microgravity R&D

Big Falcon Heavy and Stratolaunch aircraft on display

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Some big commercial launch hardware has been on display this week:

** Elon Musk on Twitter posted photos of the first Falcon Heavy launcher in preparation in the hangar for a launch from Kennedy Space Center in January :

 

** Last weekend the giant Stratolaunch aircraft, which will be used to carry rockets to high altitudes for launch, took its first taxi drive down a runway at the Mojave Air & Space Port:

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Rockets, Spaceflight & Parabolic Flight

Videos: Blue Origin New Shepard rocket vehicle flies to edge of space and back

Been a busy week for NewSpace rockets. On Tuesday morning Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, launched its second-generation New Shepard rocket, which sent an unmanned crew capsule to nearly 100 km. The capsule separated from the booster and came down separately by parachutes after this suborbital flight. The booster landed vertically on a pad. The flight took place at Blue’s remote test site in West Texas.

The goal is to fly paying passengers and science/technology experiments routinely starting in about a year or so. The adventure seekers will experience the rapid acceleration from riding a rocket, then enjoy about 5 minutes of weightlessness after the capsule separates from the booster. They will see the curvature of the earth and the dark sky of space through the huge windows,  and then fall back into the atmosphere and float back to earth after the parachutes open for a soft landing .

This video shows the view from inside the capsule for the entire flight from liftoff to landing. The instrumented dummy is cleverly named Mannequin Skywalker.

 

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Rockets, Space industry and microgravity R&D, Space Systems

Videos: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Dragon cargo ship to the ISS; Reused booster lands successfully

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just launched a Dragon spacecraft into orbit this morning to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. The Dragon is carrying over 4,800 pounds (2177 kg) of research materials and equipment plus supplies for the crew. The Dragon will rendezvous and berth to the ISS on Sunday morning US time.

Both the Dragon and the first stage booster have each flown once before. The first stage came back to the Cape and landed successfully.

Here are views of the first stage landing:

And this video gives brief descriptions of some of the science and technology R&D payloads being delivered to the Station:

The complete SpaceX Webcast of the launch, landing, and Dragon deployment:

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Eyes in the Sky, Mars, Rockets

Videos: Mars 2020 overview, Global weather time lapse for Oct.2017, Falcon booster landing blooper reel

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A selection of space videos of interest:

** A preview of NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover mission:

** Global weather October 2017 – Eumetsat

A movie of weather across the globe during October of 2017.

Our series of monthly weather videos shows a combination of infrared imagery from the geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites of EUMETSAT, NOAA, the CMA and the JMA which, together, continuously observe the Earth’s surface 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

This data is used to help forecasters predict weather patterns and warn citizens of adverse weather conditions, hours and sometimes days in advance.

To see a full view of the Earth from the last hours, as seen by Meteosat-10, check out our web page at:  [EUMETSAT IPPS animation – Meteosat 0 degree Natural Colour]

** How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster

SpaceX has now successfully landed 15 first stage boosters in a row and 19 total. However, it took several rounds of trial and error to achieve that success:

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