Spot the Space Station

[Pkrd]

The stars aligned tonight.
Well, a planet, a moon, and the ISS (and a few more moons if you look closely).

 

[day_trippr]

Space is hard to do...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/09/business/virgin-orbit-uk-satellite-launch-scn/index.html

 

[passedpawn]

Like I said on here before, read Liftoff. It's a full treatise on the subject.

 

[day_trippr]

I've had Liftoff in my Kindle library since the last time you recommended it. It's only one 6 volume series and one other book away

Lots of spacey stuff going on. We got a comet in the neighborhood, SpaceX has a Falcon Heavy launch scheduled for either the 14 or 15, and one of a bunch of vanilla Starlink missions in January is set to go up on the 15th.

https://news.yahoo.com/stay-watch-rare-green-comet-165455364.html
Cheers!

 

[passedpawn]

I've had Liftoff in my Kindle library since the last time you recommended it. It's only one 6 volume series and one other book away

Lots of spacey stuff going on. We got a comet in the neighborhood, SpaceX has a Falcon Heavy launch scheduled for either the 14 or 15, and one of a bunch of vanilla Starlink missions in January is set to go up on the 15th.

https://news.yahoo.com/stay-watch-rare-green-comet-165455364.html
Cheers!

If you have a few minutes to kill, you should look into amateur satellites. Yes, there are many of them in orbit. The ones I'm familiar with are the CubeSAT satellites used for HAM radio communications. They are designed by amateur radio enthusiasts and launched as ballast on commercial space missions. They are only about 10cm cubed. I'm a licensed amateur radio operator. I mostly work in HF frequencies that stay inside our planet's ionosphere. Satellite comm requires VHF. We use these satellites as repeaters to reach distant locations on the planet.

 

[day_trippr]

So the Falcon Heavy launch apparently went off without any notable hitches. This video captures the last minute and a half or so of the side booster landings, which did suffer a bit from the late afternoon lighting...



Cheers!

 

[Konadog]

I'm still waiting for the StarLink rocket that was supposed to launch last week and has been put off by weather, It's now rescheduled for later this week.

 

[day_trippr]

Starlink launch went off this morning, too early for me

Really good article on the comet here: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/spot-circumpolar-comet-ztf-c-2022-e3-in-binoculars/

Cheers!

 

[Konadog]

Ours is scheduled for tomorrow morning (Starlink launch). I've been waiting for the sky to clear up enough to see the comet, but it's still to cloudy and/or hazy to even try.

 

[day_trippr]

Ah, didn't even think about a Left Coast launch. Tomorrow morning, 7:24 here...

 

[day_trippr]

Folks in the New England area and looking south might see a satellite launch in the next 10 minutes.
Launch is in Virginia...



[edit] We saw it! A white fan emanating from a bright point due south heading east, maybe 20° above the horizon.
Too faint to image with a phone but very cool! Pretty sure that's the first sat launch I've seen from here

[edit2] Sorry to see that the video was taken down. Someone trying to make a buck I guess...

 

[Konadog]

No mater what it is, it's always exciting to see a launch!

 

[day_trippr]

You can find lots of images/vids on the net. This is pretty close to what we saw moving up and across the night sky. Pretty cool...

 

[day_trippr]

The Next Big Event may well be SpaceX lighting up a 33 engine Super Heavy booster.
After the (unexpected, no doubt) launch site damage caused by the 4 engine SLS/Artemis booster I can only imagine the carnage Super Heavy might cause...

 

[Konadog]

You can find lots of images/vids on the net. This is pretty close to what we saw moving up and across the night sky. Pretty cool...

View attachment 810997

I'm still trying to see it from the city, haven't spotted it yet.

 

[day_trippr]

31 out of 33 ain't bad

 

[Konadog]

Now that's some horsepower!

 

[day_trippr]

It will be interesting what a few seconds static firing 31 Raptors does to their pad

 

[Konadog]

With no water suppression, I'm sure it's as cooked as it was loud.

 

[day_trippr]

Crew 6 launch happening in the wee hours "tonite"...

 

[Yesfan]

Crew 6 launch happening in the wee hours "tonite"...

Guess I'll watch the replay. What's the mission as I've lost track.

EDIT: Nevermind, didn't think about reading the description box under the video.

 

[day_trippr]

Scrubbed due to a "lighting fluid failure"?

Anyway..."The next launch opportunity comes on Thursday (March 2) at 12:34 a.m. EST (0534 GMT); weather on Tuesday (Feb. 28), the first possible opportunity before that, is not favorable for launch, according to NASA and SpaceX. "

 

[day_trippr]

Meanwhile...

https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-launch-doubleheader-february-27

 

[day_trippr]

Crew 6 launch is now scheduled to go off in the wee hours of tomorrow at 12:34 ET.
Apparently a plugged "triethylaluminum triethylboron filter" was the root cause of the scrub.
Filter replaced, system nitro purged, and they're ready to go again.
Hopefully this goes off safely...

Cheers!

 

[Konadog]

That reminds me, I need to check my "triethylaluminum triethylboron filter" on my own rocket.

On the West Coast, we finally launched the new 2.0 StarLink's today. It was suposed to leave the same day as crew 6.

 

[day_trippr]

So many launches lately it's hard to keep up. SpaceX has stuff going off seemingly daily including the successful Crew 6 launch sandwiched between myriad Starlink launches. This Relativity Space launch at noon tomorrow (Saturday) is mundane wrt "missionality" by comparison but it is interesting tech...

https://www.wired.com/story/the-worlds-first-3d-printed-rocket-is-about-to-launch-relativity-space/
Youtube launch link:



Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

Almost missed another launch on Saturday, this one from the Wallops facility in Virginia, going off in the early evening (6 to 8 pm est) and could be visible well into the New England states...

https://amp.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article272925140.html
Cheers!

 

[Yesfan]

Almost missed another launch on Saturday, this one from the Wallops facility in Virginia, going off in the early evening (6 to 8 pm est) and could be visible well into the New England states...

https://amp.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article272925140.html
Cheers!

Ugh. I'm just outside the zone to see that launch.

 

[day_trippr]

I was lucky to see the Wallops launch back in late January but it was darker earlier back then. If it goes off at the late end of the window I might have a chance this time but if it's on the early end I doubt it...

Cheers!

 

[Yesfan]

I was lucky to see the Wallops launch back in late January but it was darker earlier back then. If it goes off at the late end of the window I might have a chance this time but if it's on the early end I doubt it...

Cheers!

I'm in SE TN, so outside that window for tonight's lauch. If the skies are clear, I may check anyways to know for sure. Going to see a legit launch at Cape Canaveral, FL is one item on my bucket list.