Conversation started Dec 1, 2013 at 17:11.
Dec 1, 2013 17:11
Live stream covering the launch of the China's Chang'e 3 w/ Yutu lunar rover atop Long March III B rocket is now available via CCTV | P2P stream | HD stream
blarg. bandwidth limited ... again
Is it just me imagination, or do there suddenly seem to be a huge number of spacecraft/satellites headed upwards over the last 2 years?
wtf. "Our video can only be watched online"
@Everyone try other two streams
all three work for me... they have a bit of an issue with buffering, but it's not too distracting
p2p no go, and hd won't work here anyway
T-11 minutes
Smooth then?
Dec 1, 2013 17:20
T-9 minutes
3rd stage LOX/LH2 fueld
sounds like silk
launch window is only 2 minutes
That's tight but not very tight
T-4 minutes
Good idea for a question though. What space-craft had the shortest window on record?
Dec 1, 2013 17:27
@Everyone Some I've seen didn't even have any, it was down to a single second
Probably Earth orbiters then
fuel umbilicals have retracted
T-1 min
Were any of those single second spacecraft headed to a celestial?
crosses fingers
crosses toes
crosses legs
@Everyone Dunno, I don't remember any such
crosses arms
Dec 1, 2013 17:29
arms retracted
on own power
10s
stares cross-eyed at The Pod Bay
lift-off?
and off she goes
That's one small hop for a Jade Wabbit ...
Nominal?
@Everyone seems that way yes
I'm worried. Aren't rabbits supposed to be amongst the fastest reproducing mammals?
Dec 1, 2013 17:33
strap-on boosters are away, nice separation
@Everyone hehehe
j/k (+:
I've heard that they have Chang'e / Yutu 4 ready in case of this one's failure ... like they had with Chang'e 1 and later launched Chang'e 2 anyway since they had it ready
seems reasonable to me too, why build one if you've already made everything possible to build the 1st one
A two-some then... aye
That would mean there is another window in the near future ...
second stage separated and the third one ignited properly
You're reading my mind
Dec 1, 2013 17:38
we have some tracking, not much telemetry but the camera coverage is possibly the best one yet
nice live camera from 3rd stage now
I was just headed to google to look for it's ground-track; does China have a global DSN?
I'm recording it, if they show some ground track I'll grab you a frame
they must have some satellite relay for the live feed, the camera image is incredibly good even now
yeah; google says ESA are cooperating
3rd stage now coasting
Dec 1, 2013 17:41
they have some ship east of China in the Pacific
and they are still tracking it with an IR telescope from the ground wow
-ditto-
what resolution can an IR 'scope provide? and field of view. brb. tummy needs my attention
now in parking orbit, not sure when TLI will be
@Everyone no idea, but it looked absolutely great ... OK, the 3rd stage looked small but the image was clear
Another 37 minutes for Kourou to acquire
IR tracking is innovative, methinks. Can't recall reading of that measure earlier. They've certainly thought it through.
Now I must go. Tum won't keep.
Dec 1, 2013 17:45
3rd stage reignited for final orbit before TLI
TLI burn in about 5 minutes
6 tracking ships
3rd stage final cutoff
now rotating for 3rd stage separation
cam from 4th stage
3rd stage separation complete
ACS positioning 4th stage / probe for TLI
TLI burn ignition
4th stage burn ^
that's likely all of it, unless they transmit some nice infographic
so far smooth as butter
@Everyone there you go, current ground track
TLI successful
Dec 1, 2013 18:14
back
phew
How much acceleration did it pull at TLI?
legs of the lander deployed
or just a vector change?
eh? deployed? already?
@Everyone no idea, not much telemetry on screen and what it is it's in Chinese
No fair. SEx.SE should get a telemetry feed on space-related activities
Now remember that the ground track is now basically Earth's rotation, not much else since it's already in trajectory to the Moon
Dec 1, 2013 18:18
yeh ... why did the deploy the lander legs now?
scratches leg in confusion
they discussed that ... commentator asked someone they have there next to them from the team and they said they deployed since there isn't any damage in doing it early and it's one more thing off the checklist
something like that
solar panels now deployed
I guess ...
tho that wasn't critical, they have onboard battery, I think it's a small RTG
and there's some small solar panels on the body itself too
ACS seems to work without a problem, it's now positioning towards the Earth, maybe we'll get some video off it
ah no, not yet, fist they'll announce launch success
their own design on an RTG prolly - how long is it capable of powering the craft /instruments?
@Everyone I read somewhere it's sufficient for 5 months if it had to work without any additional solar power
Dec 1, 2013 18:23
So it' has some autonomy as far as it's movement is concerned then ...
yes so far I've seen a lot of redundancy on the spacecraft, and there's some nice article about it on Spaceflight101
crafts, assuming they're true-to-form & launch the twin at the next available opportunity
Just reading the article on sf101 - didn't miss a trick, did they?
some interviews now, a CNSA scientist explaining why exploration of the Moon is important and mentioning future lunar base and the Moon as a stepping stone for deep space exploration
Dec 1, 2013 18:34
did she mention what the system bus speed is?
@Everyone Not that I can tell, they've thought of many possible problems and of course I doubt we know of everything they have up their sleeves too
OK that's it for now, they've stopped broadcasting the event
Video of the launch is available here: english.peopledaily.com.cn/202936/8471536.html
that's the trouble with bunny-suit sleeves. voluminous doesn't begin to cover it.
that article on sf101 about the Chang'e was an eye-opener though; can't help but admire the effort involved
LOL
@TildalWave Weren't we talking about GPR on board space-craft the other day? ((+:
@Everyone Ah yes it has some microwave sonar no?
The GPR?
GPR is using amateur radio bands - 70cm, and below 6m
there you go, direct video
no English audio stream tho, the other one has it
Dec 1, 2013 18:48
What fuel is that??? The flame doesn't look high-grade - it's yellow/red
@Everyone first and second stage are N2O4/UDMH third stage is LOX/LH2
4 boosters are also N2O4/UDMH
@Tilda Hmmm?
|family = Long March |derivatives= Long March 3C |status = Active |sites = LC-2, XSLC |launches = 3B: 103B/E: 13 |success = 3B: 83B/E: 13 |fail = 3B: 1 |partial = 3B: 1 |first = 3B: 14 February 19963B/E: 13 May 2007 |stagedata= }} The Long March 3B (, Chang Zheng 3B), also known as the CZ-3B and LM-3B, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket. Introduced in 1996, it is launched from Launch Area 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan. A three-stage rocket with four strap-on liquid rocket boosters...
That flame looks far less bright ... and more ... dispersed than some of these photographs of the Shuttles, and Soyuz
could be camera's auto-calibration? dunno
Dec 1, 2013 18:57
could be I'm wrong (+:
yup, looks a lot whiter on some cameras and more yellowish, orange even on others
night shots, and they might have had "vivid" color profile? who knows
 
Conversation ended Dec 1, 2013 at 18:58.