« first day (74 days earlier)      last day (4063 days later) » 

1:42 AM
posted on September 29, 2013 by Courtney Dressing

Astrobites is looking for new authors! Please share this announcement with your colleagues and submit an application to join the team if you are a current graduate student.

 
5 hours later…
6:24 AM
@ManishEarth: 'morning. What happened to the community wiki check-box?
which one?
it was removed from questions a year ago
it's still there on answers
:o
Should a question seeking a list of references be a community wiki?
The question should not be asked on SE
Grace Note on August 19, 2011

When you mark a post community wiki on a Stack Exchange site, that means …

this post can be edited by anyone with 100 reputation

this post does not generate any reputation for anyone when upvoted or downvoted

The main advantage of community wiki — more editing — was nerfed when we introduced suggested edits. With suggested edits, anyone, even an anonymous user, can edit anything — so long as another experienced user reviews and approves their edit.

This leaves many wondering — what’s the point of Community Wiki? …

Explains why CW was removed from questions
make-a-list questions are almost network wide off topic
6:29 AM
Not verbatim make-a-list but something like 'what international regulations govern ...'
Ah well
 
9 hours later…
3:47 PM
Live stream for the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 is available on the SpaceX webcast page and on the SpaceflightNow LiveStream
T-12
T-5 minutes
@TildalWave What is the stuff spraying out the bottom? I'm assuming it is coolant, so maybe liquid Nitrogen?
@RoryAlsop hmm need to see it, could be
@TildalWave Just watching the live feed
@RoryAlsop Ah that's probably water spraying to get rid of excess gasses from depressurisation to not cause fire / explosion around the launcher when they ignite the engines
yup
@TildalWave ahhhhh - I thought it looked like water, but for some reason reckoned it couldn't be.
3:59 PM
T-40 seconds ... where's folks??
Interesting - I have it at T-50 seconds now
stream delay lol
I'm on 5 sec
great thunderous sound :)
Is this the first Falcon 9 v1.1 launch?
4:03 PM
@Caleb this upgraded version yes
blimey they didn't use the apple cam from the quadcopter for the onboard camera, did they? :)
@TildalWave Dunno but however it's connected I hope it's through some tertiary channel and their control link to the craft isn't as flaky as our stream ;)
I like the 2nd engine nozzle it's all glowing orange
@Caleb Oh they have telemetry I'm sure
I did hear them having uplink problems with telemetry also to some secondary ground station ... maybe Musk's own tablet, dunno didn't recognize the name of the station :)
but I did see them looking for programmers for that too.... I'd apply but you need to be a US citizen with sufficient clearing
I like the launcher tho, it's really slender and well competitive if it proves reliable
That was it folks :)
Next launch in about 5 hours
@TildalWave Good to see that went without a hitch
well, apart from flaky comms :-)
4:18 PM
looks like it yes, it's important for the commercial space sector but also future delivery missions to the ISS
as far as organizing event for the general population goes tho, there's no beating NASA's and ESA's own launches... last Ariane and Minotaur / LADEE launches were really what I'd hope for any launch event
 
2 hours later…
6:24 PM
SpaceX has a manifest a mile high, it's all dependent on this flight being successful. I'm quite relieved to see that this flight was successful.
 
2 hours later…
8:27 PM
posted on September 29, 2013 by Chris Bergin

International Launch Services (ILS) are set to return the Proton-M launch vehicle to flight with the launch of the Astra-2E satellite. Launch from the from the Baikonur Cosmodrome... Related posts:ILS Proton-M launches Intelsat 22 on debut supersynchronous missionInternational Launch Services (ILS) have launched their second Proton-M rocket... ILS successfully launches SIRIUS XM-5 via Proton-

9:07 PM
starting live stream in 5 minutes
@TildalWave woo im just in time :]
@TildalWave do you have a link to the live stream?
@DavidFreitag I'll post them here as they become available
@TildalWave Ah - i see. Thanks again :]
9:12 PM
Launch countdown is now at T-26 minutes
@TildalWave Ah, then i have plenty of time to pop up some popcorn!
Live feed is available on TsENKI TV but that one will likely be in Russian language, it usually is
SpaceflightNow stream is still in pajamas with easy listening background music LOL
Live streams for the launch of the Proton-M/Briz-M to orbit Astra 2E are now available on ILS and LiveStream in English and TsENKI TV as original stream from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
@TildalWave Ok, pajamas are off and the action has started
Ahahahaha - he's wearing a bowtie! So funny.
T-7:30
blah blah blah blondie switch to the platform already, it's T-5
T-2:30
9:36 PM
@TildalWave hehe
T-1:00 and still brainwashing us with how great ILS is
and their time is off by 20 seconds btw
and probably additional delay with the LiveStream stream... no being exactly live LOL
it's already launched LOL
i don't like night flights nearly as much as day flights
it's also overcast ... wish there was some onboard camera stream
seriously
TsENKI has telemetry simulation at least
payload jettisoned OK
9:50 PM
@TildalWave dammit - thought it was still 10 minutes away...
@RoryAlsop You didn't miss that much, not a whole lot to see because of a night launch with clouds overcast ... but it went well so far, and you have some fancy animations on the ILS stream, and telemetry stream on TsENKI
@TildalWave Yeah - I like the apogee, perigee info
@RoryAlsop I'm recording it in HD, maybe I'll use some of the grabs on the site some day LOL
What was going on later with the Falcon 9? I didn't yet have the time to check
1
Q: What went wrong, Falcon 9 1.1 first flight with first stage landing attempt?

geoffcThey are reporting that the three engine relight in the upper atmosphere worked. But the relight of a single engine, lower down for pretend landing on the water generated too much torque and the fuel (in the mostly empty tanks) centrifuged away from the feed line and the engine ran dry. Why did ...

sounds similar to what happened to Ares I-X first stage
@TildalWave didn't see that bit
@RoryAlsop Me neither, I don't think there was a live stream for the 1st stage landing, but I did see a tracker for where Elon's plane is tracking it... so I had live tracking of a plane tracking the landing site of the 1st stage LOL
Rocket booster relit twice (supersonic retro & landing), but spun up due to aero torque, so fuel centrifuged & we flamed out
10:46 PM
has anyone seen a full manifest for today's Falcon 9 launch?
they're cataloging 20 objects from it, which is way more than the number of objects I know about
@Chris Hey there!
hey @Undo
First time I've seen you in here.
I've been in and out a few times, not very often though
11:27 PM
Lego Cygnus and a real Cygnus during capture on the monitor
I forgot to schedule the capture event, so I'm reusing this pic from US astronaut Cady Coleman to say ... sorry! :| LOL
@Chris isn't the CASSIOPE a multipart sat?
I don't know, but its wiki page says "The spacecraft carries a primary payload of two separate satellite functions in a single physical spacecraft"
well Musk also said "all payloads deployed correctly" or something in that sense
I did find that the POPACS mission has 4 spacers separating the 3 spacecraft...
they did launch from Cali tho, so maybe they count a standard of 3 aliens per vehicle?
2
mmmm, forgot to account for those
11:35 PM
I'll try to find some info tho, I'm also curious
space.com mentions: carrying a Canadian satellite to track space weather into orbit along with three small satellites
CASSIOPE is a bus design and carries two advanced
payloads:
• e-POP for scientific experimentation; and,
• Cascade CX for communications technology demonstration
CASSIOPE is a multifunctional mission designed to serve both a scientific and a demonstration of technology purpose.
The small satellite measures 1.8 m in diameter x 1.4 m high and weighs 481 kg. It will fly in a slightly elliptical orbit that
goes back and forth, over the Equator, from the North to the South Polar Regions.
The science payload of CASSIOPE, called the enhanced Polar Outflow Probe, or e-POP, will be Canada’s first space
environment sensor suite, consisting of eight instruments, including plasma sensors, radio wave receivers,
OK, here it is:
Falcon 9 will deliver three secondary payloads to orbit as part of the CASSIOPE mission:
• POPACS (Polar Orbiting Passive Atmospheric Calibration Spheres): A privately funded CubeSat mission to
measure the effects of solar flares and coronal mass ejections on the density of Earth’s upper atmosphere 5
during solar cycles 24 and 25. POPACS is a mission by collaboration between Utah State University, Gil Moore,
Planetary Systems Corporation and Drexel University.
• DANDE (Drag & Atmospheric Neutral Density Explorer): A 50 kg spherical spacecraft developed by students at
So, CASSIOPE, POPACS, DANDEE and CUSat
right
now of those, POPACS has 7 pieces by my count (3 balls, 4 spacers), CUSat has 2, DANDEE and CASSIOPE have 1
so that's 11, plus the upper stage is 12
@Chris and the payload fairing 2 parts?
could be, but those don't typically reach orbit...
could be this has something to do with at what altitude we officially count it as outer space.. the Karman line at 62 miles and they have to catalog all the separate pieces that go beyond that?
it wouldn't have reached orbit, but they would go past the Karman line
dunno
11:50 PM
i think maybe the criteria to catalog objects is that it makes one full revolution, but that could be wrong
i don't think they ("they" being the US air force) actually catalog any suborbital launches
early catalog entries have been known to be erroneous, but not usually in the number of objects, afaik

« first day (74 days earlier)      last day (4063 days later) »