The Pod Bay

TildalWave

01:32

About which feeds we should have here:

We didn't decide on which post ratings mean they should be included or excluded from our feeds. I suggest we include all that have equal or greater than median of upvotes and exclude the rest. Any objections? — TildalWave 2 mins ago

ISS laundry clips :))

Undo

01:50

@TildalWave I saw the notification and was going to go flag that comment as obsolete, but you beat me to it :)

TildalWave

@Undo we live in a fast world ;)

Stack Exchange

TildalWave has made a change to the feeds posted into this room

TildalWave

@Undo another thing about feeds ... we should specify if we want them posted as regular messages, or as "ticker feeds" (shown via a slide-down ticker overlay that periodically appears at the top of the room)

for photos I think the ticker feeds don't make much sense

Undo

@TildalWave Or should we just see which ones are higher volume and make those tickers?

@TildalWave Added to the post, have a link to an explanatory document?

TildalWave

@Undo It's not a problem to change as we feel it makes sense at any time, so I think first adding them as regular posts and if they annoy us, we move them to ticker feeds?

Undo

01:58

@TildalWave That's what I'm thinking. Removed from post.

TildalWave

> Message feeds: New items from these feeds will be posted into the room like regular chat messages.

> Ticker feeds: New items from these feeds will be shown via a slide-down ticker overlay that periodically appears at the top of the room, and will not be persisted.

Undo

Let's just make them normal feeds for now. If they swamp us, they get demoted.

TildalWave

@Undo agreed

Undo

@TildalWave I actually think that the normal-QA question could be shown as messages too - they would generate conversation, and there aren't too many.

Stack Exchange

TildalWave has made a change to the feeds posted into this room

TildalWave

02:00

done

Undo

OK, then!

Nice!

TildalWave

you've seen two upcoming events?

chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/info/9682/the-pod-bay?tab=schedule

I've added more info in Space Exploration Meta

Undo

@TildalWave Has RhysW alread sabotaged them, or not?

Are they using unleaded fuel again?

TildalWave

@Undo well they better not be... last two were major disappointments, and to me more so because of the unnatural time of the "day" I was up just to watch them sit on the launchpad LOL

Undo

lol

Hash

02:05

Good morning everyone :-)

TildalWave

these two are at better times for me

Undo

@Hash Morning? Night!

TildalWave

hey @Hash ;)

Undo

10:03:30 here.

TildalWave

it's always morning in SE chats ;)

Undo

02:05

@TildalWave I forgot.

Hash

@Undo in India its morning

Undo

It's 22:06:10 here

That's what I love about SE - it brings countries together.

Hash

@Undo 7:35A.M lol

Undo

Lucky.

TildalWave

4:07 am

Undo

02:08

@TildalWave Yeesh.

TildalWave

I'll keep holding on...

►

Hash

Sitting infront of computer at 4 am ? @TildalWave

Undo

@Tildal Are you certified to moderate at that hour?

Anyway, I got to go now. Bye, people!

Hash

@Undo good night :-)

TildalWave

@Undo There's nothing to "moderate" if nobody's here :P Anyway, take care!

Hash

02:12

The site will remains less active after this time

Hash

02:29

@TildalWave in the last message you send to me i could see \moderator mode what's that ?

TildalWave

@Hash it's just a joke that I've removed my mod hat and put on a more causal one (it's like with HTML markup, when you end some element with </element_type> )

Stack Exchange

NASASpaceFlight.com: Russian duo complete EVA-35 – Luca recalls EVA drama

posted on August 22, 2013 by Chris Bergin

Expedition 36 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin have completed their second spacewalk in the space of a week, as preparations continue for the arrival of the... Related posts:Cosmonauts complete Russian Spacewalk on ISSTwo Russian Cosmonauts stepped outside the International Space Station (ISS)... Cosmonaut duo complete Russian spacewalk outside ISSTwo Russian cosmonau…

NASASpaceFlight.com: Russian Dnepr rocket launches with Arirang-5

posted on August 22, 2013 by Chris Bergin

South Korea’s Arirang-5 satellite was launched on Thursday atop a Russian Dnepr rocket. The launch took place at 14:39 UTC (20:39 local time) from Site 370/13 at the... Related posts:Russian Dnepr rocket launches with CryoSat-2An International Space Company (ISC) Kosmotras Dnepr launch vehicle has... Russian Strela rocket launches Kondor satelliteRussia’s Strela rocket has finally…

NASASpaceFlight.com: Orion rallying call as EFT-1 closes in on T-12 months

posted on August 24, 2013 by Chris Bergin

NASA brought out the big guns this week to rally the Orion workforce with an address aimed at highlighting the “huge amount of progress” that has been made... Related posts:Orion PDR delay could stretch into 2010The requirement to carry out an additional Design Analysis Cycle... Orion weight saving refinements continue – focus on ISS accessThe Lockheed Martin Orion spacecraf…

NASASpaceFlight.com: Countdowns and Testing – Commercial Space steps up a gear

posted on August 26, 2013 by Chris Bergin

Several commercial space companies are in the midst of critical testing and launch preparations. While the increase in activity is aimed at successfully achieving differing mission objectives, the... Related posts:Minotaur IV launches first Space Based Space Surveillance satelliteAn Orbital Minotaur IV has made its first orbital launch during... Soyuz TMA-14 launches towards the International…

NASASpaceFlight.com: Japan’s Epsilon launch with SPRINT-A scrubbed

posted on August 27, 2013 by Chris Bergin

Japan’s Epsilon rocket was set to make its maiden flight Tuesday, carrying JAXA’s SPRINT-A ultraviolet astronomy satellite. Liftoff from the Uchinoura Space Centre was scheduled for 13:45 JST... Related posts:Japanese H-2A lofts IGS (Radar-3) satellite into orbitJapan has launched a new Information Gathering Satellite (IGS) known... Japanese H-2A launches with new IGS military sat…

astrobites: Dust in SPACE: Studying the growth of planetesimals with a suborbital rocket experiment

posted on August 20, 2013 by Kirit Karkare

By sending a chamber of dust on a suborbital ballistic rocket, the authors of this paper hope to find out how planetesimals form.

astrobites: Atmospheric circulation on hot exoplanets: What about magnets?

posted on August 21, 2013 by Joseph O'Rourke

Astronomers love to ignore magnetic fields. But they may strongly affect the pattern of atmospheric circulation in hot Jupiters.

astrobites: Now *you* can name a planet!

posted on August 21, 2013 by Lauren Weiss

The International Astronomical Union wants you to name a planet! While you ponder what to submit as a planet name, read on to learn the history and politics that led to this exciting opportunity.

astrobites: Galaxy Zoo 2: Return of the Citizen Scientist

posted on August 22, 2013 by Erika Nesvold

Galaxy Zoo is a citizen science project that uses volunteers to classify galaxies from the Sloan Digitial Sky Survey as spiral or elliptical. Now the Galaxy Zoo 2 catalogue has gone public, with even more detailed classifications of galaxies, including bars, bulges, spiral arms, and round and squashed ellipticals.

astrobites: More hypervelocity stars are jetting out of the galaxy

posted on August 24, 2013 by Ben Montet

Palladino et al. find 13 new hypervelocity star candidates in the galaxy and find they probably do not originate from the center of the galaxy.

TildalWave

WOW!! :)) That was a big dump of feeds LOL

Hash

@TildalWave why don't India launch its GSAT 7 in Indian rockets

TildalWave

@Hash shouldn't you know the answer to that better than us non-Indians? :P

my guess would be it's simply cheaper that way, and since it's not some classified payload, they've decided to piggyback on the dual payload launcher that was available

Hash

02:39

@TidalWave i don't know but this is going to be the second satellite that is launched outside India (i think)

TildalWave

Neah, that doesn't sound right, I'm sure there were many more than just two.

List of Indian satellites

India has launched 70 Indian satellites (as of 26 July 2013) of many types since its first attempt in 1975. Satellites have been launched from various vehicles, including American, Russian, European satellite-launch rockets, and the U.S. Space Shuttle. The organisation responsible for Indian satellites is the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Satellites (Sorted initially by launch date.) {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Satellite!!Launch Date!!Launch Vehicle!!Remarks!!ISRO Link |- |Aryabhata||19 April 1975||C-1 Intercosmos||Provided technological experience in building and oper...

Hash

@TildalWave i mentioned i think

TildalWave

@Hash There's a lot more than 2 Indian satellites that were launched using non-Indian launch vehicles ;)

2nd this year tho

Hash

02:56

@TildalWave catch you later

JohnB

03:07

feed me

Stack Exchange

03:17

astrobites: A classic paper: how did the largest scale structure in the Universe form?

posted on August 28, 2013 by zslepian

A relatively detailed discussion of a classic paper in cosmology, which basically covers everything you might want to know about how structure forms in the Universe on the very largest scales.

JohnB

ty

Stack Exchange

1

Q: Do astronaut in ISS have a backup spacesuit?

Do astronauts iss have a backup spacesuit with them so that they could use them in case of any repair with one spacesuit ? If so , How many spacesuit does each astronaut will have ?

JohnB

Oh hey, I can answer that I think

hmm, not definitively

TildalWave

03:40

@JohnB hehehe

TildalWave

03:57

@JohnB I just wrote a good night story about how NASA saved pretty pennies on a program that was later scrubbed anyway, so they actually wasted bucket loads of pretty pennies first (but that doesn't matter, because we all learned something from it, right? Hehe): space.stackexchange.com/q/1485/49

JohnB

@TildalWave Awesome!! Downvoted.

TildalWave

@JohnB cool, get me two more and I delete, collect the peer pressure badge :P

JohnB

@TildalWave jk jk ;D Gimme some time to read it, looks interesting!

TildalWave

@JohnB It is an interesting story, but sadly not put to its use later on... I still cry after the Constellation program

Stack Exchange

NASASpaceFlight.com: Root cause breakthrough during Luca’s leaky EMU investigation

posted on August 28, 2013 by Chris Bergin

The International Space Station (ISS) crew have managed to recreated the substantial water leak in Luca Parmitano’s faulty spacesuit, the cause of the premature end to EVA-23 last... Related posts:Soyuz TMA-01M docks with ISS as crews conduct hardware installationSoyuz TMA-01M has docked with the International Space Station (ISS)... The Soyuz TMA-07M Santa Sleigh docks with ISSThe Russi…

TildalWave

04:20

Well I read it ^ , dear Stack Exchange, and there's nothing new in it that it wasn't covered here hours ahead of NASA: space.stackexchange.com/a/1626/49 :P

NASA doesn't watch their own live feeds? :Oo

... or maybe I just type faster LOL

Anyway, I'm off to 0-gee environment. Good night all, take care of our spaceship! ;)

Crazy Buddy

05:30

@TildalWave: OMG Wave.... What's up with the feeds? There's a whole bunch of 'em :D

Stack Exchange

09:20

0

Q: Could it be possible to launch a rocket from a baloon?

I've heard and seen that there are several (commercial) companies looking into reaching space, by using alternative launchsites for rockets. One of the most common proposed methods is using a large airplane (such as a boeing) as a launchsite. This method should theoretically let rockets be sent i...

launch spacecraft-development balloons

Stack Exchange

10:50

0

Q: Is it reasonable to expect all naked celestials to exhibit lumpy gravity?

http://www.space.com/21364-moon-gravity-mascons-mystery.html writes to say ...These geologic structures, called mascons (short for mass concentrations), are so dense they alter the moon's gravity field, causing perturbations that can tug a spacecraft lower in its orbit around the moon,...

the-moon gravity

RhysW

14:07

@TildalWave What! Take me with you! :P

Stack Exchange

RhysW has made a change to the feeds posted into this room

RhysW

@CrazyBuddy changed one of them back over to semi restore order to the chaos :P

Crazy Buddy

@RhysW What??? I don't see any change o_O

TildalWave

"morning" all

Crazy Buddy

@TildalWave Gd n8 :)

TildalWave

14:20

@CrazyBuddy Why German?!? (8 = acht, nacht = night) :))

Crazy Buddy

What the....

You don't...!!!!

@TildalWave Do you know German? O_O

TildalWave

@CrazyBuddy Well, I should. I live close to German speaking countries and I had 5 years of German classes, lived there for a short while,... but it's one of those languages I like to forget LOL

Crazy Buddy

OIC ;-)

And wheeeeeerrrrreee's that room owner? (@RhysW.....) :D

RhysW

14:36

@TildalWave join the club! i did it for 5 years, forgotten most of it xD

@CrazyBuddy messed with Tildal waves (i presume) feed changes, waiting for the ban hammer to smite me :P

Crazy Buddy

Can someone please remove this guy's privilege? He's doing nothing :P

RhysW

technically they could very easily do so, in under 10 seconds too :P

Feeds

ManishEarth has removed RhysW from the list of this room's owners.

RhysW

see :P

ManishEarth

status-completed

Feeds

14:38

ManishEarth has added RhysW to the list of this room's owners.

RhysW

its like manish hangs around waiting to collaborate with us on jokes :P

ManishEarth

Nah, the tab was open and I saw some activity :p

TildalWave

hehe what's going on here? can't I turn my back not even for a minute?

RhysW

Well timed humour then!

Crazy Buddy

@TildalWave Don't say such an awful word when you're the mod ;-)

RhysW

14:40

im claiming half your success tildal :P

TildalWave

@RhysW I still keep it in my CV tho, because it looks better if you speak many languages :P

RhysW

@TildalWave haha i do not, incase they start talking to me id be caught out very quickly!

TildalWave

@CrazyBuddy There's 3 of us... and in chats, all SE mods are, well, mods

Crazy Buddy

@TildalWave Nah... you're special (being SE.SE's mod) :D

RhysW

Tahts interesting, im no longer italic

ah needed to refresh

TildalWave

14:43

@RhysW went to Germany a few years back for xmas and I was fine ... my accent went a bit more towards the Austrian one, so half of the folks looked at me a bit funny, but yeah ... not really a problem

RhysW

@TildalWave languages are not my strong point, always been my weakness so i forgot what little i knew very quickly

Crazy Buddy

So, what do you people discuss in our chat session?

JohnB

15:23

NASA will be crashing a helicopter today and they will stream it here

livescience.com/39228-science-news-webcasts.html

TildalWave

16:15

@JohnB hmm that's in 45 minutes

JohnB

probably too short of notice for an event, but I'll be watching!

TildalWave

sure, what's better than a nice helicopter drop from 30 ft before a heavy lifter launch?

Stack Exchange

16:37

NASASpaceFlight.com: ULA Delta IV-H set to launch NROL-65

posted on August 28, 2013 by Chris Bergin

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV is scheduled to make a morning launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Wednesday, carrying a classified payload for the US National... No related posts.

JohnB

16:59

well, we have a graphic with lasers

@TildalWave it's happening!

TildalWave

@JohnB ah cool

David Freitag

@JohnB Wooo, yeah! Bunch of guys standing around with hard hats on, yeah!

JohnB

@DavidFreitag :D

David Freitag

@JohnB Anyway, should be pretty cool. Got it up on the big projector. The helicopter is probably being displayed at full size

JohnB

@DavidFreitag o_o where are you, an IMAX theater??

David Freitag

17:10

@JohnB A big, for the most part, empty building with large white walls.

JohnB

ah, nice :)

David Freitag

@JohnB With probably a $23K projector to play with.

JohnB

@DavidFreitag is it the kind you need to wear body armor to change the bulb?

David Freitag

@JohnB I hope not

JohnB

heh

*adjusts his 17" monitor*

I am envious

David Freitag

17:13

Yeah It's pretty cool. The guys are about 6' tall on the wall. I also just happened to have a set of really nice speakers laying around. Should be pretty awesome given the overall emptyness of the facility.

TildalWave

@JohnB Wanna spam TL with our events a bit? Let's see if we can get more folks here

drop them the post from meta of the launch ;) (then run LOL)

David Freitag

I'm not sure what's up with that weird paint, the camera doesn't seem to like it much

JohnB

my boss keeps buzzing in and out and looking at something on my screen, go away dammit I am trying to slack off

David Freitag

@JohnB lol, it would be hard to miss me slacking off :]

JohnB

haha

he wouldn't care, and really I'm on my lunch break (there is food in front of me!)

Crazy Buddy

17:23

3 hours ago, by Crazy Buddy

So, what do you people discuss in our chat session?

JohnB

he's just lazy and knows I can look up stuff faster than him so he has me do it -_-

@CrazyBuddy helicopters ustream.tv/embed/7549153?v=3&wmode=direct

Crazy Buddy

I mean, do you really discuss? :P

JohnB

anything that isn't related to space exploration

TildalWave

T-2

JohnB

and also sometimes things that are related to space exploration

Crazy Buddy

17:25

@JohnB that's what :D

There we go...

JohnB

riveting entertainment

Crazy Buddy

YAY...

David Freitag

... So now it explodes... right?

JohnB

well, now we go watch a rocket explode

...in a controlled manner

David Freitag

@JohnB Linky?

TildalWave

17:29

well this was fun :) did they at least scare the birds off the closest tree?

@DavidFreitag here ;)

David Freitag

@TildalWave Are we going to be able to watch it here though?

TildalWave

2

Q: Live chat room event: Delta IV Heavy to Launch NROL-65 (August 28, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. UTC/GMT)

This is an invitation to attend our chat room event, where we will be covering the launch of the ULA (United Launch Alliance) Delta IV-Heavy configuration delivering the classified NROL-65 payload to orbit for the United States National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Chat event will start 20 minu...

discussion chat announcement scheduled-event

JohnB

@DavidFreitag spaceflightnow.com/delta/d364/status.html

TildalWave

@DavidFreitag we'll provide links ;) and chat about it

David Freitag

Just in time, 5 seconds...

JohnB

17:30

direct link to the stream: cdn.livestream.com/grid/…

David Freitag

Ack with the beeeeeeeeeeee....

JohnB

sound check successful, thanks guys

David Freitag

If it keeps beeping, pause and unpause it.

JohnB

are the audio and video out of sync for just me

David Freitag

@JohnB Nupe

TildalWave

17:34

Live streams for the ULA (United Launch Alliance) Delta IV Heavy launch are here: SpaceflightNow @ Livestream and ULA Webcast

David Freitag

This makes me want to go home, break out some sugar, some stump remover, and my hot plate.

JohnB

:D

David Freitag

Homemade rocket fuel + megablox = homemade rockets.

There is an endless amount of things you can do with potassium nitrate.

1.2 million pounds of rocket though... you would need a lot of potassium nitrate to lift that.

JohnB

at least two bottles

TildalWave

didn't hear ... when did he say the new t-0 is?

JohnB

17:42

18 something something

TildalWave

@JohnB that's the age of consent :P

David Freitag

What's with the smoke coming out of the rocket boosters?

I always thought they were bleeder valves, but aren't they using solid fuel?

Rory Alsop

@DavidFreitag that'll be water/steam/condensation

cooling?

David Freitag

@RoryAlsop For what? Or rather, from what?

TildalWave

@DavidFreitag they're cryo boosters, probably just pressure valves?

David Freitag

17:44

18:03:00 if i heard correctly..

Rory Alsop

so this is about T-19 minutes, yes?

JohnB

yep

@RoryAlsop yep

Rory Alsop

excellent - will get the kids up here as well

JohnB

I have a web meeting at that time, dammit.

...I can multitask

TildalWave

it's the 1st stage oxidizer (LO2) tanks

Crazy Buddy

17:46

T-4..???

TildalWave

pushed to 11:03 a.m. PST, so +13 minutes on the first launch window

David Freitag

@TildalWave So the smoke is just water vapor?

TildalWave

@DavidFreitag yes

T-15

#NROL65 is set to launch this morning at 10:52 am PDT on a #DeltaIV Heavy. Here's a cutaway view of the Heavy: http://ow.ly/olnKT

Tweeted by ulalaunch on August 28, 2013 at 2:14 PM

it's a PDF tho

JohnB

that is one ugly looking control room

David Freitag

Oh i see, they aren't solid rocket boosters. That makes sense.

@JohnB Nothing less than what i would expect though

JohnB

17:49

I meant the one with the orange wavy dividers, the other one looked fine

Rory Alsop

0

Q: What is the vapour/smoke that comes from the rocket boosters?

While a rocket is waiting on the platform during the final countdown, many of them seem to have clouds of steam or something similar escaping from the boosters. Is this normal, and what are these clouds?

launch

:-)

JohnB

question stealer!

Rory Alsop

hahahahahahaha - might be

Crazy Buddy

@RoryAlsop Thought someone would ask it :D

Rory Alsop

I waited a while to see if you were going to ask it @JohnB

David Freitag

17:50

@RoryAlsop Thank you sir.

JohnB

@RoryAlsop ;P

Crazy Buddy

(Didn't really expect you though)

Rory Alsop

@CrazyBuddy I am waiting for my TomTom to update in one window, have the main screen open for the launch and was twiddling my fingers @CrazyBuddy

bored searching through 11000 photos from the Tough Mudder to find any with me in

TildalWave

@RoryAlsop wanna write the answer down as well? it's the LOX/LH2 cryo stages and that's the LOX oxidizer forming water vapor

David Freitag

Although if they are cryogenic boosters that means that they are being filled (or have been filled) with liquid O2 and H2, that is probably a bleeder valve letting off pressure as the tanks warm up

Rory Alsop

17:52

@TildalWave what, and take both sets of rep?

TildalWave

@RoryAlsop you've been idling around lately, you need them :P

Rory Alsop

although, I think that's my Space rep just overtaken my SU rep - yay!

Crazy Buddy

Key to earn rep. score in Space.SE --> Google well enough :)

(That applies to most SE sites I think) :D

Rory Alsop

@TildalWave I was busy - I had a trip to India, then a holiday, then a gig, then a race - only just back to normal now

@CrazyBuddy true

TildalWave

@RoryAlsop I know ;) Still.. rep's a good thing, no?

Crazy Buddy

17:54

@RoryAlsop India... Where?

Rory Alsop

@TildalWave yarr - in general :-) I'll start typing up an answer now then (hard taskmaster)

Crazy Buddy

And, who's there? :D

Rory Alsop

@CrazyBuddy Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore

in one week

visiting some of my team

just to see how they do things over there

Crazy Buddy

@RoryAlsop What..??? You should've visited Manish & Sathya :P

Rory Alsop

@CrazyBuddy Didn't see anything outside airport/taxi/hotel/taxi/office/taxi/airport

Crazy Buddy

17:55

(Me --> I'm quite anonymous) None can find me :D

Rory Alsop

was crazy

Crazy Buddy

@RoryAlsop Every chat room I visit --> someone says my name each day :)

Go, Go, Go, Go, Go, Go, Go...

JohnB

sup @Chris!

Crazy Buddy

Will you please GOooo..???

TildalWave

@Chris & @called2voyage sorry for that message, I thought since you were pinging each other with "what's off-topic regarding private launchers", you might rather see an actual liftoff that's kinda related LOL

Crazy Buddy

17:58

@JohnB (Sigh) He comes & goes... comes & goes... & again -- the same :D

called2voyage

@TildalWave Thanks, I forgot it was launching now.

Chris

yo @JohnB

@TildalWave no problem

TildalWave

@called2voyage no problem, glad you're aboard ;)

Chris

Anyone know why they start with igniting the starboard booster, followed by the center + port?

TildalWave

BTW while you're all here...

0

Q: Live chat room event: Ariane 5 ECA rocket (VA215) to launch the Eutelsat 25B and GSAT 7 satellites (Aug. 29, 2013 at 8:10 p.m. UTC/GMT)

This is an invitation to attend our chat room event, where we will be covering the launch of the Ariane 5 ECA rocket, designated VA215, to launch the Eutelsat 25B and GSAT 7 satellites. Launch date: Aug. 29, 2013 Launch window: 20:30-21:20 GMT (4:30-5:20 p.m. EDT) Launcher: Ariane 5 ECA roc...

discussion chat announcement scheduled-event

that's tomorrow at a few hours later time

Rory Alsop

18:00

@Chris should be a question...

David Freitag

@RoryAlsop More rep for you.

Chris

@RoryAlsop agreed

I won't be offended if you get around to posting it before I do

TildalWave

@Chris in case of failure, I'd guess... but might be different for various platforms

Rory Alsop

@Chris I'm vaguely writing the answer to this other one while watching the live feed...

Crazy Buddy

Here we go....

@PearsonArtPhoto: You really missed the rocket :P

PearsonArtPhoto

18:04

LOL.

I actually heard about it at work just a few minutes ago. Didn't hear if it was successful.

I think SpaceX is the next launch out of Vandenburg. That will be one to watch. Too bad I'll be too busy to watch it...

Crazy Buddy

@PearsonArtPhoto Go now..!!!! Fast... Watch the rockets show their back :)

David Freitag

4475 pounds per second.... 2.5 tons of propellant burned per second... insane.

TildalWave

nice separation

telemetry data is a bit scarce this time, I guess they don't want us to calculate its orbit LOL

Crazy Buddy

@ManishEarth Gotcha :D

called2voyage

lol, well, it is a reconnaissance satellite

PearsonArtPhoto

18:10

That is a big rocket...

Rory Alsop

I love the hydrogen flame just before lift off

TildalWave

@called2voyage indeed ... but the last ULA launch about 2 weeks ago had a lot more telemetry and it was also a navy communications satellite

Chris

@TildalWave MUOS, right?

In that case it was already pretty obvious where it was going :P

called2voyage

communications != reconnaissance, unless I'm misinterpreting you.

PearsonArtPhoto

Orbits for comm satellites aren't that big of a deal. Orbits for recon are.

Comm satellites are going to stay in fairly predictable orbits for the most part.

called2voyage

18:12

@PearsonArtPhoto Exactly.

Chris

In any case, the amateurs will have this orbit pinned down, just give them a couple weeks

gotta go, bye people

PearsonArtPhoto

Recons change their orbits a bit from time to time, so everyone doesn't cover their bases before being visited.

called2voyage

@Chris Hold up, what change do you recommend to my post?

TildalWave

@Chris hmmm you know I don't remember any more LOL... WGS6 methink? Tho that'd make it for Air Force

Crazy Buddy

Okay... gtg everyone... c'yall later ;-)

Rory Alsop

18:15

@Chris okay Chris - I'll do it now

Thomas Owens

I wish I knew there was a discussion of the launch here or I would have been here and watching.

David Freitag

@Chris It's a good question. I would have thought they would start with center and then ignite port and starboard together.

TildalWave

@called2voyage FWIW I think it's OK in that "department" you two had a discussion in the comments, but it does seem a bit too broad and speculative. I think if you described which exact implications you had in mind, it might make it automatically also more appealing to this site, dunno.

called2voyage

@TildalWave That is a good point. I'll expand a bit on what kind of impacts I'm considering.

@TildalWave How does it look now?

TildalWave

18:31

@called2voyage Looks better, but it's not really my area so from a semantical point of view, I just dunno. :) I'd also quote a few most relevant excerpts from that news article, to avoid possible future link rot problems. And it might help your question further to be more within scope (if there's some too lazy to click on the link LOL) ;)

@called2voyage maybe also try and find a few more tags it relates to... we should have some, like e.g. "funding"

@called2voyage And I think this was a good advice from @Chris:

so maybe phrase it in a way that discusses the impact to operations in space, rather than the disposition of the contractors who maintain it. — Chris 42 mins ago

Anyway, I'm deleting those comments they're kinda obsolete now

called2voyage

18:51

@RoryAlsop I've posted the answer to the odd booster ignition order question.

David Freitag

@called2voyage Makes sense. I wonder what causes the difference in effect between cape canaveral and the west coast. I could only imagine temperature humidity altitude or some combination of those factors that causes the fireball effect to be bigger.

TildalWave

21:33

@called2voyage if you wanna edit in your ignition sequence answer, I've found two nice pics:

it's also explained in the space.com article

and a cool video of SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) & Booster ignition in slow motion:

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