SpaceX = Space Exploration Technologies, Inc.
List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches - Wikipedia
ASDS = autonomous spaceport drone ship
Autonomous spaceport drone ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
JRTI = Just Read the Instructions, the first of the ASDS fleet. Rebuilt and moved to West Coast.
OCISLY = Of Course I Still Love You, the name of one of those ships, stationed in Florida.
ASOG = A Shortfall Of Gravitas, the name of the third ship commissioned for use in Florida.
The names come from sentient ships in Iain M. Banks' Culture series of Sci-Fi novels.
Ms Tree & Ms Chief = Ships used to recover Crew Dragons.
RTLS = Return To Launch Site - Booster landings where the booster does a boostback burn which enables the booster to return to one of SpaceX designated landing sites:
LZ-1 The primary landing pad at Cape Canaveral
LZ-2 The secondary landing pad at Cape Canaveral and used in FH booster landings
LZ-4 The primary landing pad at Vandenberg
SES = a particular satellite company SES - Global Satellite Services Provider - Your Satellite Company - SES.com
NROL = National Reconnaissance Office Launch
CRS = Commercial Resupply Services, the name of the program to resupply the ISS. SpaceX won this bid from NASA who pays them to deliver goods to the International Space Station (ISS). This is an official series of missions for SpaceX that will take place over a number of years.
Commercial Resupply Services - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The program used to develop Crew Dragon and Crew Services:
Commercial Crew Development - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CCDev
CCtCap
Various types of orbits have different shortcuts as well:
Orbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
LEO = Low Earth Orbit
GTO = Geostationary Transfer Orbit - A much harder to reach orbit, highly elliptical. Used to get to GEO.
GEO = Geostationary Orbit, where the orbit takes 24 hours so the satellite appears stationary over a place. Always above the equator.
SSO = Sun Synchronous Orbit - A polar type orbit.
SpaceX rocket terminology:
Falcon, Falcon 1 = the original two stage, two engine rocket.
Falcon 9 = F9 = SpaceX current rocket using Merlin 1D FT engines.
Falcon Heavy = FH = SpaceX heavy lifting rocket. The most powerful rocket launching in the world currently.
Dragon, Dragon 2 = capsules to go to the International Space Station, the latter being man-rated. This will be called Crew Dragon. The Dragon 2 used for cargo runs will be called Cargo Dragon.
FT = Full Thrust = The new designation for the Falcon rockets using the newest technology. The fuel is "superchilled" to allow for more fuel and more efficiency, and slightly enlarged tanks.
Block 5 = A design designation. This is supposed to be the finalized design of the F9 with all of the updates learned from recovering boosters. It is designed for multiple reuses with little turnaround time.
Core = Booster, first stage of F9; Falcon Heavy has three cores. SpaceX is recovering and reusing these.
Fairings = Two piece aerodynamic covers on the top of the rocket. They protect the payload in atmosphere and are discarded soon after MECO. These are now being recovered and reused fairly regularly.
FPV = Flight Proven Vehicle = re-use of a booster or Dragon capsule.
Octaweb = structure that holds the nine motors of the F9 (eight in a circle, one in center)
BFR: Big ...ummm... Rocket, proposed successor to the current line. Previously referred to as MCT (Mars Colonial Transporter) and more recently, as ITS (Interplanetary Transport System). The name has been dropped in favor of Starship and Super Heavy
BFR: Big Falcon Rocket. Formally introduced at the 2017 IAC and updated at the Moon passenger presentation in 2018. This name can be used for the overall system or just the booster since the second stage is called the:
BFS: Big Falcon Ship. A multi-purpose smaller version of the ITS second stage. Is intended to be used for all space operations.
Super Heavy (Falcon Super Heavy): The name for the booster used to power Starships into orbit. Previous obsolete names are listed above.
Starship: The second stage described above in BFS. It is likely that each ship will have an individual name with the first being called Heart of Gold after the starship name in Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Starhopper: The testing rocket with 3 Raptor engines in Boca Chica. Will do test runs similar to what SpaceX's "grasshopper" did.
Engines:
Merlin, Merlin 1D (current version), nine in the core.
Merlin 1D-Vac, one motor in the second stage, optimized for operation in vacuum.
Raptor, New motor for the proposed "BFR/Super Heavy/Starship". It is a methalox engine and uses a Full Flow Staged Combustion cycle.
Draco, hypergolic-fueled thruster used on early versions of Falcon 9/Dragon.
SuperDraco, hypergolic-fueled thruster used for abort of Dragon 2. Soft landings using these thrusters has been dropped.
Keralox: the Merlin motors burn RP1 (kerosene) and LOX (Liquified Oxygen).
Methalox: Raptor motors will burn liquid Methane and LOX.
Hypergolic: two chemicals that ignite spontaneously when mixed. In this case, Monomethyl Hydrazine and Nitrogen Tetroxide.
Places:
Hawthorne, CA: headquarters, manufacturing. Other R&D in Palo Alto, CA, and Redmond, WA.
McGregor, TX: Test firing and site of the old "Grasshopper" launches. The Raptor engine is being developed here.
Boca Chica/Brownsville TX: Private spaceport under construction. Starship test flights will happen here. SpaceX is developing their Starship/Super Heavy production line here.
SLC-40 = Space Launch Complex 40 = The name of one of the launch facilities at Cape Canaveral that SpaceX uses. This pad is used for only Falcon 9 launches.
LC-39A (historic pad for launching Apollo and Space Shuttle missions) Used for Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Crew launches.
SLC-4A Vandenberg, CA: Air force base, used for launching to high-inclination orbits (can launch to south).
SLC-6 Vandenberg, CA: Air force base, also used for launching to high-inclination orbits (can launch to south).
SpaceX
Competitors:
ULA = United Launch Alliance = A company combining Boeing and Lockheed-Martin rocket manufacturing. They use the Atlas V rocket which uses the Russian RD-180 engine. They also use the Delta IV rocket. Their upcoming rocket will be called Vulcan and will use a BO engine.
CST-100/Starliner = Boeing makes this capsule for ferrying astronauts to the ISS in the CCtCap program.
Northrup Grumman (Orbital ATK) = Makes the Cygnus cargo capsule for ferrying supplies to the ISS.
Blue Origin (BO) = space tourism venture backed by Amazon's Bezos. Also designing new rocket motors for NASA and ULA. Their orbital rocket will be called New Glenn.
Virgin Galactic = space tourism venture backed by Virgin's Branson. Air-launched space planes.
Roscosmos = Russia's launch company, currently the only way to launch people to the International Space Station. Launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
Arianespace = French launch company, gets lots of European Space Agency business. Spaceport in Guyana.
CNSA = Chinese National Space Agency. Also provides commercial launch services.
A number of other countries have launched satellites, but don't provide launches for third parties.
SLS = Space Launch System. The heavy launch rocket funded by Congress and overseen by NASA. It uses old Space Shuttle engines and has eaten up over $40 billion in funding if you include the large capsule Orion. This rocket has now launched once.
Rocketlab: This US based company launches Electron regularly. It is a great smallsat launcher. They have announced a larger rocket called Neutron.
Full list of acronyms and abbreviations
List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches - Wikipedia
ASDS = autonomous spaceport drone ship
Autonomous spaceport drone ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
JRTI = Just Read the Instructions, the first of the ASDS fleet. Rebuilt and moved to West Coast.
OCISLY = Of Course I Still Love You, the name of one of those ships, stationed in Florida.
ASOG = A Shortfall Of Gravitas, the name of the third ship commissioned for use in Florida.
The names come from sentient ships in Iain M. Banks' Culture series of Sci-Fi novels.
Ms Tree & Ms Chief = Ships used to recover Crew Dragons.
RTLS = Return To Launch Site - Booster landings where the booster does a boostback burn which enables the booster to return to one of SpaceX designated landing sites:
LZ-1 The primary landing pad at Cape Canaveral
LZ-2 The secondary landing pad at Cape Canaveral and used in FH booster landings
LZ-4 The primary landing pad at Vandenberg
SES = a particular satellite company SES - Global Satellite Services Provider - Your Satellite Company - SES.com
NROL = National Reconnaissance Office Launch
CRS = Commercial Resupply Services, the name of the program to resupply the ISS. SpaceX won this bid from NASA who pays them to deliver goods to the International Space Station (ISS). This is an official series of missions for SpaceX that will take place over a number of years.
Commercial Resupply Services - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The program used to develop Crew Dragon and Crew Services:
Commercial Crew Development - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CCDev
CCtCap
Various types of orbits have different shortcuts as well:
Orbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
LEO = Low Earth Orbit
GTO = Geostationary Transfer Orbit - A much harder to reach orbit, highly elliptical. Used to get to GEO.
GEO = Geostationary Orbit, where the orbit takes 24 hours so the satellite appears stationary over a place. Always above the equator.
SSO = Sun Synchronous Orbit - A polar type orbit.
SpaceX rocket terminology:
Falcon, Falcon 1 = the original two stage, two engine rocket.
Falcon 9 = F9 = SpaceX current rocket using Merlin 1D FT engines.
Falcon Heavy = FH = SpaceX heavy lifting rocket. The most powerful rocket launching in the world currently.
Dragon, Dragon 2 = capsules to go to the International Space Station, the latter being man-rated. This will be called Crew Dragon. The Dragon 2 used for cargo runs will be called Cargo Dragon.
FT = Full Thrust = The new designation for the Falcon rockets using the newest technology. The fuel is "superchilled" to allow for more fuel and more efficiency, and slightly enlarged tanks.
Block 5 = A design designation. This is supposed to be the finalized design of the F9 with all of the updates learned from recovering boosters. It is designed for multiple reuses with little turnaround time.
Core = Booster, first stage of F9; Falcon Heavy has three cores. SpaceX is recovering and reusing these.
Fairings = Two piece aerodynamic covers on the top of the rocket. They protect the payload in atmosphere and are discarded soon after MECO. These are now being recovered and reused fairly regularly.
FPV = Flight Proven Vehicle = re-use of a booster or Dragon capsule.
Octaweb = structure that holds the nine motors of the F9 (eight in a circle, one in center)
BFR: Big ...ummm... Rocket, proposed successor to the current line. Previously referred to as MCT (Mars Colonial Transporter) and more recently, as ITS (Interplanetary Transport System). The name has been dropped in favor of Starship and Super Heavy
BFR: Big Falcon Rocket. Formally introduced at the 2017 IAC and updated at the Moon passenger presentation in 2018. This name can be used for the overall system or just the booster since the second stage is called the:
BFS: Big Falcon Ship. A multi-purpose smaller version of the ITS second stage. Is intended to be used for all space operations.
Super Heavy (Falcon Super Heavy): The name for the booster used to power Starships into orbit. Previous obsolete names are listed above.
Starship: The second stage described above in BFS. It is likely that each ship will have an individual name with the first being called Heart of Gold after the starship name in Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Starhopper: The testing rocket with 3 Raptor engines in Boca Chica. Will do test runs similar to what SpaceX's "grasshopper" did.
Engines:
Merlin, Merlin 1D (current version), nine in the core.
Merlin 1D-Vac, one motor in the second stage, optimized for operation in vacuum.
Raptor, New motor for the proposed "BFR/Super Heavy/Starship". It is a methalox engine and uses a Full Flow Staged Combustion cycle.
Draco, hypergolic-fueled thruster used on early versions of Falcon 9/Dragon.
SuperDraco, hypergolic-fueled thruster used for abort of Dragon 2. Soft landings using these thrusters has been dropped.
Keralox: the Merlin motors burn RP1 (kerosene) and LOX (Liquified Oxygen).
Methalox: Raptor motors will burn liquid Methane and LOX.
Hypergolic: two chemicals that ignite spontaneously when mixed. In this case, Monomethyl Hydrazine and Nitrogen Tetroxide.
Places:
Hawthorne, CA: headquarters, manufacturing. Other R&D in Palo Alto, CA, and Redmond, WA.
McGregor, TX: Test firing and site of the old "Grasshopper" launches. The Raptor engine is being developed here.
Boca Chica/Brownsville TX: Private spaceport under construction. Starship test flights will happen here. SpaceX is developing their Starship/Super Heavy production line here.
SLC-40 = Space Launch Complex 40 = The name of one of the launch facilities at Cape Canaveral that SpaceX uses. This pad is used for only Falcon 9 launches.
LC-39A (historic pad for launching Apollo and Space Shuttle missions) Used for Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Crew launches.
SLC-4A Vandenberg, CA: Air force base, used for launching to high-inclination orbits (can launch to south).
SLC-6 Vandenberg, CA: Air force base, also used for launching to high-inclination orbits (can launch to south).
SpaceX
Competitors:
ULA = United Launch Alliance = A company combining Boeing and Lockheed-Martin rocket manufacturing. They use the Atlas V rocket which uses the Russian RD-180 engine. They also use the Delta IV rocket. Their upcoming rocket will be called Vulcan and will use a BO engine.
CST-100/Starliner = Boeing makes this capsule for ferrying astronauts to the ISS in the CCtCap program.
Northrup Grumman (Orbital ATK) = Makes the Cygnus cargo capsule for ferrying supplies to the ISS.
Blue Origin (BO) = space tourism venture backed by Amazon's Bezos. Also designing new rocket motors for NASA and ULA. Their orbital rocket will be called New Glenn.
Virgin Galactic = space tourism venture backed by Virgin's Branson. Air-launched space planes.
Roscosmos = Russia's launch company, currently the only way to launch people to the International Space Station. Launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
Arianespace = French launch company, gets lots of European Space Agency business. Spaceport in Guyana.
CNSA = Chinese National Space Agency. Also provides commercial launch services.
A number of other countries have launched satellites, but don't provide launches for third parties.
SLS = Space Launch System. The heavy launch rocket funded by Congress and overseen by NASA. It uses old Space Shuttle engines and has eaten up over $40 billion in funding if you include the large capsule Orion. This rocket has now launched once.
Rocketlab: This US based company launches Electron regularly. It is a great smallsat launcher. They have announced a larger rocket called Neutron.
Full list of acronyms and abbreviations
Last edited by Grendal:
