What a crystal clear morning at Vandenberg. The contrast between the white rocket and strongback against the pitch blackness of the night was so stark and visually sharp on my computer screen. Always fun to watch! Congrats on a successful deployment of the PAZ. Too bad we lost ground station coverage of the Starlink deployment. I always love to see the satellites fall away. No doubt they will capture that fairing soon. That will be equally amazing.
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Nikxice
Active Member
Wow, looking at that photo who needs a net? Wonder if SpaceX would consider beefing up the parafoil and just go for future water landings. Also, unless the catcher's mitt technique is solved soon, the bridge of Mr. Steve looks quite vulnerable to potential damage.
Interesting thought experiment. To date, winds really haven’t been a problem for rockets. Save for maybe a few tense moments on an interplanetary mission (so, a tight-ish window), winds just mean you scrub and try again tomorrow.
Obviously, that doesn’t work for scheduled transport service. It’s very possible there’s a ‘brute force’ aspect that Spacex can implement to reduce rocket delays to something like weather delays for current air travel.
Probably not a huge feat. Fairings are pretty light and a pretty decent lifting body, so even without parachutes the terminal velocity is probably pretty low and the falling attitude is probably pretty stable.
Expect because the shape is unwieldy and with a parachute, it floats and aiming for a precise landing spot is difficult. So catching it is a bit difficult.
If they make the fairings of some material that has a high buoyancy that can survive launch and reentry, why bother with a net, just have a ship in the area with a crane and pluck them out of the sea. The photo of that half reminds me of the 2nd stage that was floating in the ocean on the previous launch.
CBS radio news while I was in drivethru at Starbucks commented on the successful PAZ deployment but didn't mention the what I think is more interesting Starlink satellites for SpaceX. Nice the launch made the news and more people are probably aware of it though.
CBS radio news while I was in drivethru at Starbucks commented on the successful PAZ deployment but didn't mention the what I think is more interesting Starlink satellites for SpaceX. Nice the launch made the news and more people are probably aware of it though.
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The issue is any voids could fill with salt water/ spray. Likewise all the electrical components would need to be replaced (or at least removed, washed, inspected. but that won't be reliable for connectors/ wire harnesses).
Completely agree—I was just responding to the ‘hey, it doesn’t look broken’ comment.
Bringing this over from Starlink general.
@bxr140
Thanks for the pointers on torque rods, that is pretty cool.
I went digging on deorbit requirements. Found a reference to Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) and ISO 24113 Debris mitigation requirements and compliance: It calls out a 25 year deorbit after service for satellites lower than 2,000km.
Based on this calculator, a 400 kg sat at 514 km (Tintin sized) will naturally deorbit in ~25 years if it has a cross section of at least 4.3 m^2.
Apparently, a bunch of cube sats will be hanging out for much longer...
@bxr140
Thanks for the pointers on torque rods, that is pretty cool.
I went digging on deorbit requirements. Found a reference to Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) and ISO 24113 Debris mitigation requirements and compliance: It calls out a 25 year deorbit after service for satellites lower than 2,000km.
Based on this calculator, a 400 kg sat at 514 km (Tintin sized) will naturally deorbit in ~25 years if it has a cross section of at least 4.3 m^2.
Apparently, a bunch of cube sats will be hanging out for much longer...
Cool find. I’m not sure the delta between that and reality though. The generally accepted rule of thumb is that most practical payloads (from a size vs mass perspective) that are at ~500km or lower are going to deorbit themselves within the 25 year requirement.
