SpaceX F9 - Starlink 2 - SLC-40

[Electroman]

It landed two feet away from bulls eye. Big failure !!

/s

 

[SMAlset]

Nice landing, a bit off center this time but standing proud. You could see the whitecaps so imagine not as smooth as some past landings.

 

[ecarfan]

Another boring uneventful nominal mission.

Only disappointment is that Ms Tree just missed catching a fairing half.

It was a lovely sight seeing the satellite stack drifting away from the 2nd stage!

 

[Zaxxon]

So this is the third of an estimated six launches in order to reach a small beta service, right? At what point do we expect to start seeing more information on the base station, service parameters/cost, etc?

 

[Cosmacelf]

So this is the third of an estimated six launches in order to reach a small beta service, right? At what point do we expect to start seeing more information on the base station, service parameters/cost, etc?

The way Elon rolls? A week after service starts

 

[Cosmacelf]

So this is the third of an estimated six launches in order to reach a small beta service, right? At what point do we expect to start seeing more information on the base station, service parameters/cost, etc?

But seriously, this will be quite the change for SpaceX. I mean, they literally only have a handful of customers, each worth hundreds of millions or more in revenue. They just aren’t at all set up to interact with consumers. Tesla, on the other hand, is setup to do so. They even have a handy app. So I wonder if SpaceX will contract with Tesla to handle customer billing, service, etc. at least in the US.

 

[Zaxxon]

contract with Tesla to handle customer... service.

 

[SageBrush]

Only disappointment is that Ms Tree just missed catching a fairing half.

Any details ? How close was 'just missed' ?

 

[mongo]

So this is the third of an estimated six launches in order to reach a small beta service, right? At what point do we expect to start seeing more information on the base station, service parameters/cost, etc?

Elon says at least 4 more launches needed for US and Canada. Difference may be the first set were non fully built out, no lasers.
Twitter

 

[SageBrush]

Elon says at least 4 more launches needed for YS and Canada. Difference may be the first set were non fully built out, no lasers.
Twitter

YS ?

 

[mongo]

YS ?

Oops, too much GF3 on the brain. Edited to say US.
Thanks!

 

[Zaxxon]

The way Elon rolls? A week after service starts

Or, today.

Elon Musk on Twitter

 

[ecarfan]

Any details ? How close was 'just missed' ?

That’s what one of the webcast hosts said. No other information provided during the webcast that I recall.

 

[ecarfan]

Is their an information source online that provides times/locations where the “train” of sats can be viewed?

 

[Nikxice]

Is their an information source online that provides times/locations where the “train” of sats can be viewed?

This site has reportedly worked for others in the past.
SpaceX Starlink Satellites Tracker
The Starlink 2 tracker is now up on the site. I found the only way I could change city locations was use the back button and then refresh the page. (Later found a 'Change Location' highlighted in blue on the page) Poking around different parts of the globe, most if not all of the possible Starlink 2 visible passes come with a disclaimer "not enough sunlight reflected". I'm wondering if this is because of the experimental coating that was applied to the satellites. I thought the webcast said that this was only done to some of those 60 sats. This might be cause for a low albedo on a few, but perhaps not all of the sats in the train.

 

[Right_Said_Fred]

Did anyone else notice the two objects (debris) shooting by just after release of the satellite stack? I would say that was a pretty close call

At 1:20:09 and 1:20:11 in the video (video time), just before they cut off the feed.

Here's the link:

 

[mongo]

Did anyone else notice the two objects (debris) shooting by just after release of the satellite stack? I would say that was a pretty close call

Didn't see that, do you have a link and timestamp?
Was is possibly part of the release mechanism?

 

[Right_Said_Fred]

Didn't see that, do you have a link and timestamp?
Was is possibly part of the release mechanism?

Added the link and time stamp to my post. They were going very fast, so could not have been part of the release mechanism I think.

 

[mongo]

Added the link and time stamp to my post. They were going very fast, so could not have been part of the release mechanism I think.

Thanks, I think they were from the payload:

• Direction was non-orbital
  
• The speed was not super fast, since they were in multiple frames
• Odds of two piece of orbital debris that close physically and temporally are quite high
• Positioning lines up with the payload

 

[Right_Said_Fred]

That's a relief. Thank you for the explanation. It does make sense, in three dimensions the area where they launch satellites is so big that the chances of running into a piece of space debris (let alone two), even if there are thousands of them, should be almost negligable.