Thanks watched that video, super cool! Seeing FIVE F9 first stages in the main SpaceX building in Hawthorne and how crowded it looked, I told my spouse: "We're going to need a bigger factory" (cue Jaws theme music). I've walked by that building several times when at the Hawthorne Supercharger, always hoping the main door on the street side would be open so I can peek inside, but it never is.
I thought I saw six booster cores in the video. 2 on the outside edges and 4 in the center with at least 1 being a pre-flown core. I think you get a glimpse of the new helium system (the red CPOVs) that replaced the anomaly causing helium system. That is, unless those were for something completely different.
Prototype for a potential 'wiki' thread... 2017ReuseDateRktLaunch siteOrbitWeight Recovery Payload / Thread1-Jan 14F9LC-4EPO860 (x10)JRTIIridium Next (1-10)2-Feb 19F9LC-39A??LZ-1Dragon CRS-103-March 16 0600 UTCF9LC-39ALEO??LZ-1echostar 2341March 30F9LC-39ALEO??LZ-1ses-105-April 29F9LC-39ALEO??LZ-1NROL-766-May 15F9LC-39AGTO6070noInmarsat 5-F47-June 1 2130 UTCF9LC-39ALEO(3300)LZ-1Dragon CRS-1182Jun 23F9LC-39AGTO3669OCISLYBulgariaSat-19-Jun 25 2025 UTCF9LC-4EPO860 (x10)JRTIIridium Next (11-20)Launched January through June of 2017
Upcoming launches from earlier in this thread 2017ReuseDateRktLaunch siteOrbitWeight Recovery Payload / Thread10-July 1F9LC-39AGTO~6000noIntelsat 35etbd-Jun?F9LC-39AGTO5400OCISLYSES-11(EchoStar 105)tbd-JulF9LC-39AGTO~3500LZ-1 or ASDSKoreaSat 5Atbd-Jul 22F9LC-4ESSO525JRTIFORMOSAT 5tbd-Aug 1F9LC-39ALEO(3300)LZ-1Dragon CRS-12
Interesting article on reusability and its effect on the industry: SpaceX cuts flight-to-reflight time for Falcon 9 first stage - Space Intel Report
Dragon goes to LEO EchoStar - Wikipedia gives location of the satellite in degrees 77°W, so GTO. SES-10 - Wikipedia SES-10, is a geostationary communications satellite, again GTO
Nice article on how disruptive SpaceX is from MIT: SpaceX is making commercial space launches look like total child’s play
List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches - Wikipedia The launch on Thursday, Formosat 5, was the 40th Falcon 9. This was the 38th successful launch. This was the 15th successful booster recovery. Of those, 9 were ASDS and 6 were RTLS. This was the 11 straight recovery in a row where recovery was attempted. There have been 5 boosters lost while attempting an experimental recovery. We've had 2 successful re-flights of a previously flown booster. (2 more are planned) We've had 2 rockets lost and one failure on a secondary payload due to contractual priorities. There have been 377 Merlin engines flown with only one failure in use. F9 has a current manifest of 47+ contracted launches still pending. FH has 4 contracted launches still pending.
How about Elon Musk sponsoring a get together near the launch site (a safe distance) when there is a launch planned. Seems like something a lot of owners would attend. Launches are spectacular.
Gwynne Shotwell discussing launch cadence and Block 5 improvements: SpaceX aims to follow a banner year with an even faster 2018 launch cadence - SpaceNews.com
Looking at the SpaceXNow app, it appears to show that for 2018 SpaceX has 28 commercial flights scheduled, which is incredible. But in addition to those flights, there are multiple demo flights (I recognize all these dates are subject to change): FH demo, NET Jan 15 Crew Dragon demo, unmanned, NET April Crew Dragon in-flight abort test flight, unmanned (no date estimate yet) Crew Dragon demo, manned, NET July And possibly...the “Lunar Dragon” flight with two private citizens. Note I said “possibly”. So that is very likely over 30 launches this year, maybe 32. It will be an incredible year. And the company is now less than 16 years old. I still find it hard to wrap my head around that!
SpaceX is commissioning a third ASDS for possible dual FH side booster landings. It's name will be "A Shortfall of Gravitas." Elon Musk on Twitter
When viewed in order of deployment it certainly provides evidence of A Shortfall of Gravitas. Thus I suspect we'll not see any more droneships in the foreseeable future.
SpaceX reaches the promised land of launching every two weeks We're headed for 25 to 30 launches this year. We're three months in and SpaceX has launched seven rockets with one Falcon Heavy with three cores.