SpaceX SES-9 Mission Live Webcast

http://www.spacex.com/webcast

by nerdy • 10 years ago

152 79 10 years ago

nerdy• 10 years ago

They're aiming for 6:35 ET, from the page:

We’re targeting today, Friday, March 4 at 6:35pm ET for launch of SES-9. The window extends to 8:06pm ET. The SpaceX webcast is scheduled to go live here (on http://www.spacex.com/webcast) and on YouTube about 10 minutes prior to launch. For rocket views, launch countdown audio and telemetry info, use this link for our technical webcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIkPP2LM8DU

melling3• 10 years ago

Supersonic...

toufka• 10 years ago

Rainbow-bars [NO SIGNAL] right when stage 1 was landing on the barge...

So suspenseful!

The last frame before video cut out http://i.imgur.com/3HCnn7c.png

Edit - looks like stage 1 did not survive landing (this time).

https://twitter.com/MatthewBTravis/status/705908015711518720

The Drone Ship says, "Sorry guys :(" https://twitter.com/TheDroneShip/status/705907706209693696

qrybam• 10 years ago

Tell me about it - never thought I'd be this excited about something landing on a floating platform!

dtparr3• 10 years ago

Yeah, at least this time we expected that to happen. (SpaceX webcast guy indicated the rocket shakes the uplink dish so hard on approach it's likely to lose signal every time).

daeken2• 10 years ago

I do wonder why they don't have a separate small barge with a couple fiber runs between them, to do the comms (e.g. host the dish(es)). I guess it just isn't that important.

rbanffy3• 10 years ago

It would make sense to record it in high quality while streaming lower bandwidth signals and, as soon as possible, send the original recording through the uplink.

dz0ny• 10 years ago

http://i.imgur.com/3HCnn7c.png

stcredzero2• 10 years ago

They need a bigger barge with more powerful station-keeping, and a dynamically stabilized hydraulic landing platform. (Along with a gimbal-stabilized uplink dish.)

mikeash9• 10 years ago

I don't think any of the landing crashes so far have been due to the barge's size or movement. It's always been problems with the rocket, not the barge.

samstave3• 10 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4OmVLc_oDw

ChuckMcM2• 10 years ago

While I'm sure there are a number of people who are really interested in the SES-9 success, I was really hoping to see a water landing. I continue to be amazed at how difficult it appears to be to get a reliable signal from an unmanned boat out in the Atlantic back to land.

mikeash9• 10 years ago

It looks like getting a signal in normal circumstances is doable, but problems occur when a 200ft rocket shows up wanting to make friends.

agumonkey3• 10 years ago

I just love SpaceX skill in quantum mechanics

http://imgur.com/StUjcAc Maybe, maybe not

samstave3• 10 years ago

Why arent there literally hundreds of GOPRO cams on the droneship?

I mean they can make a robotic rocket and sea-based-landing platform, but they cant take good video with $100 cameras? Why are all vids cut off as if it was some lame redditor's crappy gif repost?

Edit: I was clearly misinformed. My question was bad and I feel as.

ceejayoz• 10 years ago

They have GoPros all over, and they usually release video afterwards from them. The problem is not the cameras, it's the uplink. Turns out cellular signals aren't so strong several hundred miles out to sea, and satellite uplinks are a bit iffy when your dish is being vibrated by a rocket.

dtparr3• 10 years ago

The problem as I understand it is not the cameras, as we generally get footage later. It's that whole "bandwidth" thing when you're 600km out to sea and a 14 story rocket comes flying in and messes up your satellite uplink.

sillysaurus3• 10 years ago

I like how your imgur post is a proxy for the number of people that view HN.

Probably 1/10th the viewers clicked the link. The link is at about 6k views in 2 hours. Kind of mindblowing how much viewership a toplevel comment gets, especially compared to the number of upvotes/downvotes.

gozur882• 10 years ago

Nice "intermission" music.

I'm glad the launch is going well. After all those false starts a first stage failure would have been depressing.

ajtaylor• 10 years ago

The only question that matters right now is: did stage 1 land successfully on the barge???

mhandley• 10 years ago

It looked like it was somewhat off-center just before the video froze. Hope I'm wrong.

mikeash9• 10 years ago

It intentionally comes down a bit off center so that if the engine(s) don't relight, the rocket crashes into the ocean instead of the ship. It then maneuvers onto the ship from there. The video may have just cut off before that.

gozur882• 10 years ago

Unless you're SES, in which case the remaining 2nd stage stuff is pretty important.

melling3• 10 years ago

After all that's what they're getting paid for. They can crash a dozen more stage 1's and they're still making money. If only other startups worked that way.

catilac2• 10 years ago

Did I see video footage of inside the fuel tank?

dasmoth• 10 years ago

Pretty sure it was actually the LOX tank. But yes.

catilac2• 10 years ago

Ahh, thanks for clarifying!

generj2• 10 years ago

Elon confirms 1st stage did not get a good landing

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/705917924972736512

Edit - text of tweet: "Rocket landed hard on the droneship. Didn't expect this one to work (v hot reentry), but next flight has a good chance."

Very impressive nonetheless. I am wondering if they had a loss of the drone ship?

mikeash9• 10 years ago

It's unlikely the drone ship would be lost. The rocket is coming in nearly empty. The explosions we've seen in the past are really just the remnants of fuel briefly burning, it's not all that powerful. The rocket itself is light compared to the ship. It's a little bit like someone throwing a soda can at your head. It'll hurt, but it won't break your skull. Some of the support equipment on the deck might take damage (there are fun pictures of the ship after previous attempts with various items dented and scorched) but the ship itself should be fine.

generj2• 10 years ago

Ah, OK. For some reason I had the mental image of a bunch of inexpensive ships which would surely sink if they got hit at high velocity. It's pretty incredible, given how large the rockets are, that the ship dwarfs them, but recalling earlier landing videos you are correct.

agumonkey3• 10 years ago

Do they 'refurbish' the barge ? It's the .. 4th time ?

oska• 10 years ago

The explosions we've seen in the past are really just the remnants of fuel briefly burning

And rapid de-pressurisation.

rbanffy3• 10 years ago

It's a little bit like someone throwing a soda can at your head.

A mostly empty can. And it should be moving slowly when it hits.

InclinedPlane• 10 years ago

Hah, no, the drone ship will be ok, it's pretty strong.

Animats• 10 years ago

Another successful Falcon 9 launch. Too bad about the booster landing. The barge landing is very tough; it requires drastic maneuvers in the last seconds to hit that tiny target. The land-based landing pad is much larger.

The Falcon Heavy launch was supposed to be next month, but that's slipped to late 2016, maybe.

SpaceX SES-9 Mission Live Webcast

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