What's Next for SpaceX in 2018: Exploring the Limits of Space and Physics?

[berkeman]

Technically each booster produces three sonic booms, but two are so close together that you don't properly hear that. What is the issue?

No way the boosters were descending supersonic. They looked to be doing about 300mph descending toward the landing pads. the sounds appeared to be the boosters firing to slow their descent. Did I misinterpret the video? I'll watch again...

 

[berkeman]

Huh, I might be wrong about that coincidence:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...X-Falcon-Heavy-boosters-fire-sonic-booms.html

I need to think more about why the two sounds would be coincident. Coincidence? Weird. Sorry that I mistrusted you, @mfb

 

[berkeman]

Yeah, now it looks like the sonic booms were delayed by about 5 seconds (a little over a mile), and the boosters fired at about the closest approach to the listener. So it's probably a valid video and commentary. I will deprecate my "kindergarten" comment...

 

[mfb]

Here is a webcast with booster telemetry
The boosters become subsonic at about 7 km altitude, the landing burn starts at 3 km altitude and ~3/4 the speed of sound. The flight profile for the FH boosters should have been very similar. The sonic booms come from quite far away. They are a bit faster than the rocket, but not much.

 

[scottdave]

I can't help but be reminded of the opening scene of the movie Heavy Metal.

I thought the same exact thing. They even put a "dummy astronaut" in the driver's seat.
I've heard that it is an awesome experience to witness firsthand. One day I'd like to travel to Florida to witness a launch.

 

[boneh3ad]

Double the payload and a quarter the cost of Delta IV ($400M Delta IV per wiki vs $90M FH per Musk).

Cue the CEO of Orbital ATK releasing a statement about how SpaceX is still just a bit player who doesn't threaten their business.

 

[OmCheeto]

Where is it now(ish)?

[new reference]

Q: What would it looks like to Hubble?
A: A point: 0.025 pixels
[ref: maths]

 

[Stavros Kiri]

History in the making!
Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to watch the events live when they happened, but I am catching up now ...

 

[OmCheeto]

And the vehicle now has its own wiki page: Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster

I was thumbing through Twitter this afternoon when I ran across a re-tweet by Brian Cox:

JJ Hermes‏ @jotajotahermes

Early this morning we measured the brightness changes of a car tumbling in space!
Credit to Erik Dennihy (@UNC), we can report that Tesla Roadster (Starman, 2018-017A) is rotating with a period of 4.7589 +/- 0.0060 minutes.

 

[Tom.G]

Video, continuous from launch thru booster recovery. About 9 minutes. Taken thru an 8 inch telescope so you can see the booster separation and the return-to-launch burns.

 

[Stavros Kiri]

How to Track "mfb's new avatar" Using Mobile Apps ...

(How to Track Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster Using Mobile Apps)

 

[nsaspook]

Failed booster return and near miss at 1:10

 

[Borg]

Hard to believe that it's been 2 1/2 years already. I've been curious lately about where the Starman roadster is currently and it's going to have a close approach to Mars on Oct. 7th.

 

[gleem]

The United States Space Force has announced the launch date for its 2-year delayed USSF-44 mission, Oct 28.

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-rocket-first-launch-three-years-take-two/

 

[anorlunda]

Three nearly simultaneous landings. I love it.

 

[mfb]

Just two (controlled) landings. The center booster was expended. It's possible SpaceX collected some data from that before its destruction - the highest re-entry speed a Falcon booster has ever achieved by a large margin.