Of course and guess who fell asleep on the sofa and missed it...
Brian

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This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Currently this is rescheduled for 20:45 tonight. Launch window closed at
21:00

Could be well worth a look.


https://arstechnica.com/science/2018...lly-fly-today/

Tim



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Please don't feed the trolls

On Wed, 7 Feb 2018 07:17:46 -0000, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

Of course and guess who fell asleep on the sofa and missed it...

This might be of interest then Brian.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16...failed-landing

And if you want the whole thing, the following Youtube link gives you
the launch, recovery and the press meeting with Elon (and loads of
chat in between). Handy if you have 5 + hours to spare. ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLOZPoVV04A

Cheers, T i m

On Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:13:13 +0100, Martin wrote:

On Wed, 07 Feb 2018 10:05:56 +0000, T i m wrote:

On Wed, 7 Feb 2018 07:17:46 -0000, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

Of course and guess who fell asleep on the sofa and missed it...

This might be of interest then Brian.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16...failed-landing

Two out of three is not bad for a first attempt.

I don't think it is the first attempt at landing the cores though as
they have even done so on the drone barge.

I'll give you that it's was the first time they had launched the
Falcon Heavy and tried to recover all 3 cores simultaneously!

It's funny how some people don't see things [1]. Whilst watching the
live feed of the recovery stage it was very obvious to me that on the
feed I was watching that what should have been the feed from the two
side cores was two duplicate feeds from one (because they 'both'
landed on the same pad). ;-)

https://youtu.be/TLA7jo90V2k?t=424

You can also see the retro burn(s) of both side cores in both video
feeds but the orientation of the landing pad is the same in both
feeds.

I'm not suggesting that there weren't two side cores, or that they
didn't land safely (even though the landing pad video looked like an
animation g), just that we didn't get to see the ride from both side
cores. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[1] I spotted that the picture of the kitcar on the home page of the
club website was reversed, making it a LHD and apparently it had been
like that for years! ;-)

On 07/02/2018 11:48, T i m wrote:
On Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:13:13 +0100, Martin wrote:

On Wed, 07 Feb 2018 10:05:56 +0000, T i m wrote:

On Wed, 7 Feb 2018 07:17:46 -0000, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

Of course and guess who fell asleep on the sofa and missed it...

This might be of interest then Brian.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16...failed-landing

Two out of three is not bad for a first attempt.

I don't think it is the first attempt at landing the cores though as
they have even done so on the drone barge.

I'll give you that it's was the first time they had launched the
Falcon Heavy and tried to recover all 3 cores simultaneously!

It's funny how some people don't see things [1]. Whilst watching the
live feed of the recovery stage it was very obvious to me that on the
feed I was watching that what should have been the feed from the two
side cores was two duplicate feeds from one (because they 'both'
landed on the same pad). ;-)

https://youtu.be/TLA7jo90V2k?t=424

You can also see the retro burn(s) of both side cores in both video
feeds but the orientation of the landing pad is the same in both
feeds.

I'm not suggesting that there weren't two side cores, or that they
didn't land safely (even though the landing pad video looked like an
animation g), just that we didn't get to see the ride from both side
cores. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[1] I spotted that the picture of the kitcar on the home page of the
club website was reversed, making it a LHD and apparently it had been
like that for years! ;-)


I believe the "Govsat" launch last week had a 3 engine test landing, at
sea which was successful, though without a barge so the core was lost.

Stage separation on that was about 8000 kmh.

On Wed, 7 Feb 2018 13:49:58 +0000, Vortex13
wrote:

snip

I believe the "Govsat" launch last week had a 3 engine test landing, at
sea which was successful, though without a barge so the core was lost.

Interesting, thanks. Elon said he was hoping for a new 'space race' so
it looks like it's on. ;-)

Stage separation on that was about 8000 kmh.

Mad speeds eh. I was watching the speedo go up at launch and whist it
started off quite modestly, it really picked up after that!

Silly question for you ... why don't you see any stars in any of the
shots from the Roadster? Is it that it's too bright in general, even
though it looked pitch black in the background?

Cheers, T i m

On 07/02/2018 14:02, T i m wrote:
On Wed, 7 Feb 2018 13:49:58 +0000, Vortex13
wrote:

snip

I believe the "Govsat" launch last week had a 3 engine test landing, at
sea which was successful, though without a barge so the core was lost.

Interesting, thanks. Elon said he was hoping for a new 'space race' so
it looks like it's on. ;-)

Stage separation on that was about 8000 kmh.

Mad speeds eh. I was watching the speedo go up at launch and whist it
started off quite modestly, it really picked up after that!

Silly question for you ... why don't you see any stars in any of the
shots from the Roadster? Is it that it's too bright in general, even
though it looked pitch black in the background?

Cheers, T i m


I wonder if it's simply an optical thing. The cameras are focussed on
the vehicle, rather than infinity.

On 07/02/2018 14:02, T i m wrote:

Silly question for you ... why don't you see any stars in any of the
shots from the Roadster? Is it that it's too bright in general, even
though it looked pitch black in the background?

You might just about see Venus on a video feed if it happened to be in
the field of view but it would be right on the limits of detection and
only slightly above the noise floor. Its too close to the sun now.

You can see Venus with the naked eye in daylight from the Earth if you
know exactly where to look in the sky - stand in the shadow of a
building to get a bit of help. The hard bit is tricking your eye to
focus at infinity when staring at an apparently featureless blue sky.

If you use any optical aid you *MUST* stand in the shade. You cannot
afford to look at the sun through binoculars if you value your sight.

Your best chance of seeing it with the naked eye in daytime this year is
in mid to late summer when it is magnitude -4 (substantially brighter
than Sirius) and more than 40 degrees away from the sun. See:

http://www.nakedeyeplanets.com/venus.htm

Its a lot easier if you have someone who knows where to look.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

T i m wrote:

Whilst watching the
live feed of the recovery stage it was very obvious to me that on the
feed I was watching that what should have been the feed from the two
side cores was two duplicate feeds from one (because they 'both'
landed on the same pad). ;-)

They have now posted a corrected version of the webcast with video
from both side boosters. (It also has some extra footage of the car
tagged on the end.)

https://youtu.be/bCc16uozHVE


--
Geoff Clare

On 07/02/2018 13:45, Geoff Clare wrote:
T i m wrote:

Whilst watching the
live feed of the recovery stage it was very obvious to me that on the
feed I was watching that what should have been the feed from the two
side cores was two duplicate feeds from one (because they 'both'
landed on the same pad). ;-)

They have now posted a corrected version of the webcast with video
from both side boosters. (It also has some extra footage of the car
tagged on the end.)

https://youtu.be/bCc16uozHVE



Much better. Shame the video feeds weren't correct last night.

So the vehicle will be in space for millions of years.

Huge temperature extremes from close to 0K to 400K maybe. Lots of
radiation.

I wonder how long before the tyres turn to dust. They aren't going to
last forever.

On 7 Feb 2018 15:35:21 GMT, Huge wrote:

On 2018-02-07, Vortex13 wrote:
On 07/02/2018 13:45, Geoff Clare wrote:
T i m wrote:

Whilst watching the
live feed of the recovery stage it was very obvious to me that on the
feed I was watching that what should have been the feed from the two
side cores was two duplicate feeds from one (because they 'both'
landed on the same pad). ;-)

They have now posted a corrected version of the webcast with video
from both side boosters. (It also has some extra footage of the car
tagged on the end.)

https://youtu.be/bCc16uozHVE



Much better. Shame the video feeds weren't correct last night.

So the vehicle will be in space for millions of years.

What a stupid piece of vandalism *that* is. They could have launched
something useful.

Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing.

Who is going to risk millions on a viable commercial payload (again)
.... until it proved itself (which was the point of the mission).

https://www.timesofisrael.com/spacex...eli-satellite/

Or would you rather they did what they normally do a test launch with
a lump of concrete?

And if launching a car into space gets people interested in the whole
space thing, or even to just raise the profile of the SpaceX project
then it *is* doing something useful.

However: 'Musk, who wants to colonise Mars, said the approach was
"kind of silly and fun, but I think that silly and fun things are
important".

Only to some it seems ...

Cheers, T i m

On 7 Feb 2018 15:35:21 GMT
Huge wrote:

On 2018-02-07, Vortex13 wrote:
On 07/02/2018 13:45, Geoff Clare wrote:
T i m wrote:

Whilst watching the
live feed of the recovery stage it was very obvious to me that on
the feed I was watching that what should have been the feed from
the two side cores was two duplicate feeds from one (because they
'both' landed on the same pad). ;-)

They have now posted a corrected version of the webcast with video
from both side boosters. (It also has some extra footage of the
car tagged on the end.)

https://youtu.be/bCc16uozHVE



Much better. Shame the video feeds weren't correct last night.

So the vehicle will be in space for millions of years.

What a stupid piece of vandalism *that* is. They could have launched
something useful.



It's a good job he's not in the UK as he'd have a hell of a job
explaining to the DVLA why his car didn't need the VED paying.

Statutory Off Planet Notice?

On 07/02/2018 16:11, Chris Hogg wrote:
On 7 Feb 2018 15:35:21 GMT, Huge wrote:

On 2018-02-07, Vortex13 wrote:

So the vehicle will be in space for millions of years.

What a stupid piece of vandalism *that* is. They could have launched
something useful.

They deliberately didn't do that, because they didn't know whether it
would be a successful launch. They didn't want to risk a squillion
pound satellite being incinerated in a massive kerosene-LOX fireball.


I think it's fantastic publicity. The alternative lump of steel or
concrete would just not cut it and I certainly would not risk my
expensive satellite in such an experiment.

A TV advertising slot in the Superbowl about 4 megadollars. Throwing
away a Tesla and a few cameras is small potatoes.

The other commercial launch providers should be quaking in their boots.

Tim Streater explained on 07/02/2018 :
Like Jezza.

There is enough polution up there!

On Wed, 7 Feb 2018 13:45:46 +0000, Geoff Clare
wrote:

T i m wrote:

Whilst watching the
live feed of the recovery stage it was very obvious to me that on the
feed I was watching that what should have been the feed from the two
side cores was two duplicate feeds from one (because they 'both'
landed on the same pad). ;-)

They have now posted a corrected version of the webcast with video
from both side boosters. (It also has some extra footage of the car
tagged on the end.)

https://youtu.be/bCc16uozHVE

That looks a bit better, thanks for that Geoff. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

On 07/02/2018 14:45, T i m wrote:
On Wed, 7 Feb 2018 13:45:46 +0000, Geoff Clare
wrote:

T i m wrote:

Whilst watching the
live feed of the recovery stage it was very obvious to me that on the
feed I was watching that what should have been the feed from the two
side cores was two duplicate feeds from one (because they 'both'
landed on the same pad). ;-)

They have now posted a corrected version of the webcast with video
from both side boosters. (It also has some extra footage of the car
tagged on the end.)

https://youtu.be/bCc16uozHVE

That looks a bit better, thanks for that Geoff. ;-)

Looks to me like they had a bit of grot on the lens of the feed that
they didn't show live and someone put the sharper image feed in both.
The feed from the core also goes bad shortly after its re-entry burn -
presumably since something ended up on the lens.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown