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SpaceX rockets and launches

Live coverage will be here:



Expect them to launch either on the dot of 18:30 or a 24h scrub.
 
I've read a long arse technica thing on it but it hasn't answered my question. Does the car separate from the rocket to orbit the sun forever or is it the car and the rocket orbiting forever. I mean is the payload going to remain firmly attached to the rocket forever, because I'd rather it was on its own, or possibly stacked into mars at some point.
 
DotCommunist said:
I've read a long arse technica thing on it but it hasn't answered my question. Does the car separate from the rocket to orbit the sun forever or is it the car and the rocket orbiting forever. I mean is the payload going to remain firmly attached to the rocket forever, because I'd rather it was on its own, or possibly stacked into mars at some point.
Click to expand...

The animation that Space X did shows the car orbiting on it's own.

 
So they are going to leave the car up there somewhere. Gives a whole new definition to the concept of parking orbit.
 
The car alone (with the adapter ring and upper stage *) will end up in heliocentric orbit with aphelion roughly at the distance of Mars and perihelion roughly at the distance of Earth (from the Sun). It will be inclined to the ecliptic too so the car will never encounter Mars (planetary protection). The orbit will be similar to an Apollo asteroid - roughly the outer rim of the green disc indicated below between [E]arth's and [M]ars’ orbits:
285px-Minor_Planets_-_Apollo.svg.png


edit: * looks like the car will stay mated to the adapter and upper stage contrary to pre-launch publicity graphics.
 
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Now aiming for 2045GMT. The key issue now is - what is the trend in the upper level winds? Worth gambling and loading the fuel, which would make a 24 hour turnaround very difficult? We will find out in about 14 minutes when tanking should commence...
 
Window closes at 2056GMT (collision avoidance). Possibly they have computed the break point in tanking, at which they will need to terminate in order to be able to condition sufficient LOX for a 24hr turnaround, and will run the count until at least there to see if the winds improve.
 
TheHoodedClaw said:
There's a youtube live stream too,if that's more convenient



(currently there's nearly 400,000 people watching a static image)
Click to expand...

This is probably worth giving a thread of it's own. There'll be loads of folk who aren't on this thread who'd be interested but don't know about it.
 
The live feed now has a moving image. Ok, it's a random starfield and some space techno, but still.

Edit: And you can switch cameras between the PR-focussed hosted feed and the Countdown Net audio feed
 
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That was an awesome launch, the dual booster landing was incredible. Looks like they may have lost the center core though.
 
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