#EarthCARE | Falcon 9
wispy sun
Another ESA mission transferring from Soyuz to F9
BTW since this is a joint mission with JAXA, your favorite spaceflight VTuber is at it again in promoting the mission lmao 
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chilly breach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9WKok_1Jhg
odd ingot
fallow glacier
Another ESA mission transferring from Soyuz to F9
will we hear more of it beyond "launcher" now it's like proper ESA and ESA has worked with SpaceX before
leaden swan
JAXA is like "bruh just swallow your damn pride and use the rocket's name"
slim arrow
will we hear more of it beyond "launcher" now it's like proper ESA and ESA has w...
Yes they've been very open about the fact that this is launching on Falcon 9
wraith pivot
earthcare
bright magnet
real
slim arrow
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chilly breach
B1081.7
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They also seem to have messed up their webpage on this one, the broadcast isn't embedding
ebon sage
Lmao
regal flicker
tf is happening to B1075 lmfao
odd ingot
tf is happening to B1075 lmfao
Oh dang it’s been a long while since that’s flown
odd ingot
Probably made by somebody on the east coast <:kekw:753037648293265520>
That’d make sense
chilly breach
My guess is that ESA wanted one of the younger boosters
And B1081 is next in line after B1075, choice is not a huge shock
regal flicker
In that case id expected it to fly NROL-146, however then presumably the NRO wanted their B1071
So now its going like 80 days without launch lmfao
odd ingot
Have they always highlighted the flip on the timeline?
regal flicker
Dont think so
odd ingot
Huh
regal flicker
The start time is off by 3 hours <:kekw:753037648293265520>
They listed thr wrong laucnh time?
God that was a spelling mistakle
chilly breach
The webcast does yeah
regal flicker
Oh but the website is fine?
chilly breach
Yeah that's fine
regal flicker
same thing
chilly breach
6:20 PM ET
that's actually the same mistake the SpaceX employee made, the webcast start times shows as 2:59 PM for me, and I'm in ET
odd ingot
I love 1-3-1
ebon sage
Boostback burn is also 43 seconds, a bit short so maybe it means the launch will be very lofted - not a lot of horizontal speed to bleed off
regal flicker
Interesting
EarthCare aint even that heavy
Although it is a direct to orbit thingy
slim arrow
Boostback burn is also 43 seconds, a bit short so maybe it means the launch will...
Going directly to circular SSO, so very likely
chilly breach
Huh, even with its 52 day turnaround for this launch, B1081 will still become the fastest booster to reach 7 flights on this launch
Will be 277 days, current record is held by B1075 (fellow Vandy booster) at 283 days
regal flicker
https://x.com/MasterActual/status/1794590385958006951
Look to be brand new fairings
odd ingot
I love new fairings
bright magnet
Look to be brand new fairings
they will mention it during webcast anyway
might be young tho but completely re-painted
topaz kindle
Took this yesterday
whole orchid
falcon
gritty stratus
indeed
bright magnet
rockit
lament hill
[ Source: https://spacex.com ]
slim arrow
Twitter
sullen panther
God that little satellite vtuber lookin thing at the beginning of the webcast was so cute. Definitely Japan's part of the deal.
ebon sage
T0 should be 22:20:10 UTC
dense venture
[ Source: <https://spacex.com> ]
Stripey
regal flicker
ESA be live
dense venture
eh that might not land right
regal flicker
huh
leaden swan
Hakuryū 
wispy sun
T0 should be 22:20:10 UTC
Twitter
dense venture
was that shortvac in the illustration
wispy sun
was that shortvac in the illustration
Won’t be surprised since this is way within RTLS F9 capability
2350 kg to 393 km SSO
chilly breach
Looked like it, it'd be my guess for this launch
odd ingot
Stubby my beloved
dense venture
Won’t be surprised since this is way within RTLS F9 capability
2350 kg to 393 km...
fun stuff
wraith pivot
of it goes
wraith pivot
I hate the short nozzle so much
wraith pivot
wow u can see the bbb
regal flicker
Look to be brand new fairings
hell yeah
chilly breach
Surprisingly tame YouTube chat for a launch
slim arrow
Amazing views of the booster from stage 2 cams
These recent Vandenberg RTLS' have had some amazing stage sep and boostback views
chilly breach
Now on pace for 138 Falcon launches, 140 overall for SpaceX this year
entry burn startup
shutdown
Booster debuted on Crew-7 mission around 9 months ago, already has 7 launches under its belt
chilly breach
landing burn
landing confirmed
why didn't they switch to that ground view a few seconds earlier 
wraith pivot
idk
past shale
Booster debuted on Crew-7 mission around 9 months ago, already has 7 launches un...
5th RTLS mission for this booster
odd ingot
one of the visually worst landings I've seen
Yeah true
chilly breach
Separation 
past shale
it looked like the Crew 9 astronauts were there in mission control
chilly breach
Even with 7 launches under its belt, B1081 is still only the 3rd youngest active booster, of the 17 active Falcon boosters
regal flicker
B1081 best booster
chilly breach
B1081's first landing was a bit... 
regal flicker
makes it even cooler
survived a 1 second entry burn
you can’t tell me that’s not badass
regal flicker
literally
chilly breach
the 4th fastest-ever booster turnaround and it had to travel across the whole damn country
wispy sun
Mood
regal flicker
5 RTLS, first RTLS crew mission, CRS, launches NASA’s PACE, then goes to vandenberg with a 25 day turnaround, launches like 50 sats with another RTLS, launches first group 8 batch, and now launches earthcare with another RTLS
it is just so undeniably superior
past shale
CCP mission
dense venture
that’s a pretty cool booster
not as cool as the one I decided to build my online personality around, but still very in an absolute sense
regal flicker
B1058 kinda overrated ngl
hear me out
if we just take away demo 2 or the NASA 🪵
logo
what does it have
dense venture
Yeah it definitely wouldn’t be very noteworthy without those things but it did have them
regal flicker
yeah it just didn’t really do much after its first launch lol
wispy sun
BTW this means most of those payloads once stranded by the demise of Soyuz in Kourou have now all launched, except for another pair of Galileo (September this year) and the French spysat CSO-3 (now on the 2nd Ariane 6 to fly, whenever that happens)
dense venture
and a nasa worm on a falcon 9 booster is one of the coolest things you could do
wraith pivot
B1067 underrated
topaz kindle
My best photo of it🎉
dense venture
BTW this means most of those payloads once stranded by the demise of Soyuz in Ko...
yippee
topaz kindle
It was really bright out didnt get good visibility
regal flicker
if they just gave B1081 the worm logo aswell it would settle the debate so easily
wouldn’t even be an argument
wispy sun
what does it have
2 x Transporter (including the 1st one), the 1st Cargo Dragon-2, a Korean military comsat, 14 x Starlink
regal flicker
just isn’t comparable to B1081 with 7 launches, 5 RTLS already and everything else it did that’s mentioned above
it just kinda started becoming boring and spamming starlinks later
also not as many RTLS
dense venture
if they just gave B1081 the worm logo aswell it would settle the debate so easil...
this is true, but they didn’t
past shale
this was the 10th flight of the short MVac
regal flicker
this is true, but they didn’t
indeed but just saying
if B1081 already manages to rank up there with like B1058 and the others with only 7 launches and 9 months active
that’s impressive
past shale
4th booster to complete 5 RTLS missions
dense venture
honestly I can respect it, y’all are willing to overlook the superficial and count a booster’s true achievements. I’m hung up on the looks
regal flicker
i mean it did look pretty sick
wispy sun
BTW I just counted and 1058 actually jointly has the most dedicated Starlink launches with the currently active 1062, 14 launches each, followed by 1060 (RIP) and 1063 with 13
chilly breach
4th booster to complete 5 RTLS missions
And two of the others are FH side boosters
past shale
this was the 78th F9 launch from Vandy and the 19th landing on LZ-4
chilly breach
13th Falcon 9 mission this month, a new record
regal flicker
i mean it did look pretty sick
B1081 still looks pretty cool without the worm logo
that vandy photo it looks so smooth
chilly breach
An average of 13 per month is already more than the cadence required to reach their goal of 148 launches this year
chilly breach
So at this point all they have to do is make up for the earlier launches
ebon sage
If they get 6-64 in the bag on May 31st, then they would just need an average of 13 launches per month for the rest of the year
So essentially just keep the same cadence and, if they do better, that's always a bonus
It's gonna be complicated to keep the cadence in June without 39A pumping out Starlinks but we'll see
dense venture
B1081 still looks pretty cool without the worm logo
I’d say they all look like that but that’s not really true is it
1081 has got tiger stripes
regal flicker
vandenberg boosters honestly just look cooler rn in general
with their weird scrubbing
chilly breach
I will be very curious to see SLC-40 pad turnarounds in this upcoming month, now that there will be excess droneship capacity
ebon sage
It'd be funny if they try to do 3 day turnarounds over and over again
chilly breach
That’s what I’m hoping for
And 5-6 day turnarounds on 4E now that it should be straight Starlinks
ebon sage
My guess is that we'll get the next 4E launch around the 2nd of June and the next pad 40 launch after 6-64 either on the 3rd or 4th
So Starship may be SpaceX's third launch of June which is kinda crazy
chilly breach
My guess is that we'll get the next 4E launch around the 2nd of June and the nex...
How many starlinks do you think they’ll fit between 6-64 and Astra 1P? Seems most likely only 1, but they could maybeee target two of them
ebon sage
Yeah on a stretch they could probably get two
And tbh the June 10 date may not hold for SES
For example if it moves just two days to the 12th then they can do a Starlink on the 4th, another on the 8th, and SES-24 on the 12th
Example...
7 launches in June from pad 40 and with room for some launch shifting
7 launches from pad 40 plus GOES-U from 39A, that's 8 from Florida, then they'd need at least 5 from Vandy to hit 13 flights in June
May was the first calendar month with 5 launches from Vandenberg so they've demonstrated they could do it
regal flicker
when will group 6 end
because damn that thing has been going for a while
and no signs of stopping
ebon sage
Well
wispy sun
Meanwhile back with EarthCARE, S/C signal acquisition and solar array deployment confirmed
https://vxtwitter.com/esaoperations/status/1795594989701059026
regal flicker
woohooo earthcare
chilly breach
Twitter
dense venture
heck
ashen stump
https://x.com/turkeybeaver/status/1795597111154913378
1 every 3 days that’s very impressive
chilly breach
Closer to every 2 days
bright magnet
no mission patch? what a shame
slim arrow
no mission patch? what a shame
bright magnet
ayoooooooo
slim arrow
This time they did add the link at their mission page
leaden swan
Halle-fucking-lujah
whole orchid
I will be very curious to see SLC-40 pad turnarounds in this upcoming month, now...
wait wdym excess
whole orchid
https://x.com/w00ki33/status/1795600350164210023?s=46&t=9j2-lzDcIbRK6McrWkEb9g
marine layer boooooo
ebon sage
wait wdym excess
LC-39A is out of commission until GOES-U which means both droneships will be used for one pad instead of two
ebon sage
I'm guessing that after GOES-U we'll have a few more Starlinks from 39A and then we'll see if Crew-9 goes from there or it goes from 40
tame gorge
just get SLC-40 II: Electric Boogaloo finally
SLC-37 mayhaps
)
tame gorge
If FH launched like twice a month I'd understand
bright magnet
SLC-37 mayhaps
Starship iirc
tame gorge
Starship iirc
Yeah that's almost certinly what SLC-37 is going to be used for if SpaceX gets it
It was built as a twin-pad complex for Saturn I/IB even if the B pad only ever got used
bright magnet
yeah but I meant get the fckin SLC-40 II (for F9s) cuz LC-39 is cringe af 
green solar
mfw SH is like an order of magnitude higher thrust than DIVH
tame gorge
yeah but I meant get the fckin SLC-40 II (for F9s) cuz LC-39 is cringe af <:Trol...
LC-39 best pad
(Although SLC-6 out at Vandy is my personal favorite)
green solar
40 is superior pad
bright magnet
(ye I meant in term of SpX)
ashen stump
but tis a big complex
I’m assuming they’ll be at least two pads on 37
slim arrow
The full deployment of the Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer/Cloud Profiling Radar (EarthCARE/CPR*1) Antenna Main Reflector was confirmed by telemetry data of EarthCARE received at the Troll Satellite Station, Antarctica at 10:14 a.m. on May 30, 2024 (Japan Standard Time, JST).
slim arrow
wanton rapids
did I miss it
odd ingot
Yeah
chilly breach
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