ORBCOMM-2 Full Launch Webcast

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Recommends PearsonArtPhoto · 2015-12 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “How did Falcon 9 deploy 11 satellites?”

A few additional points. The satellites were deployed 2 at a time, to keep the rocket from tipping while deploying. The satellites were on a spring system, as can be seen. They were held seem to be held on by a few bolts, as can be seen in the below image, of what looks like a vibration test. I suspect they were deployed at various angles to keep them apart. The video shows fairly clearly (Focus on the moon) [this video] that the rocket rotated after each deployment, likely to send them at different angles There exist different strengths of springs. Each pair of spacecraft goes in opposite directions. After deployment, the spacecraft will use their thrusters to properly space. I suspect this will

Cites TildalWave · 2015-12 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “What was the distant bright light in the SpaceX webcast of Orbcomm OG2 deployment?”

It was the Moon. It was illuminated at roughly 85-86% as seen from low Earth's orbit at the time of deployment, so pretty bright, and roughly directly overhead of the Americas. Deployment camera was pointing more or less backwards with respect to upper stage's velocity vector and the upper stage was tracking roughly over the Atlantic ocean West of Europe 17 minutes into the launch. Earth's, Moon's and Sun's geometry, made with Solar System Scope [LINK] orrery for exact time and in realistic size mode centered on Earth, looked like this: Note that how the Moon appears to track relative to the camera's frame also depends on upper stage's own attitude during deployment, not just orbit's geometr

Cites zgyork · 2015-12 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “How far from launchpad did Falcon 9's first stage go?”

The first part of this answer is data provided by a reasonably high fidelity simulation of the launch. While not perfect, it is the best data that anyone outside of SpaceX has at this point. More information can be found here. [LINK] At its highest point, stage one was just above 180 km. At its farthest point, it was ~95 km downrange. Again, this data isn't perfect, but we can hopefully expect SpaceX to release more information in the coming days and weeks. As far as velocity goes, at MECO, the vehicle is traveling at around 6000 km/h, or mach 4.87. This data comes from direct vehicle telemetry that was displayed on the webcast [this video] .

Cites PearsonArtPhoto · 2015-12 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “Difference between BlueOrigin and SpaceX rocket landings?”

Blue Origins Flew to just over 100 km (100.5), just enough to say it went to space. Landed at the same site, presumably went straight up and down. Carried a suborbital payload. Announced only after the fact. SpaceX Separation from 1st stage [this video] at 79.3 km, 5929 km/hr (From webcast video) At that point, the upward speed was about (86.6-75.3)/7 or 1.6 km/ second, as measured from the video. That being very rough, but still under the speed (5800 km/hr), indicates to me that likely most of the speed was in the upward direction, but there was a cross range speed of non-negligible difference. Landing occurred at 9:42. Using Earth's surface gravity, and assuming no acceleration (Both bad assump

Cites user12102 · 2015-12 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “A nicer way to download the positions of the Orbcomm-2 satellites”

I'm trying to watch the Orbcomm-2 satellites evolve into a constellation. They were recently placed in orbit by SpaceX (their video here [this video] ) and the details are discussed in this excellent question [LINK] and answer [LINK] pair. I found a way to get latitude, longitude, and altitude by clicking on each satellite listed here [LINK] (Norad 41179U through 41189U). The process was awkward - I made a series of screen shots (twenty two of them - argh!) like this, two for each satellite, and interpolated to a single point in time (14:00:00 UTC 24-DEC-2015) [LINK] In Python I converted to X, Y, Z in space, for sat in sats: r = r_earth + sat.alt x = r * np.cos(rads*sat.lat) * np.cos(rads*sat.lo

Cites user12102 · 2017-01 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “What goes into the planning and execution of the deployment of groups of LEO satellites?”

I was among many watching SpaceX's exciting OrbComm-2 mission ( Falcon-9 Flight 20 [LINK] , 22-Dec-2015), and besides the first successful landing of a 1st stage after an orbital mission, the deployment of the eleven OrbComm satellites made for great imagery. By watching the (nearly full) Moon, you can even see the 2nd stage perform roll maneuvers between each successive deployment. You can see this in SpaceX's 'promo trailers' for example. In fact it is this specific visual that brought me to SXSE (Space Exploration Stackexchange) a year ago - as evidenced by my first salvo of questions here! Since I hadn't heard of TLEs yet, I was "scraping" websites to get the positions of the satellites

Cites user12102 · 2017-01 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “What pattern of satellite release will the pentagonal Iridium arrangement use?”

The first ten of eleven OrbComm satellites were deployed in opposing pairs at five different times. The 2nd stage performed roll maneuvers to make sure the initial velocity and/or attitude were optimal. Special thanks to whomever for the forethought of putting the moon in the field of view to make this historic sequence both even more visually rich and educational. At the top you can see the opposing satellite deployed symmetrically at the same time as one at the bottom of the view. [LINK] above: SpaceX deployment of the OrbComm-2 satellites GIF made from cropped screenshots of the SpaceX technical broadcast [this video] . However, the Iridium satellites are in a pentagonal arrangement. Will they

Cites user12102 · 2019-12 · Space Exploration Stack Exchange · on “Has SpaceX ever done a hot restart of a 2nd stage?”

just curious, is this the launch you're describing? And is it possible to find the time where the 2nd stage engine is restarted? [this video] and [LINK]