A couple of SpaceX news items

First, about this morning's launch from Cape Canaveral's SLC-40 at 6:33, after writing last night's post I weighed getting up at around 6:15 for this morning's launch. The positive side was hope it would be an eye "candy" treat, while the negative was the fact that the launch was to the northeast and that's generally the worst launch direction for visibility to us here. Many times we get no more than a glimpse of a spot of light moving in the distance. The launch being 45 minutes or so before sunrise increases the chances of seeing that spot, but the prettiest launches to watch tend to be between east and south. Both of those are unusual, with southeast being the most common. 

So do I get up? Getting up to get ready for work isn't a concern but her majesty (Tyla the cat) wakes me up virtually every morning for breakfast the only question is when. I figured if she woke me up in time, I'd go outside. The law of "the general perversion of nature" therefore demands she wouldn't wake me up until well after the launch and that's exactly what happened. 

Luckily though, in this morning's email, commenter Ralph last night had emailed me a spectacular photo of the launch and something that I never thought about last night at all. These effects are called Space Jellyfish and this is probably the most photogenic one I've ever seen. 

Space Jellyfish - Image credit above ("commenter Ralph")

It's worth a little time in description because the three sections might not be what you think. The big, fairly oval-shaped whitish cloud with what looks like a six pointed star on the bottom left is the second stage carrying the payload and while it seems closer to us, it's the farthest away of the three main things you can see. The middle area that looks like a cotton ball or a bunch of loose threads is where the separating booster heading back to us and that second stage going away from us at the bottom both blew rocket exhaust into each other. At the top right, you'll see a sort of pointed triangle shape which is the booster heading back for its landing and reuse. It's still going up at that point in time, but eventually flies a planned trajectory to the recovery ship.  

I just wish I'd gotten up to see this. 

SpaceX launched the first Starlink mission from Vandenberg in over 3 weeks

That was last night (Oct 12) at 8:28 PM EDT 5:28 PM CA time and 0028 on Oct 13 UTC. Space.com points out this was the first such mission since September 19, three weeks and two days ago. That was a very long delay between Starlink missions based on the rates when they were launching from both coasts (Vandenberg SFB and Cape Canaveral SFS). Though they don't go into the reasons part of the reason must come from the transition from the Starlink versions 1 through 2 that the Falcon 9 can handle and the Starlink V3 satellites that need to be launched by Starship - or something rated heavier lift than the Falcon 9. The Falcon 9 seems to be the most phenomenal rocket ever developed, with 708 missions through last night, out of which 705 were successful, a mere 99.6%.

Back on the September 28 flight of Starship 14, the ship carried and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites.

This will happen many more times going forward, if all goes to plan: The Starlink V3 constellation will eventually consist of about 100,000 satellites, all of which will fly on Starship, Elon Musk has said. 

100,000 Satellites? What's that old song that says, "when you dream, dream big"?

Booster 1088 lands on OCISLY (Of Course I Still Love You) after last night's Starlink mission, the booster's 20th mission. Credit: SpaceX