During tonight’s Falcon 9 launch of Starlink from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the second stage engine did not complete its second burn. As a result, the Starlink satellites were deployed into a lower than intended orbit. SpaceX has made contact with five of the satellites so far and is attempting to have them raise orbit using their ion thrusters.

There’s also a tweet saying the same thing in fewer words.

This is the affected mission: Starlink 9-3 launch bulletin

Let’s hope it was due to SpaceX pushing the envelope on their in-house Starlink missions in some way, though I have no specific guesses along those lines. Perhaps a manufacturing defect or an operational mistake are more likely to be the leading candidates for the cause.

  • Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyzB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:

    Fewer Letters More Letters
    RUD Rapid Unplanned Disassembly
    ~ Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly
    ~ Rapid Unintended Disassembly
    SECO Second-stage Engine Cut-Off
    Jargon Definition
    Starlink SpaceX’s world-wide satellite broadband constellation
    perigee Lowest point in an elliptical orbit around the Earth (when the orbiter is fastest)

    [Thread #49 for this sub, first seen 12th Jul 2024, 14:00] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]