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  • It's Sunday, January 17th and you're looking at a live shot of Falcon nine at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

  • Hello and welcome to our live Webcast for the Space six launch of Jason three.

  • My name is Kate Thais, and I'm a process improvement engineer here at Space Sex and I'm currently standing in front of our Mission Control Center, located and company headquarters on Hawthorne, California Today's mission is launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base, which he might hear us refer to as Vandy during the Webcast.

  • That's about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

  • And while the crowd is still growing here behind me, the bucket list for the majority of space access to watch a rocket launch in person.

  • So most of us air up there off base watching today, Falcon nine is carrying Jason three a sadly, that will be measuring global sea levels.

  • This is a big science mission, and later on in the Webcast, I'll fill you in on all the cool stuff Jason three will be doing once we deliver it to the appropriate orbit.

  • Another exciting thing on the agenda today is the landing attempt of our first stage back on the autonomous spaceport drone ship while all of space sex celebrated after the successful in history making first stage landing back at Cape Canaveral, Florida just under a month ago.

  • Today's landing a temple be slightly different and that we're making in another attempt for our drone ship, which is currently about 200 miles downrange from Vandenberg S O.

  • We got a lot going on today.

  • There is a number of different camera shots of will Have Life for you from all around space sex as well as the Van Berg Air Force Base itself, live shot from the rocket and, of course, video from space and live video of our landing attempt So you'll see everything that we've got a lot going on.

  • So let's get started.

  • So we are live just here on the outskirts of Vandenberg Air Force Base, 20 minutes away from the live launch of Jason.

  • Three to space.

  • My name is Brian Marsten, and I write automation software for space sick.

  • So I'm very excited to get away from my keyboard and see this launch live.

  • I'm appear with the contingent of many friends, colleagues and family that have traveled from our headquarters in Hawthorne just three hours south to be up here for the live launch.

  • And as Kate just mentioned, if you've never seen a live lunch before, I would strongly recommend adding Get Seo Bucket list.

  • It was a very different experience in person than it is on your screen, but like it's you shoot similar to a lightning and thunder storm because it travels faster than the speed of sound.

  • After you have visual confirmation that the blaze has started, the roar of the engine reaches two years.

  • Just moments later, it's an intense experience, the world very excited.

  • Now the actual pad is in the distance will be on those trees.

  • We'll get to see a little sport travel up through this fog once we reach team might.

  • Ezio Vandenberg is a big, sprawling facility.

  • It's one of the largest Air Force bases in the United States.

  • For the reference, Falcon nine is about 21 stories tall.

  • And as you can see, you can't visually recognize that from here.

  • So it's one of the biggest Air Force bases in the United States.

  • It's a little bit windy, but that's totally fine for launch.

  • Very different than our lightning that we experience out at Cape Canaveral.

  • It's a little bit foggy, but that poses no risk to launch.

  • So it's a beautiful day.

  • Let's launch this thing.

  • This is Tom for Dario from the avionics department here.

  • It's basics.

  • And as my fellow co host just mentioned, we have a lot of very exciting stuff coming up for you on today's Webcast.

  • First and foremost, today's primary mission is to launch the Jason three satellite into Ah hi polar orbit above the Earth.

  • Jason three is a NASA and Noah scientific satellite designed to measure global sea levels down with centimetre level, which will allow scientists to better understand the Earth's climate patterns and how they're changing.

  • We are extremely excited to be launching such an important science mission, and we'll go into more details about Jason three spacecraft later on in the Webcast.

  • Now, today we're launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base, which is our West Coast launch site for our typical low earth orbit geosynchronous orbit missions we normally launch from Cape Canaveral site on the coast of Florida.

  • However, different launch sites have different advantages and disadvantages, depending on what type of orbit you're trying to get it now.

  • Jason three is headed to a holder orbit today, which is a fundamentally different type of orbit and much better suited by a South facing launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

  • Jason three is also riding on the last of this configuration of the Falcon nine, which is appropriate, seeing as the first of this configuration also blasted off from this exact same launchpad back in September of 2013.

  • The countdown process for this version of the Falcon nine is a little bit different than our last flight, so you'll get to listen into the terminal count that he minus 13 minutes coming up very soon.

  • It's also good to know this is the last time you'll hear a T minus 13 minutes Count on pool for future launches.

  • Last but not least, the Fist Falcon nine.

  • First age will also be attempting to land after separating from the second stage.

  • Just like our last mission.

  • However, this time will be attempting a lander on on our autonomous spaceport drone ship rather than it had back to the launch site.

  • This drone ship is just read the instructions.

  • The very same drone ship that participated in our landing attempts in spring and summer of last year.

  • Now, if the Falcon 96 the landing today, it will be the very first successful landing of a rocket on an ocean platform.

  • Coming later.

  • We also have a 45 minute coast, very between our stage separation and our satellite deployment.

  • Now, our fellow co host Lauren Lines, also got a chance to take a look at the Jason's re satellite.

  • Let's take a look at her video right now.

  • My name is Lauren Lions on the mission integrator for the Jason three Mission, and I am standing here in the hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base, and the reason it's empty is the Rocket just rolled out this morning with Jason three spacecraft on its nose.

  • Jason three is the fourth in a series of the Jason missions.

  • Jason wanted Jason to are still on orbit, and Jason three is going to join them, and together they're gonna work in concert measure.

  • Global oceans see rise.

  • Jason three's radar altimeter is so sensitive that it can actually measure changes a seat height of 3.3 centimeters in, and it's worked on in partnership with NASA with connects, which is the French space Agency with You Met that and the spacecraft was built by Tallis Alenia Space.

  • I've got more commission integrating to go do.

  • But you guys enjoying lunch?

  • Go Falcon nine and go, Jason three.

  • Good morning, Happy New Year And welcome to the launch of the Jason Three Spacecrafts.

  • I'm John Federal Feel a lead mechanical engineer here, John is Brooker is currently at Vandenberg Air Force Base supporting today's mission.

  • So instead, I have been doing my best to keep up with the various voice loops as well as keep in touch with our engineers at the launch site to provide you with some updates as we go along.

  • Today we are targeting a T minus zero time of 10:42 a.m. Pacific standard time and this is actually the last flight of our previous configuration of the Falcon nine launch vehicle.

  • Now, the biggest change with today's Falcon nine that affects our countdown is that we're not flying with dense.

  • If I propellants sense of I propellants are significantly colder than what we're loading today.

  • So we try and minimize their low time, and that's what we did at the Orbcomm to mission for this mission.

  • Since we're not fine with sense of I propellants, we began loading those propellants in a little over three hours ago.

  • And right now we are nearly full on the pad, just doing some final top offs.

  • Now, there is a minor issue that the prop team is working through, and we're going to know a little bit Maur later on as we get to the countdown at in a few minutes.

  • But at the moment, it looks like we're go to enter into the terminal counts in at T minus 10 minute mark.

  • Now, because that countdown sequence is a little different, the terminal count auto sequence begins at the T minus 10 minute mark.

  • Where is our Orbcomm to Mission.

  • We began the terminal count auto sequence at the T minus 30 minute mark toe, enter the terminal count auto sequence.

  • Our launch conductor pulls the team at thes T minus 30 minute mark.

  • So just coming up here shortly, make sure you turn your speakers up in the next 45 seconds because this is gonna be the first and last time you're going to hear a readiness pole.

  • Come on the air for a space X webcast.

  • Now, today we are taking the Jason three spacecraft soon orbit of nearly 800 miles away and going go to a speed of over 17,000 miles per hour.

  • We're gonna do that in all, just under 10 minutes for the initial orbit burn and then an additional 45 minute coast to reach our final orbit A polar orbit at 1300 kilometres by 1300 kilometres.

  • The team at NASA have given us a go for today's mission and they are also standing by ready for today's lunch.

  • So I'm gonna go silent now.

  • Since everything he's we Goto lets you listen into that.

  • Go No go reading this pole at this moment and we'll be back with more updates later on.

  • Attention on countdown one This is the L C All stations.

  • Please give me a go No go for launch VC Go GC GC, Go gs prop Brasco A B I t v I go Radiation rat Go Flight software GNC kids, you go ground credits go RC Jessica recovery work.

  • However you go F t s f t s Cho o s m o some go Fitspo rock Rocco, Mission manager Mission and go see Go and l m an alarm is go l d lt is go still need ah gs and flight somewhere the software is go GSS goes well.

  • Copy l D report.

  • Go to initiate terminal count.

  • Go to initiate terminal count Were working on closure of the M backed rebels.

  • Observation, but go.

  • All right.

  • So we had confirmation from our launch director That are gonna go pole is good.

  • So let's talk about a little bit about the details for the mission objective today.

  • Like we said, we'll be delivering Jason three to a parking zone of about 820 miles for those of us that haven't been to space.

  • You can think of that as the distance from New York City to Atlanta.

  • So while it's up there, it'll be.

  • It'll be conducting a number of measurements.

  • This is a big science mission.

  • For the next 3 to 5 years, Jason three will be our eye on sea levels.

  • It'll measure global sea level once every 10 days.

  • In fact, it will be doing that with an accuracy less than four centimeters, so you can think of that as the distance of the short side of my phone for something that's 800 miles away from us, and to measure accurately, less than that.

  • That's pretty incredible.

  • Increases in ocean levels because, um, increase increase in that ocean volume generally means that that area of water is warmer, warmer waters take up more volume, causing ocean levels to rise.

  • And while the only time you might think of looking for warm water is when you're looking for your next vacation spots, forecasters and scientists look for warm water to help predict things like tropical storms and hurricanes.

  • Both of these things are intensified by warmer waters, so the data gathered by Jason three can actually be used to possibly save lives from space.

  • Yea, science.

  • Another element of whether that everyone likes to talk about, especially here in Southern California, is el medio.

  • El Nino is characterized by warmer waters in the Pacific Ocean.

  • Therefore, they could be detected from space by Jason three.

  • Because of that higher sea level.

  • In fact, many of the images that you have seen of this year's El Nino have been taken by the Jason family of satellites that my fellow co host Lauren Lions, have mentioned a little bit earlier today's launch window.

  • It will last for 30 seconds and no longer if for some reason we're unable to launch today, our backup date is tomorrow.

  • Monday, January 18th at 10:31 a.m. Pacific time.

  • So be sure to stay tuned.

  • And like I said before we have live video, you can see that the crowd is gathering here behind me and we're getting excited back.

  • Dr.

  • Just outside of Vandenberg Air Force Base.

  • The energy in this field right now is palpable because we're just under 10 minutes away from sending that vehicle through the fog to space.

  • A quick moment to discuss the facility itself.

  • This that is actually built for Falcon Heavy Falcon heavy for those who don't know is our heavy lift launch vehicle.

  • It's three of the first stage is that we're sending up today, essentially strap side by side.

  • This allows us to carry more mass to space.

  • So that's one difference than the launch site out at Cape Canaveral is.

  • This one is designed for the infrastructure for Falcon heavy, similar function.

  • Just a little bit beef here now Why do we have one on the East Coast?

  • And why do we have a lot site on the West Coast?

  • As Tom mentioned earlier, you need access to where you want to go In space, you need direct line of sight to the orbit that you want to get to.

  • But with that in mind, the selection is typically dictated.

  • Are the path that gets you there with the minimum amount of time over inhabited areas.

  • You want to fly over oceans instead of people.

  • So if you're going west to if you're going south like today, you want to go out of the West Coast.

  • If you're flying Easter, you flying north, you want to fly out of Florida?

  • So you're going over the Atlantic Ocean instead of beings coast itself.

  • So that's why we have to separate launch sites now, just like at Cape Canaveral, where we have the landing for the last flight.

  • We have a landing zone here at Vandenberg, but for today's mission, we're gonna be doing the proof of concept to attempted landing again on the drone ship.

  • This drone ship is deaf.

  • Just read the instructions.

  • Is currently station keeping a little bit under 200 miles west of San Diego.

  • Now landing on a drone ship is different than landing on the landing zone because it takes less fuel to get all the way back.

  • The U turn is less drastic, and you don't have to go as far because you can jump off of the ocean, get back.

  • So because of that, you can use the extra few to send it hired defendant faster into orbit.

  • And that's exactly what we're doing here today that it was about 300 giga jewels, which is about the same energy it takes the power San Francisco.

  • So look about this topic.

  • I got the chance to speak to talk with an expert in the field.

  • I'm standing here on the surface of just read the instructions, one of our two autonomous spaceport drone ships that will host the vehicle as it re enters the atmosphere and lands on the surface.

  • I'm here.

  • It's frank time or senior manager of launch development, Frank.

  • Tell us a little bit about this vehicle.

  • What you do here are mission is to go out and provide a landing surface in the middle of the ocean for the Falcon nine rocket.

  • So we have drone ships and then we have the landing zone that the previous flight actually landed on.

  • What's the difference between the attempt to land on a zone vs Ling and on the drone ship out of the ocean?

  • So it really depends on the mission.

  • To get back to a landing pad, you have to burn, propel it.

  • So, you know, if we're going to what would be a geosynchronous mission?

  • Satellites that need a much higher energy orbital insertion.

  • We can go where the rockets going.

  • That's where this really becomes.

  • The ultimate goal is to eventually land back at Vandenberg in the same way that we land at Cape Canaveral.

  • But we're still going to demonstrate the next two missions on the drone ship.

  • Is that correct?

  • That is correct.

  • So we've started basically fabricating the landing Zone two at Vandenberg Air Force Base, and we're really excited to use it.

  • So this is one of two drone ships that we have.

  • This one is here, located off the West Coast.

  • The other one is an east coast in Florida.

  • Correct?

  • Yes.

  • So are other drone ship.

  • Of course, I still Love you is in Port Canaveral right now Florida, and that's to support all our missions out of the cake.

  • Walk us through some of the timeline about what happens on the drone ship in the hours that proceed.

  • T minus zero liftoff and then what happens just before it lands so from the drone ship will get on station about eight hours ahead of time.

  • That's enough for the crew to board.

  • Basically check all the systems and prepare it for a landing, and then the crew will get on board a separate vessels, go about 10 miles away and wait for the booster to come on.

  • And then, about 10 minutes after lift off will be doing the landing.

  • I say we land successfully in the moments after touched on what happens, The rocket basically begins an automatic program saving sequence.

  • So at that point, the Rockets sitting here, our crew is coming from their staging point, getting ready to get on board, and then once we come in, we'll bring.

  • The crane, will lift the rocket vertically and then break it over on the dog and it becomes until the semi trailer.

  • So we put little wheels on the back of it and we'll put Vanderburgh inspections.

  • It's pretty surreal standing here on the surface, just next door, the rocket is gonna have gone to space and then land touched down right next to us.

  • This team does a pretty crazy thing.

  • We have an amazing job, and everyone on board is super exciting.

  • You and your team have built a truly fantastic vehicle here.

  • Thank you very much.

  • Thank you.

  • We're in the final few minutes before about to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base with the Jason three spacecraft.

  • I did mention earlier that there was a propulsion issue and the team was working that was dealing with the Merlin vacuum engines.

  • At this moment, though, we reviewed the data in both NASA and Space s concur that we're go for today's lunch.

  • Nothing Teoh worry about, and that's gonna affect our lift off today.

  • At this moment, you could barely see it on the screen, but the vehicle has fully press stuff.

  • They did.

  • It's about a minute or so ago getting ready for the strong back retract, and you'll actually start to see the white strong back on the right hand side of the rocket in that image begin to pull back.

  • And that's really the final few minutes before, about to take off.

  • Certainly the sweaty palms moment for me and you can see it.

  • Actually, the retraction is started, and there is motion at the forward end of the rocket.

  • Meanwhile, the vehicle also transition to internal power about two minutes ago.

  • That transition works as a plant, and we are ready to go.

  • As you can see that strong back in the Ford and is moving away, it's gonna tilt about 20 degrees or so and get ready for the Falcon nine to lift off.

  • Meanwhile, in the recovery side of things we are dealing with 12 to 15 foot waves out of the drone ship.

  • It's good a bit dicey out there.

  • In this moment, though, we do think we're going to still make our attempts with the drone ship too bland.

  • The Falcon nine.

  • But it is certainly a lot more challenging to land on a moving sea platform than it is to land on the launch site as you saw with the or become a mission earlier, and that whether it does look like it's foggy there.

  • It may make it a little difficult for us to see today's mission, but the ground winds are low with the launch site as well as our upper altitude winds.

  • So we have substantial mart engine for guidance through today's flight, both for structural and guidance navigation margins what it's gonna hold out.

  • So since everything looks like we are go for today's mission, let's check it out from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

  • Today's launch.

  • All right, So as you can see, the crowd is growing in anticipation here.

  • We're getting really excited.

  • We're at just about the T minus three minute mark.

  • As you saw with the drunken video that we showed you that's really more than just a barge.

  • It's actually a really sophisticated piece of equipment.

  • If you imagine the landing on a platform in the middle of the ocean is actually much more difficult task that landing on a solid pad back on the ground was actually a lot of see motion, like John was saying the waves to the spaceport.

  • The space workmanship just read instructions, actually used to have a lot of systems that keep it in exactly the right spot.

  • So the rock.

  • It comes right down.

  • On top of that, it's about the size of a football field, which sounds pretty big.

  • But whenever you are going just under Mach six, and from 124 miles above Earth, that's actually a pretty tough targets.

  • A hit, remember, going into orbit is really more about going really, really fast sideways.

  • So if you want to come back to a stationary drone ship, cancel out all that velocity.

  • It's a very difficult thing to do.

  • Just a note.

  • We got confirmation that locks load has been completed, so landing the stage there are three systems that let us do this 1st 1 or the engine re lights.

  • These are the same nine Merlin engines that black that are about to blast off had a few of them relight several times to slow the first age down as it comes back to the atmosphere and towards the junction right next one of the grid fins.

  • These are what you might identify as looking like waffle fries on the side of the rocket, and they allow us to actually steer the rocket.

  • They pop up and use a resistance to the guy that first stage right back and lastly, the landing legs.

  • So these air what pop out just before the first stage reaches the platform itself.

  • So we're actually getting pretty close to the launch, for we're gonna get it easy right now And listen.

  • In the last few minutes before the Falcon nine lifts off the pad ground report vehicle Gas supplies are isolated.

  • You will get supplies are isolated the vehicles back in manual.

  • Good VC Report.

  • Flight software State changes.

  • Wilco Bagels, an auto Idol vehicles and started.

  • Confirm range is green.

  • Brock Ranger Green, 30 seconds, two minutes, 20 seconds.

  • Minus 15.

  • 10 Nice.

  • 7654321 The Move.

  • Section 57 Launchpad operations To secure that, a G C to section 57.

  • Post launch operations.

  • Stage propulsion nominal people is pitching downrange.

  • First H p.

  • U is acting tending toward him.

  • Definitely.

  • Our little and the Falcon telemetry nominal were the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Vandenberg Air.

  • First place to live in Jason three spacecraft to circulate.

  • We're good about the recovery of a lot more.

  • Altitude is 6.5 kilometers.

  • Velocity is 280 million liters per second down range.

  • Distance won't 2800.1 kilometers.

  • Vehicle is just transitioning into the supersonic regime, going faster than the speed of sound right now.

  • And shortly we're gonna reach Max Q or the maximum aerodynamic pressure with the highest stress states on the rocket for staging a culture remains nominal.

  • This burn will last for about another minute or so.

  • Falcon nine Power and telemetry.

  • Moncada followed by our stage separation, and I actually started.

  • They have begun chilling in the Merlin vacuum engine flowing liquid oxygen through it.

  • And that is actually a view from the thermal imager on the left side of the second stage vehicle supersonic reach way had a great liftoff of Falcon nine from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

  • So we actually have three really rapid events coming up right now.

  • First of the stage separation, then is the relay or the light first burn of the second stage of the rocket.

  • And then right after that, the fairing deployed right, so just watch and see what happens.

  • So while we're waiting for those that happened, let's talk a little bit about the orbital mechanics that we're gonna be doing today.

  • So for those of you that Paul, Our lunches on a regular basis well typically launch our rockets from Cape Canaveral.

  • And, like we said before, wear excited, fantastic miles of stage separation.

  • As you can see industry.

  • Right now the back engine has started up in the second stage, and it's on its way to our parking orbit before it gets cold.

  • So the two views that you have on your camera there the one that you see right now or just had their there That's our infrared camera that'll show shades of grey thio display where the thermal dispersion is across the belle of the second stage.

  • And then the other view is a digital camera.

  • So we're actually faring to deploy Theo.

  • The important thing is, you see Pierce about second stage pulling away from planet Earth.

  • This is one of my personal favorites that we get to see you see that I'm back engine bell glowing hot with the exhaust gases, heading exactly where we need to be.

  • Okay, so back to the orbital dynamics for today.

  • So the polar orbit that we're trying to achieve today is actually pretty important.

  • So normally we launched geosynchronous or lower Thor divisions to the international space station were usually did taking an orbit.

  • It's pretty close to the equator around the earth give you and thank you.

  • So typically we're going around the earth in this direction.

  • However, for a science mission like Jason, three polar orbits are really important.

  • And that's an orbit that goes the opposite direction.

  • So you pass over both the North and South poles.

  • This is really important for science missions, just like Jason three.

  • So, like we said before is gonna be measuring global sea levels, and we'll be doing this once every 10 days.

  • So that snapshot that we get a planet Earth as it goes from North Pole to sample is really important and perfect for the job that Jason three has to d'oh!

  • No, to get there.

  • There's actually two separate burns and your first burns, what we're doing right now.

  • And there's actually a 45 minute Coast period between the first burn and the second burn.

  • That second room will circular rise the orbit to a final pull over it and getting exactly where it needs to be for its science mission.

  • Yeah, so we're really excited.

  • We had some great events today again, the view that you're seeing on your screen right now that it's the second stage as it is taking Jason 32 polar orbit.

  • So in just a few minutes here, as soon as we get confirmation of the first age is coming back towards the towards the drone ship, we'll be looking at the second stage one final time and then taking a 45 minute break before the second burn and satellite deployment.

  • Exactly.

  • So just to recap everything that's happened, we had successful stage separation.

  • We're waiting for the first stage booster to come back.

  • We're gonna be testing out landing on our autonomous spaceport Joan ship.

  • Although, like John said earlier, we're experiencing some pretty heavy waves out there.

  • All right, So like I said before, we got a really successful launch so far today, we're actually gonna be sent to get backup Thio John for a quick status update, be sure to keep following along.

  • So far, we're on a nominal trajectory.

  • With that second stage performance, we're about four minutes away from the second engine cutoff where we're going to park in our orbit and then get ready to deploy the Jason three spacecraft 45 minutes later after we do that circle is a circular ization maneuver we talked about earlier.

  • Meanwhile, the first stage has performed a successful flip and it is on its way back to the drone ship.

  • We'll know shortly how we're doing in the burns.

  • The boost back of burn has been conducted, and that was successful as well.

  • You can see the image from the drone ship.

  • We have the fire hoses there for some water suppression on entry A CZ.

  • We're preparing ourselves for the touchdown in about three minutes or so.

  • So at the moment, everything is proceeding nominally on today's mission.

  • I'm gonna keep my eye on the data here right now.

  • Will you guys get the opportunity to keep watching this mission carry through?

  • So let's talk a little bit more about the systems that take the first age back down towards the Atomic Space Board Drone ship.

  • Like John missing, there's actually several different burns that have.

  • Now there's three.

  • Separate them back are Merlin.

  • Nine burns that first day does so the 1st 1 we've already done like John said, we've actually flipped the booster around and we're bringing it back into the right place, lining it up with the drop ship.

  • That's called the boost back burn.

  • We're waiting for confirmation of the second burn, and that's what actually will slow the first stage down so that it doesn't burn up as it re enters the atmosphere.

  • Calls from the reentry burn progress when the when the boosters going back at that point going back extremely fashion it slammed in the atmosphere would not be good for the engines and systems.

  • So we need to slow down just a little bit, so it's ready to enter the atmosphere.

  • Wait.

  • Okay, so sure that you see, I've been confirmation of the boost back Burn has begun, so it sounds like we're on our way back towards the drone ship.

  • Just fantastic.

  • Milestone Just got two more burns to go and be back in the have to say the energy here is palpable, like everybody is just so excited to see what happens.

  • And just to re emphasize this is this is a test that we're doing today, regardless of if we land successful or not, we're gonna get some really important data from the landing attempt today is the most important.

  • Even if there's a little bit of fire, it's not a big deal.

  • This is exactly what we try to do.

  • We learn from everything that Space X with success or failure.

  • So keep in mind that nobody is actually aboard the drone ship.

  • So and it's 200 miles away.

  • So everybody is perfectly safe now, just like the last.

  • The last launch was a night launch.

  • The landing room is actually very visible, as you could see, coming down for the last 100 feet above the pad.

  • This one.

  • It's still a little foggy on the drone ships, so I'm not sure we're gonna see it exactly perfectly.

  • But you definitely will be able to see the rocket coming down and like you see on the right side of your screen there, that is a live shot of Just read the instructions as it's waiting for Falcon to return at just under 30 seconds at this moment in time.

  • So just read the instructions is actually the same drone ship used before.

  • Just now it's on the west coast east coast, and then the thing that we're all waiting to see is the landing legs.

  • So these are the four landing lights that will deploy from the side of the rocket so that the engine get airsick so that rocket consent down and land safely without damaging the bells.

  • And these landings have a pretty big skin dust, a span.

  • So it's actually really important that comes exactly right down we're expected to be.

  • Which means that the drone ship also needs to be exactly the Rocket thinks it's going to be.

  • So has thrusters to make sure it looks like we're just about to see the first age coming towards the drone ship screens on.

  • But it's so quiet here right now.

  • Everybody's waiting.

  • Great anticipation.

  • You can see the the extinguishing system on the drone ship right there.

  • Hopefully in just a few seconds to be able to see the reentry burn as drunk as the rocket approaches, one blindingly deploy.

  • It looks like we should be seeing it, Theo.

  • So it's now entering the coast phase again, just waiting for a falcon nine to set down here on the autonomous spaceport Drone ship.

  • Looks like we might have a little bit of problem with the video, but way are waiting to hear exactly what happened.

  • Just a reminder.

  • This is 200 miles away.

  • There's no WiFi, unfortunately, so it's like the pad shot.

  • We have the last landing.

  • We may need to wait just a little bit to get confirmation of whether Landing was successful or not.

  • But like I said, just to test the primary mission is to get Jason three satellite into a polar orbit.

  • And that's what we're really all here for.

  • It sounds like we have.

  • We just got confirmation.

  • The parking orbit for the Jason three satellite in the second state is good, which is fantastic.

  • That means that we're on our way to our final port polar orbit insertion, which, like we said before, that's gonna be about 820 miles away from Earth.

  • Also, the distance from New York City to Atlanta.

  • So, like we said earlier, we actually 45 minute coast period between the first.

  • The second stage is first burn and second burn during this 45 minute coast period.

  • We're not going to be here with you.

  • We're gonna be showing you a graphic that displaced telemetry from the rocket so you can see exactly what the second stage is doing and after the 45 minute window will come back and guide you through the final burn and then also through the spacecraft separation, right?

  • So these are still really important milestones.

  • So we do hope you stay with us to watch as we have the final confirmation of payload deployment.

  • And we don't have any information right now about the drone ship and the status of the first age.

  • But hopefully we'll get some of that really soon.

  • We just we lost satellite signal to the connection that drone ship, but that's pretty normal during rough seas to satellite link.

  • It needs precise pointing, so it's not necessarily a bad thing as soon as we have some information that will bring it to you.

  • And hopefully it's a good land.

  • Unfortunately, just one of those days you don't always have perfect weather here in Southern California, however, we're dealing with it as we get.

  • So now, once where you go through, we're about to sign off briefly for our 45 minute coast period.

  • But we will be back.

  • Don't go anywhere.

  • As soon as that 45 minute coast is over, we'll be back right before the second burn.

  • And then for the satellite separation.

  • Be sure to follow the animation and we'll see you soon.

  • Wait, Wait way are just 25 minutes into today's mission and a quick update on that experimental attempt at landing on the drone ship.

  • It looks like we came in on target as we planned A CZ we touched down.

  • It was a slightly harder landing.

  • Then we expected, and it looks like one of the landing legs may have broken.

  • As we touch down on the drone ship, I'd like to emphasize that we are on target.

  • We did hit our intended goal, and we're gonna take a lot of data from this.

  • Engineers are still downloading the data from the drone ship at this moment, and we will have some footage potentially to show you guys later in a few hours once we get back some aircraft footage as well as some other remote cameras, exactly how today's performance went.

  • So, unfortunately, we are not standing upright on a drone ship at the moment.

  • But the good news here is that the primary mission is still on track.

  • We are in that parking orbit that I mentioned earlier.

  • You can see the animated graphic on the right hand side of the screen there, as we are going up to that 1300 kilometer apogee mark before we ignite the second stage engine again to circle eyes the orbit eso.

  • Since that is continuing to go nominally, we're gonna go silent here again for the next 20 minutes or so until we get ready for about 30 minutes or so, Actually, until we get ready for that final engine ignition.

  • So thanks for sticking with us on.

  • We'll be back shortly with the second engine restart as well as the payload.

  • Deployment for Jason.

  • Three Spacecrafts way.

  • Theo Way.

  • Wait, Wait.

  • Three.

  • Wait, Wait.

  • Uh Uh huh.

  • Thanks for sticking with us on the left hand side of your screen.

  • You can actually see the engine bell off the second stage as it's completing its orbit.

  • Its orbit coast over the surface of the earth.

  • Right.

  • The bright light that you see there is actually the sun reflecting off of the earth.

  • The engine itself has not actually ignited just yet, So the second stage second burn is coming up in just a few seconds.

  • Here.

  • This second burn is needed to circular rise the final orbit to get Jason free exactly where it needs to be.

  • Right.

  • So we've got through a coast period and that we are approaching the time when we're gonna be reigniting the second stage to get it into its final orbit.

  • So the graphic on the right, the simulation You've been seeing the telemetry simulation.

  • It looks like it's moving pretty slow.

  • And this is because even though we're going 17,000 miles an hour right now, the earth is pretty big and the orbital period for most low earth orbit like like this or we're going to Today's about 90 minutes.

  • So taking a full 90 minutes to circle around the entire Earth makes for a pretty slow moving simulation experience.

  • But it is actually going very fast right now and about to give it another extra kick to get in exactly the order once again.

  • So just a few minutes here, we're gonna be igniting a second stage and then right after the second stage, second ignition will be blasting that Jason three satellite off the second stage for a full hopefully successful deployment and the deployment singles the success of the mission.

  • We're all crossing our fingers, hoping everything goes well, this last maneuver and for those of you that are have perhaps just joining us right now, we did have a successful separation of our two stages.

  • However, at this point, we lost video feed of our drone ship.

  • So we haven't actually had visual confirmation of the status on that at the moment.

  • Remember, the drone ship is in the middle of the ocean with a lot of waves, a lot of C.

  • And the satellite link needs to be pointed directly the satellite.

  • So it is pretty tough to get a good connection, but hopefully we'll get some good data.

  • You have to take a look at everything and honestly, try to make an omelet.

  • You have to break a few eggs type.

  • This type of failure is not a huge big deal.

  • It's the main mission is getting adjacent satellite into the correct word is right.

  • And just to reiterate, there was nobody aboard the drone ships.

  • So even if it did ends in a big, beautiful ball of fire, it's okay.

  • And it's 200 miles away from us.

  • So everybody was perfectly safe for this experiment.

  • We will have more information for you coming up soon.

  • Hopefully.

  • But for now, we're just gonna hope that the second stage second burn here it goes well, and we get this settled into its final orbits.

  • We could start doing some great signs.

  • Exactly.

  • So let's talk a little bit more about the horrible dynamics way.

  • Just got some cheering here, going on in the background.

  • It sound it looks like we might.

  • It looks like we have a confirmation.

  • The second stage ignition.

  • Second edition.

  • This is great news is gonna burn for about 20 seconds.

  • I don't think we have reliable video court right now, but it is burning right now.

  • We have good telemetry from the second stage is fantastic news.

  • And we've just lost signal again.

  • We're being told.

  • Unfortunately, space is tough, especially whenever you're trying Thio show video from space.

  • So if we I apologize for that, but I'm sure that we're working through that.

  • So as a satellite, a spacecraft, The second stage in the spacecraft cashew, it goes around the globe.

  • It comes within range of different tracking stations.

  • And since we just have a confirmation of being in a government.

  • The second stage second room was successful.

  • That's great news.

  • We're just waiting for the way that sounds.

  • Everyone here is very excited that that means we're getting close to a fully successful mission.

  • Like we said before the majority of our space.

  • Six families actually at Vandenberg Air Force Base on that's the launch pad that we launch from today.

  • So that's why you can see our the crowd is maybe not as large as it was for our last launch just a month ago.

  • However, we all want to see a rocket launch in person, so there's no no, nothing like seeing rock much right there at the pad.

  • So right now we're just waiting for a final confirmation.

  • The satellite payload has been deployed successfully.

  • As soon as you get that confirmation, that means we're in a great spot, successfully completed today's mission.

  • So watch Keep watching this.

  • Supplement your camera on your screen in here.

  • This is accurate.

  • It's moving kind of slowly, but this is the actual trajectory of the spacecraft.

  • As we get telemetry from the rocket waken.

  • See it on the screen right there.

  • We've just had confirmation of a successful payload deployment so we can say that today's mission has been a success.

  • This is fantastic news for everyone here.

  • This'll is is exactly what we go for.

  • We want to get those were trying to deliver the custom tailored to the specific orbit.

  • This is fantastic.

  • As our co host mentioned earlier, this has been a labor of love.

  • And we're so excited that to say that Jason three has been successfully deployed.

  • And glad to hear that the final launch of this configuration of Falcon nine was successful, Just like the 1st 1 from Vandenberg back in 2013.

  • And on that note, we're actually gonna send it back to Brian, who is currently live at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

  • Thanks so much for watching how It was a wonderful experience watching the rocket launch live from Cabrio High School just outside of Vandenberg Air Force Base.

  • What happened here today?

  • We did it quite read all of the instructions in the attempted landing on the drone ship.

  • But again, lady, back at the landing zone and landing on the drone ship are two crucial neighbors for the next stage of recovery of boosters.

  • So those were great data points that will be essential as we move forward and a tense again.

  • However, it must be reminded that that is the secondary objective.

  • The most primary mission for today.

  • With the deployment of Jason three into low earth orbit, it is currently up their healthy in the right position and providing extremely high resolution data about the surface of the oceans Height.

  • This is crucial for climate change and many other factors of this entire planet is concerned with.

  • At this point, we're gonna close out our coverage.

  • I'd like to thank our co host.

  • I'd like to thank our customer like to thank NASA, the range and you the viewer for participating with us.

  • Our next mission will be at CSC nine.

  • So until we see you next time, I'd encourage you to look forward and to look up for the stars look very different today.

watch.

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