Posted on 11/21/2020 5:25:40 PM PST by BenLurkin
The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is the latest in a series of satellites that have provided critical data about sea level rise and climate change for almost three decades.
The new ocean-spying bird will be able to measure sea levels within a few centimeters for 90% of oceans around the globe. A twin satellite named Sentinel-6B will join the effort when it launches in 2025. Instruments on the new satellites will also provide data on atmospheric temperature and humidity that'll help improve weather forecasts, according to NASA.
The mission began with the fairly rare launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the west coast of the US. A statement from Vandenberg sent out earlier in the week warned that multiple sonic booms might be heard in parts of California's Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties as the Falcon 9 first stage returned for a landing after lifting the satellite toward orbit.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
I just walked my dog — boom!
The launch was no the west coast. What you heard would had to have been something else.
Yes it was out of vandy at 9:17 saw the 2nd stage going south missed the boost back tho
It was a long walk...
Is nobody still in awe of just how amazing a technological feat this is?
More MSM hyperventilating, this time by omission, leaving out the word “sonic”. I’ll bet 90% of readers not on to them would think the booster exploded during the landing, until they read the article, unless they had prior knowledge. In fact, there was a sonic boom(s) generated, as normal, prior to a successful landing.
(No, I do NOT include the supersonic portion of the descent as part of the “landing”. I would define “landing” in this case as beginning when the landing legs begin to deploy.)
Yes, I just re-watched the 1st double booster landing again. It still seems like sci-fi!
Yup. Just incredible.
How many “journalists” know that Vandenberg is used, among other things, for launching satellites into polar orbits, let alone what a polar orbit is?
Or why Vandenberg and not Kennedy?
Falcon 9 launch (w/ sonic boom) from Vandenberg AFB carrying Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite [Home Movie]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLaAr_vXzUk
populous areas north and south of Cape, right?
I know. That was the coolest thing ever.
Made the trip to Lompoc with my teenager son and daughter to see this in person. Could see the launch, stage separation and boost-back burn with the naked eye. Lost track of the first stage until it did the entry burn. Seeing how fast it fell toward earth until the landing burn was surprising. You don’t get a sense for the speed from the videos. Final landing burn brought the stage down safely, but we couldn’t see it touch down from our vantage point (off Ocean Avenue). Sonic boom was the final icing on the cake. Loud!
Way cool!!! Thx ...
Yup. Make the kids watch most of them and harp on how amazing it is.
The technology has existed for a while, but vision and will was lacking.
Musk ignited those.
You haven’t experienced the fun of a nap of the earth supersonic pass over your head? He was body surfing a tight turn while trying to acquire through the top of the canopy. Fun and games back in the Beatles era.
And West, whereas Vandenberg has the Pacific to take care of most launches that fail to reach orbit. (Earth rotates East under the longitudinally launched object.)
If you’re putting something in “equatorial” orbit, the Earth’s rotation gives an extra boost to things launched Eastward, more so the closer to the equator the launch point is.
A polar orbit launch requires more energy for that lack of Eastward rotational boost.
Pre-Challenger disaster, Vandenberg was being forced to prepare for polar SST launches. As such, the SRBs were being re-designed to be fabricated out of carbon fiber to lighten the mass to help make up for the extra energy needed.
The failure of that Challenger SRB put an end to that mandate.
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