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SpaceX's Falcon 9 Appears As UFO In Australia
RobHart writes "ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Commission) has reported extensively on a bright spiraling light that was seen in Eastern Australia just before dawn. It has just broadcast a report from an Australian astronomer who has suggested that the light was probably the successful Falcon 9 launch, which would have been over Australia at that time on its launch trajectory."
Update: 06/05 22:20 GMT by T : Setting aside the literal exhaust fumes, reader FleaPlus says, It's "interesting to look at the reactions from those in Congress who control the purse-strings for NASA (one of SpaceX's biggest customers). The successful launch was congratulated by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL and former astronaut) and Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL), both praised and criticized by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) due to the successful launch being a year later than previously predicted, and blasted by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) for merely replicating what 'NASA accomplished in 1964,' who added that the company's success 'must not be confused with progress for our nation's human spaceflight program.'"
FWIW, I have a substantial blog post with details, including a rant against the ABC story. :) This was definitely the Falcon 9 second stage, despite the UFO guy's protestations: the timing, position, and appearance all match.
*** Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer http://www.badastronomy.com
Everyone who watched knows the Falcon 9 was launched in the upwards direction, not the downwards direction needed to reach Australia.
Also, Australian UFOs spiral in the opposite direction to The Vistors who arrive in the northern hemisphere.
A doubter quoted in the article says "Firstly, the time of the launch was 18.45 GMT, which translates to 4.45am EST, the duration of the flight was 9 minutes 38 seconds - this is a full hour before the reported sightings."
Did he forget that we're on DST right now? He should have looked up the EDT time, not EST.
Congress Reacts To Successful Falcon 9 Launch
In Norway I believe Russia recognized it was a failed missile test.
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
Some perspective: I used to live in Huntsville, AL, and I currently live in Austin, TX.
Shelby's just trying to protect the funding of of the Marshall SFC NASA group in Huntsville, AL. In their defense, the HSV group kicks a lot of ass, and is a welcome outpost of science and engineering in Alabama.
KBHutchinson is just an ignorant asshole.
Oz has every right to be worried when pieces of spacecraft come flying over them.
Eventually we will put all the pieces together and have our own space program.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
and nobody outside Australia knows about it, and we all think it is just some UFO flyover when they launch a rocket in to space.
Come on. Nobody here can keep a secret. Have you met an Australian outside AU who knows how to shut up?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
SpaceX is trying to make rocket launchs come off an "assembly-line". This alone would be an impressive feat. Comparing this to a 1964 launch would be like comparing the 8086 cpu to modern quad core. My amature opinion on the launch: I don't think spacex has been totally successful as mentioned by quite a few other posts. They keep spiraling out of control, they need better rocket/jet rudders or something to improve their out of atmosphere control.
There is always a final burn after 1/2 orbit to circularize the orbit. Which is probably what the OP was babbling about. There was no intention to put the Falcon 9 into an escape orbit.
On the other hand, Falcon 9 is capable of putting a payload into GEO. It requires more deltaV to achieve a circular orbit at GEO than it does to reach escape speed (if the fuel needed to circularize the orbit at GEO were spent during the initial boost, Falcon 9 would be about 150 m/s shy of a Mars transfer orbit.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
You did not miss much from what I saw. I'm in Newcastle and was out for an early ride and say it at 5.50 EST. To me it looked more like a unusual cloud formation near the moon. It was interesting enough for me to mention it to my friends when I met them at 6 but they did not even notice it. I did not think about it again until I saw it on the evening news with a few ufo nuts.
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Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) for merely replicating what 'NASA accomplished in 1964,' who added that the company's success 'must not be confused with progress for our nation's human spaceflight program.'"
The bit he left out was the fact that America as a "nation" has lost the space race altogether. Unless of course you count buying seats on Soyuz spacecraft as part of the "American manned space program"... Yes America put a man on the moon - but what have they done SINCE then, Shelby - while YOU were in office? In fact, while Elon Musk was busy building a billion dollar company (PayPal) that many people use every day, all you did was suck up taxpayer dollars feeding off of society and pretending to be important. Then Mr. Musk goes on to found another visionary company while you just whine and bitch and believe that you actually contribute to society. Truth is that Shelby can be replaced instantly by someone just as mediocre.
SpaceX has demonstrated it can now lift useful, heavy payloads into orbit. This is the beginning of a business model - one that never worked for NASA. Instead of whining about how America did this a long time ago he should realize that this is not costing the taxpayer anything at all AND is the beginning of regular self funding, sustainable space flight. A boon to ALL of humanity.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Cat: I hate to go all technical on you, but: All hands on deck, Swirly Thing Alert!
According to the Falcon 9 user's guide, it's capable of sending a payload of about 2.5 tons to escape velocity (C3=0).
Though I agree, the OP meant "orbit circularization".
Anyway, three cheers for SpaceX, but if I were NASA I'd make damn sure they know what the deal was with that roll before they let a Dragon anywhere near the ISS.
Obama is trying to develop a viable space program that works and we can actually afford. The first part of that is a lowering
the cost to get stuff to orbit. Spacex will be part of that plan
Thing the first: the next test flight will put the prototype Dragon into orbit for tests. It won't go to the ISS.
Thing the second: the real Dragon (as opposed to the dummy atop yesterday's test launch) has quite a comprehensive set of maneuvering & attitude control thrusters. It should be quite capable of stabilizing itself, even if it ends up rolling.
Thing the third: that roll is going to be a problem for any launch that doesn't involve a spacecraft with its own attitude control system. Which almost certainly means that that's what SpaceX is going to be working on come Monday...assuming they're not all still hung-over anyways.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"