Hey old guys!...I don't post much on here anymore but I still lurk occasionally.

I figured I'd give you all advanced notice this time for our next rocket roll-out and test in the Long Beach harbor. Nowhere else in the world can you see this kinda James Bond stuff so close. Ships leave for the Equator on Dec 2nd.

On Monday morning about 9:30 AM in the Long Beach Harbor (Take 710 S to the very end and head towards Terminal Island) you can swing by and see stuff like this....





And then all day on Tuesday into Wednesday morning you can come by and see this....(It is especially cool at night as we have searchlights on it)..

 

Can you say what the payload will be this time?

It's always cool to hear about your launches.

 

wtf is that?!

 

From its equatorial launch site at 154 degrees West Longitude, a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle will lift the 5500 kg (12,125 lb.) Intelsat Americas

 

Sea Launch Website

 

Ok - the answer is probably going to be a big "duh" when I hear it, but that seems like an awful lot of equipment, time, resources, etc. Why is it better to haul that platform thousands of miles out to sea rather than land launch it? I'm guessing it's a $ factor but can you explain why?

 

probably because...

it's easier to launch rockets into space from the equator. it's an intertia/angular momentum/centrifugal force thing.

it's easier and safer to pick up the super-valuable payloads from the country of origin and haul that launch pad out to the equator than to have to ship said satellites out to one in some 3rd world country's launch site. it's a geopolitical thing.

and of course the economics probably beat whatever prices NASA charges. it's a money thang.

 

Most satellites are placed in geostationary orbit which means they "Hover" over the same spot on the Earth at all times to provide continous service for whatever their application. In order to do this you need to be located at the Equator at 22,000 miles up. Then you will orbit at the exact sped the surface of the earth below you turns.

So launching from the Equaor gets you closer to your target. Also, the Earth spins faster at the Equator so we launch with the spin of the Earth to get a helpful "slingshot" effect.

Both of the above conditions = less fuel in rocket needed to reach the target which means more fuel/weight in the spacecraft. We can add several years to the life of the spacecraft by allowing it to carry more fuel. Also, we can launch bigger spacecraft with a smaller rocket.

Other reasons include the weather. We launch from the Doldrums where the weather is the same all year long. Mild seas, little wind, few storms.

Also, we launch from the absolute middle of nowhere. Hard to get much farther away from anything than we do. This means no people are around in case we have a malfunction. Also, no fishermen, boaters, freighters whatever around so we have a clear launch range all the way to Ecuador.

The above 2 reasons cause the majority of aborted launches from places like Cape Canaveral.

 

Pretty close but a few corrections.


The satellite manufacturers fly their spacecraft to us in Long Beach for processing in our cleanroom. (That would be my job). Also, the Launch Platform is self-propelled. The other ship is the Assembly and Comand Ship that is mission control and rocket processing factory below decks.

 

Well, duh.

Thanks - makes better sense now. It's an impressive effort.