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[Rose]

Will we get a barge landing?

[Jervill]

From the sounds of it, it will be another attempt.

However, that was from some time ago, so I could be mistaken.

[alway]

Yeah, they will be doing an attempt at it. Though I suspect we won't see any video until afterwards, like last time; though who knows. They did at least have confirmation of what happened last time around the time when the stream ended.

[alway]

Looks like the webcast is starting. http://www.spacex.com/webcast/
It's currently It was playing KSP music. Just music filler for the next couple minutes until they go live.
edit: And it's live; T-14 minutes or so.
e2: T-10 minutes; sounds like they're doing some last minute debugging on some first stage telemetry stuffs?
"Alright guys, no pressure, but you have less than 10 minutes to debug your stuff. Also thousands of people are watching." Apparently no launch delays as yet though.
e3: T-3 minutes.
e4: And launch abort.
Seems the launch will be tomorrow instead.

Edit5: By the sounds of it, there were 2 issues: The first was a video transmitter from the first stage (which would probably have meant no live feed from the rocket first stage during launch), which was supposedly non-critical. The second was the reason for the abort, and involved an Air Force radar they needed going offline.

[Gentlefish]

Just under 24 hours from the launch. That's really not a terrible delay.

[Dutrius]

Could mean everything depending on conditions.

[alway]

This particular launch is headed to the L1 point, between the earth and the sun. To maximize the boost from the earth's rotation, (I think) they would want to be burning straight eastward into space. This would make any point of launch on earth the most northerly or southerly point on the trajectory. It would also make 90 degrees east of the launch point the first point where it crosses the equator, and thus about where you would want to do your burn to expand the orbit out to the L1 point such that you aren't being flung into space out of line with the sun.

Since your highest point is opposite your lowest point in an orbit, and the lowest point would be this second burn location, and the intended highest point has a local time of noon (between earth and the sun), your burn position is roughly midnight local time and your launch time is roughly 6 PM local time, available most days. (though I think this would be affected by the location and time of the year, due to the axial tilt and the fact that you're aiming for the equator of the earth-sun system, rather than the earth's rotational equator, making it plus or minus ~2 hours)

Essentially, a launch to a stationary target as opposed to things like the ISS, where it's a very dynamic target.

[Il Palazzo]

This particular launch is headed to the L1 point, between the earth and the sun. To maximize the boost from the earth's rotation, (I think) they would want to be burning straight eastward into space. This would make any point of launch on earth the most northerly or southerly point on the trajectory. It would also make 90 degrees east of the launch point the first point where it crosses the equator, and thus about where you would want to do your burn to expand the orbit out to the L1 point such that you aren't being flung into space out of line with the sun.

Since your highest point is opposite your lowest point in an orbit, and the lowest point would be this second burn location, and the intended highest point has a local time of noon (between earth and the sun), your burn position is roughly midnight local time and your launch time is roughly 6 PM local time, available most days. (though I think this would be affected by the location and time of the year, due to the axial tilt and the fact that you're aiming for the equator of the earth-sun system, rather than the earth's rotational equator, making it plus or minus ~2 hours)

Essentially, a launch to a stationary target as opposed to things like the ISS, where it's a very dynamic target.

That's not how launches to L1 and L2 are made. The spacecraft use Lissajous orbits. You're not aiming for a stationary target, but for an 'orbit' around the Lagrangian point in a plane perpendicular to the ecliptic (simplified). The transfer orbit is not meant to be coplanar with the ecliptic.

The wiki has got an article on it with a schematic drawing.

There do exist orbits around L1 and L2 that are coplanar with the two bodies (horizontal Lyapunov orbit), but it's not used here, nor in any other current mission I know of.

[alway]

Eh, the general principle remains the same regardless. Hence launch times of 6:10PM on Sunday, 6:07 PM on Monday, 6:05PM on Tuesday, and 6:03PM on Wednesday.

[MonkeyHead]

ESA's mini shuttle makes successful test flight: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31421200

It is an interesting concept with some potential.

[alway]

Another successful SpaceX launch; unfortunately, weather was bad at the landing site, and so they couldn't attempt that due to 10 meter tall waves keeping Just Read the Instructions from being a good landing target. Though they did confirm a soft, vertical landing on the water within 10 meters of their targeted landing site.

[sneakey pete]

Are the final plans for this still to have the first stage fly all the way back to the launch point, or to keep using a barge long term? With a barge i imagine it could be quite frustrating to have good weather in both locations at once, which could cause problems.

[alway]

Well, if you saw their recent video for their Falcon Heavy plans (see here if you haven't, it's pretty dang cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u26-CIDaazQ ), you may have noticed the landing pads. Just today, they announced that facility they're going to lease to put that together: http://spacenews.com/spacex-leases-cape-canaveral-launch-pad-for-falcon-landings/

SpaceX’s plan calls for constructing a 60-meter by 60-meter square concrete landing pad surrounded by four additional 45-meter diameter “contingency” pads, according to a 2014 environmental impact statement prepared for SpaceX and the Air Force.

“The contingency pads would only be utilized in order to enable the safe landing of a single vehicle should last-second navigation and landing diversion be required. There are no plans to utilize the contingency pads in order to enable landing multiple stages”

So by the sounds of it, they do plan on a flyback eventually, but that would be a ways off yet, since they're just acquiring the pad site. Could also depend on the launch trajectories; this launch was supposedly coming back down under more extreme circumstances than their ISS missions due to the target being deep space. Seems likely they just tack it on as a checkbox on the order form. "Does your mission need a little extra delta-V? Choose this option a pay some extra for an at-sea booster recovery."

Moreover, they have a second drone ship under construction for the West Coast (named "Of Course I Still Love You"), which would imply this isn't just a temporary thing. Interestingly, I can't seem to see any info about any currently active SpaceX launch sites in the Pacific, having shuttered and dismantled their early Omelek launch site there. This would seem to imply the drone ships may not be just for the first stage boosters, but rather intended in the long term to be used by capsules re-entering from space... Those do regularly splashdown in the Pacific, and they do have plans for flyback recovery of the Dragon V2 capsules, so I would expect to see some testing of those landing on the droneships in the next few years...

There had also been some mention about potentially having automated refueling on the droneships, for a second flyback from the ship to land? (I guess?), but there aren't really any details on that yet. It may well be they decide to go all out bonkers with it and have them land on the barge, refuel, then fly back to land, which would be pretty badass, though I think that may be a logistical nightmare. So we'll see.

[Rose]

That ESA shuttle really looks a lot like the farscape shuttle.

[10ebbor10]

https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/565638406945144832?p=v

Next drone ship will fly.