Re:SpaceX successfully deploys the Star man
by teraflop on Tuesday February 06, 2018 @04:33PM
(#16320017)
I think you're correct. At stage 2 cutoff, they were showing a speed of ~26,000 km/h, which is approximately orbital velocity, not escape velocity.
Re:SpaceX successfully deploys the Star man
by Klathmon on Tuesday February 06, 2018 @04:56PM
(#16320257)
Although I'm not fully correct. Mr. Musk just tweeted this:
>Upper stage restart nominal, apogee raised to 7000 km. Will spend 5 hours getting zapped in Van Allen belts & then attempt final burn for Mars.
It is in a parking orbit, where it will sit for a few hours and then will reignite and will be set on a trajectory toward "martian orbit".
IIRC currently they are testing (or proving depending on how confident they are) that they can have the second stage sit for several hours in space before reignighting.