1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Why does SpaceX’s droneship livestream cut out when its rocket lands?

By

SpaceX always likes to livestream its missions, from launch to landing and everything else besides.

The trouble is that during one of the most spectacular parts of some of its missions — when SpaceX’s reusable first-stage booster comes in to land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship — the footage from the ship-based camera suddenly cuts out, preventing space fans from seeing the Falcon 9 rocket touch down.

Recommended Videos

It happened again on Sunday, May 16, at the end of a mission that saw SpaceX deploy 52 Starlink satellites into orbit, together with payloads from two commercial customers. As you can see in the video from Sunday’s landing, the rocket-based camera works fine but the feed from the droneship camera fizzles and is replaced with a message confirming the loss of signal.

Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship! pic.twitter.com/7QzVxkCuI4

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 15, 2021

During its earlier landings, SpaceX only had a camera on the droneship, which meant a real-time view of the landing was missed entirely when the picture cut out. But these days it also streams footage from a rocket-based camera that tends to offer a more reliable feed.

The technical hiccups prompted some skeptics to cry foul, accusing SpaceX of faking the landings. The rocket-based camera has served to silence some of the doubters, though for more evidence of SpaceX’s ability to perform safe touchdowns you can also explore its numerous videos on YouTube.

But why does the droneship feed tend to cut out at the most important moment?

According to an excellent video posted a while ago by YouTuber Primal Space, it’s all to do with the power of the rocket’s thrusters destabilizing the directional signal between the camera and the satellite receiving the video data, which is beamed to SpaceX’s broadcast team.

Why does the SpaceX droneship camera cut out?

“As the rockets get closer to the droneship the thrust from the engines start to shake the droneship with such a high frequency that the video feed antenna [on the ship] loses lock with the satellite, causing the video feed to cut out,” Prime Space explains.

Possible solutions include putting the antenna on another vessel and locating it close to the droneship but far enough away to escape the effects of the Falcon 9’s disruptive descent.

Primal Space notes that even when the live feed cuts out, the landing is still recorded and often shared by SpaceX a day or two later.

For some spectacular and uninterrupted footage showing a Falcon 9 rocket making a touchdown on land, check out this video shot from a helicopter in 2020. You can also watch SpaceX’s next-generation Starship vehicle making its first successful landing earlier this month.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX already has a date in mind for next Starship launch

SpaceX launched the mighty Starship for the first time in April last year, but it took a full seven months before it became airborne again.

Following the second test flight in November, SpaceX managed to get the Starship off the launchpad again just four months later in a spectacular flight that took place last week.

Read more
Take a high-speed ride on SpaceX’s emergency escape chute

SpaceX has put a Crew Dragon on Pad 40 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the first time. This means that going forward, SpaceX will have two pads to choose from when sending astronauts to space.

Up to now, crews launching on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft lift off from Pad 39A at Kennedy, but having another launch site available gives NASA and SpaceX greater flexibility when planning missions by easing pressure on teams if scheduling issues and traffic conflicts arise.

Read more
SpaceX shares awesome rocket imagery from Starship flight

SpaceX’s third Starship test flight last Thursday was its best yet, far exceeding the first two missions, which took place last year and ended in huge fireballs just a few minutes in.

This time, the Starship -- comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship spacecraft -- kept on flying, with both parts reaching their destination points before breaking up on descent.

Read more