Falcon 9 rocket launches, from the company SpacexThey are not unusual. However, on Tuesday night, The aircraft that plans to take off at 7:15 pm will undertake a trajectory that, although it will be different from the one you usually travel, will allow it to still be sighted from Puerto Rico.
According to the Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC), If the launch occurs, the citizens of the island can observe the brlllante Estela between 7:21 pm and 7:24 pm
“It will be looking to the west-northwest. Will be moving from right to left, since its trajectory will be from Cabo Cañaveral in Florida to the Dominican Republic. Another alternative to be located will be to use the cell phone compass and be pending to the area between 300 and 290 degrees, ”he explained Eddie Irizarry RoblesVice President of the SAC, in written statements.
However, to appreciate the rocket, it must be located in a place free of visual obstructions such as structures or trees.
Since the beginning of 2020, the company began launching its rockets in the direction of Puerto Rico. This not only allowed to locate the satellites in the desired orbit, but also provided an advantage: recover the first stage of the rocket.
In Previous interview with The new day, Irizarry Robles, He explained that, during that stage, the rocket appears as if it are descending in reverse, so a robotic boat or platform that receives it must be placed. In the past, these boats were located in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean towards the Northeast.
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However, when Spacex decided to launch in the direction of Puerto Rico, he estimated that, if they located such quieter waters, such as those in the direction of the Bahamas Islands, the robotic boat would be more established, so there would be a major Probability of recovering the first stage of the rocket.
However, the launch scheduled for tonight will be in the direction of the Spanish, So the first stage of the rocket will be returning to a robotic platform in waters east of “Black Point”, among several of the Bahamas Islands.
“That is to say that the first stage of the rocket, which is never visible from Puerto Rico will descend a little further west of the area where he did, which was in waters of the open sea near the Bahamas,” Irizarry explained.
The second stage of the rocket contains 23 Starlink satellites, a Spacex subsidiary that provides satellite Internet service. That is the one that continues its trip to space and the one that will be visible from Puerto Rico.
Although the takeoff is scheduled for 7:15 pm, if necessary, the aircraft could be launched a while before or after.
“Anyway it would be visible from the island between six to nine minutes later,” said the SAC.
“But the ideal would be that it can be launched at the initially scheduled time (7:15 pm), since we predicted that it would look even more spectacular at that time,” said the educational entity.