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Satellite signatures of the Space-X Starship SN8 flight

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-17 Visible, Near-Infrared and Shortwave Infrared images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 Visible, Near-Infrared and Shortwave Infrared images [click to play animation | MP4]

Space-X conducted a test flight of its Starship SN8 on 09 December 2020, which experienced a “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” upon landing — and 10-minute Full Disk sector GOES-17 (GOES-West) Visible, Near-Infrared and Shortwave Infrared images (above) displayed a bright visible signature and hot thermal signature of the landing site explosion (and also showed the eastward drift of the rocket booster condensation cloud produced during descent). GOES-17 was scanning the landing site at 22:52:38 UTC when it sampled these explosion signatures.

A combination of GOES-16 (GOES-East) 5-minute CONUS sector and 10-minute Full Disk sector image is shown below. Even though the satellite viewing angle or “zenith angle” was less for GOES-16 (39.22 degrees) than for GOES-17 (53.21 degrees), GOES-16 failed to capture signatures of the brief rocket landing explosion — in addition, the GOES-16 scanned the landing site nearly 1/2 minute earlier than GOES-17, at 22:52:12 UTC (CONUS sector) and 22:52:14 UTC (Full Disk sector). However, the eastward-moving rocket descent condensation cloud was still evident.

GOES-16 Visible, Near-Infrared and Shortwave Infrared images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Visible, Near-Infrared and Shortwave Infrared images [click to play animation | MP4]

According to 00 UTC rawinsonde data from nearby Brownsville, Texas (below) a shift to westerly winds occurred at an altitude of 4200 meters (615 hPa) — indicating that the eastward-moving rocket booster condensation cloud existed within the middle troposphere.

Plot of 00 UTC rawinsonde data from Brownsville, Texas [click to enlarge]

Plot of 00 UTC rawinsonde data from Brownsville, Texas [click to enlarge]

Thanks to Todd Beltracci (The Aerospace Corporation) for the tip regarding optimal GOES-17 scan timing to capture the rocket explosion.

Categories: GOES-16, GOES-17, Rocket signatures