{"id":22664,"date":"2021-07-16T17:33:59","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T09:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/a-shortfall-of-gravitas-droneship-arrives-in-port-canaveral-to-support-spacex-falcon-9-launches\/"},"modified":"2021-07-16T17:33:59","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T09:33:59","slug":"a-shortfall-of-gravitas-droneship-arrives-in-port-canaveral-to-support-spacex-falcon-9-launches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/a-shortfall-of-gravitas-droneship-arrives-in-port-canaveral-to-support-spacex-falcon-9-launches\/","title":{"rendered":"A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship arrives in Port Canaveral to support SpaceX Falcon 9 launches"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"img-border featured-image wp-block-image--obfuscated\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1333\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship Port Canaveral\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=320&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=640&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1024&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1500&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1500w\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-attachment-id=\"16084\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/2021\/07\/15\/spacexs-droneship-a-shortfall-of-gravitas-arrives-in-port-canaveral-to-support-falcon-9-launches\/dscn7187\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" data-orig-size=\"4608,3456\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\n\n<p>Credit: Nicky D&amp;#8217;Alessandro for Space Explored<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1024&#8243;><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\tCredit: Nicky D&#8217;Alessandro for Space Explored\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SpaceX\u2019s latest droneship left Port Fourchon, Louisiana where it was constructed last Friday, and this morning, arrived in Port Canaveral Florida.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-16064\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-shortfall-of-gravitas-arrival-to-florida-s-space-coast\">A Shortfall of Gravitas arrival to Florida\u2019s Space Coast<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG) is SpaceX\u2019s latest, and most advanced droneship. Unlike the other SpaceX droneships, ASOG is fully autonomous. This means it will not need a tug to pull it to the landing site. While it doesn\u2019t need one for launches, for its journey from Louisiana to Florida, it was pulled by the tug Finn Falgout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Shortfall of Gravitas and Finn Falgout arrived off the Space Coast late last night. Despite this, they waited until daylight and a break in traffic to enter the port. ASOG joins Just Read the Instructions to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy missions launching from Florida. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image wp-block-image--obfuscated\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" alt=\"Site default logo image\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Having two active droneships on the space coast will allow dual-droneship landings for Falcon Heavy missions. These dual droneship missions would sacrifice a center booster, with the benefit of being able to deliver larger payloads into higher orbits.<\/p>\n<p>\t<span class=\"outbrain-ad-label\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<script type=\"text\/plain\">\n\t\t\twindow.adSlotsConfig = window.adSlotsConfig || [];<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tadSlotsConfig.push( {\n\t\t\t\tslotID: '\/1049447\/Outbrain',\n\t\t\t\tslotName: 'div-gpt-ad-outbrain-ad-16064',\n\t\t\t\tsizes: [300, 250],\n\t\t\t\tslotPosition: 'mid_article'\n\t\t\t} );\n\t\t<\/script><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-shortfall-of-gravitas-droneship-naming\">A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship naming<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elon Musk doesn\u2019t choose names on a whim. The Falcon rockets are famously named after the Millennium Falcon, from Star Wars. SpaceX\u2019s droneships also pull their names from science fiction. When the first droneships were under construction, it made the news that they would be named Of Course I Still Love You and Just Read The Instructions to honor legendary sci-fi author Iain M Banks\u2019.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image wp-block-image--obfuscated\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" alt=\"Site default logo image\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of Course I Still Love You and Just Read the Instructions are the names of two spacecraft from Banks\u2019 Culture series. SpaceX\u2019s droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas also pulls inspiration from the series, being a modification of the \u201cExperiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall\u201d ship mentioned in two books of the series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The name \u201cJust Read The Instructions\u201d has been given to two different droneships at this point. The original was used in early 2015 before a second droneship took over the name.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-asog-replaces-the-droneship-ocisly\">ASOG replaces the droneship OCISLY<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With its arrival, ASOG replaces the long-serving droneship, Of Course I Still Love You, on the East coast. After supporting many Falcon launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center, OCISLY left to begin supporting missions launching from Vandenberg. It arrived in California, at the Port of Long Beach, earlier this month. The next mission for OCISLY will likely be the launch of Starlink satellites into Polar orbit.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image wp-block-image--obfuscated\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" alt=\"Site default logo image\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SpaceX has not had a droneship on the west coast since late 2019 when Just Read the Instructions left for Louisiana. After receiving upgrades, the ship moved to the East Coast where it remains. Without a droneship, SpaceX had a significant limit to their payloads launching from Vandenberg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ASOG will likely undergo more sea trials in the coming days. ASOG\u2019s Octograbber was constructed here in Florida, so we can expect to see it be moved onto the deck of the droneship soon. Octograbber is a remotely controlled robot, and following the landing of a booster, maneuvers out of a garage and clamps onto the base of the Falcon rocket. This helps keep the booster secure on the deck even through rough seas.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-shortfall-of-gravitas-first-launch\">A Shortfall of Gravitas\u2019 first launch<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image wp-block-image--obfuscated\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" alt=\"Site default logo image\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only once SpaceX is confident with the abilities of ASOG will it depart for its first mission. This could be the CRS-23 mission, launching a cargo in a Dragon-2 capsule to the International Space Station. Alternately, JRTI may support the CRS-23 launch while ASOG\u2019s first launch could end up being a Starlink launch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Exactly when A Shortfall of Gravitas supports its first launch remains to be seen, but it\u2019s a welcome addition to the SpaceX fleet.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-read-more\">Read More<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tracking A Shortfall of Gravitas: SpaceX\u2019s new droneship passes Florida\u2019s Gold Coast<\/li>\n<li>Elon Musk reportedly buys ticket on Virgin Galactic flight<\/li>\n<li>Elon tweets this week: New raptor production facitlity, more raptors on Starship, a new droneship and more<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"enjoy-reading-space-explored\">Enjoy reading Space Explored?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Help others find us by following on <strong>Apple News<\/strong> and <strong>Google News<\/strong>. Be sure to check us out on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, join our Discord!<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-want-to-help-support-space-explored\">Want to help support Space Explored?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Follow Derek on Twitter or Instagram.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shop on&nbsp;Amazon or directly support Derek by becoming a member of their&nbsp;Patreon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"disclaimer-affiliate\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/08\/unistellar-telescope.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17371\" width=\"750\" height=\"150\"><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}