Will Falcon 9's Next Launch Do The Jellyfish Effect?

Article Written by Josh G for Onkla

On Thursday July 14, 2022, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The vehicle will be carrying the Cargo Dragon spacecraft filled with science, expiriements, research, and other needed supplies to be launched to the International Space Station. The CRS-25 mission will begin its flight in central east Florida prior to flying all the way up the coast where it should be visible from most of the eastern states. The eastern states that should be able to see this launch are the following. Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, West irginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and possibly Massachusetts. The states north of Sourth Carolina however will not be able to see the first stage burn, but will be able to see the second stage plume. The second stage plume looks like a letter V or U flying across the sky. Depending on the lighting, it can be either a dark red, dark purple, blue, or bright white.

What is the jellyfish effect. The jellyfish effect is also known as the twilight effect. It is when the sky is dark on the ground, but up in the sky, it is still being illuminated by the sun because the earth curves and thats how it works. But, when the rocket takes off, it is dark on the ground, but then it will fly into the daylight. That will create amazing looking exhaust trails to begin with. But then another atmospheric data point comes into play. The lower atmospheric pressure there is, the less dense the air gets, so the plume begins to open up and get wider. That is what can cause those giant plumes in the night sky.

But to figure out if the CRS-25 launch will create a jellyfish effect, we would look at past launches that either did a jellyfish, partly did a jellyfish, or just didn't do one at all. Because, if we look at past data, then we will be able to determine an answer.

The first launch that we will talk about is the CSG-2 launch. It launched on January 31, 2022 at 6:11pm EDT. The sun set on that day at 6:02pm. It launched just over 9 minutes after sunset. The picture to the left of this text is a photo taken around 300 miles north of the launch site in Charleston, Sourth Carolina. That shows that even just 10 minutes after sunset, it is still a pretty good jellyfish. Another launch

we can look at is the Inspiration4 launch.

This photo was taken from just around 10 miles away from the launch site of Inspiration4. The mission lifted off at 8:01pm EDT on September 16, 2021. The sun set at 7:26pm, so around 35 minutes before the launch. This was a beautiful launch, and it was the perfect conditions for a jellyfish effect.

However, back to CRS-25. It is most likely that this launch will create some sort of jellyfish effect because it will launch 22 minutes after sunset in cape canaveral, and around 12 minutes after sunset at around the Wallops area. So it will most likely be visible for most of the east coast, so if you are in the vicinity of the launch, just look south east at around 8:45pm on Thursday, July 14, 2022. Lets hope that CRS-25 will make a jellyfish effect for the east coast, because the last time the whole east coast has seen a jellyfish effect was over a year ago.

Will CRS-25 make a Jellyfish Effect?

• Yes
• Parly (Like CSG-2)
• No