Ablative
Material which burns away to dissipate heat
ACS
Attitude Control System
Controls roll and pitch
AFB
Air Force Base
A military installation which people live on
AFS
Air Force Station
A military installation which people don’t live on
AFTS
Autonomous Flight Termination System
An improved, automated version of FTS
AOS
Acquisition of Signal
Aphelion
Highest point in an orbit around the Sun
Apoapsis
Highest point in an orbit
Apogee
Highest point in an orbit around Earth
ASDS
Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship
ASDS landing example can be found by clicking this link
ASOG
A Shortfall of Gravitas
Landing platform / drone ship
BEAM
Bigelow Expandable Activity Module
BECO
Booster Engine Cut-Off
BEO
Beyond Earth Orbit
BFB
Big Falcon Booster
Boost stage for the conceptual Big Falcon Rocket
BFR
Big Falcon Rocket
Conceptual heavy launch vehicle by SpaceX, renamed to Starship in Nov 2018
BFS
Big Falcon Spaceship
Crew version of the upper stage for the conceptual Big Falcon Rocket
BFT
Big Falcon Tanker
Refuelling version of the upper stage for the Big Falcon Rocket
BO
Blue Origin
Jeff Who?
CCAFS
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Renamed in December 2020 to Space Force Station
CCSFS
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
Renamed in December 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
CF
Carbon Fiber / Fibre
COPV
Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel
COTS
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
Contract with NASA for ISS cargo and crew transport
CRS
Commercial Resupply Services
Contract with NASA for ISS resupplies
Cryogenic
Liquids below -150 °C (-238 °F)
DoD
(US) Department of Defense
DPL
Downrange Propulsive Landing
DSN
Deep Space Network
ESA
European Space Agency
EVA
Extra-Vehicular Activity
F1
SpaceX Falcon 1 (obsolete medium-lift vehicle)
F9
Falcon 9 launch vehicle
Partially reusable TSTO medium-lift launch vehicle developed by SpaceX
F9 B5
Falcon 9 Block 5
Falcon 9 Block 5 is the fifth version of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust.
F9 FT
Falcon 9 Full Thrust
v1.2 of the Falcon 9 rocket
FAA
Federal Aviation Administration
FCC
Federal Communications Commission
FOD
Foreign Object Damage
FRR
Flight Readiness Review
FTS
Flight Termination System
GEO
Geostationary Earth Orbit
Earth orbit at 35786km
GOX
Gaseous Oxygen
Grid-fin
Aerodynamic control surface used during landing of the Falcon booster.
GSE
Ground Support Equipment
GSO
Geosynchronous Orbit
Any Earth orbit with a 24-hour period
GTO
Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit
H1
First half of the year/month
H2
Molecular hydrogen
H2
Second half of the year/month
HCO
Heliocentric Orbit
Orbit around the sun. Earth is in a Heliocentric orbit
HEEO
Highly Elliptical Earth Orbit
Earth orbits with an apogee higher than 35780km
HEO
High Earth Orbit
Earth orbits higher than 35780km
HIF
Horizontal Integration Facility
Hypergolic
Two substances (typically liquids) that ignite on contact with each other
IDA
International Docking Adapter
Isp
Specific impulse
Total impulse (or change in momentum) delivered per unit of propellant consumed
ISRU
In-Situ Resource Utilization
ISS
International Space Station
ITAR
(US) International Traffic in Arms Regulations
ITS
Interplanetary Transport System
The 2016, 12m booster "Mars Rocket", since revised - See BFR
IVA
Intra-Vehicular Activity
JAXA
Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency
JPL
Jet Propulsion Lab
JRTI
Just Read The Instructions
Kerolox
Kerosene/liquid oxygen
KOS
Keep Out Sphere
200m radius from ISS
KSC
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
KSP
Kerbal Space Program
The place where countless hours of my life vanished forever
L1
Lagrange Point
Inline through the center and between two large celestial bodies, where the gravitational pull of one body is exactly equal to that of the body's orbital period.
L2
Lagrange Point
Inline through the center of two large celestial bodies, where the point is located beyond the smaller of the two. Here, the centrifugal force is balanced.
L3
Lagrange Point
Inline through the center of two large celestial bodies, where the point is located beyond the larger of the two.
L4
Lagrange Point
On the third angle of an equilateral triangle, from the center of the two large celestial bodies.
L5
Lagrange Point
On the third angle of an equilateral triangle, from the center of the two large celestial bodies.
Lagrange Point
Points near two large orbiting celestial bodies.
At a LP, the gravitational and centrifugal force of the two large bodies balance each other. Excellent location for placement of satellites.
LAS
Launch Abort System
LC-13
Launch Complex 13 (Cape Canaveral)
Now Landing Zone 1
LC-39A
Launch Complex 39A
LCH4
Liquid Methane
LEO
Low Earth Orbit
Earth orbits between 180-2000km
LES
Launch Escape System
LIDAR
Light Detection and Ranging
Lithobrake
"Braking" by impacting the ground
LN2
Liquid Nitrogen
LNG
Liquefied Natural Gas
LOS
Loss of Signal
LOS
Line of Sight
LOX
Liquid Oxygen
LV
Launch Vehicle
LZ-1
Landing Zone 1, Cape Canaveral (LC-13)
LZ-2
Second landing pad adjacent to LZ-1
M1A
Merlin 1 kerolox rocket engine, original (2006), 340kN
M1B
Merlin 1 kerolox rocket engine, revision B (unflown), 360kN
M1C
Merlin 1 kerolox rocket engine, revision C (2008), 556-660kN
M1D
Merlin 1 kerolox rocket engine, revision D (2013), 620-690kN, uprated to 730 then 845kN
M1DVac
Merlin 1 kerolox rocket engine, revision D (2013), vacuum optimized, 934kN
MaxQ
Maximum aerodynamic pressure
The point in flight at which the aerodynamic stresses are highest
MECO
Main Engine Cut-Off
MEO
Medium Earth Orbit
Earth orbits between 2000-35780km
MET
Mission Elapsed Time
Methalox
Portmanteau: methane/liquid oxygen mixture
Milspec
Military Specification
MLLV
Medium Lift Launch Vehicle (2-20 tons to LEO)
MLV
Medium Lift Launch Vehicle (2-20 tons to LEO)
MMH
Mono-Methyl Hydrazine, HCH3N=NH2; part of NTO/MMH hypergolic mix
Monopropellant
Rocket propellant that requires no oxidizer (eg. hydrazine)
Multi
Multiple Landings
For Falcon Heavy missions landing badge, multiple landings occur. In the near future this will be removed in favour of showing individual core landing info.
MVac
Merlin 1 kerolox rocket engine, revision D (2013), vacuum optimized, 934kN
NDA
Non-Disclosure Agreement
NET
No Earlier Than
NOTAM
Notice to Airmen
NRO
(US) National Reconnaissance Office
NROL
(US) National Reconnaissance Office Launch
Random sequence of numbers for a launch for the NRO.
NSF
NasaSpaceFlight forum
NTO
diNitrogen TetrOxide, N2O4; part of NTO/MMH hypergolic mix
NXF
Next Spaceflight
Their website can be found here
Ocean
Ocean Landing
An ocean landing is performed to test conditions too risky for a drone ship landing, or when a booster (before block 5) is not able to fly more than twice so doesn't need to be recovered.
OCISLY
Of Course I Still Love You
East coast landing platform / drone ship
PAF
Payload Attach Fitting
PAS
Payload Adapter System
Periapsis
Lowest point in an orbit
Perigee
Lowest point in an orbit around the Earth
Perihelion
Lowest point in an orbit around the sun
PICA-X
Phenolic Impregnated-Carbon Ablative heatshield compound, as modified by SpaceX
PLF
Payload Fairing
Polar
Polar Orbit
An orbit that passes over Earths polar regions
PPF
SpaceX Payload Processing Facility (Cape Canaveral)
Pyrophoric
A substance which ignites spontaneously on contact with air
QA
Quality Assurance
Raptor
Methane-fueled rocket engine
RCS
Reaction Control System
Regenerative
A method for cooling a rocket engine, by passing the cryogenic fuel through channels in the bell or chamber wall
Retro-propulsion
Thrust opposite to the current direction of travel
Reused
Flight Proven
The component, usually the booster stage, has already experienced a full flight and should therefore be considered more reliable than a brand new component (conditions very much apply!)
RP-1
Rocket Propellant 1
Highly refined kerosene
RSS
Rotating Service Structure
RTF
Return to Flight
RTLS
Return to Launch Site
RUD
Rapid Unplanned/Unscheduled/Unintended Disassembly
Scrub
Launch postponement for any reason
SECO
Second-stage Engine Cut-Off
SF
Static Fire
SFB
Space Force Base
A military installation which people live on
SFS
Space Force Station
A military installation which people don’t live on
SLC-40
Space Launch Complex 40
SLC-4E
Space Launch Complex 4-East
SLC-4W
Space Launch Complex 4-West
SLS
Space Launch System
SNC
Sierra Nevada Corporation
SOX
Solid Oxygen
Not desirable, part of the cause of the AMOS-6 anomaly
SRB
Solid Rocket Booster
SSO
Sun-Synchronous Orbit
SSRP
Supersonic Retro-Propulsion
Thrust opposite to the current direction of travel, while travelling faster than the speed of sound
SSTO
Single Stage to Orbit
STA
Structural Test Article
Starlink
SpaceX's world-wide satellite broadband constellation
Starship
Starship launch vehicle
Fully reusable, two-stage-to-orbit super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by SpaceX. First publicized as BFR, later renamed to Starship.
Suborbital
A trajectory that doesn't complete an orbit
TE
Transporter/Erector
TEA-TEB
Triethylaluminium-Triethylboron
A pyrophoric mixture used as an ignition fluid for Merlin engines
TEI
Trans-Earth Injection maneuver
TEL
Transporter/Erector/Launcher
TLI
Trans-Lunar Injection
TMI
Trans-Mars Injection
TSM
Tail Service Mast, holding lines/cables for servicing a rocket first stage on the pad
TSTO
Two Stage to Orbit
Turbopump
A turbine-driven propellant pump connected to the engines combustion chamber. Raises chamber pressure and therefore thrust
TVC
Thrust Vector Control
TWR
Thrust-to-Weight Ratio
UDMH
Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine
A liquid hypergolic propellant
UHF
Ultra-High Frequency radio
ULA
United Launch Alliance (Lockheed/Boeing joint venture)
USAF
United States Air Force
USSF
United States Space Force
VAB
Vehicle Assembly Building
VAFB
Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
A military installation which people live on
VSFB
Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
Renamed in May 2021 from Air Force Base
WDR
Wet Dress Rehearsal
Test where liquid propellant is loaded into the rocket but not ignited
