# Reddit launch posts — copy-paste ready Three subreddits, three different angles. Post one per week (don't dump all at once — looks spammy). Best posting time: Tue/Wed/Thu 9-11am ET (US peak engagement). --- ## r/space (5.1M subscribers) **Title:** I built a service that detects every rocket launch on Earth from geostationary weather satellites — independent of any operator broadcast **Body:** Hey r/space, I've been working on this for the better part of a year and just shipped it: https://launchdetect.com/ The short version: it watches the 3.9 µm shortwave IR band (ABI band 7) on NOAA GOES-18, NOAA GOES-19, and JMA Himawari-9 — the same satellites NOAA uses for weather and wildfire detection — and extracts rocket plume thermal signatures in real time. A rocket's exhaust is several hundred kelvin hotter than the surrounding background. The pipeline geocodes each thermal anomaly against a registry of 17 active spaceports and issues a verified detection record within 30 to 90 seconds of ignition. What that means in practice: - The push alert fires when the rocket *actually* lights its engines, not when the operator's schedule says it should - Coverage includes secret/classified launches that don't broadcast (NRO, USSF, etc.) — geostationary thermal sees everything - Every detection has a permanent URL with the satellite frame timestamp, ignition coordinates, plume azimuth — independently verifiable against NOAA CLASS / JMA Open Data - It works for SpaceX, NASA, ULA, China, Russia, ESA, JAXA, ISRO, Rocket Lab — every operator at every spaceport on Earth There's a free 3D Cesium globe at the homepage that shows everything in real time alongside satellite catalog (CelesTrak), NOTAMs, ADS-B aircraft, AIS vessels, and wildfire anomalies (same sensor stack). iOS + Android apps with push alerts are $4.99/month (premium tier) but the web map and detection archive are completely free. Curious what r/space thinks. Methodology is documented at https://launchdetect.com/space-launch-detection/ if you want to nerd out on the thermal-detection pipeline. --- ## r/spacex (1.2M subscribers) **Title:** Independent thermal detection from GOES-19 catches every Falcon 9 launch within 90 seconds — and works for the ones that don't broadcast **Body:** Built a thing: https://launchdetect.com/ Falcon 9 launches from Cape Canaveral (SLC-40) and Kennedy (LC-39A) land in NOAA GOES-19's footprint. From Vandenberg (SLC-4E) and Starbase, GOES-18 covers. Both ABI band 7 (3.9 µm SWIR). The pipeline detects the Merlin plume signature within 30-90 seconds of ignition, geocodes against the pad registry, and posts a verified detection record. Each one is a primary-source citable URL (https://launchdetect.com/launches/{slug}/) with the actual satellite frame timestamp, ignition lat/lon, and plume azimuth. Useful when: - The broadcast is delayed or quirky (T-0 vs actual ignition timing) - NROL / USSF missions where the broadcast cuts before liftoff - You want a primary source to cite instead of "the SpaceX webcast at T+0:00:08" Free 3D map shows the active Starlink constellation grouped by deployment train + Tonight's Sky predicts visible passes from your location. Premium tier ($5/mo) is push alerts + AR replay. Genuinely curious if anyone in the SpaceX community would find this useful. Methodology is open: https://launchdetect.com/space-launch-detection/ --- ## r/spaceflight (140k subscribers) **Title:** Geostationary thermal detection of every rocket launch on Earth — a different approach to launch tracking **Body:** Most launch trackers I've used (RocketLaunch.live, Nextspaceflight, The Space Devs, NASASpaceflight.com) aggregate scheduled launch times from operator press releases. Useful for planning, but the schedule slips constantly. I took a different approach: rather than tracking schedules, detect the actual thermal signature when the rocket lights its engines. https://launchdetect.com/ The technical stack: - 3.9 µm shortwave IR (ABI band 7) on NOAA GOES-18, GOES-19, JMA Himawari-9 - ~0.1 K brightness-temperature precision on calibrated Level 1b radiance products - Plume confidence threshold 0.70 — keeps false-positive rate <5% - Plume azimuth derived from the imagery geometry, geocoded against a 17-spaceport registry - Verdict typically 30-90 seconds from ignition Per-launch records at https://launchdetect.com/launches/{slug}/ with full Event JSON-LD + verifiable NOAA CLASS / JMA Open Data references. Comparison vs other trackers: - vs n2yo: https://launchdetect.com/compare/launchdetect-vs-n2yo/ - vs Heavens-Above: https://launchdetect.com/compare/launchdetect-vs-heavens-above/ - vs Sky Guide / NASA app / Spot the Station: see /compare/ Free web map, iOS + Android apps. Looking for honest feedback from the r/spaceflight regulars — what's missing, what would make this more useful for serious launch-watching? Methodology docs: https://launchdetect.com/space-launch-detection/