Falcon 9: AMOS-6 commsat (mission thread)


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Spacecom AMOS-6 (Israel)

 

Launch pad: LC-40
Launch date: NET August 22, 2016
Launch time: TBD

 

Stage landing: ASDS OCISLY
 
Satellite bus: Israel Aerospace Industries
Satellite mass: 5,500 kg

 

AMOS-6-Oct2015.jpg.jpeg

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Yeah, this will be another "Hoverslam". Heavy bird, GEO-Transfer trajectory. Wonder if SpaceX has performed any of the (surely-in work, if not completed) software upgrades to the GFC yet to minimize the hardware impacts that these returns have?

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Payload info on Gunter's

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/amos-6.htm

 

SpaceX has their listings at 5.5 tonnes to GTO, 8.3 tonnes expendable. If she's dialed up "full thrust", it will allow a bit more leeway, but still may be most difficult one to date, but the ability is still there. May need to find out more closer to launch date. This would be a great FH load in the future.

http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities

 

http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/falcon_9_users_guide_rev_2.0.pdf

 

:)

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IMHO, the FH would be way overkill for this bird. Having said that, FH could tote this and several like it using a dispenser ... :yes: 

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20 hours ago, Unobscured Vision said:

IMHO, the FH would be way overkill for this bird. Having said that, FH could tote this and several like it using a dispenser ... :yes: 

One would think so, but this is a bit deceiving.

 

At 5.5 tonnes, this is pushing the limit for a F9 without the newest full thrust setting. This would probably be the most difficult to date at those settings and if recovered, may be in very rough shape...fast and hot GTO. I would imagine we will see the increased thrust on this payload to help recoverability, but it is still a ballistic trajectory, is going to be hot and fast. The repair bills will still be high to put it back in action.

 

Now bring in the FH, light payload for it and the ability to have 2 boosters and the center core all RTLS, with boostback control...three stages with minimal repairs and a reusable center core for an expendable lift later. Fuel is not the issue, but recovery of "good" cores with minimal refurb costs are very important and the primary driver for launch cost reductions. The FH, in a lot of these scenarios, will be more cost effective than an F9.

 

This has been debated for awhile on other sites and is still ongoing, but consensus is leaning to this thought....and I tend to agree as well.

 

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Yup. 5.5t and up is tough on F9 cores and a walk in the park for FH with no need for an ASDS and its expenses. No contest. Expect most commsats over 5t to fly on FH.

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Yup.

 

FH can also do a direct GEO injection for milsats, a USAF requirement

 

But the LEO, MEO, SSO and other non-GTO/GEO payloads get an F9 bump.

 

The ++ M1D iteration gets 190 klbf once it's off the ground, 210 klbf for M1DVac.

 

Thrust/Weight goes up to about 200:1, which is fracking insane since most engines don't break 85:1. RD-180 is 71.2:1.

 

Edited by DocM
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Too bad none of the other Aerospace Companies aren't on the ball like SpaceX has been. The leaps of technology they could have made in the 30 year span of time ...

 

Instead, all we've seen is reliance on old Russian-made engines. Don't get me wrong, those engines are good -- for their time -- but if memory serves, the newest engine OldSpace has developed is the one that the Delta IV-H is currently flying with .. and it's not all that good from a TWR standpoint. RS-68 I think it is (?). Isn't it a larger, non-gimballing version of the SSME without the chill plumbing?

 

Anyway, my point is that I'm starting to wonder if OldSpace remembers how to actually design rocket engines ... they seem to be stuck on buying Russian stuff, recreating SRB's and rehashing RS- designs that really need to be retired.

 

Meanwhile (back at the Hall of Justice!), SpaceX has reached the absolute pinnacle of RP-fuelled engines with the Merlin design, and now they're moving on to CH4 because it's got so much more to offer once the technology matures. :yes: Blue Origin has a real winner on their hands with their upcoming design that also uses CH4 ... 

 

(aaaaand OrbitalATK is basically OldSpace going through a midlife crisis -- so they bought a Sports Car, College-kid clothes and decided to go Clubbing because their buddies in LH/M said they should get out of the house and try to shake off the depression after the divorce. :laugh:)

 

Yeah, I'm rambling. Midterms. Brain is jello. Sleep = good.

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Tropical storm could be a factor in SpaceX launch Saturday

 

Quote

Weather forecasters at Cape Canaveral are keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Hermine in the Gulf of Mexico in case winds and thick clouds from the cyclone threaten the scheduled launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Saturday.

The Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff at 3 a.m. EDT (0700 GMT) Saturday from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. The launch window extends for two hours.

 

Quote

The weather outlook for Saturday morning calls for mostly cloudy skies and isolated rain showers. In their official forecast released Tuesday, meteorologists from the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron predict a 60 percent chance the conditions will violate one of the weather rules for the launch.

A low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico strengthened into a tropical storm Wednesday. As of 5 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), Tropical Storm Hermine had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kilometers per hour) was about 350 miles (560 kilometers) west-southwest of Tampa, Florida, and slowly moving to the north-northeast.

 

152604W5_NL_sm.gif

As of Wednesday afternoon, forecasters predict Tropical Storm Hermine will make landfall late Thursday in the Florida Panhandle. Credit: NOAA/NHC

 

Quote

The National Hurricane Center predicts Tropical Storm Hermine will pick up speed toward the northeast Thursday and strengthen before making landfall in northwest Florida on Thursday evening. Official advisories issued Wednesday have shifted the predicted track of the tropical system westward from earlier forecasts.

 

The expected movement of Tropical Storm Hermine will take the worst of the weather away from Cape Canaveral, but thunderstorms, squall lines and tropical storm force wind gusts could still impact the Space Coast.

 

Widespread rain showers and storms associated with Tropical Storm Hermine were covering Central Florida on Wednesday as SpaceX ground crews prepared for the Falcon 9 rocket’s prelaunch “static fire” test.

 

“The weather along the Space Coast will deteriorate late Wednesday and through the day on Thursday with widespread rain and isolated thunderstorms,” the Air Force weather team wrote in their forecast. “Along with strong winds, these thunderstorms can create isolated tornadoes if associated with outer rain bands.”

 

Conditions should improve Friday, but the risk of inclement weather will remain.

 

“The main weather concern for launch early Saturday morning is liftoff winds, if the storm is slower than forecast, and thick clouds associated with moisture trailing into the storm,” meteorologists wrote.

 

The outlook calls for scattered clouds at 2,500 feet and broken cloud decks at 13,000 feet and 28,000 feet, northwest winds at 10 to 15 mph, and a temperature of 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

If the Falcon 9 flight is delayed to Sunday morning, the weather is forecast to improve, with a 40 percent chance of violating launch criteria.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/08/31/tropical-storm-could-be-a-factor-in-spacex-launch-saturday/

 

:(

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Hmmm ... if the pattern holds it'll be a likely scrub Saturday. I doubt they'll bother with prop loading if it's that sketchy. We'll have to see what R/S says.

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Not sure how that could happen. There's no fuel in it yet ... at all. Weird.

Awwww. Static test fire gone bad. :no: Darn it ....

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yea looks like a static fire test. AMOS wont have been on top yet I wouldn't have thought. I suppose it's better it did that then that when in full launch sequence. 

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If there's a silver lining, this is it. No loss of payload for the customer. But darn it if this isn't gonna throw timetables off ...

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