Falcon 9 - AsiaSat 6/ThaiCom 7 (mission thread)


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Another SS-/L-1300 based brick

And yes, this would mean 2 SpaceX launches in one month.

Shared access between AsiaSat (Hong Kong) and ThaiCom (Thailand)

NET Aug. 25, 2014

Launch window: TBD

Launcher: Falcon 9

Satellite: AsiaSat 6 / ThiaCom 7

Orbital Location: GEO 120?E

http://www.asiasat.com/asiasat/contentView.php?section=215〈=0

AsiaSat 6, based on Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform, is designed to provide excellent power and wide C-band coverage over Asia, Australasia, Central Asia and the Pacific islands. This new satellite, planned to be launched in the first half of 2014, will carry 28 high-powered C-band transponders, with a design life of 15 years. It will be positioned at the 120 degrees East orbital slot, with a global beam and a regional beam to offer enhanced power and look angles for video distribution and broadband network services in the region.

Comm Payload: C-band

Transponders: 28 (linearised)

Bandwidth: 36 MHz

Coverage: Asia, Australasia, Central Asia and Pacific Islands

Islands

TWTA Size: 100 watts

asiasat+6.jpg

asiasat-6__1.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

From AsiaSat,

14 August 2014

AsiaSat Gets Ready for Second Launch of the Month !

Final preparations are in progress for the launch of AsiaSat 6 , following AsiaSat 8?s successful liftoff on 5 August by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.

AsiaSat 6 will be AsiaSat?s second Falcon 9 launch in August. With 28 transponders, manufactured by Space Systems/Loral, the satellite will be operating at the nominal orbital location of 120 degrees East longitude for a broad range of broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband services in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Static fire tomorrow, August 22.

SpaceX still on track for an August 26 launch at 0050-0405 Local (Eastern). The only potential issue at this time is weather.

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Falcon 9 / Asisat-6 Launch Operations Forecast -- Launch Window: 27 Aug 2014 / 0450 - 0805Z (0050 - 0405EDT) -

Forecast: Given the great uncertainty of the tropical system, which may still be near the Spaceport through mid- week, the primary 24-hour delay concerns remain Cumulus and Anvil clouds and Liftoff Winds.

Launch day probability of violating launch weather constraints: 40% Primary concern(s): Cumulus and Anvil Cloud Rules, Liftoff Winds

24-hour delay overall probability of violating weather constraints: 40% Primary concern(s): Cumulus and Anvil Cloud Rules, Liftoff Winds

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Seems to be an abundance of caution. Launch Readiness Review went fine.

AFICT there was a hiccup last night that turned out to be nothing, but took time & effort to clear. Elon made the call to get a fresh start.

Guess: may go this weekend.

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Postponed for a week or two to make sure all is well. Abundance of caution.

Within this we are told what happened to F9R Dev-1: a blocked sensor port.

August 26, 2014

Update on AsiaSat 6 Mission

"SpaceX has decided to postpone tomorrow's flight of AsiaSat 6. We are not aware of any issue with Falcon 9, nor the interfaces with the Spacecraft, but have decided to review all potential failure modes and contingencies again. We expect to complete this process in one to two weeks.

"The natural question is whether this is related to the test vehicle malfunction at our development facility in Texas last week. After a thorough review, we are confident that there is no direct link. Had the same blocked sensor port problem occurred with an operational Falcon 9, it would have been outvoted by several other sensors. That voting system was not present on the test vehicle.

"What we do want to triple-check is whether even highly improbable corner case scenarios have the optimal fault detection and recovery logic. This has already been reviewed by SpaceX and multiple outside agencies, so the most likely outcome is no change. If any changes are made, we will provide as much detail as is allowed under US law."

-- Elon Musk

http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/08/26/update-asiasat-6-mission
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The systems on the F9 continue to amaze me. The amount of redundancy along with its engine out capability and soon reusability is truly state of the art. I can't even imagine what capabilities it has that they aren't telling us about.

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Falcon 9 uses voting systems like that for sensors (normal practice), each engines controller, the flight avionics on both stages (most birds only have avionics in the upper stage), and Dragons 18 computers.

What got me about the engine out was that it was totally autonomous - everything from engine shutdown to reconfiguring the flight plan. Then Dragon got to ISS 30 minutes early.

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I bet the Galileo guys are wishing they'd booked an F9. :p

You'd never get ESA or Arianespace to say that, but Germany has contracted for Falcon 9 to launch 3 radar spysats.

OTOH, France is having a stroke over SpaceX, asking NASA to stop them from dumping cheap launchers on the market - as if NASA has any say in the matter.

Of course dumping means you're selling launchers below cost, but that's demonstrably not true. F9 is just carefully engineered for low costs in spite of its sophistication.

Arianespace is basically in the same position as US automakers when Toyota came out with the Corolla, Celica etc.

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