DocM Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 ABS-SatMex, aka ABS-3A/Eutelsat 115 West B Static fire: NET Feb. 22, 2015 Launch: NET Feb 27, 2015 Window: 2301-2346 Local (Eastern) Launch may slip right into early March. May not. Satellites: 2 Boeing 702SP commsats. The 702SP is a new commsat, these are the first, which uses no chemical propulsion - just electric Hall Effect thrusters and a much smaller quantity of xenon as a reaction mass. This drastically reduces the mass of the 702SP, allowing them to be launched in pairs (dual manifesting) on launchers smaller than Proton or Ariane 5. As the bottom pic shows, they're lighter but not really "small." Hall Effect thruster Stacked Boeing 702SP's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisj1968 Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 ABS-SatMex, aka ABS-3A/Eutelsat 115 West B Static fire: NET Feb. 22, 2015 Launch: NET Feb 27, 2015 Window: 2301-2346 Local (Eastern) Launch may slip right into early March. May not. Satellites: 2 Boeing 702SP commsats. The 702SP is a new commsat, these are the first, which uses no chemical propulsion - just electric Hall Effect thrusters and a much smaller quantity of xenon as a reaction mass. This drastically reduces the mass of the 702SP, allowing them to be launched in pairs (dual manifesting) on launchers smaller than Proton or Ariane 5. As the bottom pic shows, they're lighter but not really "small." Hall Effect thruster Stacked Boeing 702SP's that's cool. way cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beittil Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Also, there will be no recovery attempts made (at least, no ASDS involved) on this launch. The combined weight of these two sats require everything the F9 has got, that is why a launch like this would in the future preferably be done by the Falcon Heavy so that all cores can be recovered. I think they will also leave out stuff like grid fins and landing legs, but i am not 100% sure. Maybe DocM can confirm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 I'm hearing no legs, but grid fins haven't been mentioned either way. With them they could at least practice high altitude maneuvers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Static fire tomorrow (Tuesday), one day later than expected. Launch may slip to match. All else sounding good. Like SES-8, this will be a launch to a supersynhronous transfer orbit. This usually means a perigee of about 300 km and an apogee of about 80,000 to 90,000 km. Exact target parameters when they come in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T3X4S Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Yeah but will the thrusters bolt on to a GT-R ? (and will it play Crysis ?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Considering just the engine bay has at bc least 27 CPU's and each of the 2 avionics systems are triple-string, you and most of your friends could probably play Crysis on an F9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beittil Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Chris at nsf said the slip to NET mar 1st was 'as suspected'! How come? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Looks like prep flow for the launch readiness review, which was just completed causing the static fire to slip. That cascaded to launch day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beittil Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 @flatoday_jdean: 45th Space Wing confirms SpaceX targeting 10:49pm Sunday launch of @Eutelsat_SA and ABS satellites from Cape Canaveral. 45-min window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Static fire moved to tomorrow, Our History Center will be closed tomorrow, Wednesday February 25th for SpaceX operations- sorry for the short notice and thanks for understanding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Static fire completed. Checking data, but it looks good. Get your popcorn & beer ready for Sunday night. SALSN 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 Launch window revised to 2250 to 2332 Local (Eastern) geertd 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 Launch: Sunday March 1, 2015 Window: 10:50-11:32 PM (2250-2332) EST Webcasts start ~10:30 PM All are LiveStream mirrors, but the YouTube Events are usually better and Chromecastable. LiveStream http://new.livestream.com/spacex/events/3843470 SpaceX http://www.spacex.com/webcast YouTube Event (will appear Sunday) http://www.YouTube.com/spacex Patch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 SpaceX @SpaceX #Falcon9 now vertical in advance of tomorrow night's launch attempt. Window opens 10:50pm ET Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 Webcast has started, weather is 90%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 T-14 and all's well. Polling for terminal count. ALL are GO. Telemetry station Bermuda is having problems so we may not see S2 shutdown. T-9:30 Valves open, chilling in the engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 Strongback retracting. T-5 min FTS armed. T-2:30 LIFTOFF!!! MaxQ S2 eparation. MVac start 1 Fairing separation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 S2 shutdown 1 Nominal trajectory Webcast ending Waiting for MVac startup 2 PERFECT LAUNCH so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 S2 restart should be in 10 min Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 S2 burn #2 S2 burn #2 is complete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 ABS 3A deployed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 EUTELSAT 115 West B satellite deployed!! Perfect launch!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malenfant Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Smooth. And at ~$30M per. Probably a lot of the higher-ups at the competition (hah!) are taking their meds (straight-up) right about now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 Yup. March 21st is now looking better for TurkmenSat. Not as short as this turn around. If they start launching every 3-4 weeks.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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