Falcon 9: Eutelsat & ABS dual-manifested commsats (mission thread)

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Grand Master

DocM

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9 minutes ago, jjkusaf said:

That was quick. Lol 

SpaceX is known for rapid decision-making. There a video of a NASA embed who attended one of their campfires and was stunned speechless his major suggestion was policy in 30 seconds. No committee storm or 6 inch thick reports.

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Jim K Global Moderator

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10 minutes ago, DocM said:

SpaceX is known for rapid decision-making. There a video of a NASA embed who attended one of their campfires and was stunned speechless his major suggestion was policy in 30 seconds. No committee storm or 6 inch thick reports.

Has to be much easier for him ... Musk's current goals (in very simplified terms) are to 1) launch rockets, 2) deploy payload 3) recover his "pallet of cash".  Whatever it takes to achieve those three are "green lit"  :)

 

None of the bureaucratic bs that comes with the USG.  "Well, if we spend x amount of dollars on y upgrade will that give us z benefit?  We need a 6 inch thick report."

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Draggendrop Veteran

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In the overall scheme of things, these launches are prototype testing, data gathering devices, and a payday to forward the Mars objective....and having fun doing it...:D

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Grand Master

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From this article...the image displays the size of the payloads with respect to a person...

 

SpaceX successfully launches 2nd pair of Eutelsat and ABS all-electric satellites 

http://spacenews.com/spacex-successfully-launches-2nd-pair-of-eutelsat-and-abs-all-electric-satellites/

 

Eutelsat-ABS-Boeing-image-879x485.jpg

The ability to stack two Boeing 702SP all-electric satellites on a single SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, offering substantial savings to customers, was supposed to usher in a new business model in the commercial satellite industry. Shown here are Eutelsat and ABS satellites in stacked position. It has not worked out that way, however. Boeing has found it difficult to line up two customers that agree to the same schedule. Credit: Boeing 

 

:)

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DocM

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Customer schedule alignment delays are also a HUGE problem for Ariane 5, exascerbated by a size mismatch - it's adapter and fairing combining one large bay and one small bay.

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1 minute ago, DocM said:

Customer schedule alignment delays are also a HUGE problem for Ariane 5, exascerbated by a size mismatch - it's adapter and fairing combining one large bay and one small bay.

Was this a Boeing patent issue?

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Mission done, both payloads healthy...customers handover.....

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Grand Master

DocM

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58 minutes ago, Draggendrop said:

Was this a Boeing patent issue?

No. Dual manifesting with various launch mount designs goes back a decades. Arianes 1-5 have all been dual manifested, with A1 first flying in 1979.

 

What Boeing does with the 702SP birds is a variation known as modular core, which they have a patent on,

 

http://www.google.com/patents/US20140239125

 

and they're having the same issue as Arianespace - getting 2 customers to align launch dates.

 

EutelSat and ABS work because ABS (Bermuda & Hong Kong) and SatMex (Mexico) bought 4 Boeing 702SP's (the 2 pairs launched by SpaceX), then EutelSat bought Satmex giving it a share of all 4 satellites. 

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Methinks there's gonna be a big gouge in the deck of OCISLY again that needs fixing. That'll slide the next scheduled launch right by an extra week or two. SpaceX needs more Droneships online yesterday; especially with Falcon Heavy, the increase in the launch cadence, plus Boca Chica in 2018+. Every delay hurts the schedule -- and yes, I know things can only move so fast.

 

If I had a say in voting for the next name, it'd be named "Marty's Yacht". :D 

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Landing "irregularity" caused by "ran out of oxidizer".....she was pushing a tough load though, could see this being a FH load later.

 

So this is the first example of our new category of fault classifications..."Viscous/gaseous treachery"   :woot:

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Jim K Global Moderator

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7 minutes ago, T3X4S said:

So is this thread about the same rocket as in this awesome video ?

 

Not the same mission.  That video was from the CRS8 mission back in April ... which was the first successful Falcon 9 landing on a drone ship.  They landed two more Falcon 9's in May on the drone ship.  This particular thread/mission ... the rocket didn't survive the drone landing.

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DocM

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Right. This one looks to have been experimenting with a different approach profile and it ran out of liquid oxygen.

 

While recovered stages will be reused they are still in a landing test program.

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3 minutes ago, DocM said:

Right. This one looks to have been experimenting with a different approach profile and it ran out of liquid oxygen.

 

While recovered stages will be reused they are still in a landing test program.

It sure was hovering up there for a bit...or at least it seems that way.

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T3X4S

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OK thanks.  I try to follow this subforum a little because it is quite fascinating, not to mention very relevant to our near future.  But I dont know a fraction of what y'all do, so I dont post. :/

 

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After seeing Doc's video above, this was not a "hoverslam", but a whole new profile to experiment with. This one came in on the same basic trajectory (but more horizontal vector), slowed down a bit, partial hover and re-orientation, then descent to deck...but ran out of "go juice". (she almost made it, with sitting and hovering)

 

SpaceX (Lars) can modify an extremely complex control system this quick.....top notch control.   :):) "deserves a double happy"

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