Falcon9: SES-10 commsat

[DocM]

@SES_Satellites
This weekend our #SES10 #satellite was shipped from @AirbusDS facilities in Toulouse to Cape Canaveral for its forthcoming launch w. @SpaceX

 

Peter B. de Selding ‏@pbdes  2h2 hours ago
@SES_Satellites still intends SES-10 (5,300kg/GTO) as 1st @SpaceX mission using previously flown Falcon 9 1st stage. Planned Q1 launch.

 

Launch date: TBA
Launch time: TBA
Launch pad: KSC LC-39A
Launch mass: 5,300 kg

Satellite bus: Airbus

Transponders: 50 high-power Ku band 

Coverage: Mexico, Central America and South America, as well as the Caribbean
Orbit: Super-Synchronous GTO
Stage Landing: ASDS Of Course I Still Love You

 

Edited January 17, 2017 by DocM

[Draggendrop Veteran]

SES 10 telecom satellite in Florida for launch on reused SpaceX rocket

 

A Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster descends to a propulsive landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean on April 8, 2016. The same booster is assigned to fly again next month with the SES 10 communications satellite. Credit: SpaceX

 

Quote

A European-built communications satellite has arrived at Cape Canaveral for fueling and final launch preparations ahead of a planned late February liftoff aboard a Falcon 9 rocket with a previously-flown first stage booster.

 

The SES 10 satellite, owned by SES of Luxembourg, arrived at the Central Florida spaceport Sunday after a trans-Atlantic flight on a chartered cargo plane from its factory in Toulouse, France.

 

It will be prepared for launch on top of a Falcon 9 rocket next month from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, an Apollo- and shuttle-era launch facility leased by SpaceX, which is modifying the complex for commercial missions.

 

SpaceX and SES agreed last year to launch the spacecraft on the first Falcon 9 rocket to fly with a reused first stage. If successful, the flight will be a major step forward for SpaceX, which foresees regular reusability as vital to reducing launch costs.

 

Built by Airbus Defense and Space, the SES 10 satellite will weigh nearly 11,700 pounds (5,300 kilograms) with a full tank of propellant at the time of launch.

 

The first stage assigned to SES 10’s launch first flew April 8, 2016, with a Dragon supply ship on a logistics launch to the International Space Station. After detaching from the Falcon 9’s second stage, which continued into orbit, the 15-story first stage booster descended to a vertical landing on SpaceX’s offshore platform a few minutes after liftoff, making the first time the company recovered a rocket intact at sea.

 

The landing on SpaceX’s barge, or drone ship, last April came four months after the first-ever touchdown of a Falcon 9 first stage on land at Cape Canaveral. That vehicle is now on display outside SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

 

SpaceX has recovered seven rocket stages in total, the last of which landed Saturday after a launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

 

Engineers are inspecting, refurbishing and testing the 156-foot-long (47-meter) boosters to ensure they can withstand the rigors of more flights.

 

Quote

SpaceX engineers already put the Merlin 1D engine through qualification tests aimed at proving the powerplant can launch multiple times. The recent testing, which included a series of test-firings of a flown rocket at SpaceX’s Central Texas test site, has focused on the suitability of the entire booster for another launch.

 

SES 10 is third in line on SpaceX’s jam-packed manifest, after launches from pad 39A tentatively scheduled for Jan. 26 with the EchoStar 23 satellite to beam direct-to-home television across Brazil, and Feb. 8 with the 10th Dragon cargo mission to the space station.

 

Saturday’s flight from California delivered 10 next-generation satellites to orbit to refresh Iridium’s voice and data relay network. It was the first SpaceX mission since a rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad Sept. 1 during fueling for a hold-down test firing, destroying a nearly $200 million Israeli-owned satellite and damaging ground facilities, prompting the company to switch all near-term East Coast flights to nearby pad 39A.

 

The successful return-to-flight clears the way for SpaceX to launch missions as often as every two weeks, pending the activation of pad 39A at KSC, which has a new rocket assembly hangar, new propellant farms, and a mobile transporter/erector to position vehicles on a newly-fabricated launch mount where space shuttles and Saturn 5 moon rockets once stood.

 

Construction crews have worked around-the-clock in recent weeks to ready the launch pad.

 

Most of SpaceX’s launches are based at Cape Canaveral in order to reach destinations like the space station and geostationary orbit, the favored operating location for most large telecom satellites.

 

Assuming the final launch pad work is completed in the coming days, and SpaceX can launch its next two missions on, or close to, their current target dates, the launch of SES 10 could occur around Feb. 22, at the earliest, an SES official told Spaceflight Now.

emphasis mine...

 

The SES 10 satellite before shipment to Florida. Credit: Airbus Defense and Space

 

Quote

SES 10 will launch on a 15-year mission in geostationary orbit nearly 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) over the equator, where it will broadcast video signals and direct-to-home television programming over Latin America. With around 55 Ku-band transponders, the satellite’s coverage range will extend from the U.S.-Mexico border to Cape Horn in Chile, according to SES.

 

SES 10 is fitted with an electric propulsion system for station-keeping and a conventional liquid-fueled engine to raise its altitude from the elliptical transfer orbit reachable by the Falcon 9 into the craft’s final circular post in geostationary orbit at 67 degrees West longitude.

 

The high-altitude destination needed for SES 10’s launch likely means the Falcon 9 first stage will have to land at sea again. SpaceX’s rockets can only return to the launch base at Cape Canaveral on low Earth orbit missions with lighter payloads.

 

SES 10 will replace the AMC 3 and AMC 4 satellites, and expand SES’s capacity in the Latin America market. It is the operator’s first satellite designed exclusively for Latin America.

 

AMC 3 launched on an Atlas 2AS rocket from Cape Canaveral in September 1997, and AMC 4 flew into space on top of an Ariane 4 rocket from French Guiana in November 1999. Both spacecraft have exceeded their design lives.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2017/01/17/ses-10-telecom-satellite-in-florida-for-launch-on-reused-spacex-rocket/

 

???

NET Jan 30 - B1030 launching Echostar 23
NET Feb 8 - B1031 launching CRS-10
NET Feb 22 - B1021 launching SES 10

???

 

 

 

[DocM]

On the second landing of this stage, GEEKGASM!! 

[DocM]

A SpaceXer on reddit confirms that F9-23, the CRS-8 core which did the first ASDS landing, will be used for SES-10.

 

CRS-8

 

 

[Unobscured Vision]

Okay, great. It will be the CRS-8 core.  Looking forward to it.

[Unobscured Vision]

I wonder what software/avionics upgrades have been performed on this one to bring it up to current SpaceX standards. We know they're constantly improving things -- little touches here and there -- with every flight. CRS-8 was off-center on landing, so I'd think that it'd receive some updates before this flight.

 

Knowing SpaceX, they've been over every inch and every byte of code to make sure it's ready.  

[Draggendrop Veteran]

32 minutes ago, Unobscured Vision said:

I wonder what software/avionics upgrades have been performed on this one to bring it up to current SpaceX standards. We know they're constantly improving things -- little touches here and there -- with every flight. CRS-8 was off-center on landing, so I'd think that it'd receive some updates before this flight.

 

Knowing SpaceX, they've been over every inch and every byte of code to make sure it's ready.  

No worries there...Lars Blackmore has been continually improving his teams "re-entry and landing control system". This has been really noticeable on the missions in succession. He has been publishing papers (great reads) on a regular basis as well (MIT). 

 

[DocM]

Yup. He recently published another article in The Bridge

 

https://t.co/zFX9kWsjsc

[Draggendrop Veteran]

SpaceX Opens Media Accreditation for SES-10 Mission

 

Quote

Press Release From: SpaceX 
Posted: Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Media accreditation is now open for SpaceX’s SES-10 mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch is targeted for no earlier than March. 
  
A flight proven SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will deliver SES-10 to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). 
  
SES-10 will replace AMC-3 and AMC-4 to provide enhanced coverage and significant capacity expansion over Latin America. The satellite will be positioned at 67 degrees West, pursuant to an agreement with the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru), and will be used for the Simón Bolivar 2 satellite network.
  
Members of the media who are U.S. citizens or Permanent Resident Aliens (green card holders) and interested in covering the launch must fill out this media accreditation form by 5:00 p.m. ET, on Wednesday, March 1.   
  
Requesting accreditation is not required of media who hold current annual press credentials issues by Kennedy Space Center, but it is appreciated for planning purposes.
  
For launches from LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center decides which media are credentialed to cover launches, not SpaceX. Please keep in mind, simply making the request in a timely fashion does not guarantee the request will be granted. Please be sure to provide all the information included on the SpaceX form. SpaceX typically obtains confirmation that these requests are approved about 48 hours prior to launch. 
  
More details on the mission and pre-launch media activities will be made available at a later date closer to launch. 

// end //

http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=50472

[DocM]

SES-10

 

GTO commsat
Mass: 5,300 kg

 

Launch date: NET March 27
Launch time: ~0130 EDT, will get more precise later.

 

Stage: F9 #23, reuse #1 of the CRS-8 stage
Stage landing: ASDS (unconfirmed)

 

@pbdes (Space News)
@SpaceX Shotwell: We're investing 100s of millions in launch sites to catch up on schedule. We'll refly 6 boosters this yr.#SATShow

 

 

 

 

 

[PaulRocket]

http://spacenews.com/shotwell-on-spacex-launch-backlog-we-will-definitely-catch-up/

 

“We’ll bring that one back, too,” Shotwell said of the SES-10 booster.

 

[PaulRocket]

At the time the CRS-8 booster first flew, the Merlin engines had a sea-level thrust of 170,000 lbs. The JCSat 14 booster had the thrust level, however during post recovery testing the engines were fired at 190,000 lbs. Could the CRS-8 booster get this uprated thrust level for this very challenging SES-10 mission?

[DocM]

Likely. The recent thrust upgrades have been software updates with few physical changes. Merlin 1D has proven far tougher than they thought it was and well over 300 flown engines gives it a flight history few other engines can match.

Edited March 13, 2017 by DocM

[DocM]

Falcon 9R goes live

 

Core: F9-1021-2 (1021-1 = CRS-8)

Payload: SES-10 commsat
Payload Mass: 5,300 kg 
Orbit: GTO

 

Launch Complex: KSC LC-39A
Launch Date: March 27, 2017

Launch Window: 1658 - 2058 Eastern, Range Approved

Stage Recovery: ASDS Of Course I Still Love You

 

The first re-launch of a recovered orbital class liquid booster.

 

The second use of an Autonomous Flight Termination System, and starting with this flight this will be the standard  Falcon 9R/Falcon Heavy configuration. No more guys on the big red button, 150+ fewer people needed to launch and recover Falcon 9R/FH stages.

[DocM]

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/03/18/ses-10-telecom-satellite-fueled-and-readied-for-launch-on-reused-rocket/

 

Quote

SES 10 telecom satellite fueled and readied for launch on reused rocket

Launch preparations for the SES 10 communications satellite, the first spacecraft to ride a reused Falcon 9 booster to space, are on track for a late March blastoff from Florida, officials said.

The satellite, designed to broadcast video and television services across Latin America, was delivered to Cape Canaveral in January from its factory at Airbus Defense and Space in Toulouse, France.

Since its arrival in Florida, SES 10 has been prepped for liftoff inside a SpaceX clean room a few miles from launch pad 39A, where the mission will blast off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. Filling of the spacecraft with its supply of hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer was completed Thursday, soon after SpaceXs last flight took off from pad 39A.

Officials said the SES 10 satellite was scheduled to be enclosed this weekend inside the two halves of the Falcon 9s nose cone, a composite fairing measuring 43 feet (13.1 meters) tall and 17 feet (5.2 meters) wide. The fairing protects the SES 10 spacecraft during final launch processing and the initial few minutes of flight through the dense lower atmosphere, then is shed once the rocket reaches space.

The rocket is also ready for final preflight tests after its delivery to Florida from SpaceXs test site in McGregor, Texas. The 15-story booster was cleaned, refurbished and test-fired at the Texas test facility after landing on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean following a space station cargo ship launch on April 8, 2016.

SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said March 8 that the booster took around four months to refurbish after its first flight last April. SpaceX hopes to reduce that turnaround time to two months soon, and eventually to less than a day.

The SES 10 flight will be the first of six previously-flown Falcon rocket boosters SpaceX intends to re-fly this year, Shotwell said.

Two of the boosters reportedly might launch later this year on the first demo flight of SpaceXs Falcon Heavy rocket, which uses three Falcon rocket cores firing in unison to propel heavy payloads into orbit.

SES, a Luxembourg-based international telecom satellite operator, announced its agreement with SpaceX in August 2016 to send the SES 10 satellite to orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket with a reused first stage. The second stage and fairing are manufactured new.

While SpaceX and SES did not disclose terms of their contract for the SES 10 launch, Shotwell said last year the launch provider was offering a 10 percent discount for customers willing to fly their payloads on reused boosters.

That discount should become steeper on future flights, according to SpaceX officials. The company lists a regular commercial Falcon 9 flight at $62 million.
>

 

 

The SES-10 booster after its first use, launching Dragon CRS-8 to the ISS.

 

[DocM]

 

 

 

[DocM]

Atlas V Cygnus OA-7 slipped into F9's March 27th date, so this time SES-10 moves right. C'mon Boca Chica!

 

LC-39A inspection: in great shape, built it good!

Static Fire: March 26 

Launch Date: March 29 

Launched Time: 1659 - 1929 EDT

Stage Recovery: ASDS Of Course I Still Love You

 

If this one comes back people are gonna go flippin' nuts.

[DocM]

 SOOTY! 

 

[Unobscured Vision]

 Being soot-free is not a mission requirement. Fact of business, I want that S1 dirty and slightly scuffed-up. We need it dirty to prove a point to OldSpace. The Shuttles were banged up, scuffled, and otherwise well-worn ... and Falcon 9's should carry on that fine tradition.  

[DocM]

Yup, real working vehicles. 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Launch-land-light refurb-launch......

 

Paint is not an option (except for little mission fire breathing dragon pics on the web)....these are battle scars....don't even think of cleaning too much.....

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

[DocM]

Stephen Clark‏ @StephenClark1 36s37 seconds ago

Encapsulation of the SES-10 satellite inside Falcon 9’s payload fairing underway this morning at Cape Canaveral. Launch still NET 3/29.

 

[DocM]

 

 

[PaulRocket]

16 hours ago, DocM said:

 

 

So this might been that he will talk about reusability challenges etc next week? Amazing! He also tweeted that he's flying to the Cape, so I imagine him to be hands on.