F9: Spaceflight SSO-A

[Draggendrop Veteran]

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F9/CRS-16: This will be SpaceX's 19th launch so far this year, its 64th Falcon 9 flight (65th including the Falcon Heavy) and the 8th of an upgraded 'block 5' 1st stage; this booster is making its 3rd flight, a new record

https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews/status/1069656771936038913

 

 

 

Webcast has started

 

Webcast

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

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ASDS and Mr. Steven ready for the catches.

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1069657920235823104

nice images at the link

 

 

Fairing recovery will be attempted

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Mr. Steven is stationed in the Pacific, as SpaceX will attempt to catch and recover the fairing this mission.

Mr Steven gif

 

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1069657950464073728

 

 

T-8:00 min

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Liftoff

 

cleared the tower

 

 

Max Q

[Draggendrop Veteran]

MECO

 

Stage separation

 

2nd stage engine light

 

Boostback burn has begun

Outstanding video....wow

[Draggendrop Veteran]

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Main engine cutoff and stage separation confirmed. Second stage engine burn underway.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1069661873283391496

 

 

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Fairing has deployed.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1069662012328763392

 

 

Outstanding images and video that will not post properly at the moment....will update later...

 

entry burn complete

[Draggendrop Veteran]

nailed it...falcon has landed

JRTI is just off the coast...due to NRO payload next to SLC4

[Draggendrop Veteran]

items remaining...

 

 

Deployment will not be available due to coverage... will update this aspect later

 

Stage 2 at proper orbit

 

Webcast over

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As expected, ground station coverage has ended; will provide a mission update once coverage is restored in ~30 minutes.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1069663906207952896

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

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If successful, the secondary goal of a fairing catch by Mr. Steven will only be revealed by Elon or SpaceX. Poking me in the ribs shouting "FAIRING???" won't help you.

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1069664193694101505

 

 

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Falcon 9 first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship—completing this rocket booster’s third launch and landing this year.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1069663373485174784

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OK, folks. Fairings take a lot longer to descend under parachutes. As is always the case, this will take upwards of 30mins or more before we have word on fairing recovery attempt. #SpaceX #Falcon9 #SSOA

https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/1069664915013677056

 

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The 64 satellites on @SpaceX F9 will be deployed over 30-minute period starting in a few mins. No single launch has had more importance for more commercial startups than this one. SpaceX webcast has ended, we'll need company-by-company confirmations of satellite health.

https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/1069665019208626176

[Draggendrop Veteran]

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This is SpaceX's 64th launch. That was SpaceX's 32nd landing. (Third one for Sooty!) So they've now safely landed half of the rockets they've ever launched.

https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1069663195311280128

 

 

64 payloads on the 64th launch

[Draggendrop Veteran]

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Now the waiting game. We expect to deploy all sats between 12:05pm-2:30pm PST. Stay tuned for updates to come! #SmallSatExpress

https://twitter.com/planetlabs/status/1069666752328491011

 

without jinxing this, Planet has a 100% success rate at acquisition of satellites once deployed...

 

 

SpaceX's mission portion will release a few from a fixed payload dispenser from the "lower flyer...the rest is up to Spaceflight Inc.

T + 43:11 should be all for SpaceX....it will take upwards of 6 hours for Spaceflight Inc to complete all deployments from the "free" flyer portion.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

SpaceX's portion is now over.

 

Will have to wait for updates from SpaceX when comm's available.

 

Spaceflight will be handling the rest over the next several hours.

 

It will take days befor all satellite conditions and tracking are known

 

Once a payload is deployed, it is up to the owner to communicate and track.

 

Some organisations have more money/experience tied up in their payloads and communication structures. A satellite can be lost due to improper comm/tracking.

 

If SpaceX completed their obligation at T + 43, then they are done.

 

If Spaceflight has delivered the customers payloads to the proper orbital position with care...they are done.

 

The rest is up to the customers...

 

I will catch up later after this unfolds...

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Interesting....

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

1 hour ago, Jim K said:

Interesting....

 

 

No big deal though...it means they were real close and a gentle drop in the water.

 

This is a crew ship and will have a desalinator...fresh water hull wash of the fairings, then cover for transit.

 

This is a big deal....because, if memory serves, it's approx $3300.00 per day lease through Guice Offshore to SeaTran. This means that once they are cleaned and re-used once...it has effectively paid the lease value for Mr Steven...for almost 4 years.

 

--------------See if Anything shows---------------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Will be at least a half hour for Planet's birds..longer still for a few others...going well so far...

 

 

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beauty shots...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

There was a controversy on twitter that this stage is the first time for 3 reuses...then the usual "bloggers" point out shuttle....incorrectly. Even NASA ex employees were saying this. They need to let shuttle go, don't invent comparisons..where non exist.

 

They need to get this through their heads...shuttle was a payload..with engines for abort and ED not L. The shuttle was also rebuilt more so than refurbished. The tank and solids...same story for approx 1.5 billion per launch....rebuild costs mainly.

 

This was the first time for 3 orbital entry and landing for the same rocket booster.

 

 

end of story...apples to apples....shuttle is not a self powered orbital booster.

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Still have another 20 minutes for deployment...then it takes time to get comms confirmed.

 

 

 

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Sarah Parker, Managing Director of SSTL said “I am pleased to confirm that following separation from the launch vehicle a joint commissioning team here in Guildford have successfully made contact with KazSTSAT and established that all initial systems checks are nominal. I would like to congratulate our customer Ghalam on their new Earth Observation satellite and look forward to seeing the first mission results from the spacecraft soon.”

https://www.sstl.co.uk/media-hub/latest-news/2018/sstl-confirms-successful-launch-of-kazstsat

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

 

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[Jim K Global Moderator]

Think it is time for SpaceX to start naming these boosters...instead of B1046, B1047, (etc)....

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

It will be a long and slow verification....but, going as well as can be expected

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

If the satellites have been deployed in a safe manor...job is complete.

 

It remains for the satellite owners/operators to gain contact and for all objects to be cataloged for debris avoidance.

 

This will take a bit of time..reporting is the least of the operator worries...they want to ensure health first and positional variables.

 

I'll update as we go....

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

 

 

 

Press Release from Spaceflight Inc.

 

SPACEFLIGHT SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES 64 SATELLITES ON FIRST DEDICATED RIDESHARE MISSION

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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Dec. 3, 2018

 – Spaceflight, the leading rideshare and mission management provider, today announced the success of its SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission, the largest single rideshare mission from a U.S.-based launch vehicle to date. The company successfully launched 64 spacecraft to sun-synchronous low Earth orbit via a SpaceX Falcon 9 that launched today from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

 

“This was an incredibly complex mission, and I’m extremely proud of what our talented team at Spaceflight has achieved,” said Curt Blake, president of Spaceflight. “SSO-A is a major milestone for Spaceflight and the industry. We’ve always been committed to making space more accessible through rideshare. This mission enabled 34 organizations from 17 different countries to place spacecraft on orbit. It’s also special because it was completely dedicated to smallsats.”

 

Spaceflight launched 15 MicroSats and 49 CubeSats from government and commercial entities including universities, startups, and even a middle school. The payloads vary from technology demonstrations and imaging satellites to educational research endeavors.

 

One research payload includes the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s cubesat, SeaHawk-1 carrying the HawkEye Ocean Color Imager. UNCW has been funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and NASA serves in an advisory capacity to ensure the maximum scientific utility of the science data. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and UNCW have created a partnership to expand accessibility to the data.

 

“We are thrilled to have SeaHawk-1 on orbit and to be part of such a historic launch superbly executed by Spaceflight,” said Professor John Morrison, SeaHawk’s co-project manager and lead principal investigator. “SeaHawk will make ocean observations at significantly higher spatial resolution and at much lower costs than standard satellite systems. Since the data collected will be publicly available, our hope is that it will benefit not only researchers, but policymakers and others to make informed decisions when addressing issues related to the environment.”

 

To accommodate the large number of payloads, Spaceflight built an integrated payload stack that was nearly 20 feet tall. Once the launch vehicle reached orbit, the upper and lower free flyers separated from the vehicle. The free flyers then successfully deployed all spacecraft, dispensing one payload every five minutes over five hours.

 

“This launch was an impressive undertaking and an important milestone for the smallsat industry as well as for many of the organizations involved,” said Payam Banazadeh, founder and CEO of Capella Space Corporation. “Capella’s first satellite is now on orbit and we are one step closer to our goal of providing timely, reliable, and frequent information using Synthetic Aperture Radar technology.”

 

With the success of SSO-A, Spaceflight has now launched more than 210 satellites since its founding in 2011. In addition, the company is contracted to launch nearly 100 satellites in 2019. Among the upcoming launches is Spaceflight’s next dedicated rideshare mission, which will occur in 2019 on a Rocket Lab Electron.

http://spaceflight.com/spaceflight-successfully-launches-64-satellites-on-first-dedicated-rideshare-mission/

 

 

Falcon 9 Launch with SSO-A and barge landing - 2018-12-03

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Justin Foley

Published on Dec 3, 2018

SUBSCRIBE 205

Launch of SSO-A mission on board a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This video is a combination of footage shot with a Sony A7sII through a 1500mm Celestron 6" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a piggybacked Sony A6000 with 210mm telephoto lens.

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

comic relief...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's these accounts that make it really fun...

 

screen grab at T plus 1 second...

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

😎