SpaceNews reports that it is in fact riding uphill on Falcon 9, NOT Falcon Heavy. At 5.3 mt, its either not going to anywhere close to a traditional 1500 m/s GTO, or SpaceX is sandbagging their advertised capacity of 4.85 mt to GTO.http://www.spacenews.com/article/satellite-telecom/39558updated-ses-books-falcon-9-for-2016-launch?utm_content=buffer96acd&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Quote from: sublimemarsupial on 02/20/2014 08:26 pmSpaceNews reports that it is in fact riding uphill on Falcon 9, NOT Falcon Heavy. At 5.3 mt, its either not going to anywhere close to a traditional 1500 m/s GTO, or SpaceX is sandbagging their advertised capacity of 4.85 mt to GTO.http://www.spacenews.com/article/satellite-telecom/39558updated-ses-books-falcon-9-for-2016-launch?utm_content=buffer96acd&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=bufferNo the article says they will use thrusters to raise orbit. So robotbeat is right.
Quote from: Danderman on 02/20/2014 06:03 pmQuote from: kevin-rf on 02/20/2014 05:30 pmI think TrueBlueWitt ment if they use a Heavy instead.Quote from: kevin-rf on 02/20/2014 05:30 pmI think TrueBlueWitt ment if they use a Heavy instead.Actually, a GTO mission would be a worst case test of recovery of a second stage, since the thermal conditions would be extreme.Wouldn't they have enough margin, given it's such a light load on a F9H, to propulsively brake to nearer LEO re-entry velocity prior to re-entry if they chose?
Quote from: kevin-rf on 02/20/2014 05:30 pmI think TrueBlueWitt ment if they use a Heavy instead.Quote from: kevin-rf on 02/20/2014 05:30 pmI think TrueBlueWitt ment if they use a Heavy instead.Actually, a GTO mission would be a worst case test of recovery of a second stage, since the thermal conditions would be extreme.
I think TrueBlueWitt ment if they use a Heavy instead.
HiI am not a specialist in trajectory but what happen in mass capacity if Falcon 9 V1.1 is launched from Boca Chica Beach Tx. ? Flight is in 2016, if Spacex take a decision quickly, the pad will be ready ?
Quote from: newpylong on 02/20/2014 02:49 pmF9 not capable of 5 tons to GTO, so it has to be a FH.The article says that the launch mass of the satellite will be 5 tons, which is 10% of the capability of FH. I suspect the bottom line is that Space News is wrong.However, we should not discard a third possibility, that Elon is promising some enhanced variant of Falcon 9 to customers in a couple of years.
F9 not capable of 5 tons to GTO, so it has to be a FH.
Does that include any margin for stage recovery, I wonder?
Quote from: Kaputnik on 02/21/2014 07:48 amDoes that include any margin for stage recovery, I wonder?Probably not in my opinion.
(Both the SES-8 and Thaicom-6 missions did apparently reserve some propellant for restart tests)
While it could make GSO if a performance shortfall occurs, overcoming a performance shortfall will consume Xenon and reduce the operational lifetime of the satellite. SEP is not free.