Falcon 9 will soon be raised vertical at SLC-40; it’s a beautiful night in Florida with the sunset on the horizon and the Moon high above as we await launch of ispace's HAKUTO-R Mission 1 to the Moon at 3:39 a.m. EST tomorrow
Absolutely stunning sunset behind Falcon 9 just now at SLC-40🌅🚀 (1/2)
Absolutely stunning sunset behind Falcon 9 just now at SLC-40🌅🚀 (2/2)
Remotes are set for the launch of the HAKUTO-R mission to put a privately funded lander on the Moon!Falcon 9 was still horizontal during setup, but there’s still time to go vertical. Watch the launch *and* land landing live starting at 3am ET: youtu.be/6nCQTuf98Dw
Quote from: edkyle99 on 11/29/2022 08:38 pmAny idea of the planned Falcon 9 insertion orbit? Is this something like GTO-ish? - Ed KyleFrom the diagrams I have seen, the orbit has an apogee of abount one million miles.
Any idea of the planned Falcon 9 insertion orbit? Is this something like GTO-ish? - Ed Kyle
SpaceX ship Doug is positioned about 540km downrange to recover the fairing for the HAKUTO-R Mission 1.With a low weight to GTO, the fairing LZ is closer to the launchpad than would often be seen.
Quote from: dsmillman on 11/29/2022 08:48 pmQuote from: edkyle99 on 11/29/2022 08:38 pmAny idea of the planned Falcon 9 insertion orbit? Is this something like GTO-ish? - Ed KyleFrom the diagrams I have seen, the orbit has an apogee of abount one million miles.Here’s the image from the ispace official mission website, an apogee should be around 1.5 million kilometers (so it’s consistent with “about one million miles”).
so what will happen to the second stage? After seperation, will they give the upper stage a kick out of the system?
Quote from: Michael S on 11/30/2022 01:32 amso what will happen to the second stage? After seperation, will they give the upper stage a kick out of the system? It will most likely travel on an the earth escape trajectory the lander is initially deployed, which in this case will likely be a heliocentric orbit. The first Trajectory Correction Manuver (TCM-1) that the lander will execute will kick the lander itself onto the actual transfer orbit they have selected. This is a similar mission plan used with many planetary launches as it insures that the upper stage will not strike the mission target after passivation of the stage.
300409Z NOV 22NAVAREA IV 1262/22(11,26).WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC.FLORIDA.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING 010832Z TO 010929Z DEC, ALTERNATE 020832Z TO 020929Z, 030836Z TO 030933Z, 040846Z TO 040943Z, 050834Z TO 050931Z, 060810Z TO 060907Z AND 070759Z TO 070856Z DEC IN AREAS BOUND BY: A. 28-39.4N 080-37.9W, 28-40.0N 080-04.0W, 28-35.0N 080-02.0W, 28-27.0N 080-20.0W, 28-27.1N 080-31.6W. B. 28-47.0N 076-55.0W, 29-06.0N 074-57.0W, 28-58.0N 074-34.0W, 28-39.0N 074-33.0W, 28-31.0N 074-54.0W, 28-40.0N 076-54.0W.2. CANCEL NAVAREA IV 1249/22.3. CANCEL THIS MSG 070956Z DEC 22.//
Is the first stage able to make a land landing even though it’s going to such a high orbit because of the low mass of the payload?
I am very intrigued by the notion of low-energy/alternative orbits vis-a-vis the much simpler Hohmann transfer orbit and the like. Can anyone point me to a good treatise (webpage, book or other) that elucidates the math for these?