SpaceX FH : Viasat-3 F1 (R): KSC LC-39A : 30 Apr/1 May 2023 (00:26 UTC)

[StraumliBlight]

Viasat are requesting a launch extension.

ViaSat-3 is currently subject to a launch and operation milestone of December 31, 2021.2  Viasat requests that the Commission extend or waive the milestone until October 31, 2022 to allow Viasat to place ViaSat-3 into service while accounting for delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

[gongora]

Viasat are requesting a launch extension.

ViaSat-3 is currently subject to a launch and operation milestone of December 31, 2021.2  Viasat requests that the Commission extend or waive the milestone until October 31, 2022 to allow Viasat to place ViaSat-3 into service while accounting for delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their continued omission of launch plans in stuff like this is getting a little bizarre.  It's become pretty obvious which launcher they're using first.

[gongora]

So now B1068 is a center core for Viasat-3?

https://twitter.com/bluemoondance74/status/1428001532952432640

Raptor engine static fire, testing for future Starship launches, alongside Falcon Heavy center core, B1068, installed on its test stand in preparation for next year’s Viasat-3 launch

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1441009459984154628

Astranis' first commercial satellite gets a rideshare upgrade:

The satellite is moving from SpaceX's Falcon 9 to Falcon Heavy, launching as a secondary payload on the ViaSat-3 mission in spring 2022 – enabling Astranis to bring its broadband service to Alaska "months faster."

Edit to add:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210923005247/en/

Astranis Moves Launch of First Commercial Satellite to Falcon Heavy
Satellite will launch directly to geostationary orbit, meaning broadband internet service will come online months faster for underserved areas of Alaska
 
September 23, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Astranis announced today that its first commercial communications satellite, set to provide service for Alaska from geostationary orbit, will now launch as a secondary payload on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on a direct-inject mission set for Spring 2022. The mission profile will allow the spacecraft to arrive at its orbital slot within days of launch and removes the need for a multiple-month orbit raise from a highly-elliptical geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

Astranis CEO John Gedmark said, “Launching on Falcon Heavy will get us on-orbit months faster, allowing us to serve customers in Alaska that much sooner. This is a huge win for our customers in Alaska.”

The change of launch vehicle from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 follows the successful launch of a subscale demonstration satellite to orbit, the successful completion of thermal-vacuum testing of a qualification vehicle, and the successful completion of their Critical Design Review. Astranis recently announced that the satellite is in its final stage of assembly after a successful end-to-end payload demonstration that showed results above spec.

Astranis’s small communications satellite is bound for geostationary orbit to serve Alaska, a state that has long faced one of the sharpest digital divides in the United States. According to Broadband Now, 39% of Alaskans are underserved when it comes to internet access — the highest rate of any state. The Astranis satellite will roughly triple the currently available satellite capacity in Alaska while also bringing costs down to one third of current pricing for both residential and wholesale customers.

Pacific Dataport CEO Chuck Schumann stated, “Working with the entire Astranis team has been a wonderful experience and we’re excited to see our satellite readied for launch. There are more than 100,000 rural Alaskans who are ready for an affordable broadband connection and Astranis is helping us bring them modern connectivity. This is a really big deal for Alaska.

[cpushack]

I wonder if Astranis is concerned that if they don't get their sat up and working sooner rather then later, Starlink will eat into their proposed market.

[gongora]

This launch was set quite a while ago (first hint I saw was from last October).  The timing has nothing to do with Starlink.  It's a great rideshare opportunity for Astranis.

[Josh_from_Canada]

It's known that this mission will use a new booster for the center core, B1068. Will this mission use new side boosters or is the plan to reuse the side boosters from the USSF-44 mission?

[gongora]

We don't know yet what side boosters this flight will use.  There's also another USSF Falcon Heavy mission in the first half of 2022.  I would guess the USSF-44 boosters get reused on one of the next couple FH flights (depending maybe on USSF approval of reused FH boosters on a contract that was originally for all new boosters, like they did for F9).  I don't know if the old pair of FH boosters could still be used for Viasat?  Wouldn't be surprised if it's a set of new side boosters.

[scr00chy]

I don't know if the old pair of FH boosters could still be used for Viasat?

B1052 and B1053 are apparently being converted to F9s.

[Conexion Espacial]

I don't know if the old pair of FH boosters could still be used for Viasat?

B1052 and B1053 are apparently being converted to F9s.

As scr00chy mentions, B1052 and B1053 will be converted to Falcon 9, for ViaSat-3 I would expect B1068 to be the central core and the side cores could be B1064 and B1065 as I don't think ViaSat and Astranis will have a problem using side reused boosters, plus ViaSat would be launched before USSF-52.

[gongora]

If USSF has signed off on reused side boosters then I'd expect 1064 and 1065 to be used for USSF-52.  If they don't, then I'd expect those to be used on Viasat-3.

[Conexion Espacial]

If USSF has signed off on reused side boosters then I'd expect 1064 and 1065 to be used for USSF-52.  If they don't, then I'd expect those to be used on Viasat-3.

I think the same thing, however I don't know if it will be as easy with the Falcon Heavy as they did with the Falcon 9.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Somehow, that article forgot to mention the name of the Astranis payload as Aurora 4A.

https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/aurora-4a.htm

[soltasto]

I want to briefly discuss about the ViaSat-3 mass.
On many sites the mass is listed as 6400kg (Like on Next Spaceflight or on Wikipedia). I assume that info is sourced from https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/viasat-3.htm (On wikipedia it is for sure).
However I don't think that's really accurate. Gunter is usually very accurate, but I could backtrack that figure to this ArianeSpace article when they were originally awarded the ViaSat-2 and ViaSat-3 launches in early 2016. Back then they were supposed to be very similar, about 6400kg each and both launched to GTO.
Now however for at least the Falcon Heavy launch and the Atlas V launch these ViaSat-3 satellites are going to be launched to a near GEO orbit, thus not requiring the full orbit raising propulsion. Also according to this Boeing document (Also attached) "the ViaSat-3 platform will carry all-electric propulsion" while ViaSat-2 had both Chemical and Electric propulsion. As ViaSat-3 lacks chemical propulsion, it would quite likely weight less then its predecessor.
It has also to be noted that neither Falcon Heavy fully reusable nor the Atlas V 551 would be able to lift that much payload anywhere near GEO (Atlas V 551 can carry 3,850 kg to GEO), so IMO it is quite likely that ViaSat-3 is in the sub 4500kg range.
 

[Skyrocket]

I want to briefly discuss about the ViaSat-3 mass.
On many sites the mass is listed as 6400kg (Like on Next Spaceflight or on Wikipedia). I assume that info is sourced from https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/viasat-3.htm (On wikipedia it is for sure).
However I don't think that's really accurate. Gunter is usually very accurate, but I could backtrack that figure to this ArianeSpace article when they were originally awarded the ViaSat-2 and ViaSat-3 launches in early 2016. Back then they were supposed to be very similar, about 6400kg each and both launched to GTO.

Good point - the mass is indeed still from the time when a BSS-702HP bus was planned and not the BSS-702MP+. Mea culpa. The launch mass will be probably lower - likely in the 4000-4500 kg range.

On the other hand, ViaSat still lists a 6400 kg launch mass on their website:
https://www.viasat.com/space-innovation/satellite-fleet/viasat-3/

[GWR64]

I want to briefly discuss about the ViaSat-3 mass.
On many sites the mass is listed as 6400kg (Like on Next Spaceflight or on Wikipedia). I assume that info is sourced from https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/viasat-3.htm (On wikipedia it is for sure).
However I don't think that's really accurate. Gunter is usually very accurate, but I could backtrack that figure to this ArianeSpace article when they were originally awarded the ViaSat-2 and ViaSat-3 launches in early 2016. Back then they were supposed to be very similar, about 6400kg each and both launched to GTO.

Good point - the mass is indeed still from the time when a BSS-702HP bus was planned and not the BSS-702MP+. Mea culpa. The launch mass will be certainly lower - likely in the 4000-4500 kg range.

The dry mass is given as 5000 kg there: https://fcc.report/IBFS/SAT-MOD-20190617-00047/1737836
2019, I do not know if this is the latest version.

Given the efficiency of XIPS, 1400 kg seems to me to be a relatively large amount of xenon.
Even for a GTO launch, with Ariane 5 ECA for example.

[gongora]

Somehow, that article forgot to mention the name of the Astranis payload as Aurora 4A.

https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/aurora-4a.htm

They aren't using that name for it anymore.

[scr00chy]

Is it Arcturus then? Or unnamed for now?

[GWR64]

I want to briefly discuss about the ViaSat-3 mass.
On many sites the mass is listed as 6400kg (Like on Next Spaceflight or on Wikipedia). I assume that info is sourced from https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/viasat-3.htm (On wikipedia it is for sure).
However I don't think that's really accurate. Gunter is usually very accurate, but I could backtrack that figure to this ArianeSpace article when they were originally awarded the ViaSat-2 and ViaSat-3 launches in early 2016. Back then they were supposed to be very similar, about 6400kg each and both launched to GTO.

Good point - the mass is indeed still from the time when a BSS-702HP bus was planned and not the BSS-702MP+. Mea culpa. The launch mass will be certainly lower - likely in the 4000-4500 kg range.

The dry mass is given as 5000 kg there: https://fcc.report/IBFS/SAT-MOD-20190617-00047/1737836
2019, I do not know if this is the latest version.

Given the efficiency of XIPS, 1400 kg seems to me to be a relatively large amount of xenon.
Even for a GTO launch, with Ariane 5 ECA for example.

I just see Boeing probably doesn't use its own system XIPS, but PPS-5000 from the French manufacturer Safran.
https://www.safran-group.com/pressroom/safran-delivers-first-ppsr5000-boeing-2019-05-09

The specific impulse half that high as with XIPS. But the PPS-5000 has a higher thrust.

I think SES-17 has a similar thruster configuration to Viasat-3. The dry mass is also similar: 5060 kg.
So the GTO launch mass of both satellites will also be similar. 6000+ kg
With a direct launch in the GEO, one could omit a part of xenon. But it doesn't have to be.

[gongora]

Is it Arcturus then? Or unnamed for now?

Arcturus