The company has two more payloads on larger satellites on the way...The eV-8 AIS payload is hosted aboard the Spanish government’s Paz radar Earth observation satellite...Spanish authorities recently announced that they had switched to a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and secured a late-2017 launch slot.The major event for exactEarth, however, is its partnership with Harris Corp. of the United States, under which 60 AIS payloads will be launched aboard Iridium Communications’ Iridium Next second-generation constellation.Four of the 10 first Iridium Next satellites launched in January by SpaceX carry AIS payloads for exactEarth. The company said April 6 that it expected them to enter service by the end of May.A second Iridium 10-satellite launch by SpaceX is scheduled for June. Nine of these satellites carry AIS gear.
Christian Daniels @CJDaniels77@IridiumBoss Are you still on course for the Iridium- 2 flight?
Matt Desch @IridiumBoss 9m9 minutes agoReplying to @CJDaniels77Yes, still on for June.
Peter B. de Selding @pbdes 5m5 minutes ago@IridiumComm: Our 2d group of 10 2d-gen sats to launch June 29 w/ @SpaceX. @Intelsat: We expect late-June launch of IS-35e w/ @SpaceX.
Matt Desch @IridiumBoss 1m1 minute agoAnnounced Iridium NEXT launch #2 date this morning: Thurs, June 29, 1:04pm pdt. Will start sending sats to VAFB soon. T minus 9 weeks!
Quote Peter B. de Selding @pbdes 5m5 minutes ago@IridiumComm: Our 2d group of 10 2d-gen sats to launch June 29 w/ @SpaceX. @Intelsat: We expect late-June launch of IS-35e w/ @SpaceX.https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/857564394749919237
Iridium CorporateVerified account @IridiumComm 22m22 minutes agoThrilled to share successful integration of 1st 8 #IridiumNEXT SV's (2 drifting) & 2nd @SpaceX launch date for 6/29! http://bit.ly/2oTI9QM
Peter B. de Selding @pbdes 5m5 minutes agoClarification on @IridiumComm: 8 of 10 2d-gen sats are in operation; 2 others have been tested & are drifting to final orbits as planned.
First off, I'm happy to report that our initial batch of Iridium NEXT satellites are now fully operational and working very well. We went through an extensive checkout process before putting these into the constellation. Each satellite was tested thoroughly, both individually and in conjunction with all our other satellites. Primary and hosted payload functions have also been tested extensively to ensure these and future satellites will work as designed once launched.We completed the commissioning of these Iridium NEXT satellites about a week ahead of schedule, which is a real testament to the planning and preparation of our satellite operations team. What's important is that our experience with in-orbit testing, slot swaps and the new satellite performance gives us confidence that we'll be able to manage the roughly 60-day launch cycle that SpaceX is targeting following the second launch. In all, I am very pleased with the execution of Thales Alenia and our operations team, and I congratulate them both on all the good progress so far.Of the 10 satellites we launched in January, 8 were placed into service in plane 6, while 2 satellites have begun a 10-month journey to an adjacent plane as part of a highly choreographed process that will eventually get all the satellites into their proper positions at the earliest possible time. We continue to expect that the Iridium NEXT constellation will be fully operational in mid-2018. This outlook is predicated upon our second launch in June, and SpaceX's execution of Iridium NEXT launches about every 60 days thereafter. Based upon the launch success and turnaround SpaceX has demonstrated this year, they should be able to keep to this cadence.Each of the 8 Iridium NEXT satellites we put in service so far are not just working well, they're providing our customers better service. The satellites' faster processors, larger memory and modern engineering design are delivering better voice quality as well as faster data throughput for our maritime, aviation and IoT customers. While our current network is performing amazingly well for its age, the statistics for our newest satellites are even better. I can't wait for the coming launches and the impact that additional NEXT satellites will have on the overall work performance, and that's even before we introduce new services.The offshoot of our successful launch campaign is that we must also plan for and execute the deorbit of legacy satellites being removed from the constellation. I thought you might find it interesting the methodology we're taking for decommissioning our Block I satellites, now that we've started that process to give you insight into the effort and care we're taking to execute on this part of the mission.As I've described before, the process of replacing a legacy satellite with an Iridium NEXT satellite is called a slot swap, and it follows a precise sequence of steps to ensure service continuity. As a new Iridium NEXT is cross-linked into the constellation and L-band services are engaged, the new and the old satellites remain co-located for a short period. Based on the health and operational capabilities of the legacy satellite, we'll either start an immediate deorbit or move it into a temporary storage orbit, approximately 20 kilometers below the operational constellation. Those legacy satellites lowered to the storage orbit will be maintained as a contingency measure until all 75 Iridium NEXT satellites are placed into service. As a practice, we're keeping the best of the legacy satellites in orbit as either operational satellites or as temporary spares, and then we'll deorbit the rest pretty quickly.For example, of the 11 satellites in plane 6, 8 are the new Iridium NEXT satellites from the first launch, and 3 satellites are the best-performing legacy satellites that were operating in this plane. Of the 7 remaining legacy satellites we remove from service, we plan to put the 2 best in the temporary storage orbit as backups. For the rest of the old satellites, our operation team follows a methodical decommissioning process to deorbit and safely retire them from lower orbit. Each of the satellites we deorbit will follow NASA recommendations with a scripted series of thruster burns to utilize all their fuel to put them in the lowest orbit possible, where they will then automatically deplete or passivate their batteries, open their electrical relays and propellant lines and position their solar arrays for maximum drag, so that the satellites will burn up in the atmosphere. We're expecting most satellites will burn up within a year or less after completing this process.A few weeks ago, the first of our Block I satellites, SV40, was decommissioned this way, and we are planning for the second and third to occur in the next few weeks. We will continue this process for all legacy satellites that we aren't using as temporary spares, and we'll eventually deorbit all the Block I spares after Iridium NEXT is completed next year.So moving back to building and launching the new satellites. To date, Thales Alenia has manufactured over 40 Iridium NEXT satellites, and production continues on track to complete all satellites around year end. Thales and their partner, Orbital ATK, are doing a good job on production, and we should have plenty of satellites ready for each launch. As far as the second launch goes, SpaceX has informed us that they have scheduled our launch for Thursday, June 29, just a few minutes after 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time. That launch will be into plane 3. Vandenberg has also confirmed the 29th, so satellites will start shipping to the base in about 2 to 3 weeks to begin processing as the dispenser and the payload adapters are ready and on-site.With SpaceX's increasing cadence on production and launch, they've also provided us launch dates for 3 more launches in 2017, in August, October and December. So we're hoping they stay on track as we're ready to deploy satellites as soon as they can launch them....
Will we ever see a east cost land landing
We already have. Quote from: ryanpritchard01 on 05/08/2017 10:18 pmWill we ever see a east cost land landing
Quote from: kevinof on 05/08/2017 10:41 pmWe already have. Quote from: ryanpritchard01 on 05/08/2017 10:18 pmWill we ever see a east cost land landing [citation needed]
I think the confusion is east/west. Presumably the question was meant for WEST coast. (we have seen 4 land landings on the east coast) And yes, they eventually we will see a land landing at Vandenberg, they are in the process of completing a landing pad. If you look at the latest Google Maps satellite images here, you can see it in progress.
Apparently the issues with ASDS @ VAFB are:Potentially becomes a bottleneck - VAFB launches are rareDelay to get the stage back from a ballistic trajectory far from coast - VAFB launches are mostly south heading, which allows ASDS to be positioned fairly close to the port closest to Hawthorne (to my knowledge, refurb for VAFB launches are done at SpaceX main factory)If 100% of VAFB launches no longer need ASDS, it perhaps can be permanently allocated to the East Coast, which creates the incentive of building a 3rd ASDS and being able to recover all 3 FH boosters on a ballistic arc, resulting in the best possible FH performance expending just the upper stage.When we add all items up, it seems VAFB land landings really only become important IF ASDS can be permanently freed to stay in FL, either for higher cadence of ASDS F9 recoveries or with a trio to permit max performance FH launches without expending the center booster.There is zero evidence that ASDS landings lead to higher refurb costs or reduces chances of recovery (yet).But I think its likely moving forward the scenario that with a west coast LZ, ASDS is not needed anymore and can be moved to the cape (permanent or at least semi permanently) is intriguing to say the least.
Matt Desch @IridiumBossReplying to @stratohornetWe're a very heavy payload, even for LEO, so they are planning another barge landing.
Matt Desch @IridiumBossReplying to @SpaceY_UK @stratohornet @elonmuskAnd, while it may officially be an ASDS, I was referring to alternate name: Big-Ass Remote Grin Enhancer (BARGE)...
But I think its likely moving forward the scenario that with a west coast LZ, ASDS is not needed anymore
and can be moved to the cape (permanent or at least semi permanently) is intriguing to say the least.