NET July 20 - Launch "1 of 2" - Rocket 3.0 (Astra) - Kodiak LPD
Astrobotic wins NASA contract to deliver VIPER lunar roverby Jeff Foust — June 11, 2020Updated June 12 with the number of companies that bid on the VIPER task order.WASHINGTON — NASA has selected Astrobotic to deliver a rover to the surface of the moon in late 2023 to prospect for water ice that could support future human missions.VIPER atop Griffin landerAstrobotic will deliver the VIPER rover, seen in this illustration atop the company's Griffin lunar lander, to the south polar region of the moon in late 2023 under a CLPS task order valued at $199.5 million. Credit: Astrobotic
The Sierra Nevada Corporation recently received a Pentagon contract to craft an experimental space outpost capable of supporting various research and development, training, and operational missions, including potentially with humans aboard. This comes as the U.S. military as a whole, including the nascent U.S. Space Force, is increasingly focused on operations in various orbits around the Earth, and competition there, as well as in cislunar space between our planet and the Moon.On July 14, 2020, the Nevada-headquartered aerospace company announced the deal with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), but did not state the approximate value of the award. DIU is charged with "accelerating the adoption of leading commercial technology throughout the military" and has offices in California's Silicon Valley, as well as Boston, Massachusetts and Austin, Texas, in addition to its headquarters in the Pentagon.The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) will now modify its Shooting Star space transport vehicle design as an Unmanned Orbital Outpost. The company has been developing Shooting Star since at least 2016 for NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program, which is seeking new means of delivering cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).The existing 15-foot-long cargo vehicle is intended to be able to carry up 10,000 pounds of cargo, both inside in a pressurized compartment and in unpressurized packages attached to three external mounting points. The design has two solar panel arrays capable of generating six kilowatts of onboard power and is capable of maneuvering independently in space using six thrusters. SNC is hoping to conduct its first demonstration mission to the ISS using Shooting Star next year.
The next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral will launch the ANASIS-II military communication satellite for South Korea from pad 40 on July 20 at 5:00pm EDT. The launch window stretches to 8:55pm EDT.
QuoteThe Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska (PSCA) is planning to conduct a rocket launch from launch pad LP-3B at Narrow Cape, Kodiak, Alaska from 301930-302300 UTC which is 1130-1500 Alaska Daylight Savings Time on July 30th, 2020. If the launch does not occur on July 30th then it will be rescheduled for the following day during the same time window. Rescheduling could continue each day through August 7th, 2020. The following hazardous areas are recommended to be avoided during the daily launch windows. Additional information including the locations of the hazardous areas is available in an enclosure to this LNM.https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm17282020.pdf
The Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska (PSCA) is planning to conduct a rocket launch from launch pad LP-3B at Narrow Cape, Kodiak, Alaska from 301930-302300 UTC which is 1130-1500 Alaska Daylight Savings Time on July 30th, 2020. If the launch does not occur on July 30th then it will be rescheduled for the following day during the same time window. Rescheduling could continue each day through August 7th, 2020. The following hazardous areas are recommended to be avoided during the daily launch windows. Additional information including the locations of the hazardous areas is available in an enclosure to this LNM.
SEATTLE – July 15, 2020 — Spaceflight Inc., the leading satellite rideshare and mission management provider, announced today that it will be flying its next generation orbital transfer vehicle, Sherpa-FX, on a fully dedicated rideshare mission with SpaceX. The mission, called SXRS-3 by Spaceflight, is scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 no earlier than December 2020. Spaceflight has contracted 16 spacecraft for this mission from organizations including iQPS, Loft Orbital, HawkEye 360, NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, Astrocast, and the University of South Florida Institute of Applied Engineering.In addition to the customer spacecraft, Sherpa-FX will transport multiple hosted payloads including one for Celestis Inc., as well as several that will demonstrate technologies designed to identify and track spacecraft once deployed. By demonstrating these tracking systems on orbit, Spaceflight customers will have access to flight-proven technologies that can mitigate space congestion and provide the foundation of effective and responsible space traffic management. Technologies onboard Sherpa-FX include payloads by NearSpace Launch, Keplerian Technologies and their hardware partner Tiger Innovations, and Space Domain Awareness Inc. These innovative payloads will provide spacecraft developers an independent capability to identify and track their spacecraft without drawing on the host spacecraft resources.
FALCON 9The next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral is TBA: A Falcon 9 will launch the tenth batch of Starlink internet satellites on TBA, in the early morning EDT. And a Falcon 9 will launch the SAOCOM 1B Earth observation satellite for Argentina, the first polar-orbit mission from the Cape since 1960 on TBA, around 7:19pm EDT. The first stage will land back at the Cape about eight minutes after launch. A Falcon 9 will launch the eleventh batch of Starlink internet satellites on August TBA. Other upcoming launches include the next few batches of Starlink internet satellites in August TBA. And a Falcon 9 will launch the second Crew Dragon mission, sending four astronauts to the International Space Station on September TBA, currently in the afternoon EDT.
And a Falcon 9 will launch the second Crew Dragon mission, sending four astronauts to the International Space Station on late September TBA, in the afternoon EDT. The launch time gets 22-26 minutes earlier each day.
Dan Hart says that on the May launch demo, a high-pressure feed line broke, keeping LOX from getting into the engine. Identified what fixes are needed in the engine, and targeting a next launch before the end of the year
TBD - HyspIRI (Hyperspectral Infrared Imager) [Earth Systematic Mission] - NLSP-I - Vandenberg/Kodiak
Discussion of the manifest, and updates. The best guess at the current manifest is in this post.
Spaceflight to Launch Its First Rideshare Payloads on a SpaceX Starlink MissionJune 17, 2020 News 0SEATTLE, June 17, 2020 (Spaceflight PR) — Spaceflight Inc., the leading satellite rideshare and mission management provider, today announced it will launch two rideshare payloads aboard SpaceX’s tenth Starlink mission, marking the first SpaceX Starlink mission that will be accompanied by Spaceflight rideshare payloads.The ability to launch rideshare payloads aboard SpaceX Starlink missions provides smallsat customers with a new, reliable and routine launch option. Spaceflight’s mission, which it has dubbed SXRS-1 to signify its first rideshare with Starlink, will include two Earth-observation microsatellites for Spaceflight’s customer BlackSky.
Scheduled:Date - Satellite(s) - Rocket - Launch Site - Time (UTC)2020NET Late July - Starlink flight 10 (x57) [v1.0 L9], SXRS-1: BlackSky Global 5, BlackSky Global 6 - Falcon 9-090 (B1051.5 S) - Kennedy LC-39A ~10:00NET Late July 25 - SAOCOM-1B, Capella 2 (Sequoia), GNOMES-1 - Falcon 9-091 (L) - Canaveral SLC-40 - 23:19 (or August)July 30 - Mars Perseverance rover (MSL-2), Ingenuity (MHS), MMO, CubeSats - Atlas V 541 (AV-088) - Canaveral SLC-41 - 11:50-13:50Changes on July 21stChanges on July 23rd
July 29 • Falcon 9 • Starlink 9/BlackSky GlobalLaunch time: 0826 GMT (4:26 a.m. EDT)Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
