The @AMOSSpacecom Amos-17 Ku-/C-/Ka-band sat completes CDR at @Boeing, sched launch to 17E in early 2019 on @SpaceX Falcon 9 w/ 19-yr life.
[Reuters] Turkey's Erdogan, Tesla's Musk discuss cooperation with Turkish firms...Turkey aims to launch the Turksat 5A satellite in 2020 and the 5B in 2021. In October, Airbus (AIR.PA) submitted the best bid in a tender to build the Turkish satellites.Kalin said an agreement would be signed with Airbus on Thursday, and Musk would also be present at the meeting as a subcontractor.
I spy...Falcon 9 rockets with landing legs and...Turksat payloads? AP reported that Turksat 5A and 5B could fly in 2020 and 2021, respectively.Photo (via @GettyImages) shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with @SpaceX CEO @ElonMusk today.
As part of @AirbusSpace 2-satellite in-orbit delivery contract, Airbus gave customer @turksat launch options. @SpaceX was chosen for both Turksat 5A in 2020 & 5B in 2021. Shown below: 5B, w/ Ka-HTS.
But that's our goal, is to try to make the 2022 Mars rendezvous. The Earth-Mars synchronization happens roughly every two years, so every two years there's an opportunity for just to fly to Mars.
What payloads are actually built and ready for launch, just waiting for a rocket?
Quote from: S.Paulissen on 11/11/2017 03:42 amWhat payloads are actually built and ready for launch, just waiting for a rocket?Iridium has more satellites built. However, they are constrained by the difficult task of replacing the old sats with the new ones and keeping their coverage going. So, I don't think they can put up a new batch any faster than every 40 or 60 days.
Quote from: S.Paulissen on 11/11/2017 03:42 amWhat payloads are actually built and ready for launch, just waiting for a rocket?NASA's TESS I think has been complete for awhile now.
... with the spacecraft currently undergoing a series of tests,...
The next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral will launch the classified Zuma mission from pad 39A on November 15 at 8:00pm EST. The launch window stretches two hours to 10:00pm EST. The first stage of the rocket will land back at Cape Canaveral about eight minutes after liftoff. After that, a Falcon 9 will launch the next Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station, CRS-13, currently planned from pad 40, on December 4 at the earliest, at 2:52pm EST. The launch window will be instantaneous. The launch time gets approx. 22-26 minutes earlier each day. The first stage of the rocket will land back at Cape Canaveral around eight minutes after liftoff. This could be followed by the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 Heavy, from pad 39A, and its twin booster landings back at the Cape, as early as the very end of December or early January TBD. Then, a Falcon 9 is slated to launch the SES-16/GovSat-1 communications satellite, from pad 40, on mid-January TBA.
Looks like Hispasat has been delayed, payload issues maybe?QuoteThe next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral will launch the classified Zuma mission from pad 39A on November 15 at 8:00pm EST.After that, a Falcon 9 will launch the next Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station, CRS-13, currently planned from pad 40, on December 4 at the earliest, at 2:52pm EST. This could be followed by the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 Heavy, from pad 39A, and its twin booster landings back at the Cape, as early as the very end of December or early January TBD.Then, a Falcon 9 is slated to launch the SES-16/GovSat-1 communications satellite, from pad 40, on mid-January TBA.And a Falcon 9 is slated to take a Dragon capsule on the next resupply mission to the ISS, CRS-14, on February 9, roughly around 11am or noon EST.http://www.launchphotography.com/Delta_4_Atlas_5_Falcon_9_Launch_Viewing.html
The next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral will launch the classified Zuma mission from pad 39A on November 15 at 8:00pm EST.After that, a Falcon 9 will launch the next Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station, CRS-13, currently planned from pad 40, on December 4 at the earliest, at 2:52pm EST. This could be followed by the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 Heavy, from pad 39A, and its twin booster landings back at the Cape, as early as the very end of December or early January TBD.Then, a Falcon 9 is slated to launch the SES-16/GovSat-1 communications satellite, from pad 40, on mid-January TBA.And a Falcon 9 is slated to take a Dragon capsule on the next resupply mission to the ISS, CRS-14, on February 9, roughly around 11am or noon EST.
Quote from: SmallKing on 11/12/2017 03:37 amLooks like Hispasat has been delayed, payload issues maybe?QuoteThe next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral will launch the classified Zuma mission from pad 39A on November 15 at 8:00pm EST.After that, a Falcon 9 will launch the next Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station, CRS-13, currently planned from pad 40, on December 4 at the earliest, at 2:52pm EST. This could be followed by the maiden flight of the Falcon 9 Heavy, from pad 39A, and its twin booster landings back at the Cape, as early as the very end of December or early January TBD.Then, a Falcon 9 is slated to launch the SES-16/GovSat-1 communications satellite, from pad 40, on mid-January TBA.And a Falcon 9 is slated to take a Dragon capsule on the next resupply mission to the ISS, CRS-14, on February 9, roughly around 11am or noon EST.http://www.launchphotography.com/Delta_4_Atlas_5_Falcon_9_Launch_Viewing.htmlHow reliable are the sources for that site? Launching just once every month from the Cape is too slow for SpaceX, maybe the list just contains a subset of launches for which better info is available.
Quote from: DreamyPickle on 11/12/2017 06:10 pmHow reliable are the sources for that site? Launching just once every month from the Cape is too slow for SpaceX, maybe the list just contains a subset of launches for which better info is available.He does some of the official photography for SpaceX, he's generally a good source for near-term schedule information.There are going to be months where SpaceX only launches once from the East Coast, especially when they're launching from the West Coast that month. The flight rate isn't that high yet. Even if they do launch 30 times next year that wouldn't be twice from the Cape every month.
How reliable are the sources for that site? Launching just once every month from the Cape is too slow for SpaceX, maybe the list just contains a subset of launches for which better info is available.
Has the payload left SSL in Palo Alto and been delivered to SpaceX operations at Cape Canaveral for pre-launch processing? (I know our NSF contributors are usually very quick to report such things, if they are free to do so.)It takes a finite amount of time to process the payloads for launch. What is the average processing time for a geo-comm payload, from delivery to stacking on the launch vehicle?If that process has not yet started, then perhaps the launch must be delayed into early 2018?(The focus here on NSF is on the LV, particularly so for Falcon 9--1st stage watches, etc.)
In the Zuma static fire article that Chris G. wrote today he lists the expected flights for the rest of the year, and Hispasat isn't on there. It seems likely to slip into 2018.
In a June FCC filing Hispasat said "launch and place in operation scheduled for May 2018". There is typically some gap between launch and placing in operation, so that's a bit vague. Then in an August press release for another mission the manufacturer said it would be launching later this year. As noted in the Zuma static fire article, it doesn't seem to actually be on the manifest for 2017. I'm going with first half of 2018 for now, and will refine the estimated date if we get any more news on the mission.