With the completion of the Intelsat mission today, SpaceX is now tied with ULA on 154 successful consecutive orbital missions.(Note: I’m including Zuma on the basis that even if, as rumoured, deployment failed that was not a SpaceX issue & the F9 performed correctly.)
IIRC SpaceX confirmed the Falcon 9 performed as designed with regards to Zuma.
On Friday NASA closed the bidding process to select a launch vehicle for an upcoming Earth science mission to measure changes in sea level, Sentinel-6B. The mission is expected to launch into low Earth orbit about four years from now, and the space agency is finalizing its choice of a rocket.Such bidding processes are secretive to protect the competitive interests of the bidders in terms of prices and capabilities. However, realistically, there is no mystery about who will win the Sentinel-6B contract. Like the spacecraft's twin, Sentinel-6A, we can expect this mission to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket sometime in 2026.This is because, at present, there are no other bidders for NASA's medium and large science missions beyond SpaceX and its fleet of Falcon rockets.
For the first time in over 3 years SpaceX will expend a Falcon booster on purpose. But it's not just one, it'll be three boosters. If schedules hold, the order will be B1066, then B1051-14, and finally B1049-11. nextspaceflight.com/launches/agenc…Here goes a 🧵
B1066 is a Falcon Heavy center core that will fly NET October 28th as part of the USSF-44 mission. It's new and it being expended will allow the second stage have enough performance to push that mission's payloads into GEO. Will look more or less like this
B1051-14 is a Falcon 9 booster set to fly the Galaxy 31&32 mission. It first flew on the Demo-1 mission, Crew Dragon's first flight into orbit, and it was the first booster to reach 10 flights. It'll push both Galaxy satellites into a more energetic GTO.
B1049-11 is a Falcon 9 booster that will fly on the Eutelsat 10B mission. Among its flights, this booster supported the first launch of Starlink satellites in May 2019. Its last flight is part of a previously unannounced three-mission deal with Eutelsat.
It'll be sad to see these three boosters go and it's been a long time since SpaceX intentionally expended one but at least they'll go out doing just what Falcon does best... which is putting stuff into orbit.
<snip>.....SpaceX took slightly less than six years as opposed to the nearly sixteen years by ULA to accumulate 154 consecutive successful orbital launches. That total includes 8 crewed launches by SpaceX vs 0 crewed launches by ULA.
I'm ok with old cores being expended. It helps speed up the launch candence by reducing the need for ASDS trips.
https://twitter.com/alexphysics13/status/1579444259337666560QuoteFor the first time in over 3 years SpaceX will expend a Falcon booster on purpose. But it's not just one, it'll be three boosters. If schedules hold, the order will be B1066, then B1051-14, and finally B1049-11. nextspaceflight.com/launches/agenc…Here goes a 🧵QuoteB1066 is a Falcon Heavy center core that will fly NET October 28th as part of the USSF-44 mission. It's new and it being expended will allow the second stage have enough performance to push that mission's payloads into GEO. Will look more or less like thishttps://twitter.com/alexphysics13/status/1579444265658494977QuoteB1051-14 is a Falcon 9 booster set to fly the Galaxy 31&32 mission. It first flew on the Demo-1 mission, Crew Dragon's first flight into orbit, and it was the first booster to reach 10 flights. It'll push both Galaxy satellites into a more energetic GTO.twitter.com/alexphysics13/status/1579444268305100800QuoteB1049-11 is a Falcon 9 booster that will fly on the Eutelsat 10B mission. Among its flights, this booster supported the first launch of Starlink satellites in May 2019. Its last flight is part of a previously unannounced three-mission deal with Eutelsat.https://twitter.com/alexphysics13/status/1579444271123685376QuoteIt'll be sad to see these three boosters go and it's been a long time since SpaceX intentionally expended one but at least they'll go out doing just what Falcon does best... which is putting stuff into orbit.
Quote from: wannamoonbase on 10/10/2022 03:43 pmI'm ok with old cores being expended. It helps speed up the launch candence by reducing the need for ASDS trips.SpaceX is a for-profit company. If a customer has a mission that requires an expended core and the customer is willing to pay for it, SpaceX will expend the core. They will choose to expend the "least valuable" core, which will either be an obsolete core (1049) or (probably) the oldest core. I somehow doubt they care whether or not we are "OK" with it.
it mean 3 day after eutelsat 10B will be launch >?
Oct. 28 : pad 39A, USSF-44, Falcon-H, RTLS/exendable (any updates?)NET Nov. 5 : pad 40 or 39A, Galaxy 31+32, expendable (FCC license for this launch is missing?)Nov. 9-15 : pad 40 or 39A, HAKUTO-R, RTLSmid. Nov. ? : pad 40, Eutelsat 13G, ASDSNET Nov. 15: pad 40, Eutelsat 10B, expendableNov. 18 : pad 39A, CRS-26, ASDS
Quote from: GWR64 on 10/17/2022 12:01 pmOct. 28 : pad 39A, USSF-44, Falcon-H, RTLS/exendable (any updates?)NET Nov. 5 : pad 40 or 39A, Galaxy 31+32, expendable (FCC license for this launch is missing?)Nov. 9-15 : pad 40 or 39A, HAKUTO-R, RTLSmid. Nov. ? : pad 40, Eutelsat 13G, ASDSNET Nov. 15: pad 40, Eutelsat 10B, expendableNov. 18 : pad 39A, CRS-26, ASDSIt's highly unlikely there would be any launches from 39A between USSF-44 and CRS-26.
European spacecraft converge on the US for rides on SpaceX rockets By Eric RalphPosted on October 17, 2022Thanks in large part to delays suffered by Arianespace’s next-generation Ariane 6 rocket, a small fleet of European satellites are simultaneously converging on the United States to hitch rides into orbit with SpaceX.[…]SpaceX kicked off what could be an unprecedented string of seven launches of spacecraft built by or for Europe on October 15th.
oof. expect many more Ariane 6 payloads to follow Euclid and begin studying the possibility of switching to SpaceX in the near future 😬 At minimum, CSO-3, Optus-11, Electra, Uhura-1, several batches of Galileo satellites, and maybe even Viasat-3 APAC could all be affected.
Ariane 6 first launch now NET Q4 2023:https://twitter.com/13ericralph31/status/1582784253620006913Quoteoof. expect many more Ariane 6 payloads to follow Euclid and begin studying the possibility of switching to SpaceX in the near future 😬 At minimum, CSO-3, Optus-11, Electra, Uhura-1, several batches of Galileo satellites, and maybe even Viasat-3 APAC could all be affected.
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 10/19/2022 05:24 pmAriane 6 first launch now NET Q4 2023:https://twitter.com/13ericralph31/status/1582784253620006913Quoteoof. expect many more Ariane 6 payloads to follow Euclid and begin studying the possibility of switching to SpaceX in the near future 😬 At minimum, CSO-3, Optus-11, Electra, Uhura-1, several batches of Galileo satellites, and maybe even Viasat-3 APAC could all be affected.Honestly, I would be cautious with that statement of so many launches to be swapped on a Falcon 9/any other Rocket...After the CSG-2 FM2 thing, Europe is even more annoyed: now I understand that some launches COULD be swapped, but I wouldn't expect that many (Eric mentioned at least 8 different launches).We'll see but it's kinda early to write that...
The SpaceX disruption of Arianespace and other launch providers will be epic if Arianespace and others can't not keep to the current revised launch schedule. It also means the Falcon family will likely not be quickly phased out when the Starship enters service.
Quote from: lenny97 on 10/19/2022 10:09 pmQuote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 10/19/2022 05:24 pmAriane 6 first launch now NET Q4 2023:https://twitter.com/13ericralph31/status/1582784253620006913Quoteoof. expect many more Ariane 6 payloads to follow Euclid and begin studying the possibility of switching to SpaceX in the near future 😬 At minimum, CSO-3, Optus-11, Electra, Uhura-1, several batches of Galileo satellites, and maybe even Viasat-3 APAC could all be affected.Honestly, I would be cautious with that statement of so many launches to be swapped on a Falcon 9/any other Rocket...After the CSG-2 FM2 thing, Europe is even more annoyed: now I understand that some launches COULD be swapped, but I wouldn't expect that many (Eric mentioned at least 8 different launches).We'll see but it's kinda early to write that...I don't expect Galileo launches to be swapped, for example, but it's clear that the costs of waiting for Ariane 5/6 are beginning to outweigh the mostly political costs of avoiding months to years of delays. There was CSG-2, yes, but there is also SARah 1/2/3 and EnMAP. And now there's Eutelsat 10B, Hotbird 13F/13G (which are even part of an ESA program), and a study that may end with Euclid following them onto Falcon 9.If Eutelsat is willing to put its shareholders before its loyalty to the European launch industry, there's a good chance that other commercial customers will follow. And if ESA is willing to move Euclid to Falcon 9, even institutional payloads might no longer be a safe bet. I personally think that SpaceX will pick up 2-3 more launches as the Ariane 6 dust settles.
