DENVER, May 31, 2016 – Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Arab Satellite Communications Organization and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) have successfully completed a comprehensive technical review of Arabsat 6A and Hellas-Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1, two satellites that will provide television, internet, telephone and secure communications, to customers in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.To achieve this milestone, Lockheed Martin completed the Critical Design Review of the satellite and each subsystem, demonstrating the satellite design meets technical specifications and is ready for the next phase of production. With Critical Design Review complete and manufacturing underway, the Lockheed Martin team will now move further into the production process.“Now that we’ve completed this intensive design review, we’re moving forward into the build, integration and test phase for Arabsat 6A and Hellas-Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1,” said Carl Marchetto, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of Commercial Space. “We’re already producing important components for the satellites including antenna reflectors, panels and the core structure, and are excited to continue manufacturing these important satellites.”Arabsat 6A will be located at 30.5 degrees East and Hellas-Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1 will be located at 39 degrees East. Both satellites will be designed for a 15-year service life, and will be manufactured in Denver, Colorado. There are five modernized A2100 satellites currently under contract to Lockheed Martin and they are designed for a host of missions and customers around the globe.
FH Demo later this year (more long coast testing of second stage), then Arabsat 6A on second flight early next year, then STP-2
6000 kg payload mass is well-within the claimed 8300 kg expendable GTO capacity of the F9. I find it interesting they chose to manifest this on a Heavy, but I guess SpaceX could consider it a worthwhile commercial demo.And I assume the ultimate goal is for Falcon Heavy re-use to be cheaper than Falcon 9 expendable flights.
Very interesting, I guess they wanted their first major customer to fly before a military test mission with smallsats
Shotwell said they would land the center core downrange. Besides, where's the third landing pad?
A Lockheed Martin press release for Hellas-Sat-4 (the satellite that seems to be just before Arabsat 6A in the build queue) says it's being readied for antenna and solar array attachment prior to entering environmental testing and will go to its launch site in the third quarter of 2018. I'm guessing that means there's no way Arabsat 6A will launch in the first half of 2018.
Hellas-Sat-4-/SaudiGeoSat-1 is booked on Ariane 5. Since payloads don't always go directly from testing to launch, isn't it plausible that Arabsat could launch first even if it's built later, depending on each provider's launch schedule?
STP-2 is scheduled for a window from April until June and Arabsat is confirmed to be second launching Falcon Heavy, according to NASA's budget released today (Page 537).
Confirmed to have leap frogged STP-2:Quote from: Craig_VG on 02/14/2018 05:23 pmSTP-2 is scheduled for a window from April until June and Arabsat is confirmed to be second launching Falcon Heavy, according to NASA's budget released today (Page 537).
Historically, (well over the last 18 months), how fast can SpaceX manufacture newFirst Stages?Given that the first F9 block 5 is expected "Real Soon", and that the first few Block5 cores will probably be needed for regular F9 flights, how soon, realistically, will SpaceX have the 3 Block 5 cores (with the special central core) ready for the next FH launch, (supposedly due in Q2?)