NASA has started updating plans and schedules for additional SLS Block 1 launches in the early 2020s after Washington added federal budget money for a second Mobile Launcher (ML) platform and umbilical tower in late March.Construction of a new Mobile Launcher frees the first ML from a three-year long downtime for teardown and reassembly after the first SLS launch of Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), currently projected for mid-2020. Instead of being retired after one launch, the Block 1 configuration could fly multiple times.The first two candidates to fly on the second SLS launch are the first crewed Orion on a Lunar swingby flight test or the Europa Clipper interplanetary flagship that will repeatedly overfly Jupiter’s moon exploring for signs of habitability. The space agency formally re-assigned both missions to Block 1 last week and will decide in the future which one gets priority.
NASA's launch schedule shows the launch time as 10:06 am Eastern = 14:06 UTC (i.e. night launch from Kwajalein).
Then, a Falcon 9 will launch the Telstar 19V communication satellite from pad 40 on mid July TBD. After that, a Falcon 9 will launch Telstar 18V from pad 40 on late July TBD.
Via L2. Window now extended to four hours in length. Opens at the same time, but extends through to 04:29 Local.
“We are currently in the final qual stages for our Newton 3 and Newton 4 engines,” said Stephen Eisele, vice president of Virgin Orbit, during a panel session at the Space Tech Expo conference last Tuesday in Pasadena, California. Those engines power the first and second stages, respectively, of LauncherOne. “In the next month or so, we’re going to do what’s called a ‘captive carry’ test, where we’re going to fly the plane with the rocket attached, for flutter and aerodynamics purposes.”If those final tests are successful, he said he expected a “mid-summer” first launch of LauncherOne. The company wants to then most swiftly into regular commercial operations. “We’re going to be ready to engage in that launch cadence from day one,” he said. “It’ll be a launch a month, two launches a month.”“We’re planning on 12 launches a year” next year, said Virgin Orbit’s Monica Jan in a presentation at ISDC last Friday. “The year after will be 24.” While Virgin Orbit will initially stage those launches out of the Mojave Air and Space Port, she said the company was looking at other sites, including the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center and an unspecified location in the Pacific, in order to support launches to any desired inclination.Vector is another company planning a first orbital launch of its vehicle as soon as this summer. The company said earlier this year that its first Vector-R launch was scheduled for as soon as this August from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska, located on Kodiak Island.
March 6, 2018 ...The Seattle-based venture plans to have four of the Global satellites launched within the next year, as rideshare payloads on rockets that could include SpaceX’s Falcon 9, Rocket Lab’s Electron or India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, or PSLV....The current schedule calls for launching the first four Global satellites over the next 12 months. An additional 20 Global satellites would go in orbit by 2020, and generate revenue that will enable the production and launch of the full 60-satellite constellation.
Attended a presentation by Daniel De Lisle (CSA) on June 6 where he stated that the current "focus date" for launch is November 7th, one week into the contracted one month launch period. Should be able to at least say NET November.
"Northrop Grumman, working with NASA, has made the decision to postpone the June 14 launch of the Pegasus XL rocket, carrying the ICON spacecraft. The company will return Pegasus to Vandenberg Air Force Base to conduct testing of the rocket after off-nominal data was seen during the ferry flight. Upon further review of the data, the teams will work to determine a new launch date. As always, Northrop Grumman works with NASA to base its launch decisions on assuring mission success for our customer.
Chris B - NSF @NASASpaceflightA problem - found during the ferry flight - that can't be fixed at Kwaj. Forward options include a potential switch to Cape Canaveral near the latter part of the year.
Eric Ralph @13ericralph31Per @IridiumBoss, Iridium NEXT Flight 8 is NET "September or early October," implying either that there will be one or two launches between 7 and 8 or that there are Block 5 production throughput issues, given that -8 is meant to fly on a new booster.
Popped up on the Range (L2) as NET July 19, 2018 (Window opens 01:50 Eastern)
Then, a two-SRB Atlas 5 is scheduled to launch on the first uncrewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the ISS on late Fall 2018 at the earliest.
NASA and @JHUAPL are now targeting launch of the agency’s Parker #SolarProbe spacecraft no earlier than Aug. 4, 2018. Originally scheduled to launch on July 31, additional time is needed to accommodate further software testing of spacecraft systems.
Aug. 4 • Delta 4-Heavy • Parker Solar ProbeLaunch time: 0757 GMT (3:57 a.m. EDT)Launch site: SLC-37B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Dr. Max Polyakov, Firefly Co-founder, added that, “The Firefly Alpha program is on schedule for our first launch in the third quarter of 2019. Our mass production processes will enable eight Alpha flights in 2020 and eighteen flights in 2021.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (From SSL)June 21, 2018...Two more SSL communications satellites are scheduled to ship to SpaceX launch base over the next month including a second HTS for Telesat, Telstar 18 VANTAGE, and the Merah Putih satellite (previously known as Telkom-4), for Indonesia’s largest telecommunication and network provider, PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk.
CRS-16 Discussion thread...External cargo: GEDI, RRM3
IIRC, Kirk Shireman said on the last CRS mission that IDA-3 would go on the CRS-18 mission, he said at that time that he could be wrong about it so we "thought" he was wrong because the last FPIP showed IDA-3 going on the CRS-16 mission but now it seems he could have been right. CRS-18 is scheduled to launch inside the same period of time at when we should expect at least the first crewed mission to have happenned (around May-June 2019), so it makes sense.