I didn’t think there was any AN-124’s available for such tasks for obvious reasons.
Quote from: Star One on 09/06/2024 10:36 amI didn’t think there was any AN-124’s available for such tasks for obvious reasons.Antonov Airlines has relocated its remaining aircraft from Hostomel Airport (Ukraine) to Leipzig/Halle Airport (Germany) - including five AN-124. So they are still in business and are operating outside the war zone.
I have read nothing about Falcon 9 first stage recovery. I assume RTLS is out of the question? I would think it will be an ASDS recovery, but for the greatest velocity transfer, the first stage must be expended.Any clues as to which?
Hera project managers were pretty catagoric that the first stage would be expended, speaking at a science workshop in April. But since Falcon 9 people seem to be able to pull performance out of their ears whenever they like, I wouldn't take that as gospel.
During the launch of NASA's DART spacecraft, the Falcon 9 first stage landed approximately 652km downrange (recent Galileo launch was 670km). DART's launch mass was 610kg, so with its 1,081kg launch mass, Hera is ~77% heavier then DART. And while DART required ~0.8km²/s² more, it would not surprise me if Hera would require an expendable launch.
The Falcon 9 should have plenty of performance. If we compare this to a launch directly east from Cape Canaveral, there are 3 losses:(a) Vandenburg is further North, so it only has an Earth spin component of 380 m/s (Cape is 402 m/s).(b) It's launching into a 56o orbit, so it only gets 380*cos(56) = 212 m/s eastward.(c) A 20o dogleg up until 1500 m/s ground speed costs about 110 m/s. (SpaceX telemetry shows a speed of about 2133 m/s at staging, but the rocket is going about 45o up at this point, so the ground speed is about 1500 m/s.)So if we add this up we have a 300 m/s penalty compared to launching straight East from Florida. That makes the velocity here (C3 = 6.52 km^2/sec^2) the same as a C3=13.5 km^2/sec^2 launch from Florida. But according the NASA launch vehicle performance website, F9 can lift about 1800 kg to this C3 (you need to extrapolate as the curve goes only to C3=10). In fact F9 RTLS could almost do this, with an apparent capability of about 500 kg to a C3 of 13.5.If the launch was from Florida, this likely could have been RTLS. F9 can do about 1100 kg in this case to a C3=6.52 km^2/sec^2. This would be somewhat reduced since the DLA for this window is >28.5o, but not by that much.
We use an expendable F9, we need an wscaoe velocity of 5.9km/s thus using all the energy available. Will be the last ride for this booster
Today we completed MMO fueling activities. Tomorrow setting up for MMH. This is when we need 👨🚀 a big thank you to all teams involved @SpaceX @EuroAstro @esa
Online pre-launch media briefing in English (Wednesday 2 October 14:00 – 15:00 CEST)Hera online pre-launch media briefing and Q&A with: • Ian Carnelli, Hera Project Manager, ESA • Richard Moissl, Head of Planetary Defence Office, ESA • Ignacio Tanco, Flight Director, ESA • Michael Kueppers, Project Scientist, ESA • Stefan Voegt, Hera Project Manager and Head of Department Space Safety Missions, OHB Online pre-launch media briefing in German (Wednesday 2 October 11:00 – 12:00 CEST)Hera online pre-launch media briefing in German and Q&A with: • Rolf Densing, Operations Director, ESA • Holger Krag, Head of Space Safety Programme Office, ESA • Richard Moissl, Head of Planetary Defence Office, ESA • Michael Kueppers, Project Scientist, ESA • Andreas Winkler, Programme Director for Exploration, Space Safety and Space Transportation Systems, OHB Online pre-launch media briefing in Italian (Wednesday 2 October 13:00 – 14:00 CEST)Hera online pre-launch media briefing in Italian and Q&A with: • Ian Carnelli, Hera Project Manager, ESA • Paolo Martino, Hera Deputy Project Manager, ESA • Luca Conversi, Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre Manager, ESA • Diego Calzolaio, Hera Chief Engineer and Deputy Project Manager, OBH Online pre-launch media briefing in French (Wednesday 2 October – 15:00 – 16:00) • Ian Carnelli, Hera Project Manager, ESA • Patrick Michel, Hera Principal Investigator, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Nearing Hera era in space30/09/2024<snip>The photo was taken inside the North Integration Cell of the SpaceX Payload Processing Facility, located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.<snip>
The launch window for the space probe will be open from 7 to 27 October 2024