Author Topic: SpaceX F9 : Hera (asteroid mission) : CCSFS SLC-40 : 7 October 2024 (14:52 UTC)  (Read 47052 times)

Offline Skyrocket

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I 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.

Offline baldusi

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I 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.

In fact, the failure to move their whole fleet in time was quite the scandal.

Online jacqmans

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Hera CubeSats’ touchdown
11/09/2024

When ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence touched down at its Florida launch site in its Antonov An-124 transporter, the mission’s two shoebox-sized CubeSats travelled with it. This is the moment the Milani and Juventas CubeSats made it down to the ground on the morning of 3 September.

The two CubeSats have since undergone functional testing – to check no damage was sustained from their travels – then been fuelled, and are now integrated into the main spacecraft, in readiness for a planned launch by SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in early October.

Seen left is the Milani CubeSat in its container, produced for ESA by Tyvak International in Italy, with the Juventas CubeSat from GomSpace in Luxembourg to the right.

The Milani CubeSat hosts a multispectral imager to map surface mineralogy as well as a dust surveyor. Juventas carries a radar instrument, to perform the first radar probe of an asteroid’s internal structure, along with a gravity-detecting gravimeter.

The CubeSats have been stowed in their ‘Deep Space Deployers’ on Hera’s top-side Asteroid Deck, which will stow them safely until they are ready to be deployed one at a time in the vicinity of the mission’s target Didymos binary asteroid.
Jacques :-)

Offline bolun

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Online zubenelgenubi

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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?
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Online StraumliBlight

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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?

The Hera Launch Kit says "The spacecraft will leave Earth with an escape velocity of 5.6 km/s." and its launch mass is 1081 kg.

A Falcon 9 can launch ~3000 kg at 6 km/s with ASDS recovery or ~2000 kg with RTLS, which seems like plenty of margin for recovery (assuming no calculation errors!).

Offline Ollopa11

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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.

Offline GewoonLukas_

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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.
« Last Edit: 09/21/2024 08:49 pm by GewoonLukas_ »
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Online StraumliBlight

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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.

DART had some performance penalties.

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.

Offline GewoonLukas_

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Confirmed expendable by the mission manager:

Quote
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

https://twitter.com/deepbluedot/status/1837602420584526023
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Online zubenelgenubi

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Which first stage will be used for this launch? (semi-rhetorical question)

Falcon 9 first stages are now cleared for use up to forty times for non-crewed launches, although that number is apparently more restricted for Cargo Dragon or Cygnus than these other payloads.

Almost-new first stage 1085.2 is set aside for Crew-9.

1064.6 and 1065.6 are the Falcon Heavy side boosters for Europa Clipper.

1072.2 and 1086.2 are being converted to "single-sticks" after their recovery as the Falcon Heavy side boosters from the GOES-U launch.

Finally, this will be a rare Falcon 9 expendable launch.

Available first stages, with UTC date of most recent recovery:
1072.2    Jun 25   (doubtful due to young age)
1086.2    Jun 25   (doubtful due to young age)
1080.11  Aug 4
1073.18  Aug 12
1076.17  Aug 15
1069.19  Aug 31
1077.16  Sep 5
1083.5    Sep 10   (doubtful due to young age, perhaps reserved for SpX-31?)
1078.14  Sep 12
1067.23  Sep 17  (maybe, but it is the oldest available in Florida)

Edit October 6: B1061.23 is the chosen first stage, transported by truck across country from Vandenberg SFB for its final launch.
« Last Edit: 10/07/2024 02:54 am by zubenelgenubi »
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The 5.9 km/s escape velocity would seem to mean that the Hera mission will briefly become the fastest escape mission ever launched by a Falcon, second only to the Europa Clipper mission.

Offline ddspaceman

ESA's Hera mission
@ESA_Hera
📽️#HeraMission, @ESA's first Planetary Defence spacecraft is nearing launch. Hera will probe the lingering mysteries of a unique asteroid - the sole body in our Solar System to have had its orbit shifted by human action https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2024/09/Hera_planetary_defence_mission_solving_asteroid_mysteries

https://twitter.com/ESA_Hera/status/1838532790234513846

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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https://twitter.com/deepbluedot/status/1838762615381610730

Quote
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 StraumliBlight

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Hera pre-launch media briefings [Sep 23]

Quote
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)

Online jacqmans

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Nearing Hera era in space
30/09/2024

One week before ESA’s Hera asteroid mission launch window opens, this group shot shows ESA and OHB team members performing final spacecraft tests (look closely for the mission's dinosaur mascot as well).

The photo was taken inside the North Integration Cell of the SpaceX Payload Processing Facility, located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Just visible in the background, with red tags placed on its corner thrusters, Hera has now been filled with propellant and as a next step awaits encapsulation within its launcher fairing.

Due to be launched on a Space Falcon 9, Hera is ESA's first planetary defence mission, heading to a unique target among the 1.3 million known asteroids of our Solar System.

If an incoming asteroid were to threaten Earth, what could people do about it? On 26 September 2022 NASA’s DART mission performed humankind’s first test of asteroid deflection by crashing into the Great-Pyramid-sized Dimorphos moonlet. The result was a shift in its orbit around the mountain-sized Didymos main asteroid.

Next comes ESA’s own contribution to this international collaboration: the Hera mission will revisit Dimorphos to gather vital close-up data about the deflected body, to turn DART’s grand-scale experiment into a well-understood and potentially repeatable planetary defence technique.

The mission will also perform the most detailed exploration yet of a binary asteroid system – although binaries make up 15% of all known asteroids, they have never been surveyed in detail. Hera will also perform technology demonstration experiments, including the deployment ESA’s first deep space ‘CubeSats’ – shoebox-sized spacecraft to venture closer than the main mission then eventually land – and an ambitious test of 'self-driving' for the main spacecraft, based on vision-based navigation.
Jacques :-)

Online zubenelgenubi

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Nearing Hera era in space
30/09/2024
<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>
How many processing cells are there, there?
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DLR Press Release from 30 September 2024

German-built ESA space probe Hera is ready to take a closer look at near-Earth asteroids


The history of Earth has repeatedly shown the danger that asteroids can pose, and even today, the devastating impact of a celestial body on our planet cannot be ruled out. Science fiction films feature technologies to prevent impacts, but can asteroid deflection also succeed in real life? These and many other questions are to be answered by the Hera mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), which will embark on a two-year journey to study the Didymos and Dimorphos binary asteroid system for six months. The launch window for the space probe will be open from 7 to 27 October 2024, with take-off on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Germany is the largest contributor to the mission. The German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) coordinates Germany's ESA contributions with funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). DLR is involved in terms of science through its Microgravity User Support Centre (MUSC) in Cologne and the DLR Institute of Planetary Research. The spacecraft was developed and built by the company OHB in Bremen, and Hera will send its data to Earth using a newly developed German antenna. Last but not least, two cameras produced in Jena will provide images of Didymos and Dimorphos.

"Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid struck Mexico and was very probably the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs. If large asteroids were to hit Earth, it would pose a real threat to our planet and all of humanity. With the Hera mission, we are expanding our knowledge of asteroids and, together with NASA, JAXA, ESA and other space agencies, are making a major contribution to effective planetary defence," says Walther Pelzer, DLR Executive Board member and Director General of the German Space Agency at DLR.

Planetary defence against asteroids

Asteroid impacts on Earth are very rare but can have serious consequences. On 15 February 2013, around 1500 people were injured when a small asteroid measuring 20 metres across entered Earth's atmosphere near Chelyabinsk, a Russian city with a population of over one million. Most of it vaporised, but what remained triggered an explosion at an altitude of around 30 kilometres, sending a shock wave that caused injuries in the city from countless shattered window panes. "Chelyabinsk was an event that serves as a warning, and to prevent dangerous incidents in the future, we need the data from the Hera mission," explains Manuel Metz, Hera project manager at the German Space Agency at DLR. "The consequences of an impact by a larger celestial body would be much more severe and could even threaten entire ocean coasts or continents. This would have existential consequences for the survival of humanity," emphasises Stephan Ulamec of MUSC, who is involved in the Hera mission’s science tea. “The remains of the almost 200-kilometre-wide Chicxulub crater in what is now Mexico are a testament to this."

Preparing to ward off near-Earth objects

The good news is that none of the approximately 36,000 known near-Earth objects (NEOs) with a diameter of more than 100 metres are currently on a collision course with Earth. The Apophis asteroid, discovered in 2004, will fly past Earth in 2029 and at its closest approach will be just 31,750 kilometres away, closer than geostationary satellites. Apophis is around 350 metres in diameter, which would have extreme consequences in the event of an impact. Based on what we know today, such a collision can be ruled out for the 21st century, but the fact that Apophis will pass so close to Earth shows that we must always be prepared for such events. In order to develop methods for effectively countering such dangers, NASA and ESA are conducting the 'Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment' (AIDA) joint project, consisting of NASA's DART and ESA's Hera missions.

The DART and Hera missions

NASA began the project with the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) space probe. The chosen target was the Didymos and Dimorphos binary asteroid system, where the much smaller Dimorphos (around 150 metres in diameter) orbits the larger Didymos (around 800 metres in diameter). The aim was to influence the time that it takes for the asteroids to orbit each other. To do this, DART collided with Dimorphos at a controlled speed of over six kilometres per second (22,500 kilometres per hour) on 26 September 2022. Measurements with telescopes were able to determine that the orbital period had been shortened by 33 minutes from the original 11 hours 55 minutes, surpassing the 10-minute reduction predicted by prior modelling.

Hera will now be sent to the binary asteroid system to investigate exactly how the orbital period and shape of the asteroid has changed. The probe is equipped with 12 measuring instruments for this purpose. Among the most important ones are the two Asteroid Framing Cameras (AFC), two redundant monochromatic cameras built in Jena, which will be used to determine the position of the space probe in the asteroid system. They are essential for the navigation of the spacecraft and will also contribute to further exploration of the asteroids.

Digital terrain model of the asteroid

The Hera science team will use the images from the AFCs to calculate a digital terrain model of the asteroid and search for changes caused by the DART impact on Dimorphos (in fact the asteroid's name derives from the Greek for 'two forms', referring to its changed shape after the impact). "Was a crater created on Dimorphos? Was the entire asteroid altered? Was Didymos' surface also affected by ejected material? We want to answer these questions using our digital terrain model," says Principal Investigator for the cameras Jean-Baptiste Vincent from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research.

CubeSats land on Dimorphos

Hera will also carry two CubeSats, named Juventas and Milani, each the size of a shoebox. The nanosatellites will observe Dimorphos at close range and ultimately attempt to land on it in the final phase of the mission to measure its surface characteristics, interior structure and gravitational field. The measurements are intended to determine the exact mass of Dimorphos, which will have already been determined by the AFCs. The data obtained will then be used to calculate how other celestial bodies could be deflected, forming the basis of a planetary defence mission in the event of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The data collected will also mark a further milestone in asteroid research more generally.

German technology featured in a European joint project

Germany is the largest contributor to the ESA mission, providing around 130 million euros (37 percent of the total). The Hera spacecraft was developed and built by OHB SE in Bremen. A newly developed antenna made of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic was produced by Munich-based HPS, while the two AFCs are from Jena-Optronik. The TUD Dresden University of Technology is heavily involved in the development of the radar experiment on the Juventas CubeSat. German researchers are also working on the Hera Science team to scientifically evaluate the data obtained from the mission. The German Space Agency at DLR is coordinating all of these German contributions to the mission with funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).

https://www.dlr.de/en/latest/news/2024/german-built-esa-space-probe-hera-is-ready-to-take-a-closer-look-at-near-earth-asteroids
Jacques :-)

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Last pre-launch view of Hera CubeSat
01/10/2024

A last glimpse by human eyes of the Juventas CubeSat, as it is installed aboard ESA’s Hera planetary defence spacecraft within Space X’s Payload Processing Facility.

Like its counterpart Milani CubeSat, the next time this shoebox-sized spacecraft will be revealed will be in two years’ time, when the pair are deployed into space around the Didymos binary asteroid.

The Juventas CubeSat carries a radar instrument, to perform the first radar probe of an asteroid’s internal structure, along with a gravity-detecting gravimeter. Milani hosts a multispectral imager to map surface mineralogy as well as a dust surveyor.

Juventas has now been installed inside the slot-shaped Deep Space Deployer seen here directly below it on Hera’s topside ‘Asteroid Deck’.

This deployer will keep the CubeSat alive and healthy during the mission’s cruise phase, exchanging telemetry and telecommands with the ground, updating software, charging batteries, test reaction wheels and performing final health checks.

Milani’s own Deep Space Deployer is located on the other side of the Asteroid Deck, seen here already closed. In between them stands the mission’s PALT Laser Rangefinder (see the full layout of the Asteroid Deck here).

Deployment of the two CubeSats at the asteroids will be a gradual, methodical process. It will begin with springs to push each CubeSat up to the top of their deployer, but they will remain linked to Hera through an umbilical for power and communications.

Over an approximately 24-hour period each CubeSat will have its systems activated and checked out while exposed to space – including the inter-satellite links that will be used to communicate back with Hera – before undergoing their final release at a velocity of just a few centimetres per second. If they moved any faster in the ultra-low gravity environment of Didymos then Hera’s CubeSats would risk getting lost in space.
Jacques :-)

Offline theinternetftw

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The launch window for the space probe will be open from 7 to 27 October 2024

Worth highlighting the launch window here, considering the current F9 grounding.

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