SpaceX F9 : Starlink group 2-6 (R) : VSFB SLC-4E : 31 January 2023 (16:15 UTC)

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/ShorealoneFilms/status/1620468672967094272

A @SpaceX #Falcon9 rocket on the #Starlink 2-6 / D-Orbit’s ION SCV009 Eclectic Elena mission launching from ⁦⁦@SLDelta30⁩ this morning during perfect weather. 01-31-23

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Rideshare ION SCV009 deployed!

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Webcast ending as no ground station coverage when starlinks deploy

[scr00chy]

Per webcast, payloads onboard SCV009 from:

  - HPS, Germany
  - BAD(?), USA
  - EPFL, Switzerland
  - Stardust.me, New Zealand

The second one is EBAD, Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1620470218035466240

Deployment of D-Orbit’s ION SCV009 Eclectic Elena confirmed

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Starlinks should be deploying about now. Await ground coverage for confirmation

[FutureSpaceTourist]

AOS Kodiak

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Starlink separation confirmed!

Edit to add:

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1620477722031194114

Deployment of 49 Starlink satellites confirmed

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Cngratulations to SpaceX, D-Orbit and other rideshare partners on a successful mission!

200th F9 launch and a SpaceX record equalling 7 missions in a calendar month, after only setting the record last month!

[gongora]

D-Orbit Launches ION’s First Orbital Transportation Mission into a MidInclination Orbit

The Starfield mission, launched on January 31st, 2023, aboard SpaceX’s Starlink mission,
carries four payloads

Fino Mornasco, Italy, January 31st, 2023: Space logistics and orbital transportation
company D-Orbit launched Starfield, the eighth commercial mission of their proprietary
orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) ION Satellite Carrier (ION), and the first one in a midinclination orbit.
The OTV lifted off today, January 31st, 2023, at 8:15 a.m. PT (16:15 UTC) aboard a Falcon
9 rocket from the Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force
Base in California, and was successfully deployed 57 minutes later into an
approximately 340km altitude and 70-degree inclination orbit.

ION is a versatile and cost-effective OTV designed to precisely deploy satellites and perform
orbital demonstrations of third-party payloads hosted onboard. After the first commercial
mission in September 2020, D-Orbit has completed seven more missions, including one
featuring two IONs.

"A new year has just started, and we have already launched two new missions and three
IONs", said Renato Panesi, PhD, D-Orbit's co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer.
"I'm looking forward to facing the challenges and celebrating the victories that 2023 will bring
as we steadily move along our roadmap, and I am proud to be part of the truly remarkable
team that is making the evolution of space logistics possible".

Partnering with Valued Customers
During the mission, ION SCV009, dubbed “Eclectic Elena”, will host onboard four third-party
payloads:
• ADEO-N3, an autonomous braking sail developed by Munich-based space company
HPS designed to help deorbit satellites in LEO (up to 900 km) faster than with natural
orbital decay. ADEO can be used on satellites with flight altitudes below 900
kilometers. D-Orbit has already performed a successful deployment of ADEO’s
smallest variant in December 2022. The smallest version of the ADEO family,
ADEO-N3 weighs less than one kilogram, with dimensions of only 10 x 10 x 10
centimeters (1U) and a sail area of 5.0 square meters.
• NEA® Payload Release Ring (PRR) by Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense
Company (EBAD) for the deployment of payloads/spacecraft from a launch
vehicle or Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV). Available in 8”, 15”, and 24” diameters,
the NEA® Payload Release Ring consists of four NEA®
release mechanisms, two
ring halves, and separation springs with corresponding holders. The ring will be
used to release a spacecraft simulator from ION.
• Bunny, an onboard computer developed in-house by the students of the Spacecraft
Team of the Swiss Institute École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
This experiment is part of the CHESS project, which aims at launching a constellation
of two CubeSats to analyze the Earth’s atmosphere chemical composition and its
evolution over time and test a proof-of-concept for low-cost probes to investigate
extraterrestrial atmospheres in future planetary missions.
• SD-1, a memorial payload by StardustMe consisting of a batch of aluminum
machined capsules, each carrying a gram of human cremated ashes, contained in
an additive-manufactured frame and enclosure. The assembly, permanently fixed to
the main core of ION, will eventually re-enter the atmosphere with the host vehicle
during decommissioning, providing an ultimate form of space burial.
D-Orbit's mission control team is now conducting the launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) in
preparation for the operational phase.

Starfield is ION’s second mission in 2023. D-Orbit launched its first ION in September
2020 aboard an Arianespace VEGA launcher, then six further missions aboard SpaceX
Transporter missions. With this launch, the Company will have transported to space more
than 90 payloads collectively.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Launch photo from SpaceX website

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Couple more SpaceX launch photos

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/billmeco/status/1620604243265855488

#SpaceX #Falcon9 launched 49 #Starlink G2-6 #Satellites and D-Orbit’s ION SCV009 Eclectic Elena mission on its 200th flight and the company's 34th launch from #VSFB 01-31-2023 wghartenstein.com

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/birdsnspace/status/1620579820345372672

A beautiful morning launch of the Starlink Group 2-6 mission, with D-Orbit's ION SCV009 "Eclectic Elena" as a rideshare.
It was #SpaceX's 7th flight already this year, the 2nd from Vandenberg SFB, and the 7th flight of B1071.  SLC-3 is in the foreground, undergoing some work.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/tskelso/status/1620841367915331584

CelesTrak has ephemeris-based SupGP data for all 49 #Starlink satellites from the Group 2-6 launch (2023-014) atop a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg SFB on 2023-01-31 at 16:15:00 UTC. You can find the latest data at: https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/supplemental/table.php?INTDES=2023-014

[realnouns]

Scorpius getting close to Port of Long Beach with B1071.  About 10km out

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/shorealonefilms/status/1621252793704271875

A @spacex #falcon9 booster is safe in longbeach from its 8th trip to space & back @SpaceOffshore 02-02-23

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/shorealonefilms/status/1621368397190811650

A #SpaceX #Falcon9 #Booster B1071.7 arrives into Long Beach after it’s 7th flight to Space & back 02-02-23

https://twitter.com/shorealonefilms/status/1621358223558320134

Verrrrrrry #Sooty #SpaceX #Falcon9 B1071.7 02-02-23

[gongora]

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1628920098684604418

At about 1200 UTC on Feb 19 the @D_Orbit ION SCV009 tug deployed the EBAD Test Mass dummy satellite, in a test of the Ensign-Bickford Aerospace and Defense Co's new 8" payload separation ring. With a diameter of 0.2m, mass of the test object is probably of order 10 kg or less

The December press release from @D_Orbit said the deployment would happen at 270 km to ensure rapid reentry, but in the event the release orbit was somewhat higher at 318 x 327 km x 70.0 deg. The object is cataloged as 55446, 2023-014BH