Quote from: Skyrocket on 03/17/2022 07:28 amQuote from: grfredy on 03/17/2022 07:05 amAnd now there are 18 OBJECTS from this launch, Given that the 1 is the rocket, the other 17 should be other satellites.My best guess would be that there are 16 SpaceBEE satellites from Swarm (these are 0.25U cubesats, so that 16 satellites would only take up 4U), which would be a good fit to the small payload capacity of Rocket.https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/spacebee-10.htmNote: this is only speculation!https://twitter.com/longmier/status/1504499091367026691
Quote from: grfredy on 03/17/2022 07:05 amAnd now there are 18 OBJECTS from this launch, Given that the 1 is the rocket, the other 17 should be other satellites.My best guess would be that there are 16 SpaceBEE satellites from Swarm (these are 0.25U cubesats, so that 16 satellites would only take up 4U), which would be a good fit to the small payload capacity of Rocket.https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/spacebee-10.htmNote: this is only speculation!
And now there are 18 OBJECTS from this launch, Given that the 1 is the rocket, the other 17 should be other satellites.
Swarm Technologies CTO confirms that 20 SpaceBEE satellites were also on board the Spaceflight Inc Astra-1 mission:
On March 15, 2022, Astra successfully delivered 22 satellites to a circular sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) out of the Astra Spaceport in Kodiak, Alaska. In addition to delivering our first customer satellites to orbit, this mission demonstrated operational progress toward our goal of a daily launch capability that we believe will dramatically improve access to space.
I believe this is the first time Astra mentions that it launched 22 payloads:https://astra.com/news/lv0009-operational-progress/QuoteOn March 15, 2022, Astra successfully delivered 22 satellites to a circular sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) out of the Astra Spaceport in Kodiak, Alaska. In addition to delivering our first customer satellites to orbit, this mission demonstrated operational progress toward our goal of a daily launch capability that we believe will dramatically improve access to space.
S4 Crossover, OreSat0, 16 SpaceBEEs, add up to 18. Do we know what the remaining 4 satellites are?
Do we have any source mentioning 4 SpaceBEE-NZ in addition of the 16 known SpaceBEEs? Looks fishy to me, spacetrack only mentions 20 payloads
It's now clear that the Astra LV0009 mission launched 20 SpaceBEEs, namely SpaceBEE 112 to 127 and New Zealand flagged SpaceBEE NZ-11 to NZ-14. All but two are now ID'd by 18SPCS; no IDs yet for the SpaceBEEs launched on Transporter-4
S4 is currently in orbit and operating under STA 1952-EX-ST-2021. At the time of launch, it was expected that transmission from the S4 would begin operating after second stage engine cutoff, activated by relays on the launch vehicle, and operate until demise, which was expected to occur within a few weeks after launch. However, the deorbit sequence for the Astra second stage, to which the S4 is permanently attached, was not successfully executed. As a result, S4 is expected to remain in orbit for a number of years. This presents an unexpected opportunity for longer term evaluation of the radios on board, as well as collecting radiation and plasma data. This license application is to replace the STA with an experimental license, to support that goal.
