Argentina bets on $600 million satellite to boost agriculture sectorQuoteScheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Oct. 6, Argentina’s SAOCOM 1a satellite “is going to boost the high quality precision agriculture Argentina relies on,” President Mauricio Macri told farmers and industry representatives last week.
Scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Oct. 6, Argentina’s SAOCOM 1a satellite “is going to boost the high quality precision agriculture Argentina relies on,” President Mauricio Macri told farmers and industry representatives last week.
Per L2, liftoff is currently scheduled for 19:22 local time on October 6th. That's October 7th at 2:22 UTC.
Quote from: Michael Baylor on 09/22/2018 10:01 pmPer L2, liftoff is currently scheduled for 19:22 local time on October 6th. That's October 7th at 2:22 UTC.Sunset on October 6th is at 18:37 local, about 45 minutes before launch. Is that to late to make a spectacular plume display? My real simple geometry gives an estimate of sunlight at ~125km altitude (if I did that right) which I think is well above where the first stage separates, and probably well downrange as well. But I'm guessing that the boostback burn of the first stage should be sunlit. I took a look back at the Iridium 4 launch last December that resulted in all those UFO reports. It was about 30 minutes after sunset, so maybe this will be close enough to be good. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a lot more buzz about this dusk launch, especially being the first VAFB RTLS and all.
L2 confirms the booster is on the pad for the Static Fire test today:https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/10/spacex-falcon-9-for-static-fire-saocom-1a-first-west-rtls/ - by Ian Atkinson
LZ-4 is situated approximately 0.3km from SLC-4E, where SAOCOM-1A will launch from. This is much different than the setup at Cape Canaveral, where LZ-1 is over 9km from SLC-40.The smaller distance will help to reduce the minimum time between launches, as it will take much less time to ship the landed first stage back to the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) to ready it for another launch.
Strangely, nowhere in the article does it say when the launch is scheduled.
Launch is scheduled for No Earlier Than (NET) 7:22PM Pacific time (2:22 UTC) on October 6 (October 7 UTC) from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base. It will be the first launch from SLC-4E since the Iridium NEXT 7 flight on July 25, 2018.
Quote from: Chris Bergin on 10/02/2018 02:18 pmL2 confirms the booster is on the pad for the Static Fire test today:https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/10/spacex-falcon-9-for-static-fire-saocom-1a-first-west-rtls/ - by Ian AtkinsonQuote from: The ArticleLZ-4 is situated approximately 0.3km from SLC-4E, where SAOCOM-1A will launch from. This is much different than the setup at Cape Canaveral, where LZ-1 is over 9km from SLC-40.The smaller distance will help to reduce the minimum time between launches, as it will take much less time to ship the landed first stage back to the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) to ready it for another launch.Generally, the articles and discussion here at NSF are great, but without some justification, this just comes across as silly. The 9km between LZ-1 and LC-40 as gating the turn around time? such that SLC-4E can be faster?Unless they just contracted booster movement to Radio Flyer, I'm just not seeing it.
Quote from: marsbase on 10/02/2018 10:32 pmStrangely, nowhere in the article does it say when the launch is scheduled.Second paragraphQuoteLaunch is scheduled for No Earlier Than (NET) 7:22PM Pacific time (2:22 UTC) on October 6 (October 7 UTC) from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base. It will be the first launch from SLC-4E since the Iridium NEXT 7 flight on July 25, 2018.
Who is going to try and see this launch and landing in person? I was planning to try and attend this in person. I am expecting major crowds for this. Considering it is the weekend and it is the first RTLS on the west coast.
...So whats true? 1600kg or 3000kg?
Quote from: IntoTheVoid on 10/02/2018 08:21 pmQuote from: Chris Bergin on 10/02/2018 02:18 pmL2 confirms the booster is on the pad for the Static Fire test today:https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/10/spacex-falcon-9-for-static-fire-saocom-1a-first-west-rtls/ - by Ian AtkinsonQuote from: The ArticleLZ-4 is situated approximately 0.3km from SLC-4E, where SAOCOM-1A will launch from. This is much different than the setup at Cape Canaveral, where LZ-1 is over 9km from SLC-40.The smaller distance will help to reduce the minimum time between launches, as it will take much less time to ship the landed first stage back to the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) to ready it for another launch.Generally, the articles and discussion here at NSF are great, but without some justification, this just comes across as silly. The 9km between LZ-1 and LC-40 as gating the turn around time? such that SLC-4E can be faster?Unless they just contracted booster movement to Radio Flyer, I'm just not seeing it.The hassle of transporting the recovered boosters is an appreciable one at the Cape. Whereas for the VAFB recoveries, everything will be taking place not just within the base but, if they're doing the refurb work in the HIF of SLC-4, within the perimeter of a single launch complex. This means it's much less of a disruption for the other users of the base and requires much less scheduling and coordination with security/police for escort/traffic control/etc. These are not totally trivial considerations and could help in speeding up average turn around times.
