And just as expected, a new booster has arrived at McGregor. Bump on the interstage indicates it is the next Falcon Heavy Center Core. This should be B1057.https://www.instagram.com/p/BsFYkJCIr94/?fbclid=IwAR1q6VmSyRcteFXMm03jZPiiXneS1qbUxiuSwfO1AKX8eLDxh31LpRxjDa8Edit: Changing the link. The content creator, Abby Garrett, took down the other post and edited her video to add credits to it citing lack of them either on facebook and reddit and because I don't want to get on another dicussion with her here too about what is the difference between taking credit of content and sharing something that someone made, I edit this post in respect to her decision. The screenshot with the arrow will stay the same as I'm on mobile and I don't really want to make this more annoying than it is.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines LLC (Volga-Dnepr Airlines or "Volga-Dnepr") respectfully requests an emergency exemption from the provisions of 49 U.S.C. 40109(g) and 41703(c), and otherwise applicable provisions of the Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations, so as to permit Volga-Dnepr to operate one (1) one way cargo charter flight, utilizing Volga-Dneprs AN-124-100 aircraft to transport cargo between Moffett Field, California and NASA Shuttle Landing Facility, Titusville, Florida on around February 6- March 4, 2019 on behalf of Lockheed Martin.
“The shutdown has spread into space. Lockheed Martin warned in a regulatory filing that furloughs threaten the launch of a commercial satellite for a Saudi Arabian customer, as well as some other SpaceX launches.” WSJ
Politico.comQuote“The shutdown has spread into space. Lockheed Martin warned in a regulatory filing that furloughs threaten the launch of a commercial satellite for a Saudi Arabian customer, as well as some other SpaceX launches.” WSJDoes anyone know where to find the mentioned regulatory filing?
AIUI, SpaceX has 5 year launch licenses for F9 from Vandenberg (LEO) and LC-40 (GTO), but not for FH or LC-39A. Both run out in 2023.https://www.faa.gov/data_research/commercial_space_data/licenses/
The only FCC license Lockmart or Arabsat might need would be for pre-launch testing. This bird isn't serving the U.S. market.edit: If there is a date restriction on the payload side it's more likely related to ITU filings.
Quote from: gongora on 01/24/2019 01:22 pmThe only FCC license Lockmart or Arabsat might need would be for pre-launch testing. This bird isn't serving the U.S. market.edit: If there is a date restriction on the payload side it's more likely related to ITU filings.SpaceX would still need STAs (spectrum use grants) from the FCC for the telemetry broadcast on this specific mission. I'm not sure whether the ones for the Arabsat 6A launch have been identified by our resident FCC sleuths, but even if they've already been granted those STAs have a 6 month expiration. If they run out due to schedule delays, SpaceX will have to wait until the FCC is fully operational again before they can launch so that they can get an extension.
January 16, 2019On behalf of Volga-Dnepr Airlines, Lockheed Martin Space kindly requests that the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) review and approve the exemption application from VOLGA-DNEPR AIRLINES LLC for an exemption (Docket OST-2019-0006) from the provisions of 49 U.S.C. §§ 40109(g) and 41703(c) of an intra-CONUS transport of ArabSat-6A commercial satellite from Moffett Field, Mountain View, CA to the NASA Shuttle Landing Facility, Titusville,FL.We understand that the government shutdown and furlough of many federal employees has impacted the DOTs approval process and would unpretentiously request specific approval of the Volga-Dnepr’s AN-124 transport scheduled for 5 February 2019. This transport is for the Arabsat-6A spacecraft which will provide critical communications capabilities for Europe and the Middle East upon launch which is scheduled from the SpaceX facility in early March 2019 directly preceding payload processing and integration on to the booster assembly. Delays in transportation will directly impact the launch of this satellite as well as the possibility of impacting other critical US national asset launches. The most critical possibility of an impact would be to the International Space Station Commercial Resupply Mission (CRS-17) which is the immediate launch following AR6A on the SpaceX manifest.
The part about possible impacts to CRS-17 or anything else other than STP-2 on the SpaceX manifest is complete bulls--t. The other flights will just go from SLC-40, and SpaceX has multiple payload processing bays.
Quote from: gongora on 01/26/2019 10:02 pmThe part about possible impacts to CRS-17 or anything else other than STP-2 on the SpaceX manifest is complete bulls--t. The other flights will just go from SLC-40, and SpaceX has multiple payload processing bays.Yeah but it's "unpretentious" bulls--t Actually I do see their point, sort of... delay something and it has a knock-on effect.
.. upon launch which is scheduled from the SpaceX facility in early March 2019 directly preceding payload processing and integration on to the booster assembly.
Wow, OCISLY will nearly be 1,000 km downrage from LC-39A for this one. That'll mean the core stage will be traveling like 3.5 km/s at MECO. Going to be an extremely toasty first stage if they get that one back.
A potential flaw in this argument is that the heavy center core is special, anyway, and maybe has some special features for increased toast resistance. But this goes against SpaceX's drive for maximum commonality, and if possible would likely be ported to the single core. So I'm still voting for a longer re-entry burn and an otherwise nominal entry.