Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon 9 : Formosat-5 : SLC-4E Vandenberg : Aug 24, 2017 : DISCUSSION  (Read 288017 times)

Offline mtakala24

98 degrees would be good for coverage of Finland, but OK, it seems it will be STP-2. I'm buzzled why they are in many interviews saying that the launch is this December, though.

Offline mtakala24

Consolidated launch schedule now shows:
2016- April - FORMOSAT 5, SHERPA SSO: Arkyd-6, CNUSail 1, KAUSAT 5, SIGMA, CANYVAL-X 1, CANYVAL-X 2,
                       STEP Cube Lab, EcAMSat, ISARA, CubeSats - Falcon 9 FT - Vandenberg SLC-4E, USA

Sherpa SSO is the big cubesat dispenser which will have 80+ satellites onboard, including those mentioned and also Aalto-1, the first Finnish satellite.

Unless the Sherpa is bumped or confirmed not to be on this launch, then I think I was right.

Offline BrianNH

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From the first post that started this thread in 2010...

Formosat-5 is slated to launch as early as December 2013 from SpaceX’s launch site on Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) in the Central Pacific, about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii.

And from the 7th post...

"Formosat-5 is slated to launch as early as December 2013 . . ." - oh boy, so much for the responsive space. I'm kinda sad it always takes so long.

There is a lot of history in this launch.  Looks like it was originally a Falcon 1 flight, so should have plenty of margin for using the landing pad if they can get permission.

Offline Robotbeat

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You sure? They originally thought they might be launching F9s from Omelek.

Then again, F9FT has like twice the performance as the original F9 did, so it should still be capable of RTLS.
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Offline Jarnis

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80+ satellites onboard, including those mentioned and also Aalto-1, the first Finnish satellite.


About damn time too :) - granted, there has been plenty of space instruments built in Finland before, but this is the first satellite.

Still waiting for that first astronaut. Tim Kopra being the almost-Finnish proxy for now (his grandparents moved from Finland to US in 1914). I know at least one Finnish guy has reserved a Virgin Galactic flight, but who knows when that will actually fly in commercial service...
 
« Last Edit: 01/11/2016 06:33 am by Jarnis »

Offline BrianNH

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The first few posts of this this thread discussed whether or not it would be Falcon 1.  I don't know that it was ever determined with certainty.

Offline the_other_Doug

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The first few posts of this this thread discussed whether or not it would be Falcon 1.  I don't know that it was ever determined with certainty.

Maybe it was gonna be a Falcon 5?  Back in 2010, wasn't the 5 still being considered for such payloads?
-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)

Offline Skyrocket

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It was originally definitively a Falcon-1e, as can be seen in this presentation from December 2010 (page 13): http://www.csrsr.ncu.edu.tw/08CSRWeb/ChinVer/C7Info/2010RSDMM/PPTpdf/1.pdf

BTW: No Falcon-5 was ever ordered

Offline HMXHMX

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It was originally definitively a Falcon-1e, as can be seen in this presentation from December 2010 (page 13): http://www.csrsr.ncu.edu.tw/08CSRWeb/ChinVer/C7Info/2010RSDMM/PPTpdf/1.pdf

BTW: No Falcon-5 was ever ordered

At t/Space we seriously considered ordering two for a demo flight of our four-place "XV" spacecraft as a follow-on to the NASA CE&R contracts.  We discussed it with SpaceX but Griffin became NASA Administrator and the promise of a CE&R follow-on disappeared, to be replaced by COTS. 

The SpaceX $12M offer price was very attractive at the time, though today presumably the price per flight would be perhaps 3-4x greater ($18M for Falcon 9 in 2005, by comparison).

Offline mtakala24

I've heard Aalto-1 hasn't left Finland yet - there is supposedly "last pictures" media event some time in the near future. I think the integration time all the way from here to California would be some kind of record to be able to go in April, but not impossible?

Offline rockets4life97

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With CRS-8 and Eutelsat/ABS currently manifested for April, there is a very low probability this is launching in April.

Online ZachS09

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Actually, SpX-8 is scheduled for March 30th at 00:38:13 Zulu. So, for the time being, Eutelsat/ABS is the only mission we know is scheduled for April.
Liftoff for St. Jude's! Go Dragon, Go Falcon, Godspeed Inspiration4!

Offline kevin-rf

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For a west coast launch, should the east coast schedule have much of an impact on it? In April I don't see why they can not fit both in (or all three if one slips).

For iridium they already need to be ramping up west coast launches. This needs to happen regardless of what is happening on the east coast.
« Last Edit: 02/28/2016 12:00 pm by kevin-rf »
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Offline mheney

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For a west coast launch, should the east coast schedule have much of an impact on it? In April I don't see why they can not fit both in (or all three if one slips).

For iridium they already need to be ramping up west coast launches. This needs to happen regardless of what is happening on the east coast.

Basically, it's a matter of staffing.  If SpaceX had two complete launch operations teams, they could in theory do simultaneous launches from VAFB and CCAFB.   (Be an interesting day in Hawthorne, ;-) 

But that would be wasteful - they're not at that kind of launch cadence (yet).  I'd expect that they have a core operations team at each launch site, with additional launch operations folk coming in for each launch.  That would be one driver for how tightly they can space launches between the two facilities.

Offline Arb

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Someone said (in another thread or on Redit) that there are now three teams. The senior team is focused on FH but has trained two others, one of which is working the SES-9 launch as I type. That leaves the third free for Vandenberg.

Offline mtakala24

Finland’s first satellite will be launched into space later in spring 2016.
http://elec.aalto.fi/en/current/news/2016-03-02/

"Spring 2016". I think May is more likely than April now.

Offline Newton_V

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Finland’s first satellite will be launched into space later in spring 2016.
http://elec.aalto.fi/en/current/news/2016-03-02/

"Spring 2016". I think May is more likely than April now.

Isn't WR shut down through August?

Offline mtakala24

Isn't WR shut down through August?

If yes, I didn't know about that.

Actually, Aalto-1 Facebook updates are now saying "in May-June timeframe".

Offline OnWithTheShow

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Quote
All of those launches will take place in bunches, because the base is slated to close down launch operations for six months this year while the launch systems are relocated into a new facility on base.

Doesnt say when specifically in this article. 

http://lompocrecord.com/news/local/vafb-commander-goes-over-plans-including-base-s-first-rocket/article_9b8ab9a3-42b1-5ce3-9b3d-f177ec5261ce.html

edit: corrected link
« Last Edit: 03/02/2016 09:17 pm by OnWithTheShow »

Offline WHAP

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Range closure appears to be mid-March through mid-August.
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