The date on STP-2 was updated from NET June to NET June 13th in the general launch log thread last week. Is that a reasonably solid date?
TBEx will be inserted into the nominal STP-2 CubeSat orbit with apogee at 860 km, perigeeat 300 km, and an inclination of 28.4.
SAN DIEGO, CA, 23 APRIL 2018 - General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that it has completed full system and “ready for launch” pre-flight testing of its Orbital Test Bed (OTB) satellite. OTB will launch as part of the U.S. Air Force’s Space Technology Program (STP-2) flight on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The OTB hosts multiple payloads on a single platform for on-orbit technology demonstration. Among the hosted payloads on OTB is NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Deep Space Atomic Clock, designed and built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which supports deep space navigation and exploration.“The completion of system testing marks a significant milestone, allowing us to effectively “button up” the OTB satellite in anticipation of delivery to Cape Canaveral for launch into space,” stated Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “We believe OTB is a new paradigm in hosted payload satellite design and is paving the way to make space more affordable and accessible to customers looking to demonstrate and validate their technologies on-orbit.”GA-EMS’ low-Earth orbit OTB is a versatile, modular platform designed for the simultaneous launch of multiple demonstration payloads. Hosting multiple payloads on a single satellite eliminates the need for customers to bear the costly burden of a dedicated platform and launch.“As the small satellite industry grows, the OTB hosted payload platform can increase the number of flight opportunities, reduce the cost to access space, and provide a more adaptable approach to managing the integration, launch, and on-orbit operations to support commercial, civil, educational, and military payloads,” added Nick Bucci, vice president of Missile Defense and Space at GA-EMS. “From the perspective of both the payload customer and host provider, this new approach offers significant advantages and benefits over classic space industry practices to help rapidly space-qualify new equipment.”GA-EMS continues to expand its portfolio of small satellites and mission-support capabilities, providing ground-to-on-orbit solutions that offer a high degree of modularity and payload flexibility to suit a variety of mission and customer requirements.
It will be interesting to see where DM-1 ends up in relation to this flight.
Quote from: Formica on 07/02/2017 02:41 amWhat is the purpose of the 5 tonnes of ballast on this mission? Is it simply to ensure that FH is capable of meeting the EELV New Entrant specifications?No. The launcher is too powerfull for just the payload alone. It requires additional payload mass (provided by means of ballast) to prevent over-performance.
What is the purpose of the 5 tonnes of ballast on this mission? Is it simply to ensure that FH is capable of meeting the EELV New Entrant specifications?
Quote from: woods170 on 07/02/2017 11:50 amQuote from: Formica on 07/02/2017 02:41 amWhat is the purpose of the 5 tonnes of ballast on this mission? Is it simply to ensure that FH is capable of meeting the EELV New Entrant specifications?No. The launcher is too powerfull for just the payload alone. It requires additional payload mass (provided by means of ballast) to prevent over-performance.Perhaps this is an ignorant question, but why is this mission still manifested on a Falcon Heavy? I'm trying to figure out the rationale, especially given the unbelievably severe delays STP-2 has been beset with as a result of LV choice. Sunk cost fallacy? It's just hard for me to see any actual value in adding a huge amount of ballast to "stress" test a LV that has already been successfully demonstrated with an interplanetary launch.
In April and May, the US sent experts to replace some of Formosat-7’s components after the NSPO detected signal interference among its scientific payloads, he said, adding the satellite cluster is now ready for launch....The second set’s seventh satellite, which was made by Taiwan, would still be launched, and the NSPO would seek other rocket suppliers to help with the plan, he said.It would budget NT$540 million (US$17.67 million) for the seventh satellite’s separate launch, which is scheduled for 2020, Yu added.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2018/08/02/nasas-commercial-crew-program-target-test-flight-dates-3/Targeted Test Flight Dates:Boeing Orbital Flight Test (uncrewed): late 2018 / early 2019Boeing Crew Flight Test (crewed): mid-2019SpaceX Demo-1 (uncrewed): November 2018SpaceX Demo-2 (crewed): April 2019