SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 - SES-8 - DISCUSSION THREAD

[Noborry]

Though I don't understand why they said Vandenberg, not SLC.

I believe it's one of those cases of "understand what I meant, not what I said".

I predict a sterling career as airline baggage handler for that guy. Vandenberg, Cape Canaveral,... same difference.

[ttalex]

Expected launch date - 23-oct-2013:
http://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs/download.do?attachment_key=1011903

[StarryKnight]

Expected launch date - 23-oct-2013:
http://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs/download.do?attachment_key=1011903

That was based on an expected launch of Cassiope around Sept. 14/15. With that slipping to Sept. 29, the SES-8 launch date will also slip. That temporary license is for 30 days, which allows for about two weeks of launch slip and still allow them to support the entire LEOP mission.

[JBF]

That was based on an expected launch of Cassiope around Sept. 14/15. With that slipping to Sept. 29, the SES-8 launch date will also slip. That temporary license is for 30 days, which allows for about two weeks of launch slip and still allow them to support the entire LEOP mission.

It is not a given that SES-8 will slip that much since it appears most of the issue we have heard of were pad related.

[ugordan]

And the pad at SLC-40 wasn't overhauled as well?

[JBF]

And the pad at SLC-40 wasn't overhauled as well?

An update is very different from brand new.  Plus I doubt they are sitting around, any issues identified at VAFB are probably being double checked at the Cape as they are identified.

[Jim]

And the pad at SLC-40 wasn't overhauled as well?

An update is very different from brand new.  Plus I doubt they are sitting around, any issues identified at VAFB are probably being double checked at the Cape as they are identified.

It is a brand new erector

[ugordan]

And the pad at SLC-40 wasn't overhauled as well?

An update is very different from brand new.  Plus I doubt they are sitting around, any issues identified at VAFB are probably being double checked at the Cape as they are identified.

Different pads, different GSE as this one has actual legacy from v1.0. My understanding is it's not a "simple" switch from one T/E to another.

[Garrett]

And the pad at SLC-40 wasn't overhauled as well?

An update is very different from brand new.  Plus I doubt they are sitting around, any issues identified at VAFB are probably being double checked at the Cape as they are identified.

It is a brand new erector

He was talking about the pad. A brand new erector is an update to the pad.
Unless you mean they had to significantly modify the pad to accommodate the new erector?

[StarryKnight]

I didn't mean to imply there's a day for day slip for SES-8 relative to the Cassiope launch. It is possible that any pad related issues that were found at Vandenberg may have already been corrected (or maybe didn't even apply) to the pad at the cape.

But the SES-8 spacecraft won't be shipped to the cape until after the Cassiope launch. It is going by truck, which takes a few days to ship because of various restrictions in the different states for hauling a wide load. Once there, there is processing and testing that is done on the spacecraft before it gets fueled and finally integrated with the launch vehicle.

Of missions that I've been involved with, the fastest I've seen this done was about 18 days. But that was a much simpler spacecraft being mated to a rocket that this type of satellite was integrated with many times before. A more typical prelaunch processing time is 24 to 30 days from spacecraft arrival to launch. (Most NASA missions ship to the launch site much earlier and perform more extensive testing. But the above is typical for most commercial satellite manufacturers and launch vehicle providers).

This will be the first time an Orbital spacecraft will be mated to a Falcon 9 as well as the first time the teams from the two companies will be working together. So there's bound to be some extra work involved for at least this first launch.

[Robotbeat]

Those are useful rules of thumb! Thanks.

[mr. mark]

Is the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle for this mission already at the cape?

[smoliarm]

Is the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle for this mission already at the cape?

I would guess so.
After the Cassiope testing at McGregor was done (mid July), there were 6 notices on Tests of Unusual Loudness (from Aug 8 to Sep 4) - pretty much every week. After that for three last weeks there was none, so it looks (or sounds) like they are done with testing of the next F9 v1.1.
And since we know that Falcon for Flight 8 is still at Hawthorne (per last article), then all the loud tests in August were for Flight 7 - SES-8.

[ugordan]

And since we know that Falcon for Flight 8 is still at Hawthorne (per last article)

We don't know the date of those Hawthorne images. Knowing SpaceX, they could have been taken yesterday or more than a month ago.

[Orbiter]

And since we know that Falcon for Flight 8 is still at Hawthorne (per last article)

We don't know the date of those Hawthorne images. Knowing SpaceX, they could have been taken yesterday or more than a month ago.

It's F9S1-008 per the latest L2 information provided by the latest SpaceX article.

[ugordan]

That has no bearing on what I wrote - current location of #08 stage being sufficiently uncertain.

[smoliarm]

And since we know that Falcon for Flight 8 is still at Hawthorne (per last article)

We don't know the date of those Hawthorne images. Knowing SpaceX, they could have been taken yesterday or more than a month ago.

True, but does it really change anything with respect to current status of Flight-7 hardware?

[ugordan]

No, not really. We don't currently know the whereabouts of that one, either 

One could assume that the latest known test (Sep 14th) was at least F9S1-07 so it could, by now, either be at the Cape or on its way there.

[baldusi]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32768.msg1095636#msg1095636

[mlindner]

There's info on L2 to suggests it's still at Texas.

Edit: Fixed to provide correct information.

Second stage has been known to be at the cape for half a month now.
L2 link to the section talking about this:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32768.msg1095192#msg1095192

First stage was still in testing at that point, saying that it would be shipping out after a week or so.