SpaceX Falcon 9 : Spaceflight SSO-A : December 3, 2018 - DISCUSSION

[vaporcobra]

https://twitter.com/SpaceflightInc/status/1054461641394479108

[gongora]

CONVOY: ON THE ROAD TO THE SSO-A LAUNCH

By Hilary Meyerson
OCTOBER 22, 2018

We are getting very excited for our upcoming SSO-A mission as we move into final preparations. Integration of the dozens of spacecraft at our Auburn facility has been a busy few weeks but all went smoothly. Then, we crated up the integrated stack and hit the road to Vandenberg Air Force Base. Our attentive team followed several trucks as they made their way down, making sure that temperature and environment for the spacecraft was optimal.

The assembled stack has now traveled by road 1,075 miles (1730 km) from Seattle. It will travel another 357 miles (575 km) to reach its targeted orbit. So we could say that the longest part of the journey is over…the more exciting part is still to come!

Now that they’ve arrived at the base, work continues with some final integration. All eyes are looking ahead to launch later this year!

There is a rather unexciting 30 second video of trucks going down a highway, but it does show a mission patch in the corner of the screen.  If anyone gets really really bored you can compare the flags on the mission patch to the list of payloads in the FCC documentation and see if anything got left off 

[smoliarm]

...
There is a rather unexciting 30 second video of trucks going down a highway, but it does show a mission patch in the corner of the screen.  If anyone gets really really bored you can compare the flags on the mission patch to the list of payloads in the FCC documentation and see if anything got left off 

I did it, it wasn't that boring
On the patch, there are 18 flags, stating from the top clockwise:
1   USA
2   Canada
3   Finland
4   Germany
5   Indna
6   Italy
7   Jordan
8   Kazakhstan
9   Netherlands
10   Poland
11   Spain
12   Australia
13   South Korea
14   Switzerland
15   Thailand
16   United Kingdom
17   South Africa
18   Brazil
which is a perfect match with the FCC list.
They did not forget any flags

[vaporcobra]

the patch, for reference

[vaporcobra]

Also, I accidentally made a gif of cubesat separation that was WAY too fast but it's sort of too entertaining not to post.

[Chris Bergin]

Maxar’s SSL Delivers Two Earth Observation Satellites to Vandenberg Launch Base

 SSL advances its growing leadership in the manufacturing of small form-factor satellites

 PALO ALTO, Calif. – October 25, 2018 – SSL, a Maxar Technologies company (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR), and a leading provider of innovative satellites and spacecraft systems, has shipped two Earth observation satellites to Vandenberg Air Force Base where they will be launched on Spaceflight’s first Sun Synchronous dedicated rideshare mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. SSL manufactured SkySat 14 and 15 for commercial Earth observation company Planet, advancing SSL’s leadership in the manufacture of innovative, small form-factor satellites.

The imaging satellites feature 72 cm resolution and will be added to Planet’s SkySat constellation, which currently includes 11 SSL-built small satellites. The SkySat constellation complements Planet’s Dove constellation, with the most satellites on orbit from a commercial imagery provider.

“SSL continues to embrace innovation and elevate our partnerships to meet the rising demand for small form-factor satellites,” said Dario Zamarian, Group President, SSL. “It has been rewarding to apply our extensive expertise in the manufacturing of high-quality small satellites, solidifying our leadership position and supporting the Planet team in achieving its objectives.”

Six of Planet’s SSL-built satellites were launched in 2017 and five were launched in 2016. SSL continues to manufacture additional SkySats for Planet in its state-of-the-art SmallSat manufacturing facility, integrating improvements and increasing the cadence of delivery.


“Working alongside SSL on our Earth imaging fleet has been very successful,” said Chester Gillmore, Vice President of Manufacturing at Planet. “Adding two more SkySats to our fleet will enhance our daily monitoring to help our customers gain valuable insights, understand what's happening on the ground and take needed and timely action.”

SSL combines a commercial mindset with a track record of reliability in building smaller form-factor satellites for both Earth Observation and communications. Blending speed and agility with space proven qualification and production processes provides satellite operators with high performance and best value solutions.

[Swedish chef]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/10/spacex-may-use-a-falcon-9-rocket-for-the-third-time-next-month/

The company has not officially confirmed its plans, but at present SpaceX intends to reuse a Falcon 9 rocket for the third time to launch a rideshare mission of dozens of small satellites for Spaceflight. This Spaceflight SSO-A mission currently has a launch date of November 19, according to a calendar maintained by Spaceflight Now.

[gongora]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/10/spacex-may-use-a-falcon-9-rocket-for-the-third-time-next-month/

The company has not officially confirmed its plans, but at present SpaceX intends to reuse a Falcon 9 rocket for the third time to launch a rideshare mission of dozens of small satellites for Spaceflight. This Spaceflight SSO-A mission currently has a launch date of November 19, according to a calendar maintained by Spaceflight Now.

Spaceflight retweeted a link to this article.

[OrestesGaolin]

Hi all! Does anyone have some idea on what's the possible time of the launch?

[astropl]

Hi all! Does anyone have some idea on what's the possible time of the launch?

18:32 UTC (19:32 CET).

[woods170]

Also, I accidentally made a gif of cubesat separation that was WAY too fast but it's sort of too entertaining not to post.

[Off topic]
Somehow that reminds me of the Death Blossom weapon featured in "The Last Starfighter".
[/Off topic]

[Gobbo]

Hi all! Does anyone have some idea on what's the possible time of the launch?

18:32 UTC (19:32 CET).

What is the source of this information? I saw it on spaceflightnow launch schedule but I can't find any other source confirming that.

There is a KARI document mentioning the 10:30 launch but where does the 10:32 come from?

(...)
November 19, 2018 on Falcon 9 (expected to be the third flight of the booster) to 575km circular 97-98deg 10:30 LTDN SSO from Vandenberg SLC-4E.  RTLS landing was expected, but the booster may be expended because of range conflicts.  Launching at 10:32am PST (18:32 UTC).
(...)

I have a question about the LTDN of 10:30 - was it just inferred from the launch window and Vandenberg available launch azimuths or was it quoted somewhere explicitly?

[gongora]

(...)
November 19, 2018 on Falcon 9 (expected to be the third flight of the booster) to 575km circular 97-98deg 10:30 LTDN SSO from Vandenberg SLC-4E.  RTLS landing was expected, but the booster may be expended because of range conflicts.  Launching at 10:32am PST (18:32 UTC).
(...)

I have a question about the LTDN of 10:30 - was it just inferred from the launch window and Vandenberg available launch azimuths or was it quoted somewhere explicitly?

I think this was my source (which is getting a little old now, and most of the subsequent flights on that list probably aren't going to happen):
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40231.msg1653428#msg1653428

[AndyH]

http://www.arrl.org/news/amsat-s-fox-1cliff-cubesat-ready-for-launch

10/03/2018
AMSAT reports that Vice President-Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, delivered and integrated its Fox-1Cliff CubeSat into the launch vehicle on September 24, in preparation for sending it into orbit later this year...


Buxton said Fox-1Cliff will share dispenser space with ExseedSat-1, a CubeSat built by an eight-person team at Exseed Space Innovations Private Limited, based in Hyderabad, India, and co-founded by Ashhar Farhan, VU2ESE, the designer of the µBitX SSB/CW transceiver. Farhan and engineer Gurudatta Panda, VU3GDP, were on hand for the integration. ExseedSat-1 carries an Amateur Radio FM transponder and APRS digipeater, with a repeater, digipeater, and telemetry downlink of 145.900 MHz FM, and a repeater and digipeater uplink of 435.340 MHz.

[smoliarm]

I have a question on deployment scheme and since it's fairly complex - on responsibility boundaries.
Well, it's not A question, more like a bunch of them

As I understand the whole SSO-A payload consists of three main units:
* The Multi-Payload Carrier (MPC), which has no 'brains' itself, and it relies completely on Falcon's second stage (F9s2) avionics. Also, MPC's satellites can be deployed only AFTER UFF separation.
* The Upper Free Flyer; it separates first (AIUI), and after that it does all the orientation-deployment jobs on its own.
* The Lower Free Flyer (LFF), which is exposed only after the UFF separates. Like UFF, the LFF has its own avionics/computer/batteries.

So, the questions:
1. Will Falcon's second stage make any main-engine burns after UFF separation?
2. Afterwards, which deployment comes first - LFF or MPC's satellites ?

And on distribution of responsibility -
3.
As I understand, SpaceX is responsible for SIX commands:
UFF sep command;
LFF sep command;
Four MPC sep commands
- plus all the required orientation/maneuvers in between.
If these points OK - the launch status is "success" no matter what happens to UFF and LFF.

Is this correct or am I missing something?

[codav]

So, the questions:
1. Will Falcon's second stage make any main-engine burns after UFF separation?
2. Afterwards, which deployment comes first - LFF or MPC's satellites ?

To the first question, if there is no need to change the general orbital parameters (apogee/perigee/inclination), then there won't be a main engine restart in-between the deployments. The mission profile says all sats are going into the same orbit, so after SECO, there won't be another restart except for the S2 deorbit burn.

The second question is easy to answer, LFF will separate last, see the attached image which shows the deployment sequence (taken from this article which has a lot of additional details about the whole deployment process).

And on distribution of responsibility -
3.
As I understand, SpaceX is responsible for SIX commands:
UFF sep command;
LFF sep command;
Four MPC sep commands
- plus all the required orientation/maneuvers in between.
If these points OK - the launch status is "success" no matter what happens to UFF and LFF.

Is this correct or am I missing something?

As far as I can say, yes. This is similar to the ZUMA payload adapter which was built by Northrop Grumman, but malfunctioned. SpaceX was not to blame and thus not held liable for the mission failure.
If either UFF or LFF separates correctly but then fails to deploy the sats, from SpaceX's PoV the launch is still a success, but the overall mission status will be "partial failure" for the customer.

[gongora]

The UFF and LFF don't have propulsion systems or attitude control capability.

The second stage with the Multi Payload Carrier attached will do a deorbit burn.  The Multi Payload Carrier has no avionics.

The FCC documentation also shows the 10:30 LTDN orbit.

[Gobbo]

The UFF and LFF don't have propulsion systems or attitude control capability.

The second stage with the Multi Payload Carrier attached will do a deorbit burn.  The Multi Payload Carrier has no avionics.

Yes, the FCC application mentions that UFF and LFF will use drag sail for deorbiting.

After a mission lifetime of twenty-four hours, the
UFF and LFF spacecraft will then deploy a drag sail and rely on atmospheric drag to fully deorbit.

The FCC documentation also shows the 10:30 LTDN orbit.

The table in the document is unsearchable and that's why I missed it looking through FCC docs. Thank you!

It is indeed mentioned on page 5 (table 1) of the  Request for STA document. LTDN 10:30 a.m.

[Inoeth]

Now that we're into November, any word on new permitting for a drone-ship landing if this launch date holds and is before the Delta mission? What's the latest that they could get approval for a drone ship landing?

[Michael Baylor]

Now that we're into November, any word on new permitting for a drone-ship landing if this launch date holds and is before the Delta mission? What's the latest that they could get approval for a drone ship landing?

It doesn't take too long to get them approved, but I am guessing that SpaceX would have filed for it by now if they wanted to land on the droneship.