SpaceX Vehicles and Missions > SpaceX Missions Section
SpaceX Falcon 9 : Spaceflight SSO-A : December 3, 2018 - DISCUSSION
Steven Pietrobon:
Thanks gongora. If you make a change, can you indicate the change some way?
gongora:
Elysium Star II cubesat on the manifest for this flight.
Elysium Space to Launch World’s First Memorial Spacecraft on SpaceX Falcon 9 Mission
Tuesday May 16, 2017
--- Quote ---SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The pioneering company in memorial spaceflight, Elysium Space, is announcing today that its Elysium Star II memorial spacecraft will be on Spaceflight’s SSO-A dedicated rideshare mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 to be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Last November Elysium Space announced its revolutionary partnership with Spaceflight, a leading provider of launch and mission management services, to offer annual memorial spaceflight services to families, drastically reducing waiting times from years to months.
“We are honored to assist families in achieving their dreams, riding on one of the greatest rocket in the world. This historical launch provides the perfect conditions to make this memorial spaceflight an exceptionally meaningful experience for all participants.” said Thomas Civeit, founder and CEO of Elysium Space.
The 100 participants already booked for the upcoming Elysium Star II mission include U.S. military veterans, aerospace enthusiasts, and families looking to celebrate a loved one within the poetry of the starry sky. Families are welcome to join this historical launch event at Vandenberg in Southern California, or to watch via a live stream.
The spacecraft will be deployed in a Sun-synchronous orbit, ensuring it will pass over every location in the world during its journey among the stars, which will last about 2 years before re-entering the atmosphere as a shooting star. The free iOS/Android Elysium mobile app will display the memorial spacecraft location in real time during the mission, enhancing the overall personal connection and experience. Reservations for the Elysium Star II mission are still open via the Elysium Space website, starting at $2,490.
The Elysium Space memorial spacecraft are the first dedicated satellites ever launched for this purpose, and offer the most personal experience; previous memorial spaceflights consisted in mounting participants’ capsules to a rocket upper stage or another existing satellite.
SpaceX’s Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base has a long history dating back to the early 1960s. Originally an Atlas launch pad activated in 1962, SLC-4E was in active use until a final Titan IV launch in 2005. SpaceX’s groundbreaking was in July 2011, and the pad was completed in just 17 months later in November 2012.
“Offering dedicated rideshare missions makes it easier and more affordable for organizations like Elysium Space to execute their space missions,” said Curt Blake, President of Spaceflight’s launch division. “We are pleased to be able to play a role in their historical mission.”
This milestone allows Elysium Space to pursue its prime mission of offering exceptional tributes that are within the reach of most families; by looking into the infinite wonder of the night sky, we can remember the beauty of those who have touched our lives forever.
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(found via this article: [TechCrunch]Elysium Space to launch the first ever ‘memorial spacecraft’ via SpaceX
gongora:
This is likely on SSO-A, and shows a February launch date.
Jordan’s First CubeSat Set for Early 2018 Launch
--- Quote ---05/30/2017
Jordan's first CubeSat — JY1SAT — will be launched next February. The spacecraft’s name recalls the Amateur Radio call sign of Jordan’s late King Hussein. JY1SAT will carry a FUNcube 435/145 MHz SSB/CW Amateur Radio inverting transponder and a Slow-Scan Digital Video (SSDV) system to transmit stored images.
According to The Jordan Times, a team of 16 university students has been constructing the 1U CubeSat, supervised by a group of experts and academics through weekly meetings at the Royal Jordanian Radio Amateurs Society (RJRAS). RJRAS members Nart Tahamouqa, JY5IB, and Rafiq Farmawi, JY4CI, serve as advisers to the project.
The JY1SAT team includes 24-year-old Zeid Kawar, whose 2-month internship at NASA’s Ames Research Center inspired his interest in developing his country’s first nanosatellite.
The student team will develop and operate a special ground station (JY6JY). JY1SAT will transmit stored images reflecting Jordan’s historical and cultural heritage, which will be selected in advance of the launch through a national competition.
JY1SAT applied to the IARU on May 15 to coordinate a telemetry downlink on 145.840 MHz and transponder downlink passband of 145.855-145.875 MHz with an inverting uplink on 435.100-435.120 MHz. A SpaceX flight will carry JY1SAT into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. — Thanks to AMSAT-UK, The Jordan Times, AMSAT News Service
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gongora:
[SpaceNews] Rideshare demand grows despite development of small launch vehicles
--- Quote ---“We’re trying to provide more domestic launch capability for secondaries,” said Scott Schoneman of Spaceflight, noting that about one-third the value of that dedicated Falcon 9 launch is for U.S. government satellites that could not launch on foreign vehicles.
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gongora:
This appears to be a 3U cubesat, launching early/spring 2018 on a Falcon 9, ride arranged through Spaceflight, video shows it coming off an ESPA ring based carrier. Sounds like SSO-A. He's still raising the last $70k on Kickstarter if you want to sponsor a payload ;)
Orbital Reflector web page
[Architectural Digest] This Is Why a Beautiful Sculpture Will Be Launched Into Outer Space
--- Quote ---It’s not often that we pause to think about the many satellites that roam outer space. An ambitious project from artist Trevor Paglen aims to change that, reimagining the aesthetics of aerospace engineering and our relationship with the cosmos in the process. For his work titled Orbital Reflector, a diamond-shaped silver balloon measuring 100 feet in length will be packed into a small, box-like structure known as a CubeSat and launched out of Earth’s atmosphere via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Once it's about 350 miles from Earth, the CubeSat will release the sculpture. The mirror-like sculpture will circle the globe for a period of two months, reflecting light as brightly as the Big Dipper does back to Earth.
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[New York Times] Art for a Post-Surveillance Age
[Wired] Trevor Paglen’s satellite of art
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