Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon Heavy : Arabsat 6A : LC-39A : April 11, 2019 - DISCUSSION (Read 308844 times)

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #380 on:** 04/10/2019 10:09 pm »

Stephen Clark at Spaceflight Now is reporting that the targeted transfer orbit will have an inclination of 23 degrees and an apogee of 90,000 km. That looks pretty similar to Thaicom 8's transfer orbit, which was about a GTO-1500 (for a 3,100 kg satellite, vs. about 6,000 kg for Arabsat 6A). Do those numbers look about right?

Wolfram66 · « **Reply #381 on:** 04/10/2019 10:29 pm »

Reports of High level winds pushing launch to end of window.
See Winds analysis here

http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/windmain.php?&basin=atlantic&sat=wg8&prod=wvir&zoom=&time=

and weather balloon soundings from NOAA SPC
https://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/soundings/19041010_OBS/

Wargrim · « **Reply #382 on:** 04/10/2019 10:40 pm »

Quote from: Jarnis on 04/10/2019 10:36 pm

Youtube start time just jumped to "Live in 4 hours"...?

haywoodfloyd · « **Reply #383 on:** 04/10/2019 10:42 pm »

SpaceX has reset the countdown clock to the end of the window - 8:32 pm. EDT.

I14R10 · « **Reply #384 on:** 04/10/2019 10:55 pm »

Damn. I was hoping I could watch it before going to bed. Hopefully it gets delayed to tomorrow. Sorry guys, I'm only thinking of myself

ZachS09 · « **Reply #385 on:** 04/10/2019 10:56 pm »

https://twitter.com/baserunner0723/status/1116111840298328066

I don’t understand the layout of this ULW display.

haywoodfloyd · « **Reply #386 on:** 04/10/2019 10:58 pm »

Just keep thinking good thoughts.
When is tanking scheduled to start?

ZachS09 · « **Reply #387 on:** 04/10/2019 11:00 pm »

Quote from: OxCartMark on 04/10/2019 10:53 pm

The official SpaceX Youtube stream is pointing to an hours long delay. Not sure if that is a fluke or an update. This is set to eastern time, same as the launch site:

It’s not a fluke. The 11:32 PM is technically 23:32 UTC.

crandles57 · « **Reply #388 on:** 04/10/2019 11:08 pm »

Live in 4 hours??? 03:32 UTC

Thought the window closed 00:32.

Can they extend window by 3 hours?

ZachS09 · « **Reply #389 on:** 04/10/2019 11:12 pm »

Quote from: haywoodfloyd on 04/10/2019 10:58 pm

Just keep thinking good thoughts.
When is tanking scheduled to start?

According to the press kit, prop load should start at T-50 minutes when Stage 1 RP-1 starts flowing before the LOX kicks in at T-45 minutes.

TJL · « **Reply #390 on:** 04/10/2019 11:28 pm »

Scrubbed for today.

sferrin · « **Reply #391 on:** 04/10/2019 11:30 pm »

Called it.

Vettedrmr · « **Reply #392 on:** 04/10/2019 11:32 pm »

Quote from: ZachS09 on 04/10/2019 10:56 pm

I don’t understand the layout of this ULW display.

Wind direction is indicated by angle of the vectors (I assume coming from eastern hemisphere in this image), velocity on the opposite side.

Altitude is on the left: millibars on the left, feet and meters above sea level on the side.

HTH, and have a good one,
Mike

Rocket Science · « **Reply #393 on:** 04/10/2019 11:33 pm »

We need an unlike button for some things...

Prettz · « **Reply #394 on:** 04/10/2019 11:36 pm »

At least tomorrow we might get a nice day time launch for the first block 5 FH.

Johnnyhinbos · « **Reply #395 on:** 04/10/2019 11:54 pm »

Ugh - literally the one day I had hoped it wouldn’t be would be the 11th. I’ll be boarding a plane for Vietnam at 5:30 EST.

Excuse me while I go put on my big boy pants and get over it. Ugh.

tleski · « **Reply #396 on:** 04/11/2019 12:10 am »

Quote from: Johnnyhinbos on 04/10/2019 11:54 pm

Ugh - literally the one day I had hoped it wouldn’t be would be the 11th. I’ll be boarding a plane for Vietnam at 5:30 EST.

Excuse me while I go put on my big boy pants and get over it. Ugh.

What about in-flight WiFi?

intrepidpursuit · « **Reply #397 on:** 04/11/2019 12:16 am »

Quote from: tleski on 04/11/2019 12:10 am

Quote from: Johnnyhinbos on 04/10/2019 11:54 pm
Ugh - literally the one day I had hoped it wouldn’t be would be the 11th. I’ll be boarding a plane for Vietnam at 5:30 EST.

Excuse me while I go put on my big boy pants and get over it. Ugh.
What about in-flight WiFi?

In flight wifi often blocks video streaming unfortunately. Can still follow NSF though!

Johnnyhinbos · « **Reply #398 on:** 04/11/2019 12:59 am »

Quote from: intrepidpursuit on 04/11/2019 12:16 am

Quote from: tleski on 04/11/2019 12:10 am
Quote from: Johnnyhinbos on 04/10/2019 11:54 pm
Ugh - literally the one day I had hoped it wouldn’t be would be the 11th. I’ll be boarding a plane for Vietnam at 5:30 EST.

Excuse me while I go put on my big boy pants and get over it. Ugh.
What about in-flight WiFi?

In flight wifi often blocks video streaming unfortunately. Can still follow NSF though!

Guess I’ll find out. Thanks for the comforting words fellas...

gongora · « **Reply #399 on:** 04/11/2019 04:18 am »

Quote from: Yellowstone10 on 04/10/2019 10:09 pm

Stephen Clark at Spaceflight Now is reporting that the targeted transfer orbit will have an inclination of 23 degrees and an apogee of 90,000 km. That looks pretty similar to Thaicom 8's transfer orbit, which was about a GTO-1500 (for a 3,100 kg satellite, vs. about 6,000 kg for Arabsat 6A). Do those numbers look about right?

He also gives the satellite mass (6465kg) and says they are using new flexible solar arrays.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/04/10/spacexs-falcon-heavy-ready-for-first-commercial-launch/

Quote

“I think one of the most dramatic changes is we’ve got these new flexible solar arrays on-board that basically unfurl rather than having the old-style rigid panels,” Beutelschies said. “Because of that, they’re 30 percent lighter and 50 percent more power than our previous arrays. For Arabsat 6A, the one we’re about to launch, we actually have 20 kilowatts of solar array power for the vehicle.
...
“You can kind of think of it as almost a fabric, and so it unfurls kind of like a window shade,” Beutelschies said. “It’s in a very small volume, and comes out and is pulled taut, and all the solar cells are mounted to it.”