Iridium Launch 2 sat processing going well: SVs 121 & 113 up, 115 & 120 underway, and 117 and 118 on the way. T-minus 30 days and counting!
Quote from: Lar on 05/25/2017 07:25 pmStill kinda picking my jaw off the floor here, but that does seem like it would help flow a lotPaging Ed Kyle, when was the last time anyone (at least semi realistically) planned to launch 4 launchers as similar as these in the same 30 day span? Yeah probably won't happen but if they can pull it off, wow.Well, if you count Delta, N-1, and Thor as the same rocket, they flew three back in February of 1976.Four Thor's in May of 1968.Actually five Thor and Delta launches between Nov. 20th 1968 and Dec. 19th 1968. I think the bar has been raised :-)
Still kinda picking my jaw off the floor here, but that does seem like it would help flow a lotPaging Ed Kyle, when was the last time anyone (at least semi realistically) planned to launch 4 launchers as similar as these in the same 30 day span? Yeah probably won't happen but if they can pull it off, wow.
Quote from: kevin-rf on 05/25/2017 10:14 pmQuote from: Lar on 05/25/2017 07:25 pmStill kinda picking my jaw off the floor here, but that does seem like it would help flow a lotPaging Ed Kyle, when was the last time anyone (at least semi realistically) planned to launch 4 launchers as similar as these in the same 30 day span? Yeah probably won't happen but if they can pull it off, wow.Well, if you count Delta, N-1, and Thor as the same rocket, they flew three back in February of 1976.Four Thor's in May of 1968.Actually five Thor and Delta launches between Nov. 20th 1968 and Dec. 19th 1968. I think the bar has been raised :-)All orbital?
Quote from: Lar on 05/25/2017 07:25 pmStill kinda picking my jaw off the floor here, but that does seem like it would help flow a lotPaging Ed Kyle, when was the last time anyone (at least semi realistically) planned to launch 4 launchers as similar as these in the same 30 day span? Yeah probably won't happen but if they can pull it off, wow.Thor Agena put together some runs. For example, from June 4, 1964 through July 2, 1964 there were five Thor Agena D launches (four TAT Agena D and one Thor Agena D), all from VAFB. Two were from the same launch pad only 15 days apart. All were orbital flights and all were successful.Atlas Agena flew four times orbital inside of a month during August-September 1966. These are just spot checks. There may be more examples.R-7, of course, used to fly many times per month routinely. I see instances of eight or nine launches during several months of the 1970s-80s. - Ed Kyle
A fast paced launch cadence is good, but total orbital launches are not looking so healthy.Today we are 40% through the year and there have been 29 orbital launch attempts.Projecting that through to the end of the year would give us 72-73 attempts, which is notably lower than previous years.
Update: 2nd launch prep is humming along w/ #IridiumNEXT sats being mated to their dispensers. 6/25 here we come! @SpaceX #NEXTevolution
With All Second Launch Satellites at Vandenberg, Iridium® Prepares for the Pace to Quickenby Iridium | Jun 5, 2017All 10 Iridium NEXT Satellites Undergoing Final Launch PreparationsIridium Communications (NASDAQ: IRDM), today announced that all 10 Iridium NEXT satellites have arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California and are being processed for the second launch. Scheduled for June 25th at 1:25 pm PDT (20:25 UTC), this launch begins an ambitious deployment cadence for the additional six SpaceX launches of Iridium NEXT satellites.“First launch testing and validation activities went smoothly, so I have every confidence that our team will more than meet the challenge ahead,” said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. “We’re looking at a spectacular pace of new satellites entering service, that nobody has done since Iridium, the first time around.”The June 25th launch is the second of eight launches for the Iridium NEXT program. Under the lead of Thales Alenia Space (Iridium NEXT System Prime Contractor), the satellites were shipped in pairs from the Orbital ATK Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Gilbert, Arizona. The satellites were transported in specially designed motion and temperature-controlled shipping containers. Upon arrival, each satellite began pre-launch processing which will continue up until launch day. This includes mating them to the dispensers, fueling and encapsulation within the payload fairing. Simultaneously, SpaceX is processing the first and second stages for static fire and launch. All components are on-site and on schedule at this time for launch.Iridium NEXT is the Company’s next-generation global satellite constellation scheduled for completion in 2018. Iridium NEXT represents the evolution of critical communications infrastructure that governments and organizations worldwide rely upon to drive business, enable connectivity, empower disaster relief efforts and more. Iridium NEXT will introduce new capabilities including, Iridium CertusSM, the Company’s next-generation multi-service communications platform, that will deliver broadband speeds over L-band for aviation, maritime, land mobile, Internet of Things and government organizations. It will also enable the AireonSM space-based ADS-B real-time, global aircraft surveillance and flight tracking system.
Not only onsite, but now all mated to dispenser! We're on schedule for fueling this weekend. T-minus 18 days and counting to L2!
Mobile communications provider Iridium and launch-service provider SpaceX have scheduled the launch of a second 10-satellite batch of Iridium spacecraft for June 25. Nine of them have exactEarth/Harris AIS payloads.Four of these payloads were on the first Iridium Next launch. The exactView RT, for real-time, service using the Iridium-hosted transponders began initial service in May.In a conference call with investors, exactEarth CEO Peter Mason said the performance of the new transponders is as good as expected. Once about 30 of them are in orbit — by mid-2018 according to the latest Iridium schedule — customers will be able to collect ship data less than a minute after it is captured by the satellites.
LEO-based PNT is now mainstream, in the form of real-time signals that have been delivered over the Iridium satellite network since May 2016. This service is made possible by Satelles in partnership with Iridium Communications Inc. in a service called the Satellite Time and Location (STL), a non-GNSS solution for assured time and location that is highly resilient and physically secure. Consumers, businesses, and governments are already using these LEO-based signals in environments with high GNSS interference or occlusion. ... STL field tests demonstrate a positioning accuracy of 20 meters and timekeeping to within 1 microsecond, all in deep attenuation environments indoors. ... The hundreds of LEO satellites needed to match the coverage of GPS may be coming.
...This will be the first launch for Col. Michael S. Hough who took over as commander of the 30th Space Wing on June 9th."This will also be our first launch with the Autonomous Flight Safety System, which is expected to help decrease launch costs and improve turnaround times between launches," said Hough.Jalama Beach County Park, about 30 miles south of Vandenberg Air Force Base, will be evacuated on June 25th from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. due to the Falcon 9 launch. Campers will be evacuated to the end of Jalama Road onto Highway 1, according to Santa Barbara County Parks.
Addressing a William Blair investor conference, Desch noted that SpaceX’s next launch [Bulgariasat-1], of a Bulgarian telecommunications satellite into geostationary orbit, will use the same Falcon 9 first stage as that used for Iridium’s January flight.But Iridium’s contract called for all-new rocket hardware and so the company will not be using a refurbished stage for any of its launches.“I have no problem with using a reused [first stage],” Desch said. “But give me a big discount and then we’ll talk about it.”
Is this mission still slated for 25 june, 2017?.I cannot find an "update" thread for it, and surely there must be such a thing?
Is this mission still slated for 25 june, 2017?I cannot find an "update" thread for it, and surely there must be such a thing?
Why the Hail Mary ASDS trajectory? Is it because of the up mass of the 10 satellites? I figured they would move the ASDS JTRI parallel with VAFB, just offshore to test RTLS on the west cost.Any thoughts?
