SpaceX is targeting Saturday, April 27 at 8:34 p.m. ET for a Falcon 9 launch of the European Commission’s Galileo L12 mission to medium Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If needed, there is a backup opportunity on Sunday, April 28 at 8:30 p.m. ET.A live webcast of this mission will begin on X @SpaceX about 10 minutes prior to liftoff. Watch live.Due to the additional performance required to deliver the payload to medium Earth orbit, this mission marks the 20th and final launch for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, Intuitive Machines IM-1, and 13 Starlink missions.
Timeline on https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=galileol12stops at fairing deployment - wtf? This is not a secret mission!
Quote from: jcm on 04/26/2024 10:06 pmTimeline on https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=galileol12stops at fairing deployment - wtf? This is not a secret mission!Yes, now SpaceX is starting to do it too! I'm interested, are there 2 or 3 upper stage ignitions?with 2 ignitions is a little shorter,with 3 ignitions the contact with ground stations may be better? and the satellites can be released over the northern hemisphere
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/galileo-foc.htmRunning this mission through Orbiter 2016, I did a double M-Vac burn profile with the first burn inserting the Galileo satellites into a transfer orbit of 200 by 23,616 kilometers inclined 56 degrees. That's assuming the targeted orbital altitude is 23,616 kilometers.Then, the second burn to circularize the orbit occurs at around T+3 hours, 34 minutes (in this case, it'll be 04:08 UTC on April 28th). That's followed by payload separation five minutes later over the Indian Ocean (southern hemisphere)....Now, I understand it's said that three burns may be utilized. But I thought the above-mentioned profile would make sense.
Quote from: ZachS09 on 04/27/2024 03:43 amhttps://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/galileo-foc.htmRunning this mission through Orbiter 2016, I did a double M-Vac burn profile with the first burn inserting the Galileo satellites into a transfer orbit of 200 by 23,522 kilometers inclined 56 degrees. That's assuming the operational orbit is at 23,616 kilometers inclined 56 degrees.Then, the second burn to circularize the orbit occurs at around T+3 hours, 33 minutes (in this case, it'll be 04:07 UTC on April 28th). That's followed by payload separation five minutes later over the Indian Ocean (southern hemisphere)....Now, I understand it's said that three burns may be utilized. But I thought the above-mentioned profile would make sense.3 hours likely would need the long endurance mission kit (grey interstage)Perhaps 3 burns makes that not needed?
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/galileo-foc.htmRunning this mission through Orbiter 2016, I did a double M-Vac burn profile with the first burn inserting the Galileo satellites into a transfer orbit of 200 by 23,522 kilometers inclined 56 degrees. That's assuming the operational orbit is at 23,616 kilometers inclined 56 degrees.Then, the second burn to circularize the orbit occurs at around T+3 hours, 33 minutes (in this case, it'll be 04:07 UTC on April 28th). That's followed by payload separation five minutes later over the Indian Ocean (southern hemisphere)....Now, I understand it's said that three burns may be utilized. But I thought the above-mentioned profile would make sense.
Running this mission through Orbiter 2016, I did a double M-Vac burn profile with the first burn inserting the Galileo satellites into a transfer orbit of 200 by 23,522 kilometers inclined 56 degrees. That's assuming the targeted orbital altitude is 23,522 kilometers.Then, the second burn to circularize the orbit occurs at around T+3 hours, 34 minutes (in this case, it'll be 04:08 UTC on April 28th). That's followed by payload separation five minutes later over the Indian Ocean (southern hemisphere)....Now, I understand it's said that three burns may be utilized. But I thought the above-mentioned profile would make sense.
Quote from: ZachS09 on 04/27/2024 03:43 amhttps://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/galileo-foc.htmRunning this mission through Orbiter 2016, I did a double M-Vac burn profile with the first burn inserting the Galileo satellites into a transfer orbit of 200 by 23,522 kilometers inclined 56 degrees. That's assuming the operational orbit is at 23,616 kilometers inclined 56 degrees.Then, the second burn to circularize the orbit occurs at around T+3 hours, 33 minutes (in this case, it'll be 04:07 UTC on April 28th). That's followed by payload separation five minutes later over the Indian Ocean (southern hemisphere)....Now, I understand it's said that three burns may be utilized. But I thought the above-mentioned profile would make sense.Going directly into a 23,522 by 200 km orbit from stage separation in one burn is super inefficient and wastes a lot of delta v! I don't know if they even have the performance for that! Even O3b, which goes into a ~2,500 by 8,000 km orbit, has three burns! There is no way this has two.
NGA Rocket Launching notice.
This is, apparently, a total of less than 1.5 tonnes of separable payload going to, or near, 23,616 km x 56 deg while expending the first stage. For comparison, Falcon 9 lifted 4.35 tonne GPS to 392 x 20,163 km x 55 deg while recovering the first stage downrange. Perhaps the payload adapter that holds these two satellites adds enough additional mass to preclude recovery, but it seems a close call to me. Second stage disposal after spacecraft separation is part of the equation as well I suppose. - Ed Kyle
Falcon 9 rolled out to LC-39A early this morning ahead of the Galileo FOC FM25 & FM27 mission. Launch is currently scheduled for tonight at 8:34 PM ET (00:34 UTC Sunday) aboard B1060, which will be expended.Watch live views of 39A on @NASASpaceflight Space Coast Livensf.live/starbase
Second stage disposal after spacecraft separation is part of the equation as well I suppose. - Ed Kyle
