Author Topic: SpaceX wins contract for missile-warning satellites (Read 26407 times)

gongora · « **Reply #40 on:** 05/28/2022 11:13 pm »

Quote from: su27k on 05/28/2022 04:33 pm

They cut Gen2 in half for this contract? If so, what does this tell us about Gen2 platform?

Uh, you do realize that these satellites have a completely different payload than Starlink Gen2, right?

su27k · « **Reply #41 on:** 05/30/2022 04:10 am »

Quote from: gongora on 05/28/2022 11:13 pm

Quote from: su27k on 05/28/2022 04:33 pm
They cut Gen2 in half for this contract? If so, what does this tell us about Gen2 platform?

Uh, you do realize that these satellites have a completely different payload than Starlink Gen2, right?

Yes, but I'm not talking about the payload, I'm talking about the bus/platform. I reckon you can't just cut the platform in half without some serious engineering, regardless of the payload. Unless it is designed to do so from the start, which it might very well be since originally they kept the option of launching Gen2 on Falcon 9.

But now they're betting everything on Starship, would it still make sense for them to keep this compatibility with Falcon 9?

gongora · « **Reply #42 on:** 05/30/2022 01:57 pm »

These satellites start launching in a few months. They don't currently have anything to do with Starship. The Tranche 1 satellites (which I assume SpaceX will bid on) are being launched through NSSL, and it will be a while before Starship is eligible for those contracts.

Changing the physical size of the bus is probably not that hard. It's a handful of subsystems mounted to a frame. Sizing the power and thermal systems for the payload is probably the biggest change. Hopefully they'll add a little more redundancy on the SDA sats than they do on Starlink Gen1.

edzieba · « **Reply #43 on:** 05/31/2022 01:18 pm »

It's possible the Tranche 0 birds were based on Starlink 2, before Starlink 2 was dedicated to Starship launch only an went on a growth spurt. It will be interesting to see if these 'Starlink 1.5' bus satellites are what is proposed for Tranche 1, or if that sees a much larger satellite (Starlink 2 as-it-is-now based) proposed, or no proposal at all and SpaceX just cut their losses to avoid being stuck building a dedicated bus just for the SDA.

gongora · « **Reply #44 on:** 05/31/2022 08:39 pm »

I don't know why you think it would be a loss for SpaceX to build a different sized satellite for SDA if it's profitable.

niwax · « **Reply #45 on:** 05/31/2022 08:50 pm »

Quote from: gongora on 05/31/2022 08:39 pm

I don't know why you think it would be a loss for SpaceX to build a different sized satellite for SDA if it's profitable.

How much engineering is there in the shape anyway, compared to thruster, torquers and electronics? Presumably they would have to change it to to accommodate the payload in any case.

Asteroza · « **Reply #46 on:** 05/31/2022 11:15 pm »

Somewhere there was a satellite volume envelope drawing, showing the SDA sat to be quite beefy and not really of flatpack lineage.

Redclaws · « **Reply #47 on:** 05/31/2022 11:53 pm »

Quote from: Asteroza on 05/31/2022 11:15 pm

Somewhere there was a satellite volume envelope drawing, showing the SDA sat to be quite beefy and not really of flatpack lineage.

I’d really like to see this to confirm it’s about these SDA satellites - wasn’t the whole idea these are Starlink derived?

gongora · « **Reply #48 on:** 06/01/2022 12:36 am »

"Starlink dervived" doesn't have to be the really thin flat-pack profile. The bus includes flight computer, attitude control, position tracking, propulsion, power generation, thermal management. That stuff can be put in different sized packages. The SDA sats were still stackable but much thicker. The sizing was in the discussion for the SDA Tranche 0 launch contract.

gongora · « **Reply #49 on:** 06/01/2022 12:53 am »

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=47145.msg2147001#msg2147001

su27k · « **Reply #50 on:** 11/03/2022 03:06 am »

Sounds like SpaceX didn't bid on the follow on contract: https://spacenews.com/leidos-selected-by-northrop-grumman-to-supply-sensor-payloads-for-u-s-missile-tracking-satellites/

Quote

SpaceX’s Tranche 0 satellites are projected to launch in December. The company reportedly does not plan to bid on future tranches of the Tracking Layer so the new agreement with Northrop Grumman gives Leidos a long-term foothold in the program.

zubenelgenubi · « **Reply #51 on:** 12/10/2022 03:27 am »

When/how was Leidos revealed as the sensor subcontractor to SpaceX on the Tracking Layer Tranche 0 satellites?

There was no mention in the initial news from October 2020.

su27k · « **Reply #52 on:** 12/11/2022 02:43 am »

Quote from: zubenelgenubi on 12/10/2022 03:27 am

When/how was Leidos revealed as the sensor subcontractor to SpaceX on the Tracking Layer Tranche 0 satellites?

There was no mention in the initial news from October 2020.

It was mentioned in March this year: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=52704.msg2350682#msg2350682

zubenelgenubi · « **Reply #53 on:** 12/11/2022 06:24 am »

Quote from: su27k on 12/11/2022 02:43 am

Quote from: zubenelgenubi on 12/10/2022 03:27 am
When/how was Leidos revealed as the sensor subcontractor to SpaceX on the Tracking Layer Tranche 0 satellites?

There was no mention in the initial news from October 2020.

It was mentioned in March this year: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=52704.msg2350682#msg2350682

Wow, I wouldn't have thought that that information would have remained confidential that long.