Is there any confirmation that the booster used for this launch will be expendable? And any speculation on which one will be used?
A Sherpa tug has been removed from an upcoming SpaceX rideshare mission after its propulsion system developed a leak, forcing Spaceflight to find new rides for 10 cubesats.
Yesterday, there were reports of problems with the Sherpa deployer, in which VZLUSAT-2 was also integrated. Thanks to the overnight work of technicians from @SpaceflightInc @SpaceX @D_Orbit @VZLUcz and @spacemanictech, it was possible to integrate the satellite into another separator in record time. We will launch according to plan
Also, the rocket launch was moved to January 13.
Quote from: spacevalley27 on 12/22/2021 12:46 pmIs there any confirmation that the booster used for this launch will be expendable? And any speculation on which one will be used? I strongly believe this mission is an RTLS based on the FCC filing. No droneship location in the FCC filing and the LZ-1 coordinates of "North 28 29 11, West 80 32 51" appear in the filing, just as they did with Transporter-2.
Steve Bennett, Kepler’s chief operating officer, said the company plans to launch four satellites in January, as part of SpaceX’s Transporter 3 Falcon 9 ride-share mission.“We are constantly iterating on the satellites that we put into orbit – one of the strengths of having manufacturing in house,” Bennett told SpaceNews via email.“With the upcoming launch, two of our satellites will be carrying [Aether] user equipment to prove out the design and build the flight heritage.”
Sherpa tug removed from Transporter 3 mission due to propellant leakhttps://spacenews.com/propellant-leak-forces-sherpa-tug-off-spacex-rideshare-mission/Quote from: Jeff FoustA Sherpa tug has been removed from an upcoming SpaceX rideshare mission after its propulsion system developed a leak, forcing Spaceflight to find new rides for 10 cubesats.
The leak was discovered the same day that Benchmark announced that its thrusters had been installed on Sherpa and fueled. The Halcyon Avant thrusters use high-test peroxide and hydrocarbon propellants that offer performance similar to systems that use hydrazine and mixed oxides of nitrogen, company officials said, without the handling challenges of those toxic propellants.The Halcyon Avant thrusters installed on Sherpa-LTC1 are the first slated to go to space after completing ground tests. A company spokesperson referred questions about the leak to Spaceflight.
Source: https://amsat-dl.org/satelliten-geplant/Satellite listed aboard Transporter-3: CZE-BDSat, along with others already listed here.Also listed aboard Alba Orbital Cluster 3 in Q2 2022 are: Tartan Artibeus-1 and PyCubed-1.
Source: https://amsat-dl.org/satelliten-geplant/Satellite listed aboard Transporter-3: CZE-BDSat, along with others already listed here.Also listed aboard Alba Orbital Cluster 3 in Q2 2022 are: TartanArtibeus-1 and PyCubed-1.
Planning a launch in Q1 2022 on the SpaceX Transporter 3 mission into a 500 or 600km circular SSO
The Launch Photography Viewing Guide, dated December 11, lists Transporter-3 launching from SLC-40; not a surprise for payloads bound for Sun-synchronous orbits.(A launch from LC-39A along this trajectory would overfly other launch complexes further south.)(snip)
A Falcon 9 from pad 40 will launch the Transporter-3 rideshare mission to polar orbit on January 13, likely at 10:00am EST. The first stage will land back at the Cape about eight minutes after launch.
According to this posting from one of Transporter-3's customers, the mission is scheduled to launch at 10:00 UTC.https://twitter.com/innova_space/status/1464225608624484357
Quote from: gongora on 12/14/2021 03:04 pmCan't we get a nice U.S. daytime launch once in a while? (that doesn't seem like a great time for all the visible light earth observation sats?)Whiner!6AM EST is ~67 minutes before sunriseCould be a twilight show and I might have a front row seat (as in 5th floor looking down on the beach near to west of the staging point)How many kilometers downrange is staging?
Can't we get a nice U.S. daytime launch once in a while? (that doesn't seem like a great time for all the visible light earth observation sats?)
Launch time is 10:25 am Eastern as per Ben Cooper and also SFN.
Gongora might be happy, but I prefer twilight launches for the best plume effects.
Still, can anyone answer my question above?
Going to make a very rough guess that B1052.3 will be used, 60 is getting the Starlink launch tomorrow for its 10th flight, and I would imagine for a customer payload they wouldn’t want to risk the mission with one of the life leaders. Also, B1052 was spotted with a stage 2 already integrated, meaning it should be good to go. Would watch out for the very high chance of a firing early next week if 52 is indeed being used considering this core has not seen flight in a while and is the first core to see flight after being converted from heavy.
