SpaceX F9 : Starlink 4-3 : CCSFS SLC-40 : 2 December 2021 (23:12 UTC)

[Steven Pietrobon]

AOS and view of deployed satellites.

Congratulations to SpaceX and Starlink for the successful launch!

[zubenelgenubi]

Thank you, Steven!

And another great job by our NSF webcast team!

[JuaniX]

Any mention of launch time to the second?
Milliseconds would be even better.

This is the best I've found so far:
https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/12/02/falcon-9-starlink-4-3-mission-status-center/

T-minus 90 seconds and counting. Everything is on track for liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket at 6:12:00 p.m. EST (2312:00 GMT). The Falcon 9 is confirmed on internal power at this time.

But I suspect deviations happen even when everything is on track, right? Small perturbations, let's call them. =P So, if anyone knows of the actual launch time, I'd be very grateful.

[ZachS09]

Based on T.S. Kelso's tweet regarding the Starlink separation time at 00:41:43 UTC on December 3rd, I subtracted that by the mission duration of 1 hour, 29 minutes, 28 seconds.

As a result, I got 23:12:15 UTC (6:12:15 PM EST).

[Rondaz]

Deployment of BlackSky satellites confirmed

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1466562877649604612

Deployment of 48 Starlink satellites confirmed

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1466569300492259329

[scr00chy]

Have the two BlackSky satellites been identified?

Global-12 and Global-13

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1466562944448311299

[SPKirsch]

https://twitter.com/TGMetsFan98/status/1466569540914008068

Starlink separation confirmed! 48 new Starlink satellites in orbit, plus a pair of BlackSky rideshares, after a successful launch and landing by Falcon 9!

Updated article: https://nasaspaceflight.com/2021/12/spacex-busy-december-starlink/

Photo: @spacecoast_stve for @NASASpaceflight

[zubenelgenubi]

Mention was made during the SpaceX webcast that both fairing halves are new.

[Rondaz]

Here is the newly launched Starlink satellite batch as it appeared a half hour ago from Joshua Tree. This was about half a degree long in the sky, about the apparent diameter of the full Moon.

https://twitter.com/DDAVISSPACEART/status/1466604176935321600

[Orbiter]

My shot of tonight's launch. Had it been ten minutes earlier it would've been quite the spectacle!

[scr00chy]

Launch photos from Ben Cooper and SpaceX website

https://twitter.com/LaunchPhoto/status/1466591984131268611

[MarekCyzio]

It was a beautiful launch. My photo.

[SPKirsch]

https://mobile.twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1466663692540407815

[hektor]

It was a beautiful launch. My photo.

Looks like you took it from the Rising Tide.

[clongton]

Unless I miscounted, I believe that SpaceX has now successfully landed 10 more launch vehicles than the total number of Atlas-Vs that have flown.

[RocketLover0119]

Had wonderful viewing of the launch from Tampa last night. Condolences in advance for the crappy phone pics.

First 3 pics are of ascent, final pic is stage 1 entry burn 

[Rondaz]

Mysterious lights were seen over north Indian states and videos shared on social media. Defence sources confirm it was a satellite, earlier media reports say it is Elon Musk-led ‘Starlink’ satellites.

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1466802461054627841

[SPKirsch]

https://mobile.twitter.com/julia_bergeron/status/1466894322641649674

ASOG and Finn are still at the Starlink landing zone prepping for departure. Unsure if it's weather or Octagrabber challenges. I guess we'll have to see if chains are involved upon return. B1058 for reference.

[OneSpeed]

Here is a comparison of the mission telemetry from Starlink L9 and 4-3.

1. Both missions deployed two 57kg BlackSky satellites as ride-shares.
2. L9 had a payload of 57 260kg Starlink satellites, whilst 4-3 had 48, a significant difference.
3. L9 was intended to deploy to 400 x 380km at 53° inclination, whilst 4-3 flew to 440 x 425km at 53.22°, a difference of some 12m/s.
4. If we made the crude assumption that the difference in the number of Starlink satellites was purely due to the difference in mass between the V1.0 and 1.5 versions, then that would make each Starlink 1.5 310kg.
5. Perhaps the real value is closer to 300kg?

[vaporcobra]

Here is a comparison of the mission telemetry from Starlink L9 and 4-3.

1. Both missions deployed two 57kg BlackSky satellites as ride-shares.
2. L9 had a payload of 57 260kg Starlink satellites, whilst 4-3 had 48, a significant difference.
3. L9 was intended to deploy to 400 x 380km at 53° inclination, whilst 4-3 flew to 440 x 425km at 53.22°, a difference of some 12m/s.
4. If we made the crude assumption that the difference in the number of Starlink satellites was purely due to the difference in mass between the V1.0 and 1.5 versions, then that would make each Starlink 1.5 310kg.
5. Perhaps the real value is closer to 300kg?

Unless SpaceX shaved a lot of mass off the payload adapter or something else changed, Starlink 4-1 is the key as a more or less 1:1 point of comparison with all non-rideshare V1.0 launches. If ~15,600 kg(60*260) is the max Starlink payload, 4-1 strongly implies that V1.5 satellites weigh ~295 kg.

There's no logical performance-based explanation for why SpaceX removed 5x295 kg satellites for 4-3 but 3x260kg sats for L9's virtually identical mission profile. I doubt the extra ~12 m/s of dV explains 4-3's apparent 660 kg payload reduction (4-5%) relative to V1 L9. Almost makes me think that SpaceX was two satellites short (or two sats had to be withdrawn right before or after stacking) but decided to launch on time rather than delaying Blacksky's launch to wait for replacements.