It's not 24 hrs, more like 13:12. it's a different launch time, means at the last minute they decided to target a different plane?
.@SpaceX has just notified us that the #Starlink Group 2-4 launch is now scheduled for 2023-01-15 at 16:18:40 UTC with deployment at 16:47:45.680 UTC. CelesTrak pre-launch SupGP data has been updated and is available at: https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/supplemental/table.php?FILE=starlink-g2-4
Quote from: LouScheffer on 01/11/2023 12:35 pmQuote from: oldAtlas_Eguy on 01/11/2023 01:44 amAll of VSFB have redundant pairs or triples of diesel generators. Every site every radar, every telemetry receiver tracker etc. Such that downed lines will not take down critical power to infrastructure. All generators are powered up and floating hot on the grid so a even low power from the line trips out and generators take over without so much as a blink to the critical launch support infrastructure on both south base and north base.I'd assume the diesels are only fired up during a launch campaign? It would seem incredibly wasteful to run them all the time.If they really need 24 hour/day coverage there are much better systems available. For our internal data center, where we want continuous coverage without even glitches, we use a combination of flywheels and generators. The flywheels are continuously spinning, but they are in a vacuum so the losses are low. If the power fails, the flywheels support the load (glitch free) for about 20 seconds. During those 20 seconds, the diesels start and sync to the flywheel power for another seamless handover. This gives very solid power with relatively little emissions (dominated by the weekly testing of the diesels).That's a rock-solid 1970's solution. A new installation would probably use Megapacks.
Quote from: oldAtlas_Eguy on 01/11/2023 01:44 amAll of VSFB have redundant pairs or triples of diesel generators. Every site every radar, every telemetry receiver tracker etc. Such that downed lines will not take down critical power to infrastructure. All generators are powered up and floating hot on the grid so a even low power from the line trips out and generators take over without so much as a blink to the critical launch support infrastructure on both south base and north base.I'd assume the diesels are only fired up during a launch campaign? It would seem incredibly wasteful to run them all the time.If they really need 24 hour/day coverage there are much better systems available. For our internal data center, where we want continuous coverage without even glitches, we use a combination of flywheels and generators. The flywheels are continuously spinning, but they are in a vacuum so the losses are low. If the power fails, the flywheels support the load (glitch free) for about 20 seconds. During those 20 seconds, the diesels start and sync to the flywheel power for another seamless handover. This gives very solid power with relatively little emissions (dominated by the weekly testing of the diesels).
All of VSFB have redundant pairs or triples of diesel generators. Every site every radar, every telemetry receiver tracker etc. Such that downed lines will not take down critical power to infrastructure. All generators are powered up and floating hot on the grid so a even low power from the line trips out and generators take over without so much as a blink to the critical launch support infrastructure on both south base and north base.
Quote from: DanClemmensen on 01/11/2023 02:16 pmThat's a rock-solid 1970's solution. A new installation would probably use Megapacks.Megapacks are the wrong technology for this task. They are way too expensive to cope with long outages (several days, such as happened in Florida recently) so you need the diesels anyway. Once you have the diesels, what you need is bridging power to hold over while the diesels start, and flywheels are much smaller/cheaper for that.
That's a rock-solid 1970's solution. A new installation would probably use Megapacks.
120423Z JAN 23NAVAREA XII 16/23(18,21).EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC.CALIFORNIA.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS: A. 1443Z TO 1827Z DAILY 15 THRU 19 JAN IN AREA BOUND BY 34-40.00N 120-40.00W, 34-40.00N 120-17.00W, 34-27.00N 120-17.00W, 34-08.00N 120-05.00W, 32-40.00N 119-25.00W, 32-40.00N 119-31.00W, 33-18.00N 119-52.00W, 33-55.00N 120-17.00W, 34-22.00N 120-34.00W, 34-33.00N 120-38.00W. B. 1443Z TO 1828Z DAILY 15 THRU 19 JAN 30-11.00N 118-18.00W, 30-11.00N 117-56.00W, 29-47.00N 117-39.00W, 28-33.00N 117-14.00W, 28-33.00N 117-32.00W, 29-33.00N 118-17.00W.2. CANCEL NAVAREA XII 5/23.3. CANCEL THIS MSG 191928Z JAN 23.//
SPACE X STARLINK 2-4, VANDENBERG SFSPRIMARY: 01/15/23 1553-1909ZBACKUP: 01/16/23 1539-1855Z 01/17/23 1526-1842Z 01/18/23 1512-1828Z 01/19/23 1458-1814Z
At the facility that I worked at many years ago that had similar reliability requirements, we had huge room-sized UPS battery banks that were sized to support the building for 20-40 minutes. Indeed it only took maybe 30-45 seconds for the diesels to come up and fully stabilize, and flywheels could cover that. But we had to account for the OH-SH!T scenario where the associated genset didn't start...
Quote from: ChrisC on 01/12/2023 03:24 amAt the facility that I worked at many years ago that had similar reliability requirements, we had huge room-sized UPS battery banks that were sized to support the building for 20-40 minutes. Indeed it only took maybe 30-45 seconds for the diesels to come up and fully stabilize, and flywheels could cover that. But we had to account for the OH-SH!T scenario where the associated genset didn't start...Our facility covers this by having 5 diesels in parallel, any 3 of which are sufficient to cover the load. When power fails, all 5 are started regardless of the demand. After the sync and cutover, the demand is measured and the diesels shut down one by one until the remaining units are working fairly hard, with the others held in reserve. This is because running these diesels at low load is bad for their lifetime.For the same reason, even routine testing is done under load. Each day, one of the 5 diesels is fired up, synced to the grid, then asked to provide its capacity (a MW or so) for a few minutes. So full load testing once per week per engine.On top of this, for a few super-critical applications that cannot tolerate even minor disturbances, there is a UPS system that takes AC, converts it to DC to charge batteries, then re-synthesizes AC. It's not needed for hold-over since the flywheels and generators can do that (though it may be asked to do so to reduce the load on the flywheels). It's mainly there for power cleaning.A lot of engineering goes into the seemingly simple task of backup power. The facility guy in charge of this was very happy I stopped by and took an interest in his work. But hopefully VFSB will soon recover, and we can resume talking about rockets instead of backup power strategies.
On April 29, 2021, the Western Range at Vandenberg shut down the last CDC-built mainframe computers, known as “Cyber” systems, still in service anywhere. The Air Force originally put these large computers into operation in 1982 to process data for various space and ballistic missile launch programs, such as Minuteman III, Peacekeeper, Delta II, and the Space Shuttle. Initially, the three water-cooled mainframes were installed in Building 488 on South Vandenberg AFB.Two-ton motor-generators were needed to supply the Cybers with specially smoothed power to protect their sophisticated electronics. Two computers processed data for safety evaluations during flight, and the third handled data reduction before and after launches.
Why does all this battery and electric stuff have to do with Starlink 2-4?They didn’t delay this launch because of what’s being discussed.
Due to unfavorable recovery weather conditions with 15+ foot waves in the Pacific Ocean, as well as high winds across Central and Southern California, we’re now targeting no earlier than Wednesday, January 18 for Falcon 9’s launch of Starlink from California
SpaceX is targeting Thursday, January 19 for a Falcon 9 launch of 51 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The instantaneous launch window is at 7:23 a.m. PT (15:23 UTC).Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth and land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean.A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.
132252Z JAN 23NAVAREA XII 20/23(18,21).EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC.CALIFORNIA.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS: A. 1333Z TO 1746Z DAILY 18 THRU 24 JAN IN AREA BOUND BY 34-08.00N 120-05.00W, 34-40.00N 120-17.00W, 34-27.00N 120-17.00W, 34-40.00N 120-40.00W, 34-33.00N 120-38.00W, 34-22.00N 120-34.00W, 33-55.00N 120-17.00W, 33-18.00N 119-52.00W, 32-40.00N 119-31.00W, 32-40.00N 119-25.00W. B. 1333Z TO 1747Z DAILY 18 THRU 24 JAN IN AREA BOUND BY 29-47.00N 117-39.00W, 30-11.00N 117-56.00W, 30-11.00N 118-18.00W, 29-33.00N 118-17.00W, 28-33.00N 117-32.00W, 28-33.00N 117-14.00W.2. CANCEL NAVAREA XII 16/23.3. CANCEL THIS MSG 241847Z JAN 23.
132325Z JAN 23HYDROPAC 165/23(22,83).EASTERN SOUTH PACIFIC.DNC 06, DNC 07.CANCEL HYDROPAC 69/23 AND THIS MSG.
SPACE X STARLINK 2-4, VANDENBERG SFSPRIMARY: 01/18/23 1512-1747ZBACKUP: 01/19/23 1458-1733Z 01/20/23 1444-1719Z 01/21/23 1430-1705Z 01/22/23 1416-1651Z 01/23/23 1402-1637Z 01/24/23 1348-1623Z
Launch Alert <[email protected]>8:51 PM (6 minutes ago)to launch-alertThe frequently delayed Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg SFB is now scheduled for the morning of Thursday, January 19.Note from me: The recent stream of Pacific Storms is generating large swells. Reports of large waves hitting offshore oil rigs are an indication of that.UPDATE: The above notice was in error the following is the corrected version:Launch Alert <[email protected]>9:13 PM (2 hours ago)to launch-alertThe frequently delayed Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg SFB is now scheduled for the morning of Wednesday, January 18 at approximately 0732 PST.
Spacex.com says that the launch is targeted for January 19th.
