Quote from: zubenelgenubi on 12/22/2023 08:47 pmQuote from: GewoonLukas_ on 12/22/2023 07:27 pmQuote from: JCM tweetTwo objects cataloged by Space Force in 215 x 523 km x 140.0 deg orbit. If this is the LM satellite and the Firefly second stage, it may suggest the second stage restart was not successful.Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 12/22/2023 07:34 pmHopefully the silence means they are still trouble shooting and haven’t yet written off achieving the correct orbit.How much delta-v does the satellite have? The L-M team could still raise the perigee to a closer-to-circular orbit.Here is that from the the fact sheet for the Nebula bus as well as the fact sheet itself.
Quote from: GewoonLukas_ on 12/22/2023 07:27 pmQuote from: JCM tweetTwo objects cataloged by Space Force in 215 x 523 km x 140.0 deg orbit. If this is the LM satellite and the Firefly second stage, it may suggest the second stage restart was not successful.Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 12/22/2023 07:34 pmHopefully the silence means they are still trouble shooting and haven’t yet written off achieving the correct orbit.How much delta-v does the satellite have? The L-M team could still raise the perigee to a closer-to-circular orbit.
Quote from: JCM tweetTwo objects cataloged by Space Force in 215 x 523 km x 140.0 deg orbit. If this is the LM satellite and the Firefly second stage, it may suggest the second stage restart was not successful.
Two objects cataloged by Space Force in 215 x 523 km x 140.0 deg orbit. If this is the LM satellite and the Firefly second stage, it may suggest the second stage restart was not successful.
Hopefully the silence means they are still trouble shooting and haven’t yet written off achieving the correct orbit.
Quote from: Jrcraft on 12/22/2023 08:52 pmQuote from: zubenelgenubi on 12/22/2023 08:47 pmQuote from: GewoonLukas_ on 12/22/2023 07:27 pmQuote from: JCM tweetTwo objects cataloged by Space Force in 215 x 523 km x 140.0 deg orbit. If this is the LM satellite and the Firefly second stage, it may suggest the second stage restart was not successful.Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 12/22/2023 07:34 pmHopefully the silence means they are still trouble shooting and haven’t yet written off achieving the correct orbit.How much delta-v does the satellite have? The L-M team could still raise the perigee to a closer-to-circular orbit.Here is that from the the fact sheet for the Nebula bus as well as the fact sheet itself.Electric thrusters only? Not well-suited for raising the perigee before atmospheric entry.L-M has their work cut out for them.✂️ Feels like a contingency mission.Come on, little satellite! 🛰🙏
You put on a good show. Glad to have seen it in person thanks to the weather delay.
Quote from: zubenelgenubi on 12/22/2023 08:47 pmHow much delta-v does the satellite have? The L-M team could still raise the perigee to a closer-to-circular orbit.It only takes like 100m/s to raise its orbit, the problem is that drag is gonna be heavy at 215km.
How much delta-v does the satellite have? The L-M team could still raise the perigee to a closer-to-circular orbit.
What I would like to know is why the customer opted to stop the coverage after Seco-1, rather than at faring sep, even though we had some visibility of the satellite before that. Maybe the vehicle was engaged in some activity to prepare for seco-2 that we are not permitted to observe? Usually, the customer does not want us to see the vehicle at all under these circumstances.
There's also the time needed to get 100 m/s from a 1.1 mN thruster that was intended for station keeping on a 380 kg (?) satellite, not for orbital maneuvers. About a year?
8 hours post launch, still no statement from Firefly?
How many of these thrusters are aboard, and how many could be used in concert to produce net delta-v to raise perigee?I am interested in what the amateur satellite observers, visual and RF, will observe in the coming days.
Quote from: zubenelgenubi on 12/23/2023 12:45 amHow many of these thrusters are aboard, and how many could be used in concert to produce net delta-v to raise perigee?I am interested in what the amateur satellite observers, visual and RF, will observe in the coming days.In the absence of anything official, I'd be watching this page to look for any positive changes in apogee or perigee. https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/table.php?INTDES=2023-202
Quote from: Jrcraft on 12/23/2023 01:39 amQuote from: zubenelgenubi on 12/23/2023 12:45 amHow many of these thrusters are aboard, and how many could be used in concert to produce net delta-v to raise perigee?I am interested in what the amateur satellite observers, visual and RF, will observe in the coming days.In the absence of anything official, I'd be watching this page to look for any positive changes in apogee or perigee. https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/table.php?INTDES=2023-202Semi major axis seems to slightly increase.I think this can be put in a stable orbit.
CelesTrak has GP data for 2 objects from the launch (2023-202) of a military demonstration satellite atop an Alpha rocket from Vandenberg SFB on Dec 22 at 1732 UTC: spaceflightnow.com/2023/12/20/liv…. Data for the launch can be found at: https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/table.php?INTDES=2023-202
Today, Firefly’s Alpha launch had a successful liftoff & progressed seamlessly through each stage of flight, including MECO, stage separation, fairing separation and the first SECO. Alpha’s scheduled stage 2 engine relight did not deliver the payload to its precise target orbit. Communications to the spacecraft has been established and mission operations are now underway. Read more here
Mission UpdateFirefly’s Alpha FLTA004 launch had a successful liftoff and progressed seamlessly through each stage of flight, including stage one main engine cutoff (MECO), stage separation, stage two ignition, fairing separation, and second stage engine cutoff (SECO) 1. Following SECO 1, Alpha’s scheduled stage 2 engine relight did not deliver the payload to its precise target orbit. However, communication to the spacecraft has been established and mission operations are now underway.Firefly recognizes all that went into preparation of the payload and would like to thank Lockheed Martin for their continued support. In line with our core principals as a company, we will rapidly and continuously innovate to find a solution and ensure complete resolution of any anomaly we see during flight. We will work with our customer and government partners to investigate the stage 2 performance and determine the root cause. As more information is available, we will be providing updates here.
Following SECO 1, Alpha’s scheduled stage 2 engine relight did not deliver the payload to its precise target orbit.
QuoteFollowing SECO 1, Alpha’s scheduled stage 2 engine relight did not deliver the payload to its precise target orbit.Sounds like the second stage did relight to some extent, but it underperformed in some way, maybe because reduced thrust or an early cutoff. How long was the burn was supposed to be? I would guess it would be pretty short, maybe <5 seconds.
The ESA sensor is expected to calibrate in a fraction of the time it takes to operationalize traditional on-orbit sensors, which historically can take months to be powered on, fully calibrated and ready to perform their mission.
