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Falcon 9R: SES-10 commsat [first re-use: SUCCESS]

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  • Falcon 9R: SES-10 commsat [first re-use: SUCCESS]

    Falcon 9R goes live

    Core: F9-1021-2 (1021-1 = Dragon CRS-8)

    Payload: SES-10 commsat
    Payload Mass: 5,300 kg
    Orbit: GTO

    Launch Complex: KSC LC-39A
    Launch Date: March 27, 2017
    Launch Window: 1658 - 2058 Eastern, Range Approved
    Stage Recovery: ASDS Of Course I Still Love You

    The first re-launch of a recovered orbital class liquid booster.

    The second use of an Autonomous Flight Termination System, and starting with this flight this will be the standard configuration. No more guys on the big red button, 150+ fewer people needed to launch and recover Falcon 9R/Falcon Heavy stages.

    SES-10
    Dr. Mordrid
    ----------------------------
    An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

    I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

  • #2
    What's the goal for number of launches on these reusable rockets?
    “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
    –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

    Comment


    • #3
      8-10 reuses for Blocks 3&4 (this is a Block 3 on #2) and up to 100 for Block 5, which is getting a ton of upgrades and will be the last major revision. More thrust too: 1.9 million lb-f for Falcon 9 and 22.8 tonnes to LEO as a disposable, which is the same as Proton.

      After Block 5 enters service later this year the Falcon R&D money and many engineers transfer to the Interplanetary Transport System.

      ITS' Raptor engine has been on the stand since September 2016, and SpaceX & Janicki Industries (big DoD composites contractor) have been building and testing (one to destruction) ginormous composite liquid oxygen tanks for the ITS Spaceship in Washington state.

      The Spaceship will fly first around 2019-ish, earlier in subscale to test the aerodynamics but later in full scale doing hops, leaps, then suborbital. It should also be able to do single stage to orbit, given it'll have 6.9 million lb-f of thrust and the structure is virtually all advanced composites. The Booster & Spaceship stack is slated for ~2022.

      Word leaked last year of a ~$3 billion contract with Royal TenCate composites, so ITS is very real.
      Last edited by Dr Mordrid; 18 March 2017, 15:16.
      Dr. Mordrid
      ----------------------------
      An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

      I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

      Comment


      • #4
        https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/03/1...reused-rocket/

        SES 10 telecom satellite fueled and readied for launch on reused rocket

        Launch preparations for the SES 10 communications satellite, the first spacecraft to ride a reused Falcon 9 booster to space, are on track for a late March blastoff from Florida, officials said.

        The satellite, designed to broadcast video and television services across Latin America, was delivered to Cape Canaveral in January from its factory at Airbus Defense and Space in Toulouse, France.

        Since its arrival in Florida, SES 10 has been prepped for liftoff inside a SpaceX clean room a few miles from launch pad 39A, where the mission will blast off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. Filling of the spacecraft with its supply of hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer was completed Thursday, soon after SpaceXs last flight took off from pad 39A.

        Officials said the SES 10 satellite was scheduled to be enclosed this weekend inside the two halves of the Falcon 9s nose cone, a composite fairing measuring 43 feet (13.1 meters) tall and 17 feet (5.2 meters) wide. The fairing protects the SES 10 spacecraft during final launch processing and the initial few minutes of flight through the dense lower atmosphere, then is shed once the rocket reaches space.

        The rocket is also ready for final preflight tests after its delivery to Florida from SpaceXs test site in McGregor, Texas. The 15-story booster was cleaned, refurbished and test-fired at the Texas test facility after landing on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean following a space station cargo ship launch on April 8, 2016.

        SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said March 8 that the booster took around four months to refurbish after its first flight last April. SpaceX hopes to reduce that turnaround time to two months soon, and eventually to less than a day.

        The SES 10 flight will be the first of six previously-flown Falcon rocket boosters SpaceX intends to re-fly this year, Shotwell said.

        Two of the boosters reportedly might launch later this year on the first demo flight of SpaceXs Falcon Heavy rocket,
        which uses three Falcon rocket cores firing in unison to propel heavy payloads into orbit.

        SES, a Luxembourg-based international telecom satellite operator, announced its agreement with SpaceX in August 2016 to send the SES 10 satellite to orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket with a reused first stage. The second stage and fairing are manufactured new.

        While SpaceX and SES did not disclose terms of their contract for the SES 10 launch, Shotwell said last year the launch provider was offering a 10 percent discount for customers willing to fly their payloads on reused boosters.

        That discount should become steeper on future flights, according to SpaceX officials. The company lists a regular commercial Falcon 9 flight at $62 million.

        >
        The SES-10 booster after its first use, launching Dragon CRS-8 to the ISS.
        Dr. Mordrid
        ----------------------------
        An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

        I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

        Comment


        • #5
          Chris B - NSF @NASASpaceflight
          SpaceX has March 27 (Window 1658-2058 Eastern) *Range Approved* for the SES-10 launch on the historic Falcon 9R 1021 (re-)launch!
          5:09 PM - 16 Mar 2017
          Dr. Mordrid
          ----------------------------
          An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

          I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

          Comment


          • #6
            Now moved to March 30 because of range issues and the static fire slipping.

            The static fire went off well on Monday, so Thursday is the current plan. It could slip to Friday if SES doesn't finish a 13 hour satellite checkout after F9 goes vertical.
            Dr. Mordrid
            ----------------------------
            An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

            I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

            Comment


            • #7
              Thursdays launch window opening is now 1827 Eastern.
              Dr. Mordrid
              ----------------------------
              An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

              I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

              Comment


              • #8
                Just before the SES-10 rollout to the pad, a peek inside 39A's hangar: three rockets at once, prepping for a run 'n gun series of launches.

                The SES-10 syack in the center on the Transporter/Erector, flanked by the NROL-76 US spysat and INMARSAT-5 F4 commsat cores.



                Press kit
                http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/f...10presskit.pdf

                Webcasts should start 20-30 minutes before T-0

                Hosted webcast


                Technical webcast
                Last edited by Dr Mordrid; 30 March 2017, 01:46.
                Dr. Mordrid
                ----------------------------
                An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

                I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

                Comment


                • #9
                  Chris B - NSF @NASASpaceflight
                  Primary mission: Get SES-10 uphill. Bonus element: S1 lands AGAIN. Test element: Fairing Recovery: Unknown Element: The OctoGrabber debut.
                  Dr. Mordrid
                  ----------------------------
                  An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

                  I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Booyahhh!!

                    Flight-Proven F9 puts SES-10 in orbit

                    BULLSEYE recovery on ASDS

                    The PAYLOAD FAIRING was also recovered by SpaceX Go Twins tender fleet. Its halves now have attitude thrusters and a parafoil with GPS guidance for recovery.

                    Musk announced upper stage recovery is next.

                    (SES CTO) Martin: "After SES-8, I predicted [aerospace industry] people would be shaking in their boots, and they are today."

                    Last edited by Dr Mordrid; 30 March 2017, 18:45.
                    Dr. Mordrid
                    ----------------------------
                    An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

                    I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      YouTube mirror of the FB post-flight presser stream

                      Dr. Mordrid
                      ----------------------------
                      An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

                      I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

                      Comment

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