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Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67501.jpg) Airbus Space‏Подлинная учетная запись @AirbusSpace (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace) 2 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace/status/933312364451115008)

PAZ, the high resolution radar Earth Observation satellite built by @AirbusSpace (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace), ready for launch on 30 January 2018. #HISDESAT (https://twitter.com/hashtag/HISDESAT?src=hash) #Space (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Space?src=hash) http://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2017/11/SatellitePAZ.html ... (https://t.co/9EsG1iziZr)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/29264.jpg)

ЦитироватьThe PAZ satellite heads towards its launch base
22 November 2017

Spain's first radar satellite will be shipped next month to Vandenberg/USA ready for launch on 30 January 2018

Madrid, 22/11/2017 – The high resolution radar, Earth observation PAZ satellite, intended primarily to address civilian surveillance needs and to cover many different applications including defence and security, will say its final goodbye to Spain. It will be shipped in December 2017 to its launch site in Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA.

Спойлер

Airbus and Hisdesat, the Spanish operator of governmental satellites announce that the launch of the PAZ satellite will take place in the last week of January. Since completion in 2015, Airbus has maintained the satellite in its Barajas cleanrooms, in Madrid, ready to be launched at short notice. "We had to be ready at all times as we could have got a green light at any moment," said José Guillamón, head of Airbus Space Systems in Spain. Close cooperation between Airbus as the prime contractor and Hisdesat as the owner and operator of the satellite has been a key factor in successfully reaching the final stages.

The PAZ satellite is equipped with an advanced radar instrument designed for high flexibility, and the capability to operate in numerous modes allowing for the choice of several different image configurations. It will be able to generate images with up to 25 cm resolution, day and night and regardless of the meteorological conditions. Designed for a mission of five and a half years, PAZ will orbit Earth 15 times per day, covering an area of over 300,000 square kilometres from an altitude of 514 kilometres and a velocity of seven kilometres per second. On its slightly inclined quasi-polar orbit, PAZ will cover the entire globe in 24 hours, serving both government and commercial needs.

PAZ also features a sophisticated Automatic Identification System (AIS), simultaneously combining for the first time ship AIS signals and SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) imagery, increasing the monitoring capacities of the maritime domain worldwide. It will also be equipped with a Radio Occultation and Heavy Precipitation experiment (ROHP) from the Institute of Space Science del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICE-CSIC). For the first time ever, GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Radio Occultation measurements will be taken at two polarizations, to exploit the potential capabilities of polarimetric radio occultation for detecting and quantifying heavy precipitation events.

Airbus in Spain, as prime contractor of the programme, led a team of 18 European companies. The Spanish space industry was heavily involved in the development of the advanced active sensor with SAR technology. Since the start of the programme, the PAZ satellite has been generating significant benefits for the Spanish space companies involved, allowing them to develop new capabilities to further enhance their competitiveness in the global space market. "The PAZ programme is already a success story for Spain's industrial development, said Miguel Ángel Panduro, Head of Hisdesat. "It has created hundreds of skilled jobs over the years, and stimulated research, development and innovation activities in Spain."

Once in space, PAZ will share the same orbit as the TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X radar satellites. They will be operated as a very high-resolution SAR satellite constellation. The addition of this third satellite will reduce revisit time and increase acquisition capacity, leading to subsequent benefits for various applications. All three satellites feature identical ground swaths and acquisition modes. The new setup will be jointly exploited by Hisdesat and Airbus.

The SAR constellation will expand Airbus' already broad constellation services also comprising the optical satellites SPOT 6/7, Pléiades 1A & 1B and the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). PAZ, the first Spanish Earth observation satellite, will also be a contributor to Copernicus, the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme.

Notes for editors: You can download an infographic at: http://www.airbus.com/space.html#medialist-image-infographic-all_ml_0-2

***

[свернуть]

ЦитироватьPIN пишет:
Epic fail Космотраса http://www.kosmotras.ru/en/news/168/

ЦитироватьLRV_75 пишет:
А почему контракт отменили?

Цитировать (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185988.jpg) Peter B. de Selding‏ @pbdes (https://twitter.com/pbdes) 11 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/943087366499168256)

Spanish govt Paz civil/military radar sat, built by @AirbusSpace (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace), is readied for airlift from Spain to Calif/VAFB for Jan 30 @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) mission. 1,400-kg Paz to launch w/ 2 SpaceX microsats that will demo future broadband constellation & provide ITU registration (BIU).
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/171899.jpg)

ЦитироватьPAZ satellite starts its journey to space
19 December 2017

(https://airbus-h.assetsadobe2.com/is/image/content/dam/products-and-solutions/space/earth-observation/PAZ-satellite_Copyright-Airbus2017.jpg?wid=1025&fit=fit,1)
The PAZ Earth observation satellite built by Airbus in Madrid is about to be loaded into its container to be transported to Vandenberg, in California, where it will be launched on January 30th, 2018.

Madrid, 19/12/2017 – Loading and transport of the Spanish Earth observation satellite, PAZ, is underway. Airbus engineers in Madrid are installing the 1,400 kg satellite into the container that will protect it during its journey to the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. In addition to the satellite, the team will also transport the electrical and mechanical ground support equipment plus all the testing and conditioning devices needed to prepare the satellite for its launch. Three trucks will transport the satellite and its equipment to the Spanish Air Force Base at Torrejón de Ardóz, where it will be loaded into the air freighter that will take it to the USA.

A team of 15 Airbus space technicians and engineers will travel to Vandenberg to receive the satellite and the equipment. Test systems will be assembled to check the satellite's health, and batteries will be installed prior to fuelling when the spacecraft will be ready for launch. The team will also install a bespoke payload adapter to integrate the satellite onto the launcher.

***

Цитировать (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg) Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 49 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/944332239768293376)

SpaceX open media accreditation for PAZ mission from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NET late January 2018 and GovSat-1 mission from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral.....NET late January 2018.

Цитироватьjavax пишет:
А в чем смысл запускать 1,400-kg спутник на Фальконе?
Неужели ничего дешевле не нашлось?

Цитировать27 августа на аэрокосмическом салоне МАКС-2015 был подписан контракт между «Рособоронэкспортом» и испанской спутниковой компанией HISDESAT, согласно которому в 2015 году российская ракета-носитель «Днепр» должна вывести на орбиту космический аппарат PAZ. Об этом заявил журналистам заместитель главы «Рособоронэкспорта» Иван Гончаренко, сообщает корреспондент ИА REGNUM. Далее: https://news.rambler.ru/weapon/31165455-rossiya-i-ispaniya-podpisali-kontrakt-na-zapusk-kosmicheskogo-apparata-paz/

Цитироватьjavax пишет:
А в чем смысл запускать 1,400-kg спутник на Фальконе?
Неужели ничего дешевле не нашлось?

ЦитироватьZOOR пишет:

Цитироватьjavax пишет:
А в чем смысл запускать 1,400-kg спутник на Фальконе?
Неужели ничего дешевле не нашлось?

ХЗ что там за экономика, но за 20 лямов (как на Днепре) даже С-2.1в+БВВ не купить

ЦитироватьBoris Mekler пишет:

ЦитироватьZOOR пишет:

Цитироватьjavax пишет:
А в чем смысл запускать 1,400-kg спутник на Фальконе?
Неужели ничего дешевле не нашлось?

ХЗ что там за экономика, но за 20 лямов (как на Днепре) даже С-2.1в+БВВ не купить

А PSLV у индусов?

ЦитироватьOn its slightly inclined quasi-polar orbit, PAZ

ЦитироватьApollo13 пишет:
Это может быть первый RTLS с Ванденберга.

ЦитироватьMorocco satellite launch could accelerate Spanish space efforts
by Jaroslaw Adamowski (http://spacenews.com/author/jaroslaw-adamowski/) — January 5, 2018
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/155761.jpg)
Hisdesat's PAZ radar satellite arriving in the U.S. for a January 2018 launch. Credit: Hisdesat.

WARSAW, Poland — Morocco's launch of its Mohammed 6-A satellite last November could accelerate Spain's work on its SeoSat/Ingenio optical Earth-observation satellite, which is expected to launch in late 2019 or early 2020.

Спойлер

Morocco and Spain have struggled to boost their satellite observation capacities since the Perejil Island crisis in 2002 when Spain could not acquire satellite images of the island following reports of its occupation by the Moroccan Navy.

Mohammed 6-A was developed by a consortium formed by Thales Alenia Space, which acted as the prime system contractor, and Airbus Defence and Space, which served as co-prime. The satellite launched Nov. 7 to low Earth orbit on an Arianespace Vega rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.

Airbus is developing SeoSat/Ingenio on behalf of the Spanish government, with the Madrid-based Center for Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) funding the mission. It is the optical counterpart to the country's PAZ synthetic aperture radar mission that is slated for launch this January, having overcome a three-year delay because of Russia's unwillingness to permit Dnepr launches by switching in March to a SpaceX Falcon 9 (http://spacenews.com/hisdesat-demanding-refund-as-it-dumps-dnepr-for-falcon-9/).

The project development of SeoSat/Ingenio is overseen by the European Space Agency (ESA) as a national contribution within the framework of Europe under a procurement assistance agreement signed between ESA and the CDTI in 2007.

Andrés Borges, the program manager for SeoSat/Ingenio at Airbus Defence and Space, told SpaceNews that the group has to subcontract most of the flight equipment and take care of the assembly, integration and test campaign for the satellite's structural, functional and flight aspects. Airbus is also responsible for manufacturing the satellite's platform structure and harness, and manages the development of the image processor prototype.

"Once the satellite is integrated at our clean rooms and the test campaigns are finalized, Airbus will take responsibility of the launch campaign and ... collaborate with the European Space Agency during the launch and early operation phase (LEOP) and in-orbit commissioning (IOC) phases," Borges said.

According to the SeoSat/Ingenio program manager, the Spanish satellite will be launched from Kourou onboard an Italian Vega launcher.

Launcher contract to determine launch date

"The best estimate for the launch date is end 2019 or the first months of 2020. It will depend on the launcher contract signature and the launcher availability," said Borges. CDTI is funding the mission, including launch. "Airbus will be in charge of the launch campaign [which means it will] support the launcher authority to set the satellite in the launcher fairing. Once in orbit, Airbus will lead the LEOP and IOC phases."

The total cost for the flight segment, which includes the satellite, platform and instrument, is about 125 million euros ($149.5 million), according to the program manager.

"The ground segment and the launcher are not within Airbus perimeter and we are not completely sure of the financial figures," Borges said.

Morocco launched the country's first microsatellite in 2001 when it's Maroc-TUBSAT (Zarkae Al Yamama), a joint undertaking between the country's Royal Centre for Remote Sensing and the German Technical University of Berlin, hitched a ride on a Zenit-2 rocket whose primary payload was the Russian Meteor-3M satellite. Morocco is expected to launch Mohammed 6-B, the second in a pair of Earth-observation satellites, in 2018.

[свернуть]

Spain nears SAR satellite launch

The SeoSat/Ingenio is part of Spain's National Earth Observation Satellite Program (PNOTS) whose second component is PAZ, a satellite that was also built by Airbus Defence and Space. Owned by Spain's satellite operator Hisdesat, PAZ is an X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mission.

Under the plan, the satellite is to be placed on the same orbit with German TerraSAR and TanDEM-X satellites to form a SAR constellation. Hisdesat communications director Araceli Serrano told SpaceNews the launch of PAZ remains forecasted for Jan. 30. "PAZ is already in California to be prepared for this," he said.

Serrano says the Spanish company has a duty of confidentiality in respect to SpaceX, and, due to this, it cannot reveal the value of the contract. As a 1,400 kilogram satellite, PAZ is less than a tenth the mass a Falcon 9 can carry to low Earth orbit.

Спойлер

Budding regional space rivalry?

Meanwhile, Algeria, another regional rival of Morocco, successfully launched its first communication satellite from China on Dec. 11. A Long March-3B launch vehicle took Alcomsat-1 to orbit (http://spacenews.com/chinese-long-march-3b-launches-algerias-first-telecom-satellite/) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China's Sichuan province.

The Algerian satellite was launched by China Great Wall Industry Corp., who acted as the prime contractor. The Alcomsat-1 was designed and manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).

"The successful launch of [the] Alcomsat-1 is the good beginning of space cooperation between [the] two countries. More cooperation, more space programs are expected to be initiated soon," the Chinese company said in a Dec. 11 statement.

[свернуть]

ЦитироватьPIN пишет:
Я правильно понял, что с PAZ попутно летят первые аппараты SpaceX?

ЦитироватьHimfatik пишет: 
Ничего такого в тексте нет

ЦитироватьPIN пишет:

ЦитироватьHimfatik пишет:
Ничего такого в тексте нет

Я не знаю, какой "текст" имеется в виду. Я пишу на тему ветки, об этом конкретном пуске.

Цитироватьtnt22 пишет:
http://spacenews.com/morocco-satellite-launch-could-accelerate-spanish-space-efforts/

Цитировать (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg) Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 2 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/950486296673308672)

Falcon 9 PAZ/Demosat launch out of Vandenberg is slipping out of January, but nothing to do with Zuma....slip was just before Zuma's launch - so posting this to make sure the official date in Feb (when published) isn't seen as related.

Цитировать...and the upcoming B1038 Formosat 5/Paz),

Цитировать (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67501.jpg) Airbus Space‏Подлинная учетная запись @AirbusSpace (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace) 5 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace/status/959047895776464896)

Spanish radar #satellite (https://twitter.com/hashtag/satellite?src=hash) #PAZ (https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAZ?src=hash), built by @AirbusSpace (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace), to be launched on the 17th of Feb. with a @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) rocket.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173002.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg)Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 35m ago (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/961256300062691329)

SpaceX now switches attention to the west coast, with the Falcon 9 launch of the PAZ and Microsat-2a, -2b mission.

Updated Vandenberg Range bookings are NET Feb 11 for the Static Fire and NET Feb 16 for the launch. As always, subject to change.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=44892.0 ... (https://t.co/l8MNrXcpcd)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173416.jpg)

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
1400 кг, даже не на ГПО, да еще, похоже, без возврата ступени.

ЦитироватьAlex_II пишет:

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
1400 кг, даже не на ГПО, да еще, похоже, без возврата ступени.

А это не "Блок 3" разве летит? Тогда понятно, почему - плановое обновление парка ступеней, Блок-3 не нужен...

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:

ЦитироватьAlex_II пишет:

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
1400 кг, даже не на ГПО, да еще, похоже, без возврата ступени.

А это не "Блок 3" разве летит? Тогда понятно, почему - плановое обновление парка ступеней, Блок-3 не нужен...

Это летит Фалькон-9 с заявленной грузоподъемностью 20+ тонн на НОО. Вместо легкого конверсионного "Днепра".

Неужели не нашлось дешевле? Может быть, Маск дал какую-то мега-скидку (но зачем ему)?

Впору посоветовать Маску возобновить выпуск Фалькона-1...

ЦитироватьKBOB пишет:

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:

ЦитироватьAlex_II пишет:

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
1400 кг, даже не на ГПО, да еще, похоже, без возврата ступени.

А это не "Блок 3" разве летит? Тогда понятно, почему - плановое обновление парка ступеней, Блок-3 не нужен...

Неужели не нашлось дешевле? Может быть, Маск дал какую-то мега-скидку (но зачем ему)?

Hispasat тоже без возврата ступени, может с баржей что не так?

ЦитироватьHimfatik пишет:
Откуда информация про спутники?

ЦитироватьApollo13 пишет:
На первой странице этой темы есть твит Селдинга. Более «официальной» информации я не встречал, но у Гюнтера и на Реддите тоже пишут, что Микросаты SpaceX полетят вместе с Paz.

ЦитироватьKBOB пишет:
Впору посоветовать Маску возобновить выпуск Фалькона-1...

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
Впору посоветовать Маску возобновить выпуск Фалькона-1...

ЦитироватьKBOB пишет:
Дык, что 4,5 часа осталось?
 https://spacexstats.herokuapp.com/

 This site is fan-run and not affiliated with SpaceX in any way. For official information and news, please visit www.spacex.com (http://www.spacex.com) .

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
This site is fan-run and not affiliated with SpaceX in any way. For official information and news, please visit www.spacex.com (http://www.spacex.com) .

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
This site is fan-run and not affiliated with SpaceX in any way. For official information and news, please visit www.spacex.com (http://www.spacex.com) .

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
Это летит Фалькон-9 с заявленной грузоподъемностью 20+ тонн на НОО. Вместо легкого конверсионного "Днепра".

Неужели не нашлось дешевле? Может быть, Маск дал какую-то мега-скидку (но зачем ему)?

Впору посоветовать Маску возобновить выпуск Фалькона-1...

ЦитироватьАтяпа пишет:
А это не старые долги?

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
Это летит Фалькон-9 с заявленной грузоподъемностью 20+ тонн на НОО. Вместо легкого конверсионного "Днепра".

ЦитироватьKBOB пишет:
Неужели не нашлось дешевле? Может быть, Маск дал какую-то мега-скидку (но зачем ему)?

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg)Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 49m ago (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/962713348184903680)

SpaceX Falcon 9 has been rolled out and is on the SLC-4E pad for a Static Fire test, potentially today. Running order shows this as B1038.2, and if so, we're trying to find out if this is the first West Coast Sooty.

ЦитироватьThe first stage – flight-proven core 1038 – is expected to be expended with a possible ocean landing, as the core has been observed without landing legs.

ЦитироватьAfter the successful landing, Just Read The Instructions returned to the Port of Los Angeles with core 1038 onboard. The core was unloaded and sent back to SpaceX HQ at in Hawthorne to be inspected and refurbished. The current refurbishment process of Block 3 boosters takes around 24 weeks – which SpaceX hopes to dramatically reduce with the new Falcon 9 Block 5.

ЦитироватьIt is currently unknown which mission will make first use of the new landing pad at Vandenberg, but it is known that the Iridium launches can perform an RTLS landing, but they require a Block 4 booster's added performance in order to do so.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/69029.jpg)SpaceX‏Verified account @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) 20m ago (https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/962784246128558080)

Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete—targeting February 17 launch of PAZ from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185396.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 4h ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/962735961061851136)

The (very likely) flight-proven #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) booster for the Paz mission has been rolled out to SLC-4E at Vandenberg (per below) for static fire. Per public post on our forum, launch is NET Saturday 17 February at 09:14 EST (06:14 PST; 14:14 UTC). #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) #Paz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Paz?src=hash)

ЦитироватьFalcon 9 PAZ scheduled to launch
By 30th Space Wing Public Affairs, 30th Space Wing Public Affairs / Published February 12, 2018

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --
Team Vandenberg is scheduled to launch the PAZ satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4 here, Saturday, Feb. 17, at 6:17 a.m. PDT.

Col. Greg Wood, 30th Space Wing vice commander, is the space launch commander.

"The 30th Space Wing is ready to support the first West Coast SpaceX launch of 2018," said Wood. "Each launch marks the culmination of hard work and dedication of Team V. We are excited to support this mission as we continue to provide safe, secure access to polar orbit.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the PAZ satellite for Hisdesat of Madrid, Spain. PAZ carries a radar imaging payload to collect views of Earth for government and commercial customers, along with ship tracking and weather sensors. Multiple smaller secondary payloads will also launch on the Falcon 9 rocket.

ЦитироватьNAVAREA XII 68/2018 (16,18,19)

NORTH PACIFIC.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING
    161350Z TO 161501Z FEB, ALTERNATE 171350Z TO 171501Z
    AND 181350Z TO 181501Z FEB IN AREA BOUND BY
    31-50N 121-31W, 31-50N 120-57W,
    30-06N 120-50W, 30-06N 122-08W.
2. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS
    161722Z TO 161751Z FEB, ALTERNATE 171722Z TO 171751Z
    AND 181722Z TO 181751Z FEB IN AREA BOUND BY
    50-17N 168-05W, 50-17N 161-46W,
    41-47N 165-43W, 33-14N 168-50W,
    33-14N 173-39W, 42-50N 170-58W.
3. CANCEL THIS MSG 181851Z FEB 18.

( 120327Z FEB 2018 )

ЦитироватьЧебурашка пишет:
Так 16 или 17 летим?

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/29262.jpg)Jeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust (https://twitter.com/jeff_foust) 7m ago (https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/963863224675430406)

Dorcas: Paz radar satellite (clone of TerraSAR) launching Saturday also has an AIS payload. #CDSmallSat18 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/CDSmallSat18?src=hash)

ЦитироватьНу-и-ну пишет:
БФР небось с Белаза начнёт.

ЦитироватьДешевле чем уже слетавший однажды и оплаченный Фалкон?

ЦитироватьMax Andriyahov пишет:

ЦитироватьДешевле чем уже слетавший однажды и оплаченный Фалкон?

вторая ступень, обтекатель, запуск.

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:

ЦитироватьMax Andriyahov пишет:

ЦитироватьДешевле чем уже слетавший однажды и оплаченный Фалкон?

вторая ступень, обтекатель, запуск.

Не. Правильно смотреть не по затратам, а по упущенной выгоде: 62 ляма за пуск полноценной нагрузки на этой же ракете.

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
Не. Правильно смотреть не по затратам, а по упущенной выгоде: 62 ляма за пуск полноценной нагрузки на этой же ракете.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185856.jpg)UrtheCast‏Verified account @UrtheCast (https://twitter.com/UrtheCast) 23m ago (https://twitter.com/UrtheCast/status/964235438864191489)

#DEIMOS2 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/DEIMOS2?src=hash) is keeping an eye on #Vandenberg (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Vandenberg?src=hash) SLC4 as the launch of #PAZ (https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAZ?src=hash) aboard a #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) approaches! Wishing good luck to #Hisdesat (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hisdesat?src=hash) and @AirbusSpace (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173820.jpg)

ЦитироватьSpaceX‏Подлинная учетная запись @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX)
Now targeting February 18 launch of PAZ from SLC-4E to allow for additional time for pre-launch systems checks. Falcon 9 and payload remain healthy.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/964342882579619841

ЦитироватьIt's going to a SSO coordinated with other already-launched satellites, so the launch time will change a bit.

ЦитироватьLive coverage: Launch of Spanish radar observation satellite delayed to Sunday
February 16, 2018 (https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/) Stephen Clark (https://spaceflightnow.com/author/stephen-clark/)

Updated: 02/16/2018 08:46

SpaceX has pushed back the launch of a Spanish radar observation satellite from California by 24 hours until Sunday, officials announced late Thursday.

The instantaneous launch opportunity Sunday will come at 6:16 a.m. PST (9:16 a.m. EST; 1416 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, a military-run spaceport on the Pacific coastline northwest of Los Angeles.

Спойлер

SpaceX announced the one-day delay on Twitter, saying it will "allow for additional time for pre-launch systems checks."

The company said the Falcon 9 rocket and its payload remain healthy.

The primary passenger aboard the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket is Paz, a Spanish-owned radar-equipped Earth observation satellite designed to peer through clouds and darkness to capture high-resolution views of cities, landscapes and oceans.

With a launch weight of roughly 3,200 pounds (1,450 kilograms), Paz measures more than 16 feet (5 meters) long and 8 feet (2.5 meters) in diameter. It is the largest satellite ever assembled in Spain, according to Alfonso Martínez, Paz project manager at the spacecraft's prime contractor, Airbus Defense and Space, which constructed Paz in Madrid.

Paz is owned by Hisdesat, which oversees satellite operations for the Spanish government.

The $200 million (160 million euro) mission will produce radar imagery for the Spanish military and other governments, plus commercial clients .

"It's a very flexible mission," said Miguel Angel García Primo, Hisdesat's chief operating officer, in an interview this week. "It's useful for a lot of applications, environmental, also for big infrastructure tracking and planning, maritime surveillance and government applications like monitoring and surveillance for any specific items that you'd like to follow."

The Falcon 9 rocket will release the Paz satellite approximately 11 minutes after launch into a 319-mile-high (514-kilometer) polar orbit tilted around 97.4 degrees to the equator.

Paz will share the orbit with two German radar satellites -- TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X -- launched in 2007 and 2010. Airbus and Hisdesat will jointly manage the commercial sales and marketing of radar data from the radar satellite constellation.

SpaceX says it will not attempt to recover the Falcon 9's first stage on Sunday's launch. The booster previously flew Aug. 24, 2017, from Vandenberg to loft the Taiwanese Formosat 5 Earth observation satellite into orbit, then landed on a SpaceX platform in the Pacific Ocean.

In addition to Paz, two secondary payloads are expected to ride into orbit aboard the Falcon 9 rocket.

The first two prototype satellites for SpaceX's planned Starlink broadband Internet network, which could eventually comprise thousands of small spacecraft, should be on the launch, according to filings with the Federal Communications Commission.

SpaceX has not confirmed the presence of the satellites on Sunday's mission.

The launch of Paz will mark the 49th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket since its debut in 2010, and the eighth Falcon 9 flight from Vandenberg. It will be the ninth rocket booster reused by SpaceX, including two recovered stages flown on the first Falcon Heavy test flight Feb. 6.

SpaceX's launch team completed a pre-flight hold-down firing of the Falcon 9 rocket Sunday at Vandenberg, and tasks this week included final encapsulation of the Paz spacecraft inside the launcher's nose shroud, followed by attachment of the satellite to the Falcon 9's upper stage.

"We've already performed the major part of the launch campaign, all the validation of the satellite," García Primo said in a phone interview earlier this week.

He said Paz was in good shape after its shipment from Madrid to Vandenberg via a cargo plane in December.

"We've done the mating with the payload adapter, and also the fueling of the satellite. The satellite has been completely fueled and pressurized. We are in a nominal situation for the launch. A couple of covers need to be removed at the very last minute for the star trackers."

[свернуть]

ЦитироватьНа сайте SpaceX

spacex.com/webcast (http://www.spacex.com/webcast)

или

на ТыТрубе

youtube.com/watch?v=-p-PToD2URA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p-PToD2URA)

ЦитироватьTiamat пишет:
А у вас есть информация, что испанцы заплатили SpaceX меньше чем 62 млн. долл. за этот запуск ?

ЦитироватьВасилий Ратников пишет:
так что вы за них не волнуйтесь про их упущенную выгоду )

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:

ЦитироватьTiamat пишет:
А у вас есть информация, что испанцы заплатили SpaceX меньше чем 62 млн. долл. за этот запуск ?

Нету. Но я решительно не могу себе представить, зачем испанцам это надо.
Ситуация удивительная, в том-то и дело.

ЦитироватьPirat5 пишет:

2018 Feb 18 [14:17]	Falcon 9 ♺	LC-4E	B1038 (https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/wiki/cores#wiki_b1038) b3	Paz / Starlink satellites
2018 Feb 25 [05:35]	Falcon 9	SLC-40	B1044 (https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/wiki/cores#wiki_b1044_.28unflown.29) b4 exp	Hispasat 30W-6
2018 Mar 20 [15:08]	Falcon 9 ♺	LC-4E	B1041 (https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/wiki/cores#wiki_b1041) b4	Iridium 5 (10 Satellites)

ЦитироватьKBOB пишет:
зачем возвращать первую ступень в этом пуске, если она уже больше не полетит?

ЦитироватьLRV_75 пишет:

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:

ЦитироватьTiamat пишет:
А у вас есть информация, что испанцы заплатили SpaceX меньше чем 62 млн. долл. за этот запуск ?

Нету. Но я решительно не могу себе представить, зачем испанцам это надо.
Ситуация удивительная, в том-то и дело.

А что случилось то?

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:

ЦитироватьLRV_75 пишет:

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:

ЦитироватьTiamat пишет:
А у вас есть информация, что испанцы заплатили SpaceX меньше чем 62 млн. долл. за этот запуск ?

Нету. Но я решительно не могу себе представить, зачем испанцам это надо.
Ситуация удивительная, в том-то и дело.

А что случилось то?

Спутник летит на в разы более мощной и дорогой ракете, чем ему требуется.

ЦитироватьGeorgea пишет:
Спутник летит на в разы более мощной и дорогой ракете, чем ему требуется.

ЦитироватьKBOB пишет: 
зачем возвращать первую ступень в этом пуске, если она уже больше не полетит?

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg)Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 39m ago (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/964877773084024834)

Falcon 9 for the PAZ mission has rolled out at Vandenberg SLC-4E (visual confirmation). And she IS the first West Coast Sooty.

And pretty unique looking as she has no landing legs. Think "whoops, tan lines!", but make up your own jokes or I'll get into trouble. (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/125556.png)

ЦитироватьSpaceXUpdates‏ @SpaceXUpdates (https://twitter.com/SpaceXUpdates) · 17m (https://twitter.com/SpaceXUpdates/status/964903348746031104)

Falcon's got a funky pattern where the legs used to be :D

ЦитироватьSpaceflight Now‏ @SpaceflightNow (https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow) · 3m (https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/964914851020705793)

The launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from California with the Spanish Paz radar observation satellite and two prototype broadband payloads for SpaceX has been delayed to Wednesday.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 1h ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/964911460093710337)

Looks like #Paz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Paz?src=hash) is delayed to its next opportunity on Wednesday, 21 Feb. #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) #Starlink (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Starlink?src=hash)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg)Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 47m ago (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/964920124703756288)

Well that is making more sense now. West Coast Sooty back into the barn.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/29920.jpg)Derrick.Stamos‏ @Helodriver2004 (https://twitter.com/Helodriver2004)

Aaaand it's rolled back in...
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173994.jpg)
9:49 am - 17 Feb 2018 (https://twitter.com/Helodriver2004/status/964919854623997952)

ЦитироватьUpd ated: 02/17/2018 20:21 Stephen Clark

The launch of the Paz radar observation satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has been delayed to Wednesday, according to an official with Spanish-based Hisdesat, which owns the mission's primary payload.

Launch on Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is scheduled for 6:17 a.m. PST (9:17 a.m. EST; 1417 GMT).

The launch was se t for Saturday, but SpaceX said Thursday night that the mission would be pushed back to Sunday. The launch company said Wednesday would be the next launch opportunity if something prevented liftoff Sunday.

A reason of the delay has not been announced.

The mission is also expected to loft the first two test satellites for SpaceX's planned broadband Internet network.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/69029.jpg)SpaceX‏Verified account @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) 12m ago (https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/964937069901447168)

Team at Vandenberg is taking additional time to perform final checkouts of upgraded fairing. Payload and vehicle remain healthy. Due to mission requirements, now targeting February 21 launch of PAZ.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 15m ago (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/964940338669473793)

SpaceX states an "upgraded fairing" is the cause for the delay. This could signal a fairing 2.0 debut. Fairing 2.0 is meant to be reusable via ocean recovery. It also has a slightly larger volume.

14m ago (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/964940653657550848)

We will have to wait for images for confirmation on whether or not it is in fact fairing 2.0.

ЦитироватьKBOB пишет:
Фалкон-9 в1.2(еx) Б1038.2 18.02.2018 Ва СЛЦ-4Е Паз (http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/paz.htm) / МицроСат 2а (http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/microsat-2.htm) / МицроСат 2б
 (http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/microsat-2.htm) Фалкон-9 в1.2(еx) ----------- xx.02.2018 CC СЛЦ-40 Хиспасат 30Щ-6
 (http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/hispasat-1f.htm) Фалкон-9 в1.2(еx) Б1041.2 xx.03.2018 Ва СЛЦ-4Е Иридиум-НЕXТ
 (http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/iridium-next.htm)
Разошлись они с невозвращающимися ступенями.

ЦитироватьVANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a PAZ payload from Space Launch Complex-4, is delayed to allow for additional time to perform final checkouts of the upgraded fairing. The Falcon 9 and payload remain healthy.
 
The launch is rescheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 6:17 a.m. PST.

ЦитироватьДимитър пишет:
Меня больше интересуют микросаты СпейсИкса. Ведь они эксперименталные образцы огромной группировки из 4000 спутников. Где можно про них прочитать?

ЦитироватьГлава Федеральной комиссии по связи США Аджит Пай предлагает выдать SpaceX разрешение на оказание услуг высокоскоростного доступа в интернет с помощью группировки низкоорбитальных спутников. Компания Илона Маска планирует использовать новые спутниковые технологии, которые пока не применяют другие провайдеры. Пай надеется, что SpaceX обеспечит интернетом жителей самых удаленных районов США и решит проблему цифрового неравенства в стране, а также превратится в глобального интернет-провайдера.
В эту субботу, 17 февраля, SpaceX отправит (https://hightech.fm/2018/02/13/spacex_satellites) на орбиту первые тестовые спутники для раздачи интернета Microsat 2a и 2b. В последующие годы компания Маска планирует вывести на орбиту «созвездие» из более чем 11 000 спутников. К 2027 году проект Starlink должен обеспечить полное покрытие интернетом всей поверхности Земли.
Предстоящий запуск уже утвержден — Федеральная комиссия по связи США (FCC) выдала SpaceX разрешение на выведение спутников на орбиту. Однако глава FCC Аджит Пай предлагает коллегам пойти дальше и выдать SpaceX разрешение на предоставление услуг широкополосного доступа в интернет с использованием новых спутниковых технологий. Заявку на запуск этого сервиса компания Маска подала еще в 2016 году.
...
Низкое расположение спутников должно стать одним из главных преимуществ SpaceX перед конкурентами. Согласно плану компании, «созвездия» спутников расположатся (https://hightech.fm/2017/05/04/spacex_satellites) на низкой околоземной орбите на высоте 1110-1350 км — ниже, чем традиционные геостационарные спутники. Благодаря этому задержка при передаче сигнала составит всего 25-35 миллисекунд. Для сравнения — у большинства спутниковых провайдеров этот показатель составляет 600 миллисекунд.
Пока комиссия не комментировала предложение Пая, однако член FCC от демократической партии Джессика Розенворцел уже поддержала инициативу. «[SpaceX] в несколько раз увеличит число спутников на орбите и тем самым откроет массу новых возможностей. FCC следует как можно скорее одобрить внедрение нового сервиса».
Первые спутники SpaceX, которые компания запустит в эту субботу, будут использованы для тестирования системы радиосвязи (https://hightech.fm/2017/10/27/spacex-oneweb) в Ku-диапазоне в связке с наземными станциями. Точки связи компании будут базироваться в Вашингтоне, Калифорнии и Техасе. Также SpaceX оборудует приемными терминалами фургоны, установленные в разных городах по всей Америке.

Цитировать...Если тестирование технологии пройдет успешно, то SpaceX начнет кампанию по запуску спутников уже в 2019 году. В течение пяти лет компания Илона Маска выведет на орбиту 4425 спутников — об этих планах SpaceX сообщила (https://hightech.fm/2016/11/17/musk-spasex-sputnik) еще в ноябре прошлого года. Доставлять спутники на орбиту будут ракеты многоразового пользования Falcon 9. По словам Купер, это позволит сэкономить на запусках.
Спутники размером с легковой автомобиль и весом около 386 кг расположатся на низкой околоземной орбите на высоте 1110-1350 км. Орбиты геостационарных спутников обычно располагаются значительно выше, а на прохождение сигнала уходит больше времени. SpaceX планирует передавать сигнал с задержкой не более 25-35 миллисекунд. У большинства спутниковых провайдеров этот показатель составляет 600 миллисекунд.
Как сообщает Ars Technica (https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/05/spacexs-falcon-9-rocket-will-launch-thousands-of-broadband-satellites/), компания Маска собирается дополнительно запустить 7500 спутников, которые установят еще ближе к поверхности Земли. Такое расположение поможет повысить пропускную способность и снизить запаздывание сигнала в густонаселенных регионах.
Спутники будут работать по принципу ячеистой сети и смогут перенаправлять сигнал в районы с максимальной загрузкой. SpaceX обещает обеспечить интернетом со скоростью до 1 Гбит/с миллиарды людей, в том числе жителей удаленных и сельских регионов. Так как спутники будут передавать сигнал напрямую на станции и терминалы в домах пользователей, для их работы потребуется минимум инфраструктуры. Такой подход поможет SpaceX провести интернет в те места планеты, где его никогда не было, заметила Купер...

ЦитироватьPyhesty пишет:
и всё же кажется, начинать массово выводить микро и наноспутники чревато быстрым засорением орбит... Одно дело когда одна компания разместит 10 000+ спутников, но ведь найдутся другие и чисто спутников и мусора станет расти лавинообразно...

Цитироватьus2-star пишет:
На корабле «Mr. Steven», который занимается ловлей обтекателя, натянуты сети в преддверии запуска Falcon 9/Paz, назначенного на 21 февраля

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:

Цитироватьus2-star пишет:
На корабле «Mr. Steven», который занимается ловлей обтекателя, натянуты сети в преддверии запуска Falcon 9/Paz, назначенного на 21 февраля

Какая-то слишком "нежная" сетка на вид  :)  

ЦитироватьKBOB пишет:

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:

Цитироватьus2-star пишет:
На корабле «Mr. Steven», который занимается ловлей обтекателя, натянуты сети в преддверии запуска Falcon 9/Paz, назначенного на 21 февраля

Какая-то слишком "нежная" сетка на вид  :)  

Да сеточка так себе, батут нужен

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67501.jpg)Airbus Space‏Verified account @AirbusSpace (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace) 1h ago (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace/status/965982805212762112)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/125414.png) Tomorrow launch of #PAZ (https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAZ?src=hash) satellite built by Airbus for Hisdesat on #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX). PAZ is a (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/125266.png) high-res radar (SAR) Earth Observation (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/125535.png) and will form a constellation together with TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X. All you need to know about the satellite in this #infographic (https://twitter.com/hashtag/infographic?src=hash) (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/125372.png)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173815.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg)Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 8m ago (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/965999852831363072)

PS. Say hello to Fairing 2.0
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173812.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 4m ago (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/966035383027986433)
AND HE'S OFF!!! #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) fairing recovery vessel Mr. Steven leaves the Port of LA ahead of the PAZ launch. This will mark the first ever recovery attempt of Fairing 2.0.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173819.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg)Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 20m ago (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/966069669831630848)

SpaceX photo of Falcon 9 B1038.2 on SLC-4E ahead of Wednesday's PAZ and friends launch with Fairing 2.0. #WestCoastSooty (https://twitter.com/hashtag/WestCoastSooty?src=hash)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173821.jpg)

ЦитироватьДимитър пишет:
Меня больше интересуют микросаты СпейсИкса. Ведь они эксперименталные образцы огромной группировки из 4000 спутников. Где можно про них прочитать?

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/69029.jpg)SpaceX‏Verified account @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) 39s ago (https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/966075198616363008)

Falcon 9 and PAZ are vertical on Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Weather is 90% favorable for tomorrow's launch at 6:17 a.m. PST, 14:17 UTC.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173827.jpg)

ЦитироватьNAVAREA XII 80/2018 (16,18,19)

NORTH PACIFIC.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING
   211350Z TO 211501Z FEB, ALTERNATE 1350Z TO 1501Z
   DAILY 22 AND 23 FEB IN AREA BOUND BY
   31-50N 121-31W, 31-50N 120-57W,
   30-06N 120-50W, 30-06N 122-08W.
2. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS
   211718Z TO 211751Z FEB, ALTERNATE 1718Z TO 1751Z
   DAILY 22 AND 23 FEB IN AREA BOUND BY
   50-17N 168-05W, 50-17N 161-46W,
   41-47N 165-43W, 33-14N 168-50W,
   33-14N 173-39W, 42-50N 170-58W.
3. CANCEL NAVAREA XII 75/18.
4. CANCEL THIS MSG 231851Z FEB 18.

( 172028Z FEB 2018 )

ЦитироватьSpaceX попробует поймать половину головного обтекателя ракеты Falcon 9 при помощи гигантской сетки. Ее снимок выложила в Twitter (https://twitter.com/Teslarati/status/965668489875816449) фотожурналист Teslarati Паулин Акалин.

Фотографу удалось запечатлеть гигантскую сетку, развернутую на корабле Mr. Steven в порту Сан-Педро в Лос-Анджелесе (США). Конструкция предназначена для смягчения падение элемента Falcon 9 после запуска испанского спутника PAZ, запланированного на 21 февраля.

На высоте примерно ста километров скорость однотонной половины головного обтекателя примерно в десять раз будет превышать скорость звука. На высоте примерно десяти километров, в случае удачной ориентации элемента ракеты в пространстве, она должна составить половину от скорости звука. На этом участке траектории на головном обтекателе ожидается развертывание парашюта и включение системы GPS, которая позволит Mr. Steven отследить район падения элемента ракеты.

Стоимость головного обтекателя Falcon 9, состоящего из двух половин, оценивается в шесть миллионов долларов. Спасение половины обтекателя позволит SpaceX снизить стоимость пуска тяжелой ракеты, оцениваемого в 62 миллиона долларов, примерно на пять процентов.

ЦитироватьDerrick.Stamos‏ @Helodriver2004 (https://twitter.com/Helodriver2004) · 1h (https://twitter.com/Helodriver2004/status/966181473459081216)

Bright light under the darkening of night. 12 hours to launch. #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) #PAZ (https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAZ?src=hash) @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight)

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:
Будет Broadband со скоростью до 1440 Mbps. У меня щас 100 :)

ЦитироватьTest satellites for SpaceX's broadband 'megaconstellation' set for launch
February 20, 2018 (https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/) Stephen Clark (https://spaceflightnow.com/author/stephen-clark/)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143948.jpg)
SpaceX plans to launch the first two satellites of a potential fleet of nearly 12,000 spacecraft Wednesday. Credit: NASA

SpaceX is set to launch two prototype probes Wednesday to begin testing spacecraft and antenna technology the company hopes will eventually power a network of thousands of satellites blanketing planet Earth with broadband Internet coverage.

The launch marks a turning point for SpaceX's broadband initiative, a project described by company founder Elon Musk in 2015 as a revenue source for the company's broad ambitions to explore the solar system.

But SpaceX has said little publicly about the broadband network, dubbed Starlink, other than trickles of information disclosed in regulatory filings.

The two test satellites, named Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b and developed by SpaceX engineers, will ride into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket set for liftoff fr om Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:17 a.m. PST (9:17 a.m. EST; 1417 GMT) Wednesday.

Спойлер

The kerosene-fueled Falcon 9 rocket, also built and operated by SpaceX, will loft a Spanish radar observation satellite named Paz into a polar, sun-synchronous orbit approximately 317 miles (511 kilometers) above Earth.

Paz — named for the Spanish word for peace — is the primary passenger on Wednesday's rocket launch fr om California's Central Coast.

SpaceX intended to launch the Falcon 9 rocket with Paz and the two broadband test satellites Saturday, but officials pushed back the mission to Sunday to complete final systems checks. Managers delayed the flight to Wednesday to accomplish final checkouts of an upgraded payload fairing launching on the Falcon 9 rocket.

Regulatory filings submitted by SpaceX to the Federal Communications Commission suggest the company's Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b testbed craft will accompany Paz on the launch.

A press kit released for Wednesday's mission does not mention the broadband Microsats, and a SpaceX spokesperson declined to comment on the satellites.

But a letter sent to the FCC by Patricia Cooper, SpaceX's vice president of satellite government affairs, says the two experimental communications satellites, each weighing around 880 pounds (400 kilograms), will be deployed by the same Falcon 9 rocket due to launch Paz.

The rocket will release Paz and the two Microsats into the same 317-mile-high orbit. The placement is designed to satisfy requirements for the Paz satellite, which is set to kick off a $200 million (160 million euro) mission to gather worldwide radar imagery for the Spanish military and other governments, plus commercial clients.

The two Microsats will boost themselves into a higher orbit roughly 700 miles (1,125 kilometers) in altitude once ground controllers finish an initial post-launch checkout of the spacecraft, Cooper wrote in a letter to the FCC dated Feb. 1.

In a previous FCC filing, SpaceX said Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b are designed for 20-month missions.

Each satellite measures about the size of a mini-refrigerator and carries computer, power, command and control, propulsion and GPS navigation equipment typical for small spacecraft. A Ku-band broadband phased array antenna and an inter-satellite optical communications link is also included on each spacecraft, according to SpaceX.

"These are experimental engineering verification vehicles that will enable the company to assess the satellite bus and related subsystems, as well as the space-based and ground-based phased array technologies," SpaceX officials wrote in a submission to the FCC.

SpaceX plans to test the satellites' compatibility with six broadband ground receiving stations in California, Texas and Washington. Engineers also want to validate broadband connections between the satellites and mobile terminals.

In an application last year seeking FCC approval of the broadband fleet, SpaceX outlined a network that could include 4,425 satellites broadcasting Internet signals in Ku-band and Ka-band frequencies, a network originally proposed to the commission in 2016.

The Ku-band and Ka-band satellites would orbit between 689 miles and 823 miles (1,110 kilometers to 1,325 kilometers) above Earth.

SpaceX revealed plans for an expanded network in a regulatory filing last year. Besides the huge constellation of Ku-band and Ka-band satellites, SpaceX also proposed deploying 7,518 spacecraft transmitting broadband signals in V-band frequencies from low-altitude orbits around 210 miles (340 kilometers) above the planet.

The Ku-, Ka- and V-band combination "would provide both diverse geographic coverage and the capacity to support a wide range of broadband and communications services for residential, commercial, institutional, governmental and professional users in the United States and globally," SpaceX said in a proposal submitted to the FCC for approval.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week said he supported SpaceX's plan.

"To bridge America's digital divide, we'll have to use innovative technologies," Pai said in a statement Feb. 14. "SpaceX's application — along with those of other satellite companies seeking licenses or access to the U.S. market for non-geostationary satellite orbit systems — involves one such innovation. Satellite technology can help reach Americans who live in rural or hard-to-serve places wh ere fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach. And it can offer more competition wh ere terrestrial Internet access is already available."

SpaceX's chief competitor in the broadband market is OneWeb, founded by satellite industry entrepreneur Greg Wyler and backed by Airbus, Virgin, Qualcomm, New Delhi-based Bharti Enterprises, Hughes Network Systems — a subsidiary of EchoStar Corp. — Coca-Cola and Totalplay, a company owned by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego.

OneWeb aims to build nearly 900 satellites in a factory located near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the first set of test craft will launch later this year on a Russian-made Soyuz rocket from French Guiana.

SpaceX's broadband constellation will be developed at the company's facility Redmond, Washington.

The FCC has already approved OneWeb's proposal to offer Internet-via-satellite services in the U.S. market, along with a more modest 117-satellite low Earth orbit communications network being designed by Canada-based Telesat. The regulatory body has also granted a request from Space Norway to operate two low-altitude telecom satellites to improve coverage over the Arctic.

Backers of the low-altitude "megaconstellations" say they will offer higher-speed, lower-latency broadband service than possible from bigger, conventional communications satellites positioned in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.

"Following careful review of this application by our International Bureau's excellent satellite engineering experts, I have asked my colleagues to join me in supporting this application and moving to unleash the power of satellite constellations to provide high-speed Internet to rural Americans," Pai said of SpaceX's proposal. "If adopted, it would be the first approval given to an American-based company to provide broadband services using a new generation of low-Earth orbit satellite technologies."

[свернуть]

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg)Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 1h ago (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/966234598328987648)

East Coast Falcon 9 fires up at the end of the test window. ...

Falcon 9 static fires at SLC-40 ahead of Hispasat 30W-6 mission - by Ian Atkinson: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/02/falcon-9-static-fire-slc-40-hispasat-30w-6/ ... (https://t.co/KV4tXpU9FD)

Цитировать02/21/2018 09:54 Stephen Clark

Weather forecasters at Vandenberg Air Force Base predict a better than 90 percent probability of favorable conditions for liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday.

A low pressure system will bring mid- and high-level clouds over California's Central Coast on Wednesday, but limited moisture in the atmosphere keep the clouds' impacts on the launch in check.

Partly cloudy conditions are forecast for launch time, with a north-northeast wind of 8 to 12 knots, a temperature between 34 and 39 degrees Fahrenheit, and good visibility. Relatively light winds aloft are also in the forecast.

The only slight concern that meteorologists will watch during Wednesday's countdown is with ground winds.

Цитироватьche wi пишет:
SpaceX развернула гигантскую паутину (https://lenta.ru/news/2018/02/21/steven/)

ЦитироватьSpaceX попробует поймать половину головного обтекателя ракеты Falcon 9 при помощи гигантской сетки. Ее снимок выложила в Twitter (https://twitter.com/Teslarati/status/965668489875816449) фотожурналист Teslarati Паулин Акалин.

Фотографу удалось запечатлеть гигантскую сетку, развернутую на корабле Mr. Steven в порту Сан-Педро в Лос-Анджелесе (США). Конструкция предназначена для смягчения падение элемента Falcon 9 после запуска испанского спутника PAZ, запланированного на 21 февраля.

На высоте примерно ста километров скорость однотонной половины головного обтекателя примерно в десять раз будет превышать скорость звука. На высоте примерно десяти километров, в случае удачной ориентации элемента ракеты в пространстве, она должна составить половину от скорости звука. На этом участке траектории на головном обтекателе ожидается развертывание парашюта и включение системы GPS, которая позволит Mr. Steven отследить район падения элемента ракеты.

Стоимость головного обтекателя Falcon 9, состоящего из двух половин, оценивается в шесть миллионов долларов. Спасение половины обтекателя позволит SpaceX снизить стоимость пуска тяжелой ракеты, оцениваемого в 62 миллиона долларов, примерно на пять процентов.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186329.jpg)Deimos Imaging‏ @deimosimaging (https://twitter.com/deimosimaging) 2h ago (https://twitter.com/deimosimaging/status/966248932757172224)

#DEIMOS2 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/DEIMOS2?src=hash) captured #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) and #PAZ (https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAZ?src=hash) vertical on SLC-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base yesterday! Best of luck for today's launch to #Hisdesat (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hisdesat?src=hash) and @AirbusSpace (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173842.jpg)

ЦитироватьKBOB пишет: 
Интересно как она затормозит с 10М до 0.5М без аэро-томозов и ракетных двигатеелей

Цитировать02/21/2018 15:18 Stephen Clark

T-minus 2 hours and counting. SpaceX's launch team at Vandenberg is stepping through procedures ahead of the start of fueling of the Falcon 9 rocket at this time.

SpaceX's launch director is expected to give the go to begin loading RP-1 kerosene into the Falcon 9 rocket at 5:04 a.m. PST (8:04 a.m. EST; 1304 GMT), followed by the start of fueling three minutes later.

Liquid oxygen will begin flowing into the rocket at 5:42 a.m. PST (8:42 a.m. EST; 1342 GMT).

ЦитироватьДимитър пишет:
Говорили про 4000 спутников. Когда их стало 12 000 !?

Цитировать... In an application last year seeking FCC approval of the broadband fleet, SpaceX outlined a network that could include 4,425 satellites broadcasting Internet signals in Ku-band and Ka-band frequencies, a network originally proposed to the commission in 2016. 

The Ku-band and Ka-band satellites would orbit between 689 miles and 823 miles (1,110 kilometers to 1,325 kilometers) above Earth. 

SpaceX revealed plans for an expanded network in a regulatory filing last year. Besides the huge constellation of Ku-band and Ka-band satellites, SpaceX also proposed deploying 7,518 spacecraft transmitting broadband signals in V-band frequencies from low-altitude orbits around 210 miles (340 kilometers) above the planet. ...

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185376.jpg)Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live (https://twitter.com/S101_Live) 7m ago (https://twitter.com/S101_Live/status/966288890540838912)

Riding shotgun on today's #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) mission are MicroSat-2a & 2b - the first demo sats for SpaceX's planned Starlink satellite constellation combining Ku/Ka/V-Band frequencies for global Internet distribution via more than 11,000 low-orbiting satellites: http://bit.ly/2EUHZ2E  (https://t.co/Ch7VzgYn8P)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185376.jpg)Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live (https://twitter.com/S101_Live) 2m ago (https://twitter.com/S101_Live/status/966291465000439808)

Today's launch marks the 4th #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) mission in 2018, the 3rd with #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) & the first from Vandenberg. #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) is re-using Booster 1038 from last year's FormoSat mission and today's mission debuts Payload Fairing 2.0. Sooty 1038.2 has fins but no legs and will not be recovered

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 4m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966292213113282560)

Currently, the count is proceeding nominally and there are no issues. Fueling is scheduled to begin at 05:07 PST (08:07 EST; 13:07 UTC). #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) #Paz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Paz?src=hash) #Starlink (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Starlink?src=hash)

ЦитироватьPhotos: Falcon 9 on the eve of launch from Vandenberg
February 21, 2018 (https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/) Stephen Clark (https://spaceflightnow.com/author/stephen-clark/)

SpaceX crews at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California rolled out a Falcon 9 rocket and lifted it vertical atop its launch pad ahead of a planned blastoff Wednesday with a Spanish radar observation satellite and two test probes for a planned global broadband Internet network.

Спойлер

These photos captured Tuesday at Vandenberg show the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket at Space Launch Complex 4-East, SpaceX's launch pad at the West Coast spaceport formerly used for Titan 4 rocket flights.

The first stage booster slated to launch Spain's Paz Earth observation mission and SpaceX's Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b payloads previously flew in August 2017 with the Taiwanese Formosat 5 satellite. It was recovered aboard SpaceX's drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX has no plans to recover the first stage intact on Wednesday launch.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/144033.jpg)
Credit: SpaceX

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143995.jpg)
Credit: SpaceX

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143980.jpg)
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143981.jpg)
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143982.jpg)
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143983.jpg)
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News

[свернуть]

Цитировать02/21/2018 16:04 Stephen Clark

While no first stage landing is planned, SpaceX may attempt to recover part of the Falcon 9 rocket's payload fairing following today's launch.

The company's fairing recovery ship, named Mr. Steven, is heading toward the Falcon 9's flight track downrange fr om Vandenberg Air Force Base.

SpaceX says today's mission will fly with an "upgraded" fairing, which separates in two clamshell-like halves around three minutes after liftoff. The fairing structure is fitted with thrusters for maneuvering and a parachute to slow its descent back to the ground, wh ere a ship with a huge net may try to catch the falling shroud.

Here's a photo of the fairing recovery vessel before it departed the Port of Los Angeles in advance of today's flight. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/124385.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185946.jpg)Elon Musk‏Verified account @elonmusk (https://twitter.com/elonmusk) 56s ago (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966298034978959361)

Today's Falcon launch carries 2 SpaceX test satellites for global broadband. If successful, Starlink constellation will serve least served.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185376.jpg)Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live (https://twitter.com/S101_Live) 2m ago (https://twitter.com/S101_Live/status/966298206916300802)

T-70 Minutes: The Automatic Countdown Sequence kicks in at this point to take #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) through its expedited propellant loading sequence, starting with RP-1 load on both stages to fill the vehicle with ~155 metric tons of chilled Kerosene. Standing by for confirmation.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 7m ago (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/966298236440006656)

Mr. Steven is currently in position about ~400 miles downrange from Vandenberg Air Force Base ahead of the PAZ launch at 6:17 AM local. Shortly after launch, the Vessel will likely make the first full-blown attempt at recovering a fairing.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173839.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 4m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966299604747681794)

Confirmed. RP-1 is flowing into the Falcon 9 for today's launch. All is on track for a launch at 06:17 PST (09:17 EST; 14:17 UTC)

Цитировать02/21/2018 16:17  Stephen Clark

T-minus 60 minutes. The launch autosequence started 10 minutes ago, kicking off the first steps to begin pumping propellants into the 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 at Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg.

RP-1 kerosene is being pumped into the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket first, followed by liquid oxygen chilled to near minus 340 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 206 degrees Celsius) at T-minus 35 minutes

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 1m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966302511048032257)

CONSTRAINT: Upper Level Winds are OVER the limit. Additional weather balloon data at T-25mins. Proceeding with fueling for now in case winds subside. But this could result in a scrub after LOX load starts.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/29920.jpg)Derrick.Stamos‏ @Helodriver2004 (https://twitter.com/Helodriver2004) 9m ago (https://twitter.com/Helodriver2004/status/966303983185756160)

Currently we are on the edge of the jet stream over southern California at altitude. Over the limit for the #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) #PAZ (https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAZ?src=hash) launch.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173854.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/69029.jpg)SpaceX‏Verified account @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) 2m ago (https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/966307027684225025)

T-40 minutes until Falcon 9 launch of PAZ. Pending weather balloon data, launch webcast will go live about 15 minutes before liftoff → http://spacex.com/webcast  (https://t.co/gtC39uBC7z)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 4m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966307025536802822)

T-35mins. LOX load (fueling) into the first stage has started.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 7m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966308206992609281)

Per most recent weather balloon data from more than 30 mins ago (still waiting on new data), Upper Level Winds were at 101.8% of max allowed. So that's close & why they're proceeding with fueling. If they get below 100%, we'll be OK to launch.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 1m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966310996796215296)

Technically, everything is still going perfectly. Waiting on final weather balloon data on Upper Level Winds, which should be coming in right about now.

ЦитироватьFalcon 9 launch timeline with Paz
February 20, 2018 (https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/) Stephen Clark (https://spaceflightnow.com/author/stephen-clark/)

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket's ascent to orbit with the Paz Earth observation payload for Hisdesat, operator of Spain's governmental satellites.

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket will lift off Wednesday at 6:17 a.m. PST (9:17 a.m. EST; 1417 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Спойлер

Two SpaceX-built mini-satellites are also on the launch to test technologies for the company's planned broadband communications network.

SpaceX does not plan to recover the first stage booster on this mission. The Falcon 9's first stage set to launch with Paz previously flew on the Formosat 5 mission from Vandenberg in August 2017.

Data source: SpaceX

T-0:00:00: Liftoff

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143760.png) (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143760.png)
After the rocket's nine Merlin 1D engines pass an automated health check, the Falcon 9 is released from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

T+0:01:17: Max-Q

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143763.png) (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143763.png)
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure. The first stage's nine Merlin 1D engines produce about 1.7 million pounds of thrust.

T+0:02:29: MECO

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/31294.jpg) (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/31294.jpg)
The Falcon 9's nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.

T+0:02:33: Stage 1 Separation

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/31295.jpg) (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/31295.jpg)
The Falcon 9's first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.

T+0:02:40: Stage 2 Ignition

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143761.png) (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143761.png)
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for an approximately six-and-a-half minute burn to guide the Paz, Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b satellites into orbit.

T+0:02:56: Fairing Jettison

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143758.png) (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143758.png)
The 5.2-meter (17.1-foot) diameter payload fairing jettisons once the Falcon 9 rocket ascends through the dense lower atmosphere. The 43-foot-tall fairing is made of two clamshell-like halves composed of carbon fiber with an aluminum honeycomb core.

T+0:08:58: SECO 1

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143762.png) (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143762.png)
The Merlin 1D vacuum engine turns off after placing the Paz satellite into its planned 317-mile-high (511-kilometer) polar orbit.

T+0:10:58: Paz Separation

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/143819.png)
The Paz spacecraft deploys from the Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage to begin its five-and-a-half year Earth observation mission. SpaceX's two Microsat secondary payloads are expected to separate from the upper stage after Paz.

[свернуть]

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 1m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966312801898827776)

SCRUB due to Upper Level Winds. #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) #Paz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Paz?src=hash) #Starlink (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Starlink?src=hash)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185376.jpg)Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live (https://twitter.com/S101_Live) 2m ago (https://twitter.com/S101_Live/status/966313266778705920)

Upper Level Winds are not cooperating today. #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash)/PAZ heading into a 24-hour recycle. Next attempt on Thursday at 14:17 UTC.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185946.jpg)Elon Musk‏Verified account @elonmusk (https://twitter.com/elonmusk) 1m ago (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966313683633623041)

High altitude wind shear data shows a probable 2% load exceedance. Small, but better to be paranoid. Postponing launch to tomorrow, assuming winds are better then.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/69029.jpg)SpaceX‏Verified account @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) 3m ago (https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/966313372814749701)


Standing down today due to strong upper level winds. Now targeting launch of PAZ for February 22 at 6:17 a.m. PST from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Цитировать

PAZ MISSION

SpaceX is now targeting a Falcon 9 launch of the PAZ satellite to low-Earth orbit on Thursday, February 22 from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The Feb. 21st attempt was scrubbed due to strong upper level winds. The instantaneous launch opportunity is at 6:17 a.m. PST, or 14:17 UTC. The satellite will be deployed approximately eleven minutes after launch.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186329.jpg)Deimos Imaging‏ @deimosimaging (https://twitter.com/deimosimaging) 2h ago (https://twitter.com/deimosimaging/status/966619239477063680)

#DEIMOS2 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/DEIMOS2?src=hash) keeps monitoring launch preparations at Vandenberg Air Force Base & captured #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) and #PAZ (https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAZ?src=hash) vertical on SLC-4E yesterday. Looking forward to a successful launch! #Hisdesat (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hisdesat?src=hash) @AirbusSpace (https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173928.jpg)

Цитировать02/22/2018 15:27 Stephen Clark

Now inside two hours to today's instantaneous launch attempt, SpaceX should be completing checkouts and power-up of the Falcon 9 rocket in advance of fueling, which is due to begin at 5:07 a.m. PST (8:07 a.m. EST; 1307 GMT) with loading of RP-1 kerosene into the vehicle.

Liquid oxygen will begin flowing into the Falcon 9 at 5:42 a.m. PST (8:42 a.m. EST; 1307 GMT).

Liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 4-East is targeted for 6:17 a.m. EST (9:17 a.m. EST; 1417 GMT) with the Paz Earth observation satellite and two experimental test craft for SpaceX's planned Starlink broadband project.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67530.jpg)Spaceflight Now‏ @SpaceflightNow (https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow) 1m ago (https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/966654322854547457)

SpaceX plans another Falcon 9 launch attempt in California today. Liftoff is set for 6:17am PST (9:17am EST; 1417 GMT) with the Spanish Paz radar observation satellite & two experimental broadband craft. (Photo by Gene Blevins/LA Daily News) Live coverage: https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/16/falcon-9-paz-mission-status-center/ ... (https://t.co/SyyCmO0DVE)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173929.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 3m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966656838765826048)

Publicly available ground wind data shows almost no ground winds. Upper Levels Winds look, themselves, within tolerance... but some directional shift as you ascend. Wind sheer *might* be an issue. Awaiting official word.

Цитировать02/22/2018 15:57 Stephen Clark

The explosive clear zone around Space Launch Complex 4-East has been confirmed clear ahead of fueling, and the SpaceX technical team has voiced their go-ahead to begin loading propellants.

Fueling with RP-1 kerosene should begin in 10 minutes.

Цитировать02/22/2018 16:06 Stephen Clark

SpaceX's launch director reports all members of the Falcon 9 launch team are "go" to begin fueling on time. The Air Force-run Western Range is apparently tracking sea or air traffic in a restricted downrange zone at this time, but the countdown is proceeding in hopes the issue can be cleared.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 3m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966660596048519169)

Propellant loading poll complete. All technical and weather constraints are GREEN.

Range is tracking one range violator, but SpaceX team is proceeding with propellant load.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/29920.jpg)Derrick.Stamos‏ @Helodriver2004 (https://twitter.com/Helodriver2004) 6m ago (https://twitter.com/Helodriver2004/status/966660348286681091)

@NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) We haven't heard anything yet, but @upperlevelwinds (https://twitter.com/upperlevelwinds) look strong again today. Its likely to come back to balloons again. Could be worse, could be trying to launch in Eastern Canada. (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/125476.png)#SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) #Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) #Paz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Paz?src=hash) #Starlink (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Starlink?src=hash)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173941.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/29831.jpg)William Harwood‏ @cbs_spacenews (https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews) 5m ago (https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews/status/966660775979909120)

F9/PAZ: 1 hour 10 minutes to launch; SpaceX is go for propellant loading; apparently tracking a wayward ship or airplane in the offshore keep-out zone; not yet resolved

Цитировать02/22/2018 16:20 Stephen Clark

Some statistics on today's launch:

49th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
55th launch of Falcon rocket family since 2006
8th Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base
29th launch of the upgraded Falcon 9
6th upgraded Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base
1st launch for Hisdesat by SpaceX
1st launch for SpaceX's Starlink broadband network
18th Falcon 9 night launch
3rd Falcon 9 launch of 2018
4th SpaceX launch of 2018
2nd launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2018

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 4m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966663302213496834)

T-1hr and counting. All is well with the fueling process. Only issue being tracked is a vessel in the Range restricted sea/air space (not expected to interfere with launch).

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg)Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 3m ago (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/966663893283147776)

No reference to "pending upper level winds" this time, so that's a good sign.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/69029.jpg)SpaceX‏Verified account @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) 3m ago (https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/966663753897934848)

T-60 minutes until Falcon 9 launch of PAZ. Launch webcast will go live about 15 minutes before liftoff → http://spacex.com/webcast  (https://t.co/gtC39uBC7z)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 1m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966664822652919808)

And the Range is CLEAR. The violator of air/sea space has been cleared from the restricted area.

NO CONSTRAINTS at this time for launch.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186343.jpg)Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) 2m ago (https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/966666889735831553)

T-45mins and counting. 10 mins away from the start of LOX (Liquid Oxygen) load. All is proceeding well. No issues that would prevent launch at 06:17 PST (14:17 UTC)

Цитировать02/22/2018 16:37 Stephen Clark

T-minus 40 minutes and counting. No problems have been reported with RP-1 fueling at this time, and super-cold liquid oxygen will begin pumping aboard the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket in about five minutes.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185946.jpg)Elon Musk‏Подлинная учетная запись @elonmusk (https://twitter.com/elonmusk) 3 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966682218411143169)

Made it back from space and fairing parafoil just deployed. Now trying to catch it ...

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185376.jpg)Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live (https://twitter.com/S101_Live) 12 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/S101_Live/status/966681446885847043)

#Falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Falcon9?src=hash) now heading out of ground station range. Deployment of the #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) MicroSats occurs out of comms, Stage 2 will be tasked with a deorbit burn after the two prototypes are on their way.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185376.jpg)Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live (https://twitter.com/S101_Live) 12 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/S101_Live/status/966681672493207552)

Per documentation, the two MicroSats are to employ onboard propulsion to maneuver into a 1,125km orbit to begin 6-12 months of daily testing sessions of the Earth-to-Space, Space-to-Space and Space-to-Earth links needed for the Starlink constellation. http://bit.ly/2EUHZ2E  (https://t.co/Ch7VzgYn8P)

Цитировать

PAZ MISSION

On Thursday, February 22, Falcon 9 successfully launched the PAZ satellite to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The instantaneous launch opportunity happened at 6:17 a.m. PST, or 14:17 UTC, and the PAZ satellite was deployed approximately eleven minutes after launch.

ЦитироватьSpaceX Falcon 9 launches PAZ satellite

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/220782.jpg) (https://www.youtube.com/user/SciNewsRo) SciNews (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjU6ZwoTQtKWfz1urL7XcbA)

Опубликовано: 22 февр. 2018 г.

ЦитироватьPAZ satellite deployment

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/220782.jpg) (https://www.youtube.com/user/SciNewsRo) SciNews (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjU6ZwoTQtKWfz1urL7XcbA)

Опубликовано: 22 февр. 2018 г.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 13 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/966687431981457408)

Update on Mr. Steven: He headed east at 13 knots during launch. His general direction then changed to the north east. At 6:42 local he was traveling at 10 knots. Not enough data to know if there were tight turning maneuvers and significant changes in speed.

5 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/966689536423153665)

Update on Mr. Steven: The turn to the northeast occurred after Elon tweeted that the parafoil had deployed (most likely shortly after). The turn was also in the direction of port, but the speed was below Mr. Steven's normal cruising speed. Waiting for next data report.

Цитироватьtnt22 пишет:

ЦитироватьElon Musk ‏Подлинная учетная запись @elonmusk 3 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966682218411143169)

Made it back from space and fairing parafoil just deployed. Now trying to catch it ...

ЦитироватьДимитър пишет:
А головной обтекатель спасли?

Цитировать‏Подлинная учетная запись @elonmusk (https://twitter.com/elonmusk) 5 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966692641533390848)

Missed by a few hundred meters, but fairing landed intact in water. Should be able catch it with slightly bigger chutes to slow down descent.

ЦитироватьKBOB пишет:
Так, что поймали?

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67516.jpg)Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 (https://twitter.com/planet4589) 7 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/966692883561635841)

Close! Better luck next time

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67530.jpg)Spaceflight Now‏ @SpaceflightNow (https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow) 2 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/966694400427479040)

SpaceX chief Elon Musk says the Falcon 9 rocket's payload shroud landed in the Pacific Ocean near a boat that tried to retrieve it. Bigger parachutes could improve the chances of an on-target landing on future attempts. https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/16/falcon-9-paz-mission-status-center/ ... (https://t.co/SyyCmO0DVE)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173945.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 50 сек. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/966695483086442496)

My estimate on the location of the fairing recovery. This is an estimate based on Mr. Steven's movements. https://www.google.com/maps/place/30%C2%B020'57.1%22N+121%C2%B036'29.9%22W/@29.3440781,-123.8941867,5.96z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d30.3492!4d-121.6083 ... (https://t.co/cWUbUB0hPo)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DWpkZdRU8AAM-GY.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg)Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 4мин. назад (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/966696874014060544)

Some amazing viewing photos coming in from this morning's Falcon 9 PAZ launch. These from NSF member pb2000, from Ocean Ave:
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173946.jpg)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173947.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67521.jpg)Stephen Clark‏ @StephenClark1 (https://twitter.com/StephenClark1) 3 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/StephenClark1/status/966697359794147330)

Musk on next fairing recovery attempt. Roughly aligns with March 20 target launch date for next batch of Iridium sats from Vandenberg.

ЦитироватьElon Musk Подлинная учетная запись @elonmusk
В ответ @DMOberhaus
About a month

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 2 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/966698694652383232)

Just a fairing floating in the water. Nothing to see here. #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173949.jpg)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173948.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185946.jpg)Elon Musk‏Подлинная учетная запись @elonmusk (https://twitter.com/elonmusk) 4 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966703261699854336)

First two Starlink demo satellites, called Tintin A & B, deployed and communicating to Earth stations

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/966703247833649155/pu/vid/640x360/iY6VxlOJ6XdKJVhC.mp4 (https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/966703247833649155/pu/vid/640x360/iY6VxlOJ6XdKJVhC.mp4)
(прямая ссылка (https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/966703247833649155/pu/vid/640x360/iY6VxlOJ6XdKJVhC.mp4))

Video (https://twitter.com/i/videos/tweet/966703261699854336) (0:08 )

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185946.jpg)Elon Musk‏Подлинная учетная запись @elonmusk (https://twitter.com/elonmusk) 39 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966706193560305664)

Tintin A & B will attempt to beam "hello world" in about 22 hours when they pass near LA


37 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966706924124188672)

Don't tell anyone, but the wifi password is "martians"

Цитироватьtnt22 пишет:
Отделение Paz

ЦитироватьSpaceX launches pair of its demo internet satellites with Spanish radar satellite
by Caleb Henry (http://spacenews.com/author/caleb-henry/) — February 22, 2018

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/155770.png)
Hisdesat's Paz satellite seen separating from the Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage. SpaceX's demo broadband satellites Tintin A and B are visible on the left and right attached to the upper stage. Credit: SpaceX video still.

WASHINGTON — SpaceX on Feb. 22 launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Spanish-owned radar-imaging satellite and two demonstration satellites for SpaceX's proposed broadband Starlink broadband constellation. The 9:17 a.m. Eastern launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California carried all three spacecraft to low Earth orbit, deploying the PAZ radar satellite 11 minutes after liftoff.

Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, confirmed successful deployment of the Starlink demo satellites, dubbed TinTin A and B, via Twitter about 80 minutes after liftoff.

Спойлер

"Tintin A & B will attempt to beam "hello world" in about 22 hours when they pass near LA," Musk tweeted.

The day before launch, Musk said Starlink — a global constellation of 4,500 broadband spacecraft in low-Earth orbit — "will serve [the] least served."

SpaceX did not attempt to land Falcon 9's previously flown first stage following the mission but did attempt to recover the rocket's upgraded fairing using a parafoil and ship equipped with a large catcher's net.

The fairing, which enshrouds the satellite on the way to orbit, cost $6 million — money SpaceX would like to save if possible.

The clamshell-like fairing halves missed the recovery ship by a few hundred meters, according to Musk, but landed in the ocean intact. "Should be able catch it with slightly bigger chutes to slow down descent," Musk tweeted.

While much of the interest around the launch centered on SpaceX's own broadband satellites, the mission brought to an end a long wait by Hisdesat, the Spanish satellite operator who originally paid the Russian-Ukrainian company Kosmotras to launch Paz on a Dnepr rocket four years ago. After three years of delay, Hisdesat switched to SpaceX in 2017 and sued Kosmotras (http://spacenews.com/hisdesat-demanding-refund-as-it-dumps-dnepr-for-falcon-9/) to retrieve 15 million euros ($16 million) in launch payments.

Paz is a 1,400-kilogram synthetic-aperture radar satellite from Airbus Defence and Space that can image up to 300,000 square kilometers of the Earth's surface each day. The Spanish Aerospace Technology Institute developed the satellite's ground segment with Madrid-based company Indra.

Hisdesat and Airbus plan to operate Paz with the German TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X radar satellites to form a SAR constellation.

Along with its primary mission, Paz carries two additional payloads. The first is a maritime-focused Automatic Identification System payload that Canadian company exactEarth will use to complete its first-generation ship-tracking constellation. The second is a weather payload called the Radio Occultation and Heavy Precipitation, or ROHP, experiment from the Institute of Space Science del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. The instrument will study how measurements of satellite navigation signals passing through Earth's atmosphere can yield data on powerful storms.

[свернуть]

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67516.jpg)Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 (https://twitter.com/planet4589) 10 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/966727502952583168)

Possible observation of Falcon 9 stage 2 deorbit, over Norway. Stage goes over the pole and heads south over Alaska to impact in Pacific between Aleutians and Midway

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173975.jpg)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173974.jpg)

Magnus Rydningen @steinegal
В ответ @S101_Live @planet4589
This might be the deorbit observed over Northern Norway 10 minutes ago

9:31 (https://twitter.com/steinegal/status/966727109761818624) - 22 февр. 2018 г.

ЦитироватьFalcon 9 Launches PAZ Radar Satellite & SpaceX Starlink Prototypes, Debuts Fairing 2.0
February 22, 2018 (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/falcon-9-paz-launch/)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152707.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/PAZlaunch.jpg)
Photo: SpaceX

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket provided a spectacular show to morning commuters across Southern California on Thursday after taking off from Vandenberg Air Force Base with Spain's PAZ radar satellite and a pair of SpaceX prototype broadband satellites. Falcon 9 streaked into the morning sun as it climbed skyward while observers on the ground remained in the dark and were stunned by the expanding clouds of gas emanating from the rocket and the various components it shed on its way into orbit.

Thursday's launch marked SpaceX's fourth mission of the year and the 20th orbital space launch of 2018, involving a re-used Falcon 9 first stage from a 2017 VAFB mission and debuting SpaceX's "Payload Fairing 2.0" designed for operational recovery and re-flight missions as the company continues its push toward making more and more elements of their launch system re-usable to slash costs for accessing space.

Спойлер

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152708.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/PAZLaunch5.jpg)
Fairing 2.0 Separation – Photo: SpaceX Webcast

Blasting off from SLC-4E at Vandenberg at 14:17 UTC, 6:17 a.m. local time, the 70-meter tall Falcon 9 fired its first stage for the first two and a half minutes of the mission before the MVac-powered second stage took over for a direct boost into a 514-Kilometer Sun Synchronous Orbit. The twice-used Booster was not planned to be recovered and, like a number of recent expendable missions, went through a series of flight tests after separation before finding a watery grave in the Pacific Ocean. These post-separation maneuvers contributed to be powerful display painted into the outer atmosphere by Falcon 9 and visible across most of California.

The launch of PAZ, coming after years of delays and a launch vehicle switch, was initially expected on Saturday but slipped into this week as SpaceX took additional time to review what it called "an upgraded payload fairing." Sources have since confirmed that this indeed referred to the long-awaited "Fairing 2.0" that SpaceX hopes will lead to considerable progress in the area of fairing re-use by the end of the year.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152710.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/paz_vertical2.jpg)
Photo: SpaceX

Installed atop the rocket's second stage, the Payload Fairing is tasked with protecting the vehicle's payload while out in the elements waiting for launch and during the extreme aerodynamic environments encountered during atmospheric ascent. Falcon 9 flies with one of the largest payload fairings currently in operation under a "one size fits all" architecture as opposed to other launchers that can use differently sized fairings to accommodate payloads of various sizes.

The 13-meter long, 5.2-meter diameter payload fairing maintains the rocket's aerodynamic profile while flying through the dense atmospheric layers before splitting open and separating in two halves roughly three to four minutes into the mission when its protection is no-longer needed in order to discard unnecessary weight.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152700.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/F9Fairing1.jpg)
SpaceX Original Fairing Design – Photo: SpaceX

SpaceX earmarked the fairing as a desired re-use item early on because of two major factors: a) its cost being around 10% of the total cost for a Falcon 9 and b) its all-composite construction being a time-intensive process creating a potential bottleneck in the company's plans for a rapid mission cadence.

The survivability of SpaceX's baseline fairing design was proven in 2015 when large chunks of a fairing half washed up in South Carolina after floating for one month in the Atlantic. Video obtained from cameras installed on that fairing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_sLTe6-7SE) delivered a stunning look at its journey back to Earth and also confirmed SpaceX was actively pursuing fairing re-use. An initial controlled landing attempt on the April 2017 Falcon 9 mission with SES-10 returned one fairing half mostly in one piece; however, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently characterized the re-usable fairing development as "surprisingly complex."

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152711.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/paz_vertical2b.jpg)
Photo: SpaceX

The step-up to Fairing 2.0 was incremental with several of the previous generation fairings introducing some of the recovery systems with all eventually coming together in the upgraded fairing design that consists of fewer parts, is lighter in mass and allows for faster manufacture. From an external appearance, Fairing 2.0 seems to be slightly larger than its predecessor, growing around 0.1 meter in diameter and length based on imagery of the PAZ vehicle, but what differentiates it from the baseline Falcon fairing resides on the inside and at the fairing base in the form of an upgraded structural interface.

Each fairing half has its own avionics system, pressure vessels holding Nitrogen gas, a manifold of lines transporting propellant to a series of cold gas thrusters and a compartment for an auto-steering parachute. One particular area improved on Fairing 2.0 was the chute attachment since the baseline fairing introduced a turbulent airflow that made the chutes only partially effective, resulting in trouble on the way back to Earth, especially in the accuracy department.

As the fairings separate from the ascending rocket, they are to employ their thrusters to stabilize from their initial tumble and enter a pre-determined orientation for atmospheric re-entry. The auto-steering chute will then be tasked with guiding each fairing half toward a recovery boat positioned to 'catch' it.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152713.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/SpaceXMrSteven.jpg)
Photo: SpaceX/Elon Musk

A vessel going by the name of "Mr. Steven" made a first appearance last year, featuring a four-armed contraption to support the fairing recovery, described by Musk as a "giant catcher's mitt." Recent photos of Mr. Steven have shown a net was added in between the four metal arms and the ship departed the Port of Los Angeles before noon on Tuesday to be ready to catch a fairing half.

The launch of PAZ and the two MicroSats was handled by the first "Sooty" Falcon 9 booster to launch from the West Coast, having flown back in August 2017 with the FormoSat-5 satellite (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-formosat-5/) for Taiwan. Still sporting the sooty attire from its first voyage to space, Booster 1038 was only outfitted with grid fins on Thursday to enable some post-separation flight testing toward a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean as a means of disposal since the Block 3 booster was not deemed suitable for anything beyond two missions.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152712.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/r5571_9_paz4-2.jpg)
Image: Airbus Defence & Space

B1038 was the final Block 3 booster to roll off SpaceX's production line and may very well be the last Block 3 vehicle to fly. Following last-year's debut of the slightly improved Block 4, SpaceX now plans to roll out the Falcon 9 Block 5 – the final iteration of the workhorse launcher – in April for a Geotransfer Mission out of Cape Canaveral.

The primary passenger for Thursday's mission was PAZ, an X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite commissioned by Hisdesat and the Spanish Government for multi-mission use in the defence and security sectors, for Earth observation and commercial exploitation of high-quality radar imagery at a ground resolution exceeding one meter. PAZ, Spanish for 'peace,' is the first member in the country's Program for Earth Observation by Satellite (PNOTS) that is to include PAZ as radar component and the upcoming Ingenio optical-imaging spacecraft for multi-band imagery collection.

Astrium (now operating under Airbus) was awarded the contract for PAZ in 2008 with an initial goal of launching in 2012. However, the satellite was forced to remain on the ground when its Dnepr rocket fell victim to the conflict between Russia and the Ukraine; eventually prompting Hisdesat to switch launch providers to a 2017 launch slot on SpaceX's manifest.

>> PAZ Satellite & Instrument Overview (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/paz/)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152699.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/2l-image-54.jpg)
Photo: Airbus Defence & Space

The 1,350-Kilogram PAZ satellite employs a hexagonal satellite platform with a diameter of 2.4 meters and a length of five meters, hosting a large XSAR antenna on one of its side panels operating at a center frequency of 9.65 GHz and a peak transmit power of 2,260 Watts, capable of operation in various imaging modes including high-resolution spotlight and wide-area ScanSAR to deliver a multitude of data products. Auxiliary payloads include an AIS ship-tracking terminal and GNSS occultation instrument for atmospheric profiling.

Among the services provided by the PAZ mission is geo-information intended to enhance surveillance of the Spanish territory and other parts of the globe, improve the security of the Spanish borders, support operations of the Spanish armed forces, provide data for natural disaster assessment and mitigation, and support risk and crisis management. Data from the satellite will also be used to support operations against piracy in the waters off Somalia and to control the illegal traffic of immigrants into and through Spanish waters.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152701.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/MicroSats.jpg)
MicroSat-2a & 2b – Photo: SpaceX

PAZ has a planned service life of seven years, but Hisdesat is confident the spacecraft will last for at least ten – in part because of the performance of its predecessors, the German TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X that have been in operation since 2007 and 2010 and will be set for a coordinated extended mission with PAZ co-located in their orbital plane to maximize coverage.

Riding shotgun alongside PAZ were SpaceX's MicroSat-2a and 2b, the first prototypes from the company's satellite venture operating out of Redmond, Washington to develop the "Starlink" Internet constellation. The two 400-Kilogram satellites are the first of over 11,000 Starlink satellites to be launched by SpaceX to establish a global Fixed Satellite Services architecture capable of bringing Internet access to all corners of the Earth.

SpaceX announced the Starlink venture in 2015 but has since been extremely tight-lipped about it, only noting that it is still in its development phase. However, filings made with the Federal Communications Commission indicate SpaceX is planning to launch a series of prototypes in 2018 to fully characterize signal and transmission capabilities before pressing into the deployment of the operational constellation as early as next year.

>> MicroSat-2a & 2b / Starlink Overview (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/microsat-2a-2b/)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152702.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/PAZ2-1.jpg)
Photo: SpaceX

According to 2017 documentation, Starlink is to consist of two constellation segments: 4,425 satellites in 83 orbital planes at an altitude of 1,200 Kilometers operating at the Ku/Ka/V-Band frequencies and 7,518 satellites in a Very Low Earth Orbit at 340 Kilometers operating solely in the seldom-used V-Band spectrum. The MicroSat-2a and 2b satellites are identical and only host Ku-Band links to test the data throughput capabilities, pointing of broadband arrays, and ground station handoffs. They will complete one communications demonstration every day for six to 12 months from an orbit of 1,125 Kilometers, according to FCC documentation.

Falcon 9 was wheeled out to the launch pad at SLC-4E on Tuesday with less than 24 hours to go until Wednesday's instantaneous launch slot. Upper level winds just 1.8% above allowable limits thwarted plans for launching on Wednesday and SpaceX went into a 24-hour recycle.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152703.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/PAZLaunch1.jpg)
Photo: SpaceX Webcast

Countdown operations picked up again in the late hours on Wednesday and ran like clockwork as Falcon 9 checked off a series of tests before being handed over to computers to orchestrate the complex tanking sequence picking up at T-70 minutes to load the two-stage rocket with around 155 metric tons of chilled Rocket Propellant 1 and some 360 metric tons of sub-cooled Liquid Oxygen.

Falcon 9 was venting gaseous oxygen as it headed into the fast-paced events of its final countdown sequence to chill down its nine Merlin 1D engines, switch to battery power, retract the Strongback structure and achieve flight levels on its fuel and oxidizer tanks with close-out of LOX load right at the T-2-minute mark. A final GO was voiced from the Autonomous Flight Termination System as Falcon 9 assumed control at the one-minute mark and the Launch Director gave his final approval with half a minute on the clock.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152704.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/PAZLaunch2.jpg)
Photo: SpaceX

The bright green flash of Falcon's igniter mix lit up the rocket's business end at T-3 seconds as all nine engines soared up to a cumulative launch thrust near 600 metric-ton-force under close watch by computers. Hold-downs released the rocket at precisely 14:17:00 UTC, right at first light and still 21 minutes before sunrise – creating the right ingredients for another spectacular display in the SoCal skies similar to that of December's Iridium-4 mission (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-iridium-next-flight-4/) that occurred at evening twilight.

Rising from its launch pad, Falcon 9 climbed vertically before pitching and rolling onto its flight trajectory to the south-south-west, headed toward a 97.44° orbit. As the vehicle went through the sound barrier, thrust on the nine Merlin engines was reduced for Maximum Dynamic Pressure before Falcon 9 went back into full thrust mode for another minute of first stage flight – ascending into sunlight as it rapidly gained altitude.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152705.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/PAZLaunch3.jpg)
Photo: SpaceX Webcast

The first stage shut down two minutes and 29 seconds into the flight after boosting the vehicle to a speed of 1.87 Kilometers per second, departing the stack via four pneumatic pushers that sent the stages on their opposite ways three seconds after MECO. Immediately after staging, the MVac-powered second stage went into start-up mode and ignited its 95,000-Kilogram-force engine on a planned burn of 6 minutes and 18 seconds to directly inject the stack into its target orbit – flying an initial lofted trajectory to climb to the target altitude before pitching down to accelerate to orbital velocity.

Fairing 2.0 had its big moment two minutes and 59 seconds into the flight when it dropped away from the climbing rocket and began its trip back toward Earth. At least one half of the fairing featured recovery hardware and was headed for an attempt to maneuver toward the fairing recovery vessel deployed underneath the rocket's flight path around 510 Kilometers from the launch pad.

The fairing half pegged for recovery successfully managed to descend from space and deploy its parafoil, but missed Mr. Steven "by a few hundred meters," according to Elon Musk. Apparently the half splashed down intact and future plans of increasing the size of the chutes may make the feat of catching it easier.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/191056.jpg) (https://www.instagram.com/elonmusk/) elonmusk (https://www.instagram.com/elonmusk/)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173949.jpg)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173948.jpg)
2 ч. назад (https://instagram.com/p/BfgRX-lgIt6/?utm_source=ig_embed)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152706.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/PAZLaunch4.jpg)
Photo: SpaceX Webcast

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/152709.jpg) (http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-paz/wp-content/uploads/sites/210/2018/02/PAZLaunch6.jpg)
PAZ Separation – Photo: SpaceX Webcast

For the first stage, separation marked the start of a data-gathering exercise on its return regime. December's Iridium-4 mission and the GovSat flight in January both disposed their boosters via soft splashdown landings after collecting data on flight environments not possible for operational returns to deliver valuable information for the continued refinement of the booster return sequence.

Stage 2 was lightly loaded on Thursday, carrying a total payload upmass of around 2,200 Kilograms whereas the vehicle's theoretical capacity to the target orbit was 8,600kg with RTLS landing of the first stage and 11,700kg with ASDS recovery. Real time calls made by the launch team indicated Stage 2 performed admirably throughout its burn, spending the last 15 seconds in terminal guidance to ensure an on-target injection of the PAZ satellite and its two companions.

Shutdown of the second stage was called right at the T+9-minute mark and the guidance engineers confirmed a good orbit was achieved. The PAZ satellite was sent on its way just after clocks hit T+11 minutes, starting a decade-long mission to deliver high-quality radar imagery and ship-tracking data to the Spanish Government and commercial customers. SpaceX did not cover the separation of the two MicroSats and details on their mission are unlikely to be coming forward given the secrecy with which the project reached the launch pad.

[свернуть]

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67516.jpg)Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 (https://twitter.com/planet4589) 11 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/966736552872366082)

PAZ and the Tintins are in a 495 x 516 km x 97.3 deg sunsync orbit with 06:00 LT of descending node.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67516.jpg)Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 (https://twitter.com/planet4589) 11 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/966736838596747269)

The second stage deorbit burns were at 1542 and 1709 UTC (the latter time from Magnus' observations)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185988.jpg)Peter B. de Selding‏ @pbdes (https://twitter.com/pbdes) 7 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/966738328207941632)

Germany's @DLR_de (https://twitter.com/DLR_de), which is managing early ops for Paz radar sat, said all good after separation from @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) Falcon 9; ground station received telemetry 75 mins after liftoff.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173985.jpg)

Цитировать02/22/2018 19:16 Stephen Clark

Airbus Defense and Space, builder of the Spanish Paz radar craft, says ground controllers in Europe have established communications with the newly-launched Earth observation satellite.

ЦитироватьFalcon 9 PAZ launched from Vandenberg
30th Space Wing Public Affairs / Published February 22, 2018

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --
Team Vandenberg successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a PAZ payload from Space Launch Complex-4 here, Thursday, Feb. 22, at 6:17 a.m. PST.

Col. Greg Wood, 30th Space Wing vice commander, was the space launch commander.

"This launch was a testament to the hard work of Team Vandenberg, SpaceX and Spain," said Wood. "I am proud of everyone involved that continues to pave the way for our nation's access to space."

ЦитироватьSpaceX Falcon 9 PAZ launch from Vandenberg AFB

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/220723.jpg) (https://www.youtube.com/user/30SWVandenberg) 30th Space Wing, Vandenberg AFB (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCim4yCI9sKyfinPuHqI9s3A)

Опубликовано: 22 февр. 2018 г.

ЦитироватьRecycled SpaceX rocket boosts Paz radar satellite, first Starlink testbeds into orbit
February 22, 2018 (https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/02/) Stephen Clark (https://spaceflightnow.com/author/stephen-clark/)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/144032.jpg)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Thursday fr om Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with three satellites. Credit: SpaceX

Launching with a Spanish radar observation craft and the first two experimental satellites for SpaceX's planned global broadband network, a Falcon 9 rocket fired away fr om California's Central Coast shortly before sunrise Thursday after several days of delays.

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 launcher climbed into a clear sky from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, riding a column of orange exhaust from nine kerosene-burning Merlin main engines.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 6:17 a.m. PST (9:17 a.m. EST; 1417 GMT) after a 70-minute automated countdown sequence. The first stage's Merlin engines vectored their thrust to pitch the rocket south-southwest from Vandenberg, and the booster shut down and jettisoned around two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff to fall into the Pacific Ocean.

Спойлер

A few seconds later, a second stage engine ignited to finish the job of placing the Paz Earth-observing satellite and SpaceX's first two broadband test probes into orbit.

The Falcon 9's nose cone separated just prior to the flight's three-minute point, and the second stage engine burned until around T+plus 9 minutes, setting up for deployment of Paz and the twin SpaceX-developed broadband satellites, nicknamed Tintin A and Tintin B in apparent reference to the main character in the comic series "The Adventures of Tintin."

SpaceX confirmed the on-target release of Paz, the mission's primary payload, around 11 minutes after liftoff. The company ended its live webcast before announcing deployment of the two broadband testbeds, which are also known as Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b.

The launch company did not plan to recover the first stage on Thursday's flight. It was the second launch for a booster that previously lofted the Taiwanese Formosat 5 Earth observation mission toward orbit from California in August.

But SpaceX attempted to catch at least one of the Falcon 9 rocket's fairing structures with a boat positioned in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/144029.jpg)
SpaceX's fairing recovery boat, named Mr. Steven. Credit: SpaceX

The shroud protects the rocket's sensitive payloads from weather before liftoff, and it shields the satellites from the aerodynamic stress during the Falcon 9's climb through the lower atmosphere. After soaring into space, the fairing jettisons from the top of the rocket in two pieces that open up like a clamshell and fall away behind the Falcon 9 upper stage.

Engineers added cold gas control thrusters and parachutes to previous fairings in a bid to get one of the structures back intact, but SpaceX has not yet perfected the concept, and officials suggested previous experiments yielded mixed results.

A fast-moving vessel set sail from the Port of Los Angeles this week for a destination under the Falcon 9 rocket's flight track. Photos of the boat, named Mr. Steven, show it sporting a net suspended between four metal posts to snare the Falcon 9's payload fairing.

The fairing "falls back from space at about eight times the speed of sound," SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk wrote on Instagram shortly before Thursday's launch. "It has onboard thrusters and a guidance system to bring it through the atmosphere intact, then releases a parafoil and our ship, named Mr. Steven, with basically a giant catcher's mitt welded on, tries to catch it."

Musk wrote on Twitter that the fairing panel landed a few hundred meters from the retrieval vessel. He shared in an image on social media that showed half of the fairing intact floating in the Pacific.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/144030.png)
One half of the Falcon 9's payload fairing is pictured floating in the Pacific Ocean after a recovery attempt Thursday. Credit: SpaceX

"Should be able catch it with slightly bigger chutes to slow down descent," he wrote, later adding that the next fairing recovery try could come in about one month, likely on the next Falcon 9 launch from California targeted for March 29.

Musk said Feb. 6 that the company was readying for the debut of an upgraded fairing designed for easier recovery and reuse. SpaceX delayed the launch from last weekend to Wednesday to complete checks on the upgraded shroud flying with Paz.

SpaceX's launch team aborted a countdown Wednesday due to unfavorable upper level winds.

The successful recovery and reuse of a Falcon 9 payload fairing would be a first in the rocket industry. If SpaceX can make the concept work, it could shave millions from the cost of a Falcon 9 launch, which currently sells for around $62 million.

Musk said last year the fairing costs around $5 million to produce for each launch.

SpaceX's reuse of first stage boosters already cuts the cost of many Falcon 9 launches, eliminating manufacturing expenses and bottlenecks. SpaceX says Falcon 9 customers will eventually see steep price reductions, but payload owners so far have been lured to reused boosters primarily by schedule shortcuts enabled by the practice, not price cuts.

The 3,200-pound (1,450-kilogram) Paz satellite launched Thursday will capture high-resolution views of cities, landscapes and oceans with an X-band radar instrument.

Paz measures more than 16 feet (5 meters) long and 8 feet (2.5 meters) in diameter. It is the largest satellite ever assembled in Spain, according to Alfonso Martínez, Paz project manager at the spacecraft's prime contractor, Airbus Defense and Space, which constructed Paz in Madrid.

Paz is owned by Hisdesat, which oversees Spain's governmental satellite programs.

The $200 million (160 million euro) mission, primarily funded by the Spanish government, will produce radar imagery for the Spanish military and its allies, plus commercial clients.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/144031.jpg)
Artist's concept of the Paz satellite in orbit. Credit: Airbus Defense and Space / Hisdesat

"It's a very flexible mission," said Miguel Angel García Primo, Hisdesat's chief operating officer, in an interview this week. "It's useful for a lot of applications, environmental, also for big infrastructure tracking and planning, maritime surveillance and government applications like monitoring and surveillance for any specific items that you'd like to follow."

The Falcon 9 rocket aimed to release the Paz satellite into a 319-mile-high (514-kilometer) polar orbit tilted around 97.4 degrees to the equator. SpaceX officials said the Falcon 9's upper stage achieved an on-target orbit.

Paz will share the orbit with two German radar satellites — TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X — launched in 2007 and 2010. Airbus and Hisdesat will jointly manage the commercial sales and marketing of radar data from the radar satellite constellation, and the European Commission will incorporate Paz into its fleet of Copernicus Earth-observing missions.

The trio of radar imaging spacecraft will together see almost any part of Earth's surface in less than three days. On average, the satellites will record an image of the same region within 24 hours, according to DLR, the German space agency.

Composed of nearly 400 individual transmitters, the Paz radar will beam signals down toward Earth and measure waves bounced off the planet's surface, revealing fine textures and terrain details that can be translated into an image. The benefit of a radar observation satellite is the ability to see Earth's surface under any weather conditions, day and night, while optical imagers are hampered by clouds and darkness.

The radar will operate in several modes, with a high-resolution "spotlight" mode that can see objects on Earth's surface as small as 10 inches, or 25 centimeters — a capability García Primo said will differentiate Paz from other radar satellites not designed exclusively for military users.

"We have defined a very high-resolution radar mode that would be more government-oriented, but we have also have a medium-resolution and low-resolution (mode) with very wide coverage that could be for maritime surveillance and monitoring, or could be for environmental missions like oil spill detection, things like that," he said.

The radar imagery "will be available to any customer," he said. "We will have some data policy from the Spanish government that anyone who fulfills that regulation will have access to that kind of high-resolution image. There will be some limitation according to the law, but in principle it's open to any good customers that we have."

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/144012.jpg)
Paz inside the SpaceX satellite processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Credit: Hisdesat

Paz established contact with a ground control center in southern Germany shortly after arriving in orbit Thursday, according to Airbus. Control of the satellite will be handed over to a facility near Madrid operated by INTA — the Spanish space agency — and Hisdesat in about five days.

Testing of the Paz satellite will be completed in about three months, Airbus said.

Paz also carries a receiver to track global maritime traffic. Coupled with the radar imagery, the ship tracker will allow Paz customers to identify vessels at sea.

The satellite also hosts "an instrument that will try to predict heavy precipitation through the radio occultation of the GPS signals through the atmosphere," García Primo said. "We will try to forecast in order to prevent natural disasters, especially disasters specific to very high precipitation — flooding and so on."

Thursday's launch also marked a turning point for SpaceX's broadband Internet project, a project described by company founder Elon Musk in 2015 as a revenue source for the company's broad ambitions to explore the solar system.

Until Thursday, SpaceX had said little publicly about the broadband network, dubbed Starlink, other than trickles of information disclosed in regulatory filings.

"If successful, (the) Starlink constellation will serve least served," Musk wrote on Twitter.

"Tintin A & B will attempt to beam 'hello world' in about 22 hours when they pass near LA," Musk tweeted.

SpaceX planned to place the two Starlink prototypes, developed by the company's division in Redmond, Washington, into the same 317-mile-high orbit as Paz.

The two test satellites will boost themselves into a higher orbit roughly 700 miles (1,125 kilometers) in altitude once ground controllers finish an initial post-launch checkout of the spacecraft, Patricia Cooper, SpaceX's vice president of satellite government affairs, wrote in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission dated Feb. 1.

In a previous FCC filing, SpaceX said Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b are designed for 20-month missions.

Each satellite measures about the size of a mini-refrigerator and carries computer, power, command and control, propulsion and GPS navigation equipment typical for small spacecraft. A Ku-band broadband phased array antenna and an inter-satellite optical communications link is also included on each spacecraft, according to SpaceX.

"These are experimental engineering verification vehicles that will enable the company to assess the satellite bus and related subsystems, as well as the space-based and ground-based phased array technologies," SpaceX officials wrote in a submission to the FCC.

The first images of the Starlink testbeds were released during SpaceX's launch webcast, showing the satellites attached to a cylindrical carrier structure. After the launch, Musk tweeted a video showing the satellites deploying from the carrier module.

...

SpaceX plans to test the satellites' compatibility with six broadband ground receiving stations in California, Texas and Washington. Engineers also want to validate broadband connections between the satellites and mobile terminals.

"These (satellites) are meant to gather data in advance of deploying and operating a satellite constellation that will provide Internet service," said Tom Praderio, a SpaceX firmware engineer who provided commentary on the company's webcast of the launch.

"However, even if these satellites work as planned, we still have considerable technical work ahead of us to design and deploy a low Earth orbit satellite constellation," he said. "This system, if successful, would provide people in low to moderate population densities around the world with affordable high-speed Internet access, including many that have never had Internet access before."

In an application seeking FCC approval of the broadband fleet, SpaceX outlined a network that could include 4,425 satellites broadcasting Internet signals in Ku-band and Ka-band frequencies, a network originally proposed to the commission in 2016.

The Ku-band and Ka-band satellites would orbit between 689 miles and 823 miles (1,110 kilometers to 1,325 kilometers) above Earth.

SpaceX revealed plans for an expanded network in a regulatory filing last year. Besides the huge constellation of Ku-band and Ka-band satellites, SpaceX also proposed deploying 7,518 spacecraft transmitting broadband signals in V-band frequencies from low-altitude orbits around 210 miles (340 kilometers) above the planet.

That would make Starlink the biggest satellite fleet in operation.

The Ku-, Ka- and V-band combination "would provide both diverse geographic coverage and the capacity to support a wide range of broadband and communications services for residential, commercial, institutional, governmental and professional users in the United States and globally," SpaceX said in a proposal submitted to the FCC for approval.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/144040.jpg)
The two Starlink prototypes before Thursday's launch. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX has not set a timetable for completion of the network, but FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week said he supported the plan.

"To bridge America's digital divide, we'll have to use innovative technologies," Pai said in a statement Feb. 14. "SpaceX's application — along with those of other satellite companies seeking licenses or access to the U.S. market for non-geostationary satellite orbit systems — involves one such innovation. Satellite technology can help reach Americans who live in rural or hard-to-serve places wh ere fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach. And it can offer more competition wh ere terrestrial Internet access is already available."

SpaceX's chief competitor in the broadband market is OneWeb, founded by satellite industry entrepreneur Greg Wyler and backed by Airbus, Virgin, Qualcomm, New Delhi-based Bharti Enterprises, Hughes Network Systems — a subsidiary of EchoStar Corp. — Coca-Cola and Totalplay, a company owned by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego.

OneWeb aims to build nearly 900 satellites in a factory located near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the first set of test craft will launch later this year on a Russian-made Soyuz rocket from French Guiana.

The FCC has already approved OneWeb's proposal to offer Internet-via-satellite services in the U.S. market, along with a more modest 117-satellite low Earth orbit communications network being designed by Canada-based Telesat. The regulatory body has also granted a request from Space Norway to operate two low-altitude telecom satellites to improve coverage over the Arctic.

Backers of the low-altitude "megaconstellations" say they will offer higher-speed, lower-latency broadband service than possible from bigger, conventional communications satellites positioned in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.

"Following careful review of this application by our International Bureau's excellent satellite engineering experts, I have asked my colleagues to join me in supporting this application and moving to unleash the power of satellite constellations to provide high-speed Internet to rural Americans," Pai said of SpaceX's proposal. "If adopted, it would be the first approval given to an American-based company to provide broadband services using a new generation of low-Earth orbit satellite technologies."

The next Falcon 9 launch is scheduled for early Sunday from Cape Canaveral with the Hispasat 30W-6 communications satellite, another Spanish-owned spacecraft.

The next SpaceX mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base is set for March 29 with 10 Iridium voice and data relay satellites.

[свернуть]

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 14 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/966748412346617858)

I am increasingly confident that my predicted location of the fairing recovery attempt is accurate to within a couple miles. Mr. Steven is still in that area. They are presumably working to get the fairing out of the water and secured on the deck.

Цитироватьtnt22 пишет:

ЦитироватьMichael Baylor ‏ @nextspaceflight 2 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/966698694652383232)

Just a fairing floating in the water. Nothing to see here. #SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash)
 
 

ЦитироватьАтяпа пишет: 
Интересно, а он будет годен к дальнейшему употреблению? Может быть никакого батута и не нужно?

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/69029.jpg)SpaceX‏Подлинная учетная запись @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) 5 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/966853862530342912)

More photos from today's Falcon 9 launch → http://flickr.com/spacex  (https://t.co/095WHX44BX)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173999.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 5 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/966805775627800576)

Mr. Steven is finally heading home as of two hours ago. Should arrive back at the Port of LA tomorrow morning.

ЦитироватьАтяпа пишет:
Кстати, с нетерпением жду заголовков: Очередная неудача Маска! Маск не смог спасти головной обтекатель!

ЦитироватьHrono пишет:

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:
Будет Broadband со скоростью до 1440 Mbps. У меня щас 100  :)  

Один канал.

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:

ЦитироватьHrono пишет:

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:
Будет Broadband со скоростью до 1440 Mbps. У меня щас 100  :)  

Один канал.

Хм... Об этом я не подумал...

Действительно, как 40 млн юзеров будут делить этот канал? Если 1 Гбит/с разделить на 40 млн, получится всего 25 бит/с на каждого!

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:
Хм... Об этом я не подумал...

Действительно, как 40 млн юзеров будут делить этот канал? Если 1 Гбит/с разделить на 40 млн, получится всего 25 бит/с на каждого!

Цитироватьopinion пишет:
Это у вас до ближайшего хаба 100. А до НК сколько?

ЦитироватьHrono пишет: 
 Если у них получится с помощью 4000 спутников поднять стабильные линки от 10 до 100 Мбит/с для этих 40 миллионов клиентов, это будет прекрасно

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:
Но как???

Пусть даже по 10 Мбит/с, тогда для 40 млн клиентов нужно 400 млн Мбит/с, или 400000 Гбит/с. То есть нужно 400 тысяч спутников по 1 Гбит/с каждый!

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:

ЦитироватьHrono пишет:
 Если у них получится с помощью 4000 спутников поднять стабильные линки от 10 до 100 Мбит/с для этих 40 миллионов клиентов, это будет прекрасно

Но как???

Пусть даже по 10 Мбит/с, тогда для 40 млн клиентов нужно 400 млн Мбит/с, или 400000 Гбит/с. То есть нужно 400 тысяч спутников по 1 Гбит/с каждый!

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:
Мне тоже кажется, что где-то в моих рассуждениях ошибка, но не хватает знаний, чтобы понять где. А как работают сети с коммутацией пакетов? Где об этом почитать?

Цитироватьopinion пишет:
Сети с коммутацией пакетов работают не так.

Возьмите количество квартир в вашем доме. Умножьте на 100. Сравните с реальной пропускной способностью канала связи, с помощью которого к интернету подключён ваш дом.

ЦитироватьV.B. пишет:
Мне тоже кажется, что где-то в моих рассуждениях ошибка, но не хватает знаний, чтобы понять где. А как работают сети с коммутацией пакетов? Где об этом почитать?

ЦитироватьHrono пишет:

Цитироватьopinion пишет:
Сети с коммутацией пакетов работают не так.

Возьмите количество квартир в вашем доме. Умножьте на 100. Сравните с реальной пропускной способностью канала связи, с помощью которого к интернету подключён ваш дом.

Все сети работают не так, количество межстанционных линий связи медной телефонии раз в 100 меньше, чем число номеров абонентов. В сети с коммутацией пакетов просто-напросто распределить загрузку линии проще, чем в сети с коммутацией каналов.

 Однако, это рассуждение верно для сети, где канал покупается как канал конечного пользователя использующего трафик с большой скважностью, но это не всегда так, и, как мне кажется, именно для глобальной спутниковой сети интересна именно продажа стабильного канала связи в местах, где нет другой среды передачи.

Цитироватьopinion пишет:
В местах, где сейчас нет стабильного канала связи, нужды потенциальны абонентов такие же, как везде.

Цитироватьopinion пишет:
Для того, чтобы оценить перспективы предлагаемой спутниковой системы, нужно не делить и отнимать, а складывать и умножать сравнить с её пропускную способность с существующими магистральными линиями интернета.

ЦитироватьDiZed пишет:

ЦитироватьАтяпа пишет:
Интересно, а он будет годен к дальнейшему употреблению? Может быть никакого батута и не нужно?

они же вроде половинку уже вытаскивали из океана; и батут появился уже после этого. похоже, спейсиксы не хотят допускать попадание на него соленой воды

Цитировать...
SpaceX did not attempt to recover the Falcon 9 first stage for this mission, but did perform a test landing of the payload fairing. While the fairing missed its intended target by a few hundred meters, its integrated parafoil reduced the descent velocity enough that it survived its ocean landing remarkably intact.
...

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 55 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/967051483874299910)

Mr. Steven is almost home! If you are near the Port of LA, now would be a great time to head down. It's possible that they have pulled the fairing onto Mr. Steven's deck.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/174017.jpg)

ЦитироватьАтяпа пишет:
А если попросту хорошо покрасить? Это всё же не ступень с ЖРД.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 30 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/967072785305661440)

Mr. Steven has arrived with what appears to be multiple fairings. This would explain why they spent time in two different areas post-launch. Possibly, both fairings had recovery hardware, but Mr. Steven only tried to catch one. In the end, both got wet...

ЦитироватьMatt Hartman‏ @ShorealoneFilms (https://twitter.com/ShorealoneFilms) · 35m (https://twitter.com/ShorealoneFilms/status/967071937817075712)

welcome home #mrsteven (https://twitter.com/hashtag/mrsteven?src=hash) and #paz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/paz?src=hash) #faring (https://twitter.com/hashtag/faring?src=hash) #spacex (https://twitter.com/hashtag/spacex?src=hash) #falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/falcon9?src=hash)

ЦитироватьMatt Hartman‏ @ShorealoneFilms (https://twitter.com/ShorealoneFilms) · 17m (https://twitter.com/ShorealoneFilms/status/967077720470335489)

and there's what's left of the other fairing #mrsteven (https://twitter.com/hashtag/mrsteven?src=hash) and #paz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/paz?src=hash) #faring (https://twitter.com/hashtag/faring?src=hash) #spacex (https://twitter.com/hashtag/spacex?src=hash) #falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/falcon9?src=hash)

ЦитироватьHrono пишет:
Внутри обтекателя находится довольно нежное внутреннее покрытие

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 20 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/967080271689474049)

INCREDIBLE! One of the fairing halves is in great shape!

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186344.jpg)Matt Hartman‏ @ShorealoneFilms (https://twitter.com/ShorealoneFilms) 55 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/ShorealoneFilms/status/967071937817075712)

welcome home #mrsteven (https://twitter.com/hashtag/mrsteven?src=hash) and #paz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/paz?src=hash) #faring (https://twitter.com/hashtag/faring?src=hash) #spacex (https://twitter.com/hashtag/spacex?src=hash) #falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/falcon9?src=hash)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/174006.jpg)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185874.jpg)Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight) 22 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/967080451868430336)

The other half broke apart likely upon hitting the ocean.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186344.jpg)Matt Hartman‏ @ShorealoneFilms (https://twitter.com/ShorealoneFilms) 33 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/ShorealoneFilms/status/967077720470335489)

and there's what's left of the other fairing #mrsteven (https://twitter.com/hashtag/mrsteven?src=hash) and #paz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/paz?src=hash) #faring (https://twitter.com/hashtag/faring?src=hash) #spacex (https://twitter.com/hashtag/spacex?src=hash) #falcon9 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/falcon9?src=hash)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/174025.jpg)

ЦитироватьЗловредный пишет: 

ЦитироватьHrono пишет: 
Внутри обтекателя находится довольно нежное внутреннее покрытие

Откуда информация?

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186319.jpg)Pauline Acalin‏ @w00ki33 (https://twitter.com/w00ki33) 9 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/w00ki33/status/967105635006337025)

Mr. Steven pulling into port in San Pedro with a beautifully intact fairing. Next attempt at catching the fairing in the ship's net is about a month away! #spaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/spaceX?src=hash) #paz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/paz?src=hash) @teslarati (https://twitter.com/Teslarati) #starlink (https://twitter.com/hashtag/starlink?src=hash)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/174036.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185431.png)TESLARATI‏ @Teslarati (https://twitter.com/Teslarati) 10 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/Teslarati/status/967107714743648256)

SpaceX's recovered fairing spotted sailing into port on Mr. Steven -

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-recovered-fairing-spotted-mr-steven-boat/ ... (https://t.co/r64KYSQAo7)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/174026.jpg)

Спойлер

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/174027.jpg)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/174028.jpg)

[свернуть]

ЦитироватьHrono пишет:

ЦитироватьЗловредный пишет:

ЦитироватьHrono пишет:
Внутри обтекателя находится довольно нежное внутреннее покрытие

Откуда информация?

Вобще-то его отчетливо видно, это такие панели с зеркальным покрытием.

ЦитироватьЗловредный пишет:
То-есть это ваша оценка "на глаз"?

ЦитироватьHrono пишет:

ЦитироватьЗловредный пишет:
То-есть это ваша оценка "на глаз"?

Оценка чего? Вы сомневаетесь, что обтекатель SpaceX покрыт изнутри некими панелями с зеркальной поверхностью, которые скорее всего являются теплоизоляцией?

Цитироватьtnt22 пишет:

ЦитироватьElon Musk ‏Подлинная учетная запись @elonmusk 39 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966706193560305664)

Tintin A & B will attempt to beam "hello world" in about 22 hours when they pass near LA


 37 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/966706924124188672)

Don't tell anyone, but the wifi password is "martians"

ЦитироватьЗловредный пишет:
Оценка того, что внутреннее покрытие обтекателя довольно нежное и ему вреден контакт с морской водой.

ЦитироватьЗловредный пишет:
Оценка того, что внутреннее покрытие обтекателя довольно нежное и ему вреден контакт с морской водой.

ЦитироватьДем пишет:
Замена внутреннего покрытия всяко дешевле изготовления обтекателя с нуля...

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186040.jpg)Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) 51 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/967837702367399936)

FEATURE ARTICLE:

SpaceX's Mr. Steven, the FSV fairing catcher -

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/02/spacexs-mr-steven-fsv-fairing-catcher/ ... (https://t.co/R5McLTEgyU)

 - By Micheal Baylor (@nextspaceflight (https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight))

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173707.jpg)

Спойлер

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173708.jpg)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173709.jpg)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/173706.jpg)

[свернуть]

ЦитироватьMy SpaceX friends confirmed that the message was successful. Rajeev (VP of satellite development) emailed Elon informing him of its successful transmission, and Elon forwarded the email to the entire company with a congratulatory message to all.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67516.jpg)Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 (https://twitter.com/planet4589) 9 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/968363441760227329)

Spain's Paz radar satellite has made some small orbit adjustments over the past few days, reducing its sun-sync nodal drift rate from 5 min/year to 1 min/year

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/184817.jpg)nitant bhartia‏ @nitantbhartia (https://twitter.com/nitantbhartia) 1 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/nitantbhartia/status/1000446562106003456)

How's the global internet project coming along?

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186373.jpg)Elon Musk‏Подлинная учетная запись @elonmusk (https://twitter.com/elonmusk)

В ответ @nitantbhartia (https://twitter.com/nitantbhartia) @ninoles (https://twitter.com/ninoles) и еще 2

Pretty good. TinTin A & B are both closing the link to ground w phased array at high bandwidth, low latency (25 ms). Good enough to play fast response video games.

12:07 (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1000453321121923072) - 26 мая 2018 г.

ЦитироватьG C‏ @SmileSimplify (https://twitter.com/SmileSimplify) 11h11 hours ago (https://twitter.com/SmileSimplify/status/1000497753925959680)

Will TinTin A & B be the only demo units Starlink deploys before start of full (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/125535.png)production & deployment? Or will there be a few more? Do you have an (aspirational) timeline for when Starlink would begin commercial service?

ЦитироватьElon Musk‏Verified account @elonmusk (https://twitter.com/elonmusk)

Replying to @SmileSimplify (https://twitter.com/SmileSimplify) @nitantbhartia (https://twitter.com/nitantbhartia) and 3 others

Will do another rev before final design

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/47964.jpg)Peter B. de Selding‏ @pbdes (https://twitter.com/pbdes) 33 мин. назад (https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/1002128000543068160)

Spain's dual-use commercial/military Paz radarsat, res up to 25cm, launched Feb by @spacex (https://twitter.com/SpaceX), owned by #Hisdesat (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hisdesat?src=hash) (43% @Hispasat (https://twitter.com/Hispasat) 30% #ISDEFE (https://twitter.com/hashtag/ISDEFE?src=hash) (Spanish MoD) 15% @AirbusDefence (https://twitter.com/AirbusDefence) 7% @IndraCompany (https://twitter.com/IndraCompany) 5% #sener (https://twitter.com/hashtag/sener?src=hash), produces 1st image, of Seattle.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/164517.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186191.jpg)Eric Ralph‏ @13ericralph31 (https://twitter.com/13ericralph31) 5 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/13ericralph31/status/1027421492680712192)

The orbit histories of @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX)'s Tintin A/B Starlink prototype satellites, launched in February! Some thoroughly intriguing differences in behavior over the six months they've spent on-orbit. Data and visualizations generated by the lovely http://CalSky.com  (https://t.co/xKOdbP89tz).

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/167861.png)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/167863.png)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185924.jpg)Susanne Auer‏ @AuerSusan (https://twitter.com/AuerSusan) 5 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/AuerSusan/status/1045968710173958144)

#SpaceX (https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceX?src=hash) #Starlink (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Starlink?src=hash) troubles #1 @TMFAssociates (https://twitter.com/TMFAssociates) points out that test-stats TinTin A&B (launched 7 months ago) have made no serious attempt to reach their operational altitude of 1,125km and remain at ~514km, suggesting an issue with the propulsion system. http://tmfassociates.com/blog/2018/09/28/fake-it-till-you-make-it/ ... (https://t.co/evXsIFatO4)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/170837.jpg)

ЦитироватьSpaceX's Starlink satellites may use unique solar array deployment mechanism

By Eric Ralph (https://www.teslarati.com/author/eric-ralph/)
Posted on October 2, 2018

Spotted on an official SpaceX T-shirt commemorating Starlink's first two prototype satellites and corroborated through analysis of limited public photos of the spacecraft, SpaceX appears to be testing a relatively unique style of solar arrays on the first two satellites launched into orbit, known as Tintin A (Alice) and B (Bob).

It's difficult to judge anything concrete fr om the nature of what may be immature prototypes, but SpaceX's decision to take a major step away from its own style of solar expertise – Cargo Dragon's traditional rigid panel arrays – is almost certainly motivated by a need to push beyond the current state of the art of satellite design and production.

Спойлер

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/218926.jpg) (https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-satellite-prototypes-unique-solar-arrays/starlink-solar-arrays-diagram-spacex-1/)
The axis Tintin solar arrays would deploy along. (SpaceX)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/218927.jpg) (https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-satellite-prototypes-unique-solar-arrays/starlink-solar-arrays-diagram-spacex-2/)
Just like a scissor mechanism, Tintin's solar arrays have an extremely thin sandwich of what looks like four interlocking leaves. (SpaceX)

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/218928.jpg) (https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-satellite-prototypes-unique-solar-arrays/starlink-solar-arrays-diagram-spacex-3/)
If the thin structure is a scissor deployment mechanism, the wider black section would be a housing for wiring and the solar array panels, likely thin and flexible rectangles that fold out to reach their full 6m length. (SpaceX)

Unlike any discernible solar panel deployment mechanism with a flight history, SpaceX's Starlink engineers seem to have taken a style of deployment used successfully on the International Space Station and mixed it with a modern style of solar arrays, relying on several flexible panels that can be efficiently packed together and designed to be extremely lightweight. While a major departure from SpaceX's successful Cargo Dragon solar arrays, the mechanisms visible on the Tintins seem to have the potential to improve upon the packing efficiency, ease of manufacturing, and number of failure modes present on Dragon's panels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=XRXbi3sQKWc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=XRXbi3sQKWc)
In essence, those three motivations are indicative of the challenges SpaceX's Starlink program must solve in a more general sense. In order to even approach SpaceX's operational aspirations for Starlink (i.e. high-speed internet delivered from space almost anywhere on Earth), the company will need to find ways to mass-produce hundreds or thousands of high-performance satellites annually at a price-per-unit unprecedented in the history of commercial satellites, all while keeping the weight and volume of each satellite as low as possible (no more than a few hundred kilograms).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=m5Pqa5USKzU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=m5Pqa5USKzU)
To give an idea of wh ere the industry currently stands, satellite internet provider Viasat launched its own Viasat-2 spacecraft in 2017. Weighing in around 6500 kg (14300 lb), the immense satellite cost at least $600 million and offers an instantaneous bandwidth of 300 gigabits per second, impressive but also gobsmackingly expensive at $2 million/Gbps. To ever hope to make Starlink a reality, SpaceX will need to beat that value by at least a factor of 5-10, producing Starlink satellites for no more than $1-3 million apiece ($4.5B-$13.5B alone to manufacture the initial 4,425 satellite constellation) with a bandwidth of 20 Gbps – baselined in official statements.

Compared to the state of the art, a $1 million satellite with optical (laser) interlinks, multiple phased array antennae, electric ion propulsion, two 1-2 kW solar arrays, and bandwidth on the order of 20 Gbps is – to put it nicely – wildly ambitious. Fundamentally, SpaceX will need to revolutionize design and mass-production of all of the above subcomponents, and perhaps the unfamiliar solar arrays present on the Tintin twins are a first step towards tackling at least one of those revolutions-in-waiting.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/185363.jpg) G C‏ @SmileSimplify (https://twitter.com/SmileSimplify) 26 мая (https://twitter.com/SmileSimplify/status/1000497753925959680)

Will TinTin A & B be the only demo units Starlink deploys before start of full (https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/125535.png)production & deployment? Or will there be a few more? Do you have an (aspirational) timeline for when Starlink would begin commercial service?


(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/186373.jpg) Elon Musk ‏Подлинная учетная запись @elonmusk (https://twitter.com/elonmusk)

Will do another rev before final design

17:19 (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1000531933418242048) - 26 мая 2018 г.

According to CEO Elon Musk, another set of prototype satellites will likely be launched and tested in orbit before settling on a finalized Starlink design.

[свернуть]

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67516.jpg) Jonathan McDowell‏ @planet4589 (https://twitter.com/planet4589) 2 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1249715215068991488)

The two `Tintin'  Starlink  test satellites launched in Feb 2018 appear to be in the process of being retired. Their orbital decay suddenly accelerated on Mar 28.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/181538.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/29726.jpg) Joseph Remis @jremis 10 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/jremis/status/1290330043462422529)

Obj. 43217 TINTIN B decay prediction: August 08, 2020 UTC 19h47mn ± 35h. Prediction assuming no further maneuvering within epoch and decay

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/176739.jpg)

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67516.jpg) Jonathan McDowell @planet4589 7 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1292222079077679109)

One of SpaceX's two Starlink prototype satellites, Tintin B, reentered between about 0320 and 0440 UTC Aug 8.  Tintin A will be coming down soon too, together with a number of the V0.9 satellites.

Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67619.png) T.S. Kelso @TSKelso 1 ч. назад (https://twitter.com/TSKelso/status/1304209189179334656)

Kudos to @SpaceX (https://twitter.com/SpaceX) for responsibly deorbiting 16 #Starlink (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Starlink?src=hashtag_click) & 2 TinTin satellites in just the past month, once they had completed their primary mission: https://spacenews.com/spacex-launches-fourth-batch-of-starlink-satellites-tweaks-satellite-design/... (https://t.co/sI2YbdL0y0?amp=1). We hope to see more satellite operators follow suit.

(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/51860.jpg)