Iridium Next Flight 2 (x10) - Falcon 9 - Vandenberg SLC-4E - 25.06.2017 20:25 UTC

[Georgea]

tnt22 пишет:

Elon Musk ‏Подлинная учетная запись @ elonmusk 5 мин. назад

Sped up version of today's rocket landing on the Droneship Just Read the Instructions (guess it... https://www.instagram.com/p/BVxysOlA04j/

После entry burn ступень слегка наклоняется набок. Похоже это на аэродинамическое торможение корпусом?

[DiZed]

Georgea пишет:
После entry burn ступень слегка наклоняется набок. Похоже это на аэродинамическое торможение корпусом

на схемах он спускается по довольно пологой траектории, а не падает по параболе, т.е. в той или иной мере использует аэродинамику не только рулей, но и кропуса. по-моему там важно не "подставить бок", чтобы увеличить силу сопротивления, а максимально растянуть траекторию во времени, чтобы снизить тепловые нагрузки

[DiZed]

tnt22 в этой теме на 4-й странице постил
http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-iridium-next-flight-1/wp-content/uploads/sites/133/2017/01/8200921_orig.jpg

[tnt22]

http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-iridium-next-flight-2/falcon-9-launches-second-iridium-satellite-batch/

Falcon 9 Dispatches 2nd Batch of Iridium Satellites, First Stage aces Landing in tough Weather

June 25, 2017

After successfully launching Bulgaria's first telecommunications satellite on Friday with the added bonus of an 'extra-toasty' first stage landing, a Falcon 9 took to the skies again on Sunday – blasting off fr om SpaceX's West Coast launch site to send the second batch of Iridium-NEXT communications satellites on their way and returning the rocket's first stage to the company's second Drone Ship for future re-use.

Sporting new titanium grid fins, a factory-new first stage and slight modifications on its second stage, Falcon 9 blasted off from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 4E at 20:25:18 UTC on a heavy-haul to Low Earth Orbit with a total payload upmass in excess of nine metric tons. Firing its nine Merlin 1D engines at full throttle, the 70-meter tall vehicle entered an ascent path almost directly south, intending to place the ten Iridium satellites into a high-inclination orbit to enable coverage of the entire planet.

Спойлер

Falcon 9 lifts off in dense fog – Photo: SpaceX Webcast


1st Stage Landing on JRTI – Photo: SpaceX Webcast

The two stages parted ways two and a half minutes into the flight with the first stage booster homing in on the 'Just Read The Instructions' Drone Ship and the second stage firing up on a burn of six and a half minutes to put the stack into a preliminary orbit.

Unlike Friday's first stage return from a particularly high-energy mission that required a do-or-die three-engine landing burn, Sunday's mission featured a more lofted trajectory for the first stage with manageable speed and a more-controllable single engine landing burn – culminating in a soft touchdown on the drone ship in some sporty weather to give SpaceX its eleventh recovered first stage.

The second stage coasted for half a lap around Earth before firing its MVac engine for just three seconds to circularize the orbit over 600 Kilometers in altitude, setting up for the methodical departure of the ten Iridium-NEXT satellites over the course of a 15-minute sequence, allowing SpaceX to put the check mark behind another successful orbital delivery and probably the busiest weekend in the company's history.


Ten Iridium-NEXT Satellites around their payload adapter – Photo: Iridium Communications

Sunday's launch was the 37th of a Falcon 9 rocket, the 17th in the Full Thrust configuration and the ninth in 2017 – breaking the record for most SpaceX missions in a calendar year just as 2017 reaches its half-way mark. The first stage landing was the ninth recovery success in a row with SpaceX now 13/18 overall, and 8/13 for Drone Ship landings, it was the second successful Pacific-based landing.

Sunday's launch was the second of eight planned Falcon 9 missions in support of Iridium, facilitating the complete replacement of the previous Iridium communications satellite constellation of 66 active satellites plus in-orbit spares – the largest constellation upgrade in history coming with a price tag of $2.9 billion including around $800 million for launch services & ground infrastructure.

The Iridium constellation was in dire need for replacement as most of the satellites had been in operation since the late 1990s and no more orbital spares were available when the first of the next generation satellites reached orbit on January 14, 2017.


Iridium Constellation & Satellite Crosslinks – Image: Iridium

The Virginia-based communications provider hailed the performance of the new additions to the constellation after the first eight NEXT satellites assumed active roles within the global communications infrastructure, routing data packets and voice communications across the globe.

Iridium contracted Thales Alenia Space to build 81 identical Iridium-NEXT satellites – 75 of which will be launched through mid 2018 to fully rejuvenate the active constellation and have at least one spare available in each orbital plane with more spares available on the ground to be launched when needed.

Each Iridium-NEXT satellite, weighing in at 860 Kilograms, hosts a powerful communications terminal that covers a 4,700-Kilometer footprint on Earth to provide different services from telephony over short-burst data delivery all the way to newly introduced high-capacity services that can reach data speeds up to 8Mbit/s – not possible with the heritage satellite generation.


Image: Iridium

Iridium-NEXT also facilitates three hosted payloads – two dedicated to global monitoring of ship and air traffic and the third comprising a series of sensors to establish an unprecedented Earth observation capability with a global revisit time of just two hours. Known as GEOScan, the instrument suite will be capable of global image collection, space environment measurements, sensing of atmospheric properties and delivering unique data on mass movements on Earth as well as the planet's radiation imbalance which, up to this day, could not be measured directly but represents a key parameter for climate research.

>>Tech Overview of the Iridium-NEXT Space Segment & Hosted Payloads

It was a busy weekend double header for SpaceX with two launches just over 48 hours apart – a new record for the company and a feat only few launch vehicle families have achieved in the past.


BulgariaSat-1 Liftoff – Photo: SpaceX

Operations kicked off at the East coast with the launch of BulgariaSat-1 aboard SpaceX's second re-flight mission, utilizing the first stage from the first Iridium-NEXT mission. Bulgaria's first commercial satellite enjoyed a smooth ride, departing the second stage of the rocket after being placed into the expected Supersynchronous Transfer Orbit peaking over 65,000 Kilometers in altitude.

Booster 1029.2 beat the odds and managed a very challenging drone ship landing, surviving the hottest re-entry encountered by any Falcon 9 and acing a three-engine landing burn despite a last-second lateral deviation, either by a heavy gust of wind or a problem onboard the vehicle. Nevertheless, the booster managed to remain upright on the drone ship's deck despite using most of its emergency crush core capability within the four-fold-out landing legs.


Photo: SpaceX

The Falcon 9 rocket launching on Sunday was slightly different from Friday's vehicle – featuring a new first stage, new titanium grid fins and a slightly modified second stage that allows for a faster propellant loading sequence.

The new grid fins, cast & cut from a single piece of titanium, replace previously used aluminum fins that featured an ablative coating for thermal protection. As evident in onboard video from numerous landings, the old fins were prone to burn during the peak-heating portion of re-entry, requiring refurbishment and/or replacement after flight which is not in-line with SpaceX's drive to create a first stage that can be easily re-flown with minimal refurbishment cost.

The new titanium fins can easily withstand the re-entry heating environment with no need for refurbishment after landing, even for particularly hot entry speeds. Additionally, the new grid fins are around 16% longer than the previous generation, increasing the cross section area by a factor of 1.4 to provide more control authority during atmospheric descent. They also feature a new aerodynamic design to improve air flow in the hypersonic phase of the descent and can provide more lift.

>>Falcon 9 FT Launch Vehicle Overview


New Grid Fins, close up – Photo: SpaceX

These changes are primarily relevant for future Falcon Heavy missions but will also help Falcon 9 navigate through heavier winds heading back in for landing. Another benefit of the new fins will be a reduction in fuel margins for the landing maneuvers, resulting in an overall increase in performance.

The change on the second stage (Block 4) is one of several measures implemented after the September 1st explosion of a Falcon 9 during tanking ahead of a Static Fire Test. In the immediate aftermath, the propellant loading sequence for subsequent missions was stretched from 35 to 70 minutes and SpaceX said hardware changes to the second stage's Liquid Oxygen and Helium systems will enable to compress the tanking sequence once again. These changes are now finding their way into operational vehicles and will ultimately allow Liquid Oxygen and Helium to be loaded simultaneously as part of a rapid sequence without creating potentially hazardous conditions that could lead to a catastrophic deflagration.

To that end, Sunday's propellant loading sequence was compressed by ten minutes with Falcon 9 entering its Automated Countdown Sequence at the T-1-hour mark, coinciding with the start of Rocket Propellant-1 loading followed at T-35 minutes by Liquid Oxygen flow to fill the two-stage rocket with over 500 metric tons of sub-cooled LOX at -207°C and Kerosene at -7°C.


Photo: SpaceX Webcast

Propellant loading time is critical for the Falcon 9 due to the fact that its propellants will warm up the longer they are in the tanks, causing a decrease in density and with that propellant mass & performance. The Block 5 second stage will implement further changes to fully avoid buckling issues within its pressurant tanks that were found to be the at the root of the September 1st mishap.

Falcon 9 enjoyed a particularly smooth countdown on Sunday, coming after an equally smooth launch campaign that started on May 19 with the arrival of the first stage followed by the second stage & fairing six days later. The ten Iridium satellites also arrived in that time frame and took their places around a two-tier dispenser system, meeting their Falcon 9 rocket earlier in the week after Tuesday's Static Fire Test.

With no issues encountered in the rapid propellant loading operation, Falcon 9 entered its fast-paced countdown sequence at T-7 minutes when starting the chilldown of its engines that was followed in close succession by final checks of engine trim valves & actuators, the transition to internal power, the retraction of the Strongback, arming of the Autonomous Flight Termination System and the handoff to Falcon 9's triple-redundant computers.


Photo: SpaceX Webcast

Falcon 9 came to life at T-3 seconds, soaring to a launch thrust of nearly 700 metric ton-force for a liftoff timed precisely for 20:25:18 UTC – the in-plane time for Plane 3 of the Iridium constellation.

Rising from its SLC-4E launch pad, Falcon 9 climbed vertically for less than 20 seconds before beginning to depart on a due southerly trajectory, targeting an orbit inclined 86.66 degrees. Guzzling down 2,500 Kilograms of chilled propellant per second, the nine Merlin 1D engines quickly pushed the rocket to the speed of sound and throttled back briefly around the period of Maximum Dynamic Pressure 69 seconds after liftoff. From there, the first stage continued firing on all cylinders until its burn ended at T+2 minutes and 24 seconds.


The second stage's plume impinges on the first stage booster shortly after separation – Photo: SpaceX Webcast

The first stage boosted the rocket's speed to 1.9 Kilometers per second as opposed to Friday's high-energy delivery that had a staging velocity of 2.35km/s – highlighting the drastic differences between heavy-haul missions to LEO and high-energy GTO deliveries.

Four pneumatic pushers provided separation of the stages four seconds after MECO and Booster #1036 wasted no time in preparing for its homecoming, starting to home in on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship located 300 Kilometers from the launch site, much closer than for Friday's mission that had the 'OCISLY' drone ship park 680km from Cape Canaveral to catch its Falcon 9.


Stage 1 Entry Burn – Photo: SpaceX Webcast

Stage 1 fired up its cold gas thrusters immediately after staging to initiate the flip to an engines-first position followed by ignition of the central Merlin 1D engines at T+2 minutes and 43 seconds followed by two of the outer engines at T+2:49 on a partial boost back burn that lasted ~27 seconds and slowed the vehicle's forward velocity to control the downrange travel distance. Accelerating back toward the atmosphere, the booster deployed the new grid fins and fired up on a 19-second entry burn at T+5 minutes and 53 seconds to slow down by some 550 m/s and set the course toward the drone ship.

'Just Read The Instructions' had to be relocated shortly before launch because of extreme weather in the landing area, but even in the new landing zone, the ship's deck was more of a moving landing pad rather than a stable landing surface – adding difficulty to what would have been one of the easier returns for the Falcon 9.


Photo: SpaceX Webcast

Hitting the atmosphere significantly slower than Friday's mission, the booster encountered a significantly lower heat load, using the grid fins to fine tune its course for the final landing maneuver. The disturbed weather became evident in stronger vibration seen as the booster approached a dense cloud layer associated with quite some movement by the grid fins to keep Falcon 9 on course.

With plenty of propellant reserves, Sunday's mission had the luxury of a 32-second single-engine landing maneuver that provides more time for corrections and finer control over the landing speed. Balancing on the central engine, Falcon 9 was in for some heavy throttling to arrest its vertical speed when coming into contact with the drone ship.


Photo: SpaceX Webcast

The four landing legs deployed in the last seconds of powered descent and Falcon 9 gracefully touched down near the center of the JRTI drone ship at T+7:44, continuing a streak of successful landings – now up to nine. Coming home from the edge of space through a fairly gentle entry, this booster is a prime candidate for re-flight following its return to the Port of Los Angeles in the coming days.

While all eyes were once again on the first stage, it was the second stage that earned the money on Sunday – lighting up its 95,000-Kilogram MVac engine two minutes and 35 seconds into the flight on a planned six-minute and 29-second burn to lift the stack into a slightly elliptical Low Earth Orbit. The fairing split open and dropped away three minutes and 16 seconds into the flight after the vehicle had reached 110 Kilometers in altitude wh ere aerodynamic forces are no longer a concern.


Second Stage Re-Start – Photo: SpaceX Webcast

Stage 2 continued flying true and level, safing its Flight Termination System and shutting down the engine nine minutes and eight seconds into the mission, transitioning to a lengthy coast phase of 43 minutes, or half an orbit. While coasting, the second stage crossed the Pacific, flew over Antarctica and entered a leg to the north, passing over the Indian Ocean and climbing up to the apogee of the transfer orbit, 625 Kilometers in altitude so that the second burn could serve as a circularization maneuver.

MVac fired up again 52 minutes and 15 seconds into the mission on a very brief burn of only four seconds that accelerated the stack by 126 meters per second, aiming for a circular orbit of 625 Kilometers that acts as a staging and maintenance orbit for the Iridium constellation. Having arrived at the planned orbital destination, the second stage coasted for another five minutes before initiating the delicate deployment sequence that saw one satellite depart the dispenser every 100 seconds to ensure proper spacing between the spacecraft.


Iridium Deploy – Photo: SpaceX Webcast

SpaceX confirmed all ten Iridium satellites made a clean separation and Iridium will work through the night to confirm all ten are alive and well. All satellites are activated in the coming days for a series of checks involving their communications payloads and the L- and Ka-Band space-to-ground links and Ka-Band inter-satellite links. Five of the satellites will raise their orbit to Iridium's operational altitude of 780 Kilometers to enter an active role in Plane 3 via instantaneous handovers from retiring satellites to avoid any outage in service.

Five of the satellites launched on Sunday will enter multi-month drift campaigns into Planes 2 and 4 of the constellation in a carefully planned replacement sequence that will ensure the constellation is up to operational strength as soon as possible after all new satellites are in orbit.

Currently, Iridium Mission 3 is looking at a provisional launch date of August 24, targeting Plane 2, to be followed by the fourth launch no earlier than October to place another ten satellites into Plane 4. Provided SpaceX can keep up its current pace, all eight Iridium launches – the last featuring only five Iridium satellites – will be complete by mid-year 2018.

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[tnt22]

Запись трансляции SpaceX

(1:34:37)

[Georgea]

DiZed пишет:
tnt22 в этой теме на 4-й странице постил
 http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-iridium-next-flight-1/wp-content/uploads/sites/133/2017/01/8200921_orig.jpg

Полагаю, траектория на этой схеме условна (за исключением маневра к барже перед посадкой).

[DiZed]

Georgea пишет:  
Полагаю, траектория на этой схеме условна (за исключением маневра к барже перед посадкой).

да, но они определенно стараются отразить ключевые моменты и принципы. я думаю, что даже угол наклона этой части траектории реалистичный

[tnt22]

Iridium Corporate‏Подлинная учетная запись @IridiumComm 22 мин. назад

Successful second launch doubles the number of #IridiumNEXT satellites in space #Iridium-2 #TwoForTwo http://bit.ly/2tKoUaO

[makandser]

konti пишет:
НЬЮ-ЙОРК, 25 июня. /ТАСС/. Американская компания SpaceX отложила запланированный на воскресенье запуск ракеты-носителя Falcon 9 с 10 телекоммуникационными спутниками Iridium NEXT. Старт должен был состояться в 13:25 по времени Западного побережья США (23:25 мск) с базы ВВС США Ванденберг (штат Калифорния).
"Запуск с целью вывода 10 спутников Iridium переносится ввиду экстремальной погоды", - уточнил глава компании Илон Маск. Он не сообщил, на какое время запланирован новый запуск.

Типичный ТАСС. Пофик на незнание журналистами иностранных языков и перевранные факты, главное выложить первыми.

Dmitry пишет: 
Почему, кстати, российские СМИ перестали освещать спейс экс? Лента не написала о первом болгарском спутнике. Это впервые так.

Тоже расстроился. Люблю там комментарии к запуску F9 почитать, иногда перлы попадаются хоть куда.

[tnt22]

http://investor.iridium.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1031231

      
Jun 25, 2017

Successful Second Launch Doubles the Number of Iridium® NEXT Satellites in Space

SpaceX Delivers 10 More Iridium NEXT Satellites to Orbit, Continuing Infrastructure Build for Aireon's Real-Time Aircraft Surveillance System and Iridium Certus℠

MCLEAN, Va., June 25, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM), the only communications company with truly global coverage, announced today the successful second launch of its next-generation network, Iridium NEXT. This payload of 10 satellites was deployed into low-Earth orbit, approximately one hour after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off fr om Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, at 1:25pm PDT (20:25 UTC). With this launch complete, there are now 20 Iridium NEXT satellites in orbit, establishing the infrastructure for groundbreaking technologies such as Iridium Certus and Aireon's space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) aircraft tracking and surveillance service.  Iridium Certus is poised to disrupt industry norms by enabling truly global L-band satellite broadband speeds through smaller, more cost-effective antennas.

Спойлер

Since the successful January 14, 2017 launch, Iridium NEXT satellites have already been integrated into the operational constellation and are providing service. The first eight operational Iridium NEXT satellites are already providing superior call quality and faster data speeds with increased capacity to Iridium customers. The two additional satellites from the first launch are continuing to drift to their operational orbital plane, wh ere upon arrival they will begin providing service. Iridium NEXT satellites from today's launch will be tested and integrated into the constellation over the coming weeks.  Just as with the first launch, on-orbit testing and validation will be completed by the Iridium and Thales Alenia Space teams.  Five of the 10 satellites from this launch will be sent to adjacent orbits ("planes" ) to optimize the network deployment and ensure eleven operational satellites, and at least one in-orbit spare, are in each of Iridium's six polar orbiting planes following full deployment.

"Right now, it's two down with six more launches to go," said Matt Desch, chief executive officer, Iridium. "Our operations team is eagerly awaiting this new batch of satellites and is ready to begin the testing and validation process. After several weeks of fine-tuning, the next set of 'slot swaps' will begin, bringing more Iridium NEXT satellites into operational service, and bringing us closer to an exciting new era for our network, company, and partners."

Among the many technologies enabled by Iridium NEXT is a unique hosted payload from Iridium's partner, Aireon, which will provide a real-time, global aircraft surveillance and tracking service.  Today, air traffic controllers and aircraft operators face the problem of being unable to see the location of aircraft at all times, worldwide. This is largely due to the lack of aircraft tracking infrastructure on the ground in remote regions and over the oceans. The AireonSM system is designed to solve this problem. To date, more than one billion aircraft position reports have been received by the first eight operational Aireon payloads, activated after the first Iridium NEXT launch this past January.

"Since first launch, our technology has exceeded all expectations," said Don Thoma, chief executive officer, Aireon. "With just eight payloads, we have seen an incredible amount of data, from aircraft and vehicle antennas of both high and surprisingly low wattage.  We've conducted flight tests with the FAA and NAV CANADA, which were designed to really push our system's limits, while also helping to fine-tune its capabilities.  We're on a path to revolutionizing how the world sees the skies, and with each launch come one step closer to making it a global reality."

According to analyses conducted by the Flight Safety Foundation and Purdue University's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, space-based ADS-B, utilized by the Aireon system, can increase safety while also reducing the environmental impact of the aviation industry.

Through a series of eight launches, SpaceX will deliver 75 Iridium NEXT satellites to low-Earth orbit, with 66 making up the operational constellation.  In total, 81 new satellites are being built, with nine serving as on-orbit spares and six as ground spares. The satellites were designed by Thales Alenia Space, which serves as system prime contractor, and are being integrated by Thales's subcontractor, Orbital ATK, at its Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Arizona.  The production process features an 18-station, state-of-the-art assembly line system for all 81 Iridium NEXT satellites.

For more information about Iridium NEXT, please visit https://www.iridiumnext.com.

About Iridium Communications Inc.

Iridium is the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that spans the entire globe. Iridium enables connections between people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time. Together with its ecosystem of partner companies, Iridium delivers an innovative and rich portfolio of reliable solutions for markets that require truly global communications. The company has a major development program underway for its next-generation network — Iridium NEXT. Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Va., U.S.A., and its common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Sel ect Market under the ticker symbol IRDM. For more information about Iridium products, services and partner solutions, visit www.iridium.com.

Forward Looking Statements
 
Statements in this press release that are not purely historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company has based these statements on its current expectations and the information currently available to us. Forward-looking statements in this presentation include statements regarding the deployment and capabilities of the Iridium NEXT constellation and products and services to be offered over the constellation, including Iridium Certus and the Aireon system. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the words "anticipates," "may," "can," "believes," "expects," "projects," "intends," "likely," "will," "to be" and other expressions that are predictions or indicate future events, trends or prospects. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Iridium to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, uncertainties regarding potential delays in the Iridium NEXT deployment, the development and functionality of Iridium NEXT and related products and services, and the company's ability to maintain the health, capacity and content of its satellite constellation, as well as general industry and economic conditions, and competitive, legal, governmental and technological factors. Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements include those factors listed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC" ) on February 23, 2017, as well as other filings Iridium makes with the SEC from time to time. There is no assurance that Iridium's expectations will be realized. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if Iridium's underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially fr om those expected, estimated or projected. Iridium's forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and Iridium undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.

Press Contact:

Jordan Hassin
Iridium Communications Inc.
+1 (646) 872-0067
Jordan.Hassin@iridium.com
Twitter: @IridiumComm

Investor Contact:

Kenneth LevyIridium Communications Inc.
+1 (703) 287-7570
Ken.Levy@Iridium.com
Twitter: @IridiumIR

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[tnt22]

http://www.spacex.com/news/2017/06/25/iridium-2-mission

June 25, 2017

Iridium-2 Mission

On Sunday, June 25 at 1:25 p.m. PDT, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit for Iridium, a global leader in mobile voice and data satellite communications. This is the second set of 10 satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium's next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium® NEXT.

Following stage separation, the first stage of Falcon 9 successfully landed on the "Just Read the Instructions" droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean, despite challenging weather conditions.

You can watch the archived mission webcast below and find more information about the mission in our press kit. Additional photos are also available on our Flickr page.

[tnt22]

https://blog.iridium.com/2017/06/25/iridium-and-spacex-a-partnership-launching-a-new-generation-of-space/

Iridium and SpaceX – A Partnership Launching a New Generation of Space

by Iridium | Jun 25, 2017 | Iridium, Iridium NEXT | 0 comments

In this industry, innovation, precision and collaboration are key in bringing revolutionary technologies to market. As Iridium CEO Matt Desch has said, "In the satellite space industry, we have to work with others. Partnerships are crucial, and ours with SpaceX proves how important it is to work together to be successful."

Спойлер

SpaceX is known as a leading commercial space exploration company that designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. It provides regular cargo resupply missions for NASA, and is the first rocket provider planning to send a human to Mars. But before all of its fame and notoriety, SpaceX was a startup with lofty goals. In 2010, Iridium believed in the company's vision, and contracted with them to launch its entire next-generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT, becoming SpaceX's largest commercial customer. Iridium placed its largest initiative in the hands of a startup, essentially entrusting the future of the company with SpaceX.



As Iridium's sole launch provider, the partnership with SpaceX is an example of trust, ingenuity and perseverance. "There are so many variables that need to be considered when finalizing launch preparations, and a slight deviation or unexpected behavior by any of them can jeopardize the launch integrity," notes Iridium COO, Scott Smith.

Today, SpaceX employs more than 4,000 people, and Iridium remains its largest commercial customer. Seven years ago, Iridium purchased a new SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that was going to set a new standard of excellence for the Space industry, with the goal of launching nine satellites per launch. Over the years, the rocket evolved and exceeded performance expectations, which now allows Iridium to launch 10 Iridium NEXT satellites per Falcon 9 rocket, an amazing technological feat.

Every Iridium NEXT satellite weighs 1,900 pounds, which is about the size of a Mini Cooper automobile. To put this into perspective, each rocket will carry approximately 19,000 pounds into space – that is the weight of a semi tractor trailer truck!

The two companies have been through numerous challenges; however, on January 14, 2017, the first Iridium NEXT launch occurred. On that date, SpaceX successfully launched the first 10 Iridium NEXT satellites on its Falcon 9 rocket. All subsequent launches will be on the same type of rocket, which is manufactured entirely in the United States, and is designed to be the world's first fully reusable rocket, ultimately reducing the cost of space travel.

SpaceX's President and Chief Operating Officer, Gwynne Shotwell shares, "I think both (Iridium and SpaceX) are incredibly innovative companies. Iridium and SpaceX obviously like the concept of change – change to make it better, not change just for change's sake."

Desch continued that, "In order to build successful LEO networks, you have to take it up a level of magnitude. You need to be 10 times better than the competition. Working with SpaceX allowed us to find an achievable and cost-effective launch plan to set us apart and allow us to start the largest tech refresh in space history."

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из заметки (2:23)

[tnt22]

http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1228483/falcon-9-launch-success/

FALCON 9 LAUNCH SUCCESS

By 30th Space Wing Public Affairs, 30th Space Wing Public Affairs / Published June 25, 2017

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --
Team Vandenberg supported the successful launch of ten Iridium NEXT satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E here Sunday, Jun. 25, at 1:25 p.m. PDT.

This was the first launch for Col. Michael S. Hough, 30th Space Wing commander, since he took command on June 9th.

"We are once again proud to support another successful launch of Iridium NEXT," said Hough. "This launch is a perfect demonstration of the high level of teamwork and precision that exists between Team Vandenberg and SpaceX."

This was the second of eight planned Falcon 9 launches supporting the deployment of Iridium's next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT. Each launch contributes to replacing the world's largest commercial satellite network and the only network that covers 100 percent of the earth. Iridium NEXT will enable new capabilities like Aireon's real-time, global aircraft surveillance and tracking service, and Iridium Certus?,  the Company's next-generation communications platform that will bring broadband speeds to even the world's most remote locations

[makandser]

Зловредный пишет:

Виктор Кондрашов пишет:
Чего это? 9:8.    

А, точно. Можно ещё засчитать два из Куру.

Можно и парочку индийских защитать, если очень хочется вперёд выйти.

[makandser]

Профиль возврата ступени отличался по сравнению с Iridium-1. Там boostback burn начался только через 2 минуты после расстыковки, а сегодня почти сразу. Возможно связано с перемещение баржи, о котором Маск писал перед запуском. Или изучают варианты.

[Алексей]

SGS_67 пишет:
Рули не красные. Скорость явно меньше, чем в прошлый раз.

Раньше обгарало защитное покрытие, что и приводило к красному свечению. Никаких данных о различиях в траектории посадки пока нет.
Ранее Spacex заявлял что новые рули большего размера позволят увеличить угол атаки и снизить тепловой поток. Интересно, можно ли определить угол из видео трансляции со ступени?

[tnt22]

Iridium Corporate‏Подлинная учетная запись @IridiumComm 36 мин. назад

SNOC Report: Received telemetry from all 10 #IridiumNEXT satellites. #NEXTevolution #Iridium-2

[Зловредный]

makandser пишет:
Можно и парочку индийских защитать, если очень хочется вперёд выйти.

Каким образом? Скорее запуски Атласа и Антареса (российские двигатели).

[makandser]

Зловредный пишет:

makandser пишет:
Можно и парочку индийских защитать, если очень хочется вперёд выйти.

Каким образом? Скорее запуски Атласа и Антареса (российские двигатели).

Если запуски Arianespace засчитывать, то и индийские можно, и Атлас, и Антарес. Было бы желание.

[Georgea]

Думаю, Союзы с Куру надо считать уж как минимум за половину "наших"     А то и за 0,8.