SES-11 (EchoStar 105) - Falcon 9 - Kennedy LC-39A - 11.10.2017 22:53 UTC

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/132466114@N03/37638531101/in/album-72157687197418250/

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/10/11/falcon-9-launch-timeline-with-ses-11echostar-105/

Falcon 9 launch timeline with SES 11/EchoStar 105
October 11, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday evening, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the SES 11/EchoStar 105 communications satellite into orbit 32 minutes later.

Спойлер

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is poised for launch from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:53 p.m. EDT (2253 GMT) Thursday at the opening of a two-hour launch window.

Perched atop the rocket is the SES 11/EchoStar 105 communications satellite, a spacecraft made by Airbus Defense and Space, ready to beam television programming and video services across the Americas for SES and EchoStar. The rocket will place the satellite into a high-altitude supersynchronous transfer orbit.

The timeline below outlines the launch sequence for the Falcon 9 flight with SES 11/EchoStar 105, SpaceX's third launch with a previously-flown first stage booster.

Data source: SpaceX

T-0:00:00: Liftoff


After the rocket's nine Merlin engines pass an automated health check, hold-down clamps will release the Falcon 9 booster for liftoff from pad 39A.

T+0:01:10: Mach 1


The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Mach 1, the speed of sound, as the nine Merlin 1D engines provide more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust.

T+0:01:18: Max Q


The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
 
T+0:02:35: MECO


The Falcon 9's nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.

T+0:02:38: Stage 1 Separation


The Falcon 9's first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.

T+0:02:40: First Ignition of Second Stage


The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for a nearly 6-minute burn to put the rocket and SES 11/EchoStar 105 into a preliminary parking orbit.

T+0:03:40: Fairing Jettison


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+0:06:24: Stage 1 Entry Burn


A subset of the first stage's Merlin 1D engines ignite for an entry burn to slow down for landing. A final landing burn will occur just before touchdown.

T+0:08:33: Stage 1 Landing


The Falcon 9 rocket's first stage booster touches down on SpaceX's drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

T+0:08:38: SECO 1


The second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket shuts down after reaching a preliminary low-altitude orbit. The upper stage and SES 11/EchoStar 105 begin a coast phase scheduled to last more than 18 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.

T+0:26:59: Second Ignition of Second Stage


The Falcon 9's second stage Merlin engine restarts to propel the SES 11/EchoStar 105 communications satellite into a supersynchronous transfer orbit.

T+0:27:58: SECO 2


The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to put the SES 11/EchoStar 105 satellite in the proper orbit for deployment. The rocket's computer is programmed to shut down the upper stage engine just before it runs out of propellant, ensuring the payload reaches the highest orbit possible to extend its useful lifetime. The satellite should be injected in an orbit with a high point, or apogee, around 24,300 miles (39,100 kilometers), but the exact altitude depends on the engine's fuel use.

T+0:36:07: SES 11/EchoStar 105 Separation


The SES 11/EchoStar 105 satellite separates from the Falcon 9 rocket in a supersynchronous transfer orbit.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/10/11/photos-previously-flown-falcon-9-booster-poised-for-launch/

Photos: Previously-flown Falcon 9 booster poised for launch
October 11, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Falcon 9 rocket powered by a reused first stage booster rolled out Tuesday to pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a day before its scheduled liftoff with an Airbus-built communications satellite designed for television broadcasts over the Americas.

Спойлер

Liftoff of the SES 11/EchoStar 105 spacecraft is scheduled for 6:53 p.m. EDT (2253 GMT) Wednesday at the opening of a two-hour launch window.

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket will blast off with 1.7 million pounds of thrust from its nine Merlin 1D main engines to deliver the SES 11/EchoStar 105 satellite to space on the way to an operational perch 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) over the equator.

See our Mission Status Center for more details on the launch.


Credit: SpaceX


Credit: SpaceX


Credit: SpaceX


Credit: SpaceX

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Live на Мордокниге

10/11/2017 22:50

For live video of pad 39A, check out our Facebook Live stream

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10/11/2017 23:23

T-minus 2 hours, 30 minutes. No problems have been reported in the countdown, and clocks are ticking toward liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket at 6:53 p.m. EDT (2253 GMT).

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Spaceflight Now‏ @SpaceflightNow 7 мин. назад

Weather favorable for launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida at 6:53pm EDT (2253 GMT) with commercial TV satellite https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/10/11/falcon-9-ses-11-echostar-105-mission-status-center/ ...

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 8 мин. назад

#SES11 is the first #Falcon9 launch to Geostationary Transfer Orbit after a string of four Low Earth Orbit Mission.


7 мин. назад

Of course, this means the first stage will be facing a particularly hot re-entry & propellant-constrained drone ship landing. #Falcon9

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 50 сек. назад

The Range Countdown started at L-4 hours at the Morrell Operations Center with the activation of Eastern Range instrumentation. #Falcon9

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Текущий прогноз погоды L-0

Falcon 9 SES-11 L-0 Forecast

90 % GO, старт за 4 минуты до захода Солнца

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 2 мин. назад

L-90Min: #Falcon9 RF & AFTS checks should be complete & LC-39A clear for tanking setup. Downrange tracking station readiness checks underway

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Chris G - NSF‏ @CwG_NSF 3 мин. назад

T-90mins: Final roadblocks going up. Blast Danger Area being cleared ahead of prop load. #SpaceX #Falcon9 #SES11 #EchoStar105

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Updated: 10/12/2017 00:24

T-minus 90 minutes and counting. Critical milestones coming in the next half-hour include a poll by the SpaceX launch conductor to begin fueling the booster with super-chilled kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants.

Спойлер

The readiness poll is scheduled for 5:40 p.m. EDT (2140 GMT), followed by the start of RP-1 kerosene loading around three minutes later. Super-cold liquid oxygen will flow into the two-stage rocket beginning at 6:18 p.m. EDT (2218 GMT).

The Falcon 9 rocket will deliver the SES 11/EchoStar 105 communications satellite into an elliptical supersynchronous transfer orbit about a half-hour after liftoff. The rocket's upper stage is programmed to continue firing its engine until is almost out of propellant, a technique called "minimum residual shutdown" devised to inject the satellite into the highest orbit possible.

Owned by SES, the spacercaft's communications payload will be shared with EchoStar to provide television broadcast services over the Americas.

SES will use the satellite's 24 C-band transponders, while EchoStar's portion covers the craft's 24 Ku-band transponders.

Today's launch will be the 43rd flight of a Falcon 9 rocket since it debuted in June 2010, and the 15th Falcon 9 mission so far in 2017.

It will be the third time SpaceX has launched a Falcon 9 rocket with a previously-flown first stage booster. This rocket will fly with a booster that first launched Feb. 19, lofting a Dragon supply ship on a trajectory toward the International Space Station.

Luxembourg-based SES, one of the world's largest commercial satellite operators, was the first customer to sign up for a reused rocket launch with SpaceX. A recovered booster sent the SES 10 communications satellite toward orbit March 30 in a historic launch that went far in demonstrating SpaceX's concept for reusing rocket hardware, a capability the company says will slash the cost of spaceflight.

Another reused booster launched June 23 with the BulgariaSat 1 communications satellite, and the SES 11/EchoStar 105 spacecraft launching today is the third payload to fly on a previously-launched Falcon 9.

Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer at SES, has been one of SpaceX's most loyal proponents in the commercial satellite business.

He told Spaceflight Now earlier today that while his confidence in reused rockets has increased with two successful re-flights, SES was still careful in its decision a few months ago to commit to launching SES 11/EchoStar 105 on a recovered booster.

"We approach every one of these launches in the same way," Halliwell said. "We have a lot of insight with our U.S. citizens, who are working together with SpaceX on a daily basis. We give it the same amount of diligence as we did on the first one. Obviously, we have intrinsically more confidence because we've done it once."

SpaceX spent more than 11 months refurbishing and testing the first stage booster that launched SES 10. For this flight, the turnaround time was less than eight months.

"We have people who work for us that follow the whole thing, from the beginning to the end, and they gave us a thumbs-up," said Neliton Vasconcelos, SES senior vice president of space systems development and engineering. "It's as simple as that. The amount of tests that they did for the first one is different than what they're doing (now), but we believe them and they have the results that it's good to go."

Halliwell said SES did not receive a significant financial discount from SpaceX in switching the SES 11/EchoStar 105 launch to a reused booster, but the agreement did result in an earlier launch date.
The roughly 11,500-pound (5,200-kilogram) satellite, built by Airbus Defense and Space, was originally supposed to launch about one year ago, according to Halliwell. But a Falcon 9 rocket explosion on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral in September 2016 grounded SpaceX missions more than four months, and re-shuffled the company's manifest.

"We should have launched a year ago, Halliwell said. "We've been waiting for a launch for a long, long time."

So SES jumped at the the availability of a recovered rocket in SpaceX's inventory to ensure its next satellite could launch as soon as possible.

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk said earlier this year the company wants to recoup a $1 billion investment in making the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage recoverable and reusable, so prices will not drop significantly in the short-term. In future years, Musk said Falcon 9s could be landed and re-launched within 24 hours, cutting costs to little more than the price of propellant.

Karim Michel Sabbagh, CEO of SES, is pushing for a 50 percent reduction in Falcon 9 prices, and he is not alone. A Falcon 9 launch currently sells for around $61 million commercially, according to SpaceX's website.

"Obviously, we'd love to see that," Halliwell said. "I would love to, but I think we're going to have about the sort of numbers that we've got. The costs are increasing. Will demand increase? Will demand drive the pricing associated with it? I don't know. What does the cost need to be to be self-sustaining. I don't know the answer to any of this. Will it come down to $30 million? I don't think so."

While many space industry officials and observers have called attention to the impact of reused rockets on launch prices, Halliwell said there is another, less discussed benefit: launch availability.

"I think, in the long term, they've got so much hardware which is coming back, it has to help," he said. "It has to make the cadence improve, and the fact they've got two (launch sites), and maybe in the future four -- between pad 40, 39A, Vandenberg and Texas -- wow, that should be good. For us, it gives us a better chance to get into space on time."

Without taking the opportunity to fly on a reused rocket, Halliwell said it's likely the launch of SES 11/EchoStar 105 "would have been somewhat delayed because we would have had to wait for hardware to become available for us."

"It's manufactured at a certain rate, and it can only come out of the factory at a certain pace, so almost certainly we would have still been waiting."

Commercial satellite operators have raised concerns about the schedules of several launch operators. SpaceX grounded its Falcon 9 rockets after two failures in 2015 and 2016, and Russian Proton rockets did not fly for a year from mid-2016 through mid-2017 as engineers resolved engine quality concerns.
Halliwell said most satellites spend months in storage between the end of their construction and shipment to their launch base.

"You can imagine that costs us a fortune," he said. "You've paid for the spacecraft. You've paid your launch vehicle. The only thing you really haven't paid is the final installment on your insurance, but you're cashed out, just sitting there waiting to launch. This whole cadence idea, and the capability of getting to space on time, is hugely important for us from a financial point-of-view."

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 4 мин. назад

The Ku capacity on #SES11 has been leased to EchoStar to operate under the company's U.S. orbital arc, marketed under the name EchoStar 105.

3 мин. назад

The C-Band payload is operated by SES themselves to expand their video & data distribution capacity. #SES11 will operate from 105°W.

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 40 сек. назад

Go for Tanking - All stations have provided clearance to proceed into #Falcon9's automated countdown sequence.

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 39 сек. назад

T-70 Minutes & COUNTING! Computers are now in control of the count as the highly choreographed tanking sequence commences. #Falcon9

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Chris G - NSF‏ @CwG_NSF 2 мин. назад

Fueling of the Falcon 9 for tonight's launch is underway. #SpaceX #Falcon9 #SES11 #EchoStar105

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T-1 час

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Chris G - NSF‏ @CwG_NSF 3 мин. назад

T-1hr & COUNTING. All is going well with RP-1 fueling. LOX load picks up at T-35mins, or 6:18p EDT. #SpaceX #Falcon9 #SES11 #EchoStar105