Iridium Next Flight 7 (x10) - Falcon 9 - Vandenberg SLC-4E - 25.07.2018

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/07/25/spacexs-second-launch-in-three-days-lofts-10-more-iridium-satellites/

SpaceX's second launch in three days lofts 10 more Iridium satellites
July 25, 2018 | Stephen Clark


SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket fires into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: SpaceX

Firing through a veil of fog blanketing California's Central Coast, a Falcon 9 launcher climbed into orbit Wednesday with 10 more satellites for Iridium's voice and data relay constellation, pushing the upgraded network closer to completion as SpaceX accomplished another landing of the rocket's first stage booster.

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) launcher lit its nine Merlin main engines after a problem-free countdown and lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 4:39:30 a.m. PDT (7:39:30 a.m. EDT; 1139:30 GMT).

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Riding 1.7 million pounds of thrust, the slender, two-stage launcher turned southward from Vandenberg, piercing a low-altitude marine layer hugging the coastline before exceeding the speed of sound about a minute after liftoff.

The first stage's main engines shut down around two-and-a-half minutes into the flight, and thrusters fed by high-pressure nitrogen gas pulsed to flip the booster around as a subset of the rocket's nine main engines ignited for a pair of boost-back and entry burns to guide the vehicle toward SpaceX's drone ship nearly 150 miles (235 kilometers) downrange from Vandenberg in the Pacific Ocean.

The center engine on the first stage slowed the booster down for landing, as four legs extended moments before touchdown on SpaceX's rocket recovery vessel named "Just Read the Instructions."

SpaceX confirmed a successful landing — the 27th time the company has recovered one of its Falcon rocket boosters following a satellite launch.

John Insprucker, SpaceX's principal investigation engineer, said a nearby boat designed to catch half of the Falcon 9's payload fairing was unable to recover the shroud due to rough seas and unfavorable winds.

"The recovery ship did confirm that we had bad weather out in the Pacific with that wind shear," Insprucker said on SpaceX's webcast of the mission. "They did see the payload fairing coming down, but they were not able to catch it in the net. We will continue to attempt that in the future as we learn how to bring fairings back, and then reuse them."

In a bid to reduce launch costs, SpaceX aims to eventually recover and reuse the payload fairing, which shields satellite against weather and aerodynamic forces in flight. The fairing comes off the rocket in two pieces like a clamshell, and both parts carry guidance systems, tiny cold gas thrusters and parafoils to steer them back to Earth from space.

The fairing recovery vessel, named Mr. Steven, was outfitted with a larger net for Wednesday's mission after attempts to catch the shroud earlier this year turned up empty.

But the fairing recovery attempt was purely an experimental objective on Wednesday's flight, and the Falcon 9's upper stage engine continued into orbit with the 10 Iridium communications satellites fastened to a specially-designed multi-payload dispenser.


The Falcon 9's first stage pictured on the drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" following Wednesday's launch. Credit: SpaceX

Two firings of the Falcon 9 second stage placed the satellites in an on-target orbit roughly 388 miles (625 kilometers) above Earth. The upper stage released each of the 1,896-pound (860-kilogram) satellites one-by-one over a 15-minute deployment sequence, with the final Iridium spacecraft deployment concluding nearly 72 minutes after liftoff.

Live video beamed back to Earth from the rocket through ground stations showed some of the satellites flying away from the upper stage as the Falcon 9 sailed over Africa and the Middle East.

Matt Desch, Iridium's chief executive officer, said all 10 satellites — built by Thales Alenia Space and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems — checked in with their ground stations shortly after arriving in orbit. The signal acquisition confirmed all 10 spacecraft were alive following their fiery trip into space.

With Wednesday's mission, SpaceX has delivered 65 satellites to orbit for Iridium on seven launches since January 2017. Iridium has one more mission booked with SpaceX for another liftoff later this year from Vandenberg with 10 more spacecraft on-board.

"This historic constellation refresh is one launch away from completion," Desch said in a statement. "We know our partners are just as excited about the new network being finished as we are, and how that will bring the full power of the Iridium Next constellation to life.

"We've come a long way, and we are particularly excited to see the financial transformation enabled by the completion of the Iridium Next system and the associated drop in capital expenditures," Desch said.

The Iridium Next network will replace the company's aging fleet of communications satellites, which provide global coverage for phone calls, messaging, asset tracking and data relays.

Iridium's first-generation Block 1 satellites, built by Lockheed Martin, launched in the late 1990s and early 2000s and were designed for seven-year missions. Nearly all the Block 1 spacecraft outlived their design lives, and the upgraded Iridium Next satellites are built to last at least 15 years.

The $3 billion Iridium Next network will offer faster L-band broadband connections, improved functionality and 3G-equivalent cellular phone services for Iridium's pool of roughly one million subscribers, a client list that includes the U.S. military, oil and gas companies, aviation and maritime operators, and mining and construction contractors.


One of the 10 Iridium Next satellites flies away from the Falcon 9 rocket in orbit. Credit: SpaceX

The satellites launched Wednesday will join Plane 5 of the Iridium constellation, which includes 66 active spacecraft spread among six orbital planes, enabling worldwide coverage. The network works with the help of inter-satellite Ka-band radio links, allowing communications traffic to travel around the globe from spacecraft-to-spacecraft without the need to pass through a ground station.

Each spacecraft will boost itself into a higher orbit at an altitude of 476 miles (780 kilometers), maneuvering alongside a Block 1 satellite before ground controllers at Iridium's operations center in Leesburg, Virginia, switch the relay links from the old spacecraft to the new one.

The procedure, called a slot swap, is the point at which an Iridium Next satellite joins the network.

Desch said Wednesday that more than 80 percent of traffic on the Iridium network currently goes through one of the company's new-generation satellites. That figure will rise to more than 90 percent in the next six weeks, when the spacecraft on Wednesday's launch become operational, he said.

Each Iridium Next satellite also hosts an aircraft tracking transceiver built by Harris Corp. The air traffic monitoring project, led by an Iridium affiliate named Aireon, will become operational once at least 66 Iridium Next spacecraft are in space.

Aireon said in a press release Wednesday that the airplane-tracking system will go live later this year, with the service initially becoming available to air traffic controllers in Canada. The Aireon system is designed to provide global aircraft tracking services, replacing ground-based radars that do not cover the oceans and other parts of the world.

Operational trials using Aireon's service over the busy North Atlantic flight corridor will begin next year. In addition to Canada's air traffic control organization, air traffic authorities in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Italy and parts of Africa plan to use Aireon. The Federal Aviation Administration is testing the Aireon service for potential incorporation of the system's satellite-based tracking capability in U.S. airspace.

"We're getting closer to the finish line," said Don Thoma, CEO of Aireon, in a statement. "Perhaps most exciting though is that the system has been functioning beyond expectation, resulting in even greater coverage redundancy than initially planned. We're seeing double coverage, and in many cases triple redundancy from our payloads before the constellation is even completed. With this seventh successful launch completed, we're now preparing to begin a new era for the aviation industry."

Most of the Iridium Next satellites also carry ship tracking antennas for exactEarth, a Canadian company.

Iridium reserved its launches with SpaceX in 2010 with a contract officials said at the time was valued at nearly $500 million, then the most lucrative commercial launch agreement ever signed. The first version of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, now long-retired, had only achieved one test flight when Iridium secured launches with the company.

In a tweet following Wednesday's launch, Desch said SpaceX's launch prices in 2010 were less than half those of the other bidders considered by Iridium officials.

"Thanks for taking a chance on SpaceX so many years ago! Looking forward to using the new Iridium constellation," SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk tweeted in reply to Desch.

Iridium ordered 81 satellites from Thales Alenia Space and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, formerly known as Orbital ATK. Six of the spacecraft have been designated ground spares and could be launched at a later time.

Wednesday's launch was the third mission using a first stage based on SpaceX's improved "Block 5" version of the Falcon 9 rocket. It was the second Falcon 9 launch in a little more than three days, coming after a liftoff early Sunday from Cape Canaveral with the Telstar 19 VANTAGE communications satellite.

Next up on SpaceX's launch schedule is another mission from Florida set for no earlier than Aug. 4 with the Merah Putih communications satellite for Telkom Indonesia. The launch window Aug. 4 opens at 1:19 a.m. EDT (0519 GMT).

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https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space/press-release/iridium-next-constellation-66-operational-satellites-will-make

IRIDIUM NEXT: A CONSTELLATION OF 66 OPERATIONAL SATELLITES THAT WILL MAKE HISTORY

07/25/2018

65 communication satellites in orbit for the Iridium NEXT Constellation

Successful 7th launch of 10 new Iridium NEXT satellites!

Cannes, July 25th, 2018 - The seventh batch of Iridium NEXT satellites built by Thales Alenia Space (JV Thales 67% and Leonardo 33%) has been successfully launched by SpaceX from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The success of this seventh launch for the Iridium NEXT program further solidifies the company's reputation for excelled expertise as prime contractor for sophisticated satellite communications (SATCOM) systems.

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"Iridium is replacing its existing constellation of 66 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites by sending 75 Iridium NEXT satellites into space, including spares. 65 Iridium NEXT satellites are now in orbit. Overall System Acceptance has been confirmed by Iridium. The last launch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites is nearing now. I am very pleased to confirm that everything is on track to meet Thales Alenia Space's objective, namely to launch all 75 Iridium NEXT LEO satellites in 2018," declared Denis Allard, Iridium NEXT Vice President for Thales Alenia Space.

Thales Alenia Space, the system prime contractor for the Iridium NEXT program, is in charge of engineering, integration, and in-orbit validation of all 81 Iridium NEXT satellites, comprising 66 operational satellites, the remaining 15 satellites will serve as in-orbit and ground spares. The satellites are manufactured in a production line process by Thales Alenia Space's subcontractor Northrop Grumman Corporation (formerly known as Orbital ATK), at its Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Gilbert, Ariz. under the supervision of a dedicated local Thales Alenia Space and Iridium team. Launch and Early Operations (LEOP) and In Orbit Tests are performed by Thales Alenia Space in coordination with Iridium, from Iridium's Satellite Network Operation Center (SNOC) in Leesburg, Va.



Each Iridium NEXT satellite is equipped with star tracker sensors provided by Leonardo to guarantee attitude determination and control.

The Iridium NEXT constellation will offer global connectivity thanks to 66 interconnected satellites at an altitude of 780 km, along with nine spares in parking orbits and six more spare satellites on the ground. This global network provides unrivaled capabilities for communications on the move (individuals, land vehicles, aircraft and ships), and ensures fully global coverage, including the poles and over the ocean.

Thanks to its global coverage and independent operation, not requiring any ground infrastructure, Iridium's network provides vital assistance under very challenging conditions, such as in isolated areas, during natural disasters or during conflicts, to name a few. Its independence from local ground infrastructure delivers secure communications, including protection against intrusion and hacking.

Copyrights: © Thales Alenia Space/Master Image Programmes

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[Max Andriyahov]

не поймал(

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Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight 12 ч. назад

Iridium-7 patches!

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https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-falcon-9-landing-iridium-fairing-catch/

SpaceX nails second Falcon 9 landing in 48 hours, fairing catch foiled by weather

By Eric Ralph
Posted on July 25, 2018

Just a handful of days after SpaceX's second-ever successful launch and landing of their upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5, the company has completed the same feat on the opposite side of the United States, debuting the Block 5 rocket with a launch and booster recovery from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB).

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The booster in question, Falcon 9 B1048, is the third Block 5 booster to roll off of SpaceX's Hawthorne, CA assembly line and is now the first Block 5 rocket to launch from the company's California launch facilities. On the opposite coast, SpaceX's second Block 5 Falcon 9 booster (B1047) completed its own successful launch and landing, lofting the heaviest commercial satellite to ever reach orbit (Telstar 19V).


While weather during camera setup was absolutely spectacular, the predawn launch window meant that no sun was available to force the ever-present VAFB fog back over the ocean. (Pauline Acalin)

SEVEN MONTHS, FOURTEEN LAUNCHES

Today's near-flawless predawn mission saw Falcon 9 place 10 Iridium NEXT satellites in a polar Earth orbit, during which the rocket's Block 5 booster completed the first landing on Just Read The Instructions in nearly ten months and Mr Steven made his first attempt at catching a parasailing Falcon fairing with his massive net and arms upgrades. Those upgrades, tracked tirelessly by Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin for the better part of July, took barely a month to go from a clean slate (old arms and net fully uninstalled) to operational, fairing-catching status, an ode to the incredible pace at which SpaceX moves.

Sadly, the vessel's Iridium-7 fairing catch attempt was sullied from the start by inclement weather – primarily wind shear – that significantly hampered the accuracy of each fairing halve's parafoil guidance, meaning that Mr Steven's crew did see the parasailing halves touch down, but too far away to catch them in Mr Steven's large net. Falcon 9 B1048 had its own difficulties thanks to what engineer and webcast host John Insprucker described as "the worst weather [SpaceX] has ever had" for a Falcon booster landing. Nevertheless, Falcon 9 appeared to stick an off-center but plenty accurate landing aboard drone ship JRTI, although SpaceX technicians are likely going to wish they had the same robotic stage securer located aboard OCISLY on the opposite coast.


Just a hint of fog at liftoff. (SpaceX)


Onboard cameras thankfully came in clutch, providing an absolutely extraordinary view of most phases of launch. (SpaceX)


After MECO and S2 ignition, there were some ethereal plume interaction effects caught on Falcon 9's onboard cameras. (SpaceX)


Also Earth's limb from inside B1048's interstage. (SpaceX)


And more unbelievable plume interaction... (SpaceX)


And finally, a successful Block 5 booster landing on the West Coast! (SpaceX)

Just Read The Instructions, on the other hand, was similarly tracked but primarily to verify that nothing was happening – the vessel's last operational trip to the Pacific Ocean dates back to the first half of October 2017. Since then, SpaceX began a process of intentionally expending Falcon 9 boosters that had already flown once before, choosing to essentially start from scratch with a fresh fleet of highly reliable and reusable Falcon 9 Block 5 boosters rather than recover older versions of the rocket and attempt to refurbish them beyond the scope of their designed lifespans.

The Block 5 design, however, has taken the countless lessons-learned from flying and reflying previous versions of Falcon 9 and rolled them all into one (relatively) final iteration of the ever-changing rocket. With any luck and at least a little more iteration, Falcon 9 Block 5 boosters should be capable of launching anywhere from 10 to 100 times, 10 times with minimal or no refurbishment and 100 times with more regular maintenance, much like high-performance jet aircraft do today.

With three successful launches of new Block 5 boosters now under the new version's belt, it's safe to say that the rocket is off to an extremely good start. The most important milestones to watch for over the next several weeks and months will be the first reflight of a recovered Block 5 rocket, the first reuse of a Falcon 9 payload fairing, and then the first third/fourth/fifth/etc. reuse of Block 5 booster. On the horizon, of course, is SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's challenge to launch a Falcon 9 Block 5 booster two times in less than 24 hours, and do so before the end of 2019.
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http://tass.ru/kosmos/5403152

SpaceX не удалось осуществить захват сброшенного обтекателя ракеты Falcon 9

Космос | 25 июля, 19:52 UTC+3

НЬЮ-ЙОРК, 25 июля. /ТАСС/. Специалисты компании SpaceX не смогли осуществить в среду захват обтекателя, сброшенного при старте ракеты-носителя Falcon 9. Как сообщил интернет-портал Space.com, помимо вывода на орбиту 10 спутников связи Iridium NEXT, специалисты компании планировали выполнить еще две задачи: осуществить управляемый спуск на автоматическую платформу в Тихом океане отработавшей первой ступени ракеты-носителя, а также попытаться осуществить захват сброшенного ракетой обтекателя.

"Погодные условия - наихудшие из всех, которые были при попытке посадить первую ступень на автоматическую платформу", - привел интернет-портал Space.com слова представителя компании Джона Инспракера. Тем не менее ступень, оснащенная четырьмя раскладывающимися посадочными опорами для мягкого приземления, опустилась на автоматическую платформу Just Read the Instructions. В то же время специально оборудованное судно Mr.Steven, снабженное огромной сетью, не смогло осуществить захват сброшенного обтекателя. "Они видели падение обтекателя. но не могли захватить его сетью", - пояснил представитель компании.

Ракета-носитель Falcon 9 стартовала в среду в 14:39 мск с пусковой площадки на авиабазе Ванденберг в штате Калифорния. Это был седьмой запуск в рамках программы, предусматривающей доставку на орбиту в общей сложности 75 телекоммуникационных аппаратов международного оператора мобильной связи Iridium Communications. Последний, восьмой запуск по этой программе намечен на конец нынешнего года.
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Cowboy Dan‏ @CowboyDanPaasch 8 ч. назад

Whatever rough seas this morn's successful #Falcon9 rocket booster landing in the Pacific has incurred, #SpaceX tugboat, Pacific Freedom, with droneship JRTI in tow, appears to finally be heading home to Port LA tonite.
#SpaceXArmada

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Sam Sun‏ @BirdsNSpace 21 ч. назад

A #Falcon9 Block 5 pokes out of the Vandenberg fog bank this morning. @SpaceX successfully delivered another 10 satellites on this #Iridium7 mission!



21 ч. назад

Different rocket, different pad, but a very similar appearance to May's Atlas InSight launch.

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Elon Musk‏Подлинная учетная запись @elonmusk 22 ч. назад

Thanks for taking a chance on @SpaceX so many years ago! Looking forward to using the new Iridium constellation.

Matt Desch‏ @IridiumBoss 25 июл.

Thank you @SpaceX for another awesome flight! Glad everyone enjoyed the @Spotify playlist - kudos to my team (particulary JH) for so many great choices. Most importantly, all 10 satellites have checked in!!!

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Roger Craig Smith‏Подлинная учетная запись @RogerCraigSmith 25 июл.

Quick #TimeLapse of the launch, as well.

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1022104187994165248/pu/vid/640x360/cG7bM4VDM7ptQJ1H.mp4?tag=3
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SpaceX Fleet Updates‏ @SpaceXFleet 13 мин. назад

[Mr Steven] is inbound to the Port Of LA. She may be carrying 1 or both fairings onboard. Rough seas and high winds mean they may be very damaged.

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SpaceX Fleet Updates‏ @SpaceXFleet 4 мин. назад

[Mr Steven] - ARRIVAL - Port of LA. She is heading towards the BFR Factory to berth.

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SpaceX Fleet Updates‏ @SpaceXFleet 2 мин. назад

Mr Steven has returned carrying a single intact fairing on her deck. @w00ki33

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Pauline Acalin‏ @w00ki33 3 мин. назад

Mr Steven brought the Iridium-7 launch fog along. Fairing half looks to be in pretty good shape for another ocean landing (due to wind shear). Hoping for a successful net catch next time! #spacex #iridium7

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Matt Desch‏ @IridiumBoss 16 ч. назад

Might not be able to completely keep up, but our Ops team is doing simultaneous platform checkout on all 10 sats and everything is looking good. SV155 will complete first and start ascent to storage orbit tomorrow afternoon. SV158 should be on Saturday, then SV156 on Sunday.

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SpaceX‏Подлинная учетная запись @SpaceX 7 мин. назад

More photos from Falcon 9's launch of Iridium-7 → http://flickr.com/spacex 

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SpaceX Fleet Updates‏ @SpaceXFleet 6 мин. назад

[NRC Quest][Pacific Freedom][JRTI] - ARRIVAL - Port of LA. The West Coast Fleet are back in port after the difficult landing on the 25th.

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Matt Hartman‏ @ShorealoneFilms 19 мин. назад

Welcome home #Falcon9 #Block5 #spacex

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Matt Hartman‏ @ShorealoneFilms 3 мин. назад

impressive!! #SpaceX #falcon9 #block5

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Welcome home #Falcon9 #Block5 #spacex

Matt Hartman

Опубликовано: 27 июл. 2018 г.

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