SSMS POC flight (53 μnКА) - Vega (VV16) - Kourou ZLV - 03.09.2020, 01:51:10 UTC

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 DutchSpace @DutchSpace 38 мин. назад

So, now that the launch attempt is officially confirmed, apparently the weather at CSG is still a concern, it is currently green but it could trend towards red closer to the lift-off time, they are keeping a close eye... #VV16

[tnt22]

Пока всё в "зелени"...

 DutchSpace @DutchSpace 11 мин. назад

Spy shot currently shows a green board but CSG weather (yes the famous upper level winds) at H0 is a concern and being monitored closely #VV16

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09/03/2020 03:52 Stephen Clark

Minus-60 minutes. The final countdown for tonight's launch began at 1631 GMT (12:41 p.m. EDT). Power-up of the Vega rocket began around 1951 GMT (3:51 p.m. EDT) to begin testing of its on-board computer and navigation systems.

The Vega's navigation was to be aligned and verified functional at around 2011 GMT (4:11 p.m. EDT).

The launch team received a weather briefing before rollback of the Vega launch facility's mobile gantry at 2236 (6:36 p.m. EDT). The launch pad's mobile service tower was retracted into launch position, rolling on rails to a point 260 feet (80 meters) from the Vega rocket.

The launcher's navigation system was to be tested again at 2326 GMT (7:26 p.m. EDT), and Vega's telemetry transmitters and transponders were set to be activated after the rollback of the launch pad gantry around 0036 GMT (8:36 p.m. EDT).

Engineers verified the readiness of Vega's systems at 0101 GMT (9:01 p.m. EDT), and a final pre-launch weather briefing is scheduled for 0141 GMT (9:41 p.m. EDT).

The synchronized launch sequence takes over the countdown about four minutes prior to liftoff. The computer-controlled final sequence checks thousands of parameters in the final steps of the countdown.

After liftoff, Vega will clear the pad's four lightning towers and pitch north from the Guiana Space Center, heading over the Atlantic Ocean and surpassing the speed of sound in about 30 seconds.

The Vega's solid-fueled P80FW first stage, producing a maximum of 683,000 pounds of thrust, burns out 114 seconds after liftoff, giving way to the launcher's Zefiro 23 second stage at an altitude of about 33 miles (53 kilometers).

After a 103-second burn, the second stage consumes its propellant 3 minutes, 37 seconds, after launch and separates. The Vega's third stage, the Zefiro 9 motor, ignites 3 minutes, 50 seconds, into the mission.

A few seconds later, Vega's Swiss-built 8.5-foot-diameter (2.6-meter) payload fairing will jettison.

Vega's third stage fires for more than two minutes, turning off and separating 6 minutes, 30 seconds after liftoff.

The fourth stage, known as AVUM, ignites its liquid-fueled Ukrainian RD-843 engine at Plus+7 minutes, 54 seconds into the mission, burning for nearly eight minutes to reach a transfer orbit above Earth.

After coasting for 23 minutes, the AVUM fourth stage will fire again at Plus+38 minutes, 13 seconds for more than a minute to reach a circular 320-mile-high (515-kilometer) orbit for deployment of the seven largest satellites on the mission between 40 and 53 minutes after liftoff

A third ignition of the upper stage engine is planned 58 minutes after liftoff, followed by a fourth burn at Plus+1 hour, 41 minutes, setting the stage for separation of 46 nanosatellites in a 329-mile-high (530-kilometer) orbit between Plus+1 hour, 42 minutes, and Plus+1 hour, 45 minutes.

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09/03/2020 04:06 Stephen Clark

T-minus 45 minutes. Some statistics on today's flight:

• 16th Vega launch
• 1st Vega launch of 2020
• 4th launch from Guiana Space Center in 2020
• 6th Arianespace launch of 2020
• 41st launch from the ELA-1 / ZLV launch pad
• 1st SSMS rideshare mission by Arianespace
• 320th Arianespace mission since 1980

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Трансляция началась

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09/03/2020 04:37 Stephen Clark

Minus-14 minutes. Tonight's Vega launch will carry:

• 26 SuperDove Earth-imaging nanosats for Planet
• 8 Lemur-2 CubeSats for Spire
• ESA's ESAIL maritime monitoring satellite
• GHGSat-C1, a greenhouse gas monitoring satellite
• Athena, an experimental communications satellite owned by PointView Tech, a subsidiary of Facebook
• ION CubeSat Carrier, a spacecraft built by the Italian space company D-Orbit
• Slovenia's NEMO-HD Earth-imaging microsatellite
• UPMSat 2, built by Spanish students at Polytechnic University of Madrid
• ÑuSat 6, an Earth-imaging microsatellite built and owned by the Argentine company Satellogic
• 12 tiny SpaceBEE satellites for Swarm Technologies' low-data-rate communications network
• FSSCat A and B, two environmental monitoring CubeSats developed by developed by ESA and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain
• DIDO-3, a CubeSat for the Swiss company SpacePharma
• PICASSO, developed for ESA by the Belgian Institute of Space Aeronomy to collect data on the atmosphere and ozone
• SIMBA, a Belgian CubeSat to measure how much solar energy enters Earth's atmosphere
• TRISAT, a CubeSat developed by the University of Maribor in Slovenia
• AMICalSat, a CubeSat jointly developed by the Grenoble University Space Center in France and Moscow State University in Russia
•  NAPA 1, a CubeSat that will be Thailand's first military satellite
• Kepler Communications' TARS tech demo CubeSat
• OSM-1 CICERO, the first satellite manufactured in Monaco
• Tyvak 0171, a CubeSat built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems of California for an undisclosed customer

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09/03/2020 04:38 Stephen Clark

The Vega rocket has just one second to launch tonight or else liftoff will be delayed to another day. The time is fixed for 0151:10 GMT (9:51:10 p.m. EDT; 10:51:10 p.m. French Guiana time).

[tnt22]

Погода - "зелень",- С.Израэль

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09/03/2020 04:41 Stephen Clark

Arianespace's live webcast of tonight's mission has started. Here's a view of the Vega launcher on the pad in Kourou, French Guiana.

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09/03/2020 04:42 Stephen Clark

Final checks of the Vega rocket's telemetry transmitters and receivers are good.

[tnt22]

Вега к пуску готова

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09/03/2020 04:50 Stephen Clark

T-minus 2 minutes and counting. The four-stage launcher is being transitioned to internal battery power and disconnected from its ground power source. The target launch time of 9:51:10 p.m. EDT (10:51:10 p.m. French Guiana time; 0151:10 GMT) has been loaded into the Vega's on-board computer.

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FLIGHT SEQUENCE
Hr:Mn:Sc	Event	GFT	UTC	ДМВ
00:00:00	LIFTOFF	22:51:10	01:51:10	04:51:10
00:01:54	1st stage (P80) separation	22:53:04	01:53:04	04:53:04
00:01:55	2nd stage (Zefiro-23) ignition	22:53:05	01:53:05	04:53:05
00:03:37	2nd stage (Zefiro-23) separation	22:54:47	01:54:47	04:54:47
00:03:50	3rd stage (Zefiro-9) ignition	22:55:00	01:55:00	04:55:00
00:03:55	Fairing separation	22:55:05	01:55:05	04:55:05
00:06:30	3rd stage (Zefiro-9) separation	22:57:40	01:57:40	04:57:40
00:07:54	1st ignition of AVUM	22:59:04	01:59:04	04:59:04
00:15:16	1st cut-off of AVUM	23:06:26	02:06:26	05:06:26
00:38:13	2nd ignition of AVUM	23:29:23	02:29:23	05:29:23
00:39:34	2nd cut-off of AVUM	23:30:44	02:30:44	05:30:44
00:40:25	Satellite separation of SAT 1 for SFI	23:31:35	02:31:35	05:31:35
00:40:27	Separation of the NEMO-HD and UPMSAT-2 satellites	23:31:37	02:31:37	05:31:37
00:40:29	GHGSAT satellite separation	23:31:39	02:31:39	05:31:39
00:52:35	Separation of the ESAIL & NEWSAT satellites	23:43:45	02:43:45	05:43:45
00:52:35	ION SCV LUCAS satellite separation	23:43:45	02:43:45	05:43:45
00:58:46	3rd ignition of AVUM	23:49:56	02:49:56	05:49:56
00:58:53	3rd cutoff of AVUM	23:50:03	02:50:03	05:50:03
01:41:37	4th ignition of AVUM	00:32:47	03:32:47	06:32:47
01:41:41	4th cutoff of AVUM	00:32:51	03:32:51	06:32:51
01:42:16	1st CubeSat separation	00:33:26	03:33:26	06:33:26
01:44:56	Final CubeSat separation	00:36:06	03:36:06	06:36:06
02:04:26	End of the Vega mission	00:55:36	03:55:36	06:55:36

[tnt22]

Зажигание!, Пуск!!!

09/03/2020 04:53 Stephen Clark

Here's a view of liftoff moments ago.

 Chris B - NSF @NASASpaceflight 8 мин. назад

LAUNCH! Vega Return To Flight mission with SSMS PoC.
(0:34)

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Отделение 1-й ст РН (P80)

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Зажигание 2-й ст РН (Zefiro-23)

 Chris B - NSF @NASASpaceflight 15 мин. назад

Staging 1-2.
(0:43)

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Отделение 2-й ст РН (Zefiro-23)

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Зажигание 3-й ст РН (Zefiro-23)

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Сброс ГО

 Chris B - NSF @NASASpaceflight 18 мин. назад

And on to the third stage. This one is going a lot better than the previous Vega launch.
(0:34)

[tnt22]

Отделение 3-й ст РН (Zefiro-9)