SpaceX Falcon 9 FT launch - Thaicom 8 - SLC-40

[Grendal]

Next up, only 20 days from today unless it gets adjusted:

May 26 Falcon 9 • Thaicom 8

Launch time: 2140 GMT (5:40 p.m. EDT)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Thaicom 8 communications satellite. Thaicom 8 will provide Ku-band broadcast and data services to Thailand, Southeast Asia, India and Africa. Moved forward from June. [May 6]

This will also be a ASDS landing since this is another GTO launch and a difficult hot landing just like JCSAT 14.

 

[Grendal]

It seems like there is no change to the schedule. It looks like there will be a static fire on Monday and launch on Thursday.

SpaceX targeting Thursday afternoon launch, landing

 

[ICUDoc]

It seems like there is no change to the schedule. It looks like there will be a static fire on Monday and launch on Thursday.

SpaceX targeting Thursday afternoon launch, landing

Woohoo! Looking forward to it.
And I'm taking the family to NYC in December for Hamilton: if there's a Spacex launch I'll travel any distance to see it while in the US. Spacex tour? Tesla tour? Who knows- but we're coming!!

 

[Johan]

Thanks for the updates Glendal!

For those wondering, ASDS means drone ship landing (Autonomous spaceport drone ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and GTO means geostationary or geosynchronous orbit transfer (where communication satellites are stationed) (Geostationary transfer orbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

[ecarfan]

I"m looking forward to this launch and stage recovery of a GTO mission during the day.

 

[Grendal]

Facebook SpaceX people have reported that the ASDS OCISLY has left the port in anticipation of Thursdays launch.

 

[glenhurst]

Thanks for the updates Glendal!

For those wondering, ASDS means drone ship landing (Autonomous spaceport drone ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and GTO means geostationary or geosynchronous orbit transfer (where communication satellites are stationed) (Geostationary transfer orbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Is this going to be higher or lower or the same as the previous launch where they took up the Japanese satellite?

 

[Grendal]

Is this going to be higher or lower or the same as the previous launch where they took up the Japanese satellite?

The same orbit and very close to each other. However, this satellite is lighter than the JCSAT14, so there should be a little more fuel for the attempt at landing. Maybe they will do a little more retro burn so it doesn't enter the atmosphere quite as fast. Maybe that will lower the reentry damage compared to JCSAT14.

 

[bxr140]

Is this going to be higher or lower or the same as the previous launch where they took up the Japanese satellite?

Lol.

GTO, as described in the wiki link you quoted, is a [fairly] specific orbit and thus is basically the same for any payload, as far as the rocket is concerned.

GTO is used for pretty much every spacecraft going to geosynchronous orbit, which, at least on the first order is a very specific orbit.

Note that the propulsion systems on board the spacecraft are used to boost from GTO to GEO--nobody stays in GTO. Of the spacecraft launch mass, usually about half of it is fuel and oxidizer (for spacecraft using traditional propellant), and half of that fuel/ox load is burned during initial orbit raising (getting from GTO to GEO).

 

[Grendal]

Lol.

GTO, as described in the wiki link you quoted, is a [fairly] specific orbit and thus is basically the same for any payload, as far as the rocket is concerned.

GTO is used for pretty much every spacecraft going to geosynchronous orbit, which, at least on the first order is a very specific orbit.

Note that the propulsion systems on board the spacecraft are used to boost from GTO to GEO--nobody stays in GTO. Of the spacecraft launch mass, usually about half of it is fuel and oxidizer (for spacecraft using traditional propellant), and half of that fuel/ox load is burned during initial orbit raising (getting from GTO to GEO).

In all fairness, SpaceX can give a satellite a little extra boost to GEO. They specifically did this in the SES-9 launch because of their delays due to the CRS-7 failure.

Falcon 9 rocket to give SES 9 telecom satellite an extra boost – Spaceflight Now

The extra boost halved the flight time to GEO for the satellite. It also left the satellite with extra fuel for its usable life.

 

[bxr140]

In all fairness, SpaceX can give a satellite a little extra boost to GEO. They specifically did this in the SES-9 launch because of their delays due to the CRS-7 failure.

Falcon 9 rocket to give SES 9 telecom satellite an extra boost – Spaceflight Now

The extra boost halved the flight time to GEO for the satellite. It also left the satellite with extra fuel for its usable life.

Indeed. The reason that worked is because the SES-9 spacecraft uses electric propulsion to do orbit raising (EOR), and in fact it didn't get inserted into a traditional GTO but rather more of a modified GTO. Electric is a more mass efficient method of propulsion than traditional bi-prop, but it has WAY less thrust and ends up taking months instead of days to position in the final (or IOT) orbital slot...so operators need to reconcile months of revenue 'loss' in their business plan.

Falcon 9 is small but cheap, so an all-electric spacecraft that takes months to get to geo can close that business case--especially when it's an operator with a ton of assets on orbit already. The side benefit to electric is that you have more mass leftover for the spacecraft payload (in the case of geo-comm, transponders), so you basically get to squeeze more revenue generating channels into the same spacecraft mass.

 

[Grendal]

Static Test Fire complete ahead of Thursday's launch:

More detail of the launch and other SpaceX miscellany are in this article:

SpaceX line up latest Falcon 9 rockets for upcoming missions | NASASpaceFlight.com

 

[Grendal]

Here we go:

The Hosted Webcast:

For those that don't want to hear all the chatter, The Technical Webcast:

 

[Grendal]

SpaceX announced they will shorten the first stage burn by 3 seconds. This satellite weighs about 25% less than the last one. So the stage will be moving faster than last time but will have extra fuel to slow down substantially .in the first burn compared to the last time. The consensus on NASA Spaceflight forum is that this should allow for a less damaged booster if it lands successfully.

 

[ggies07]

Don't know if this has been posted and not sure where to post it, but I think this is after the last launch, added on March 29th. Great info in his answers:

 

[Discoducky]

About 20 minutes to the webcast. I think it is on livestream, but just go here: SpaceX

 

[Johan]

Wow thanks for the videos above. Elon answered a question from Bloomberg regarding a possible IPO for SpaceX and said something like "there's a right time for a company to go public. First we need to make sure we have a steady cadence of launches, maybe one per month. Then the predictably becomes good and maybe that would be the right time for SpaceX to go public."

 

[ggies07]

Loved that line and was thinking the same thing!

 

[Grendal]

Don't know if this has been posted and not sure where to post it, but I think this is after the last launch, added on March 29th. Great info in his answers:

Those are nice videos. I really don't think they are new even though they say they are from 2016. They were the conference directly after the very first capsule return from the ISS. They ask him about the cheese wheel and he mentions this being the first time a commercial company....

A big tell is there is no mention of re-usability and landings. The other thing is the IPO. SpaceX has no intention of IPO-ing.

 

[Grendal]

Live stream delayed. The launch is delayed into the 2 hour time window.