KSC is run by NASA, Cape Canaveral was run by the Air Force (I guess it is now run by the Space Force).Originally Posted by Trebuchet
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KSC is run by NASA, Cape Canaveral was run by the Air Force (I guess it is now run by the Space Force).
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Very likely.
Transporter 1 also got special clearance to launch 10 Starlink birds into polar orbit, testing high a latitude service the remote villagers, oil crews on the North Slope, and DoD will probably love.The two different descriptions of the launch site made me chuckle!
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Yup, they're now Patrick Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. A bunch of other space related USAF bases will also be moved to Space Force and renamed.
Training will be at the Air Force Academy, which is already cranking out Space Force Guardians. Active duty Air Force members are also transferring.
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I haven't been paying close attention. Are they launching from the same pad?
That said, aren't Cape CanaveralAirSpace Force Station and Kennedy Space Center (somewhat) separate, but adjacent facilities?
I may have many faults, but being wrong ain't one of them. - Jimmy Hoffa
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I'm pretty sure it'll be separate, but adjacent pads. They've done this before.
I find the whole "Space Force" thing a bit silly.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.
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Was there a reason to change out two of the three engines?
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SpaceX doesn't usually do things without any reason. Maybe adding helium pressurization changed the startup behavior a bit. Maybe they took some damage in the tip that left them unusable for flight but still useful for some ground testing. Maybe it just worked out that newer engines with some desired changes became available before they got to flight testing SN9.
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I read somewhere (Twitter?) that 2 engines had some damage and needed minor repairs.
With sufficient thrust, water towers fly just fine.
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Swapped out yesterday. They'll likely do another static fire then fly.
StarLink gets an Aussie 5G allocation
https://www.zdnet.com/google-amp/art...wave-spectrum/
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Buckle your seat belts,
Starship sea launch platforms 'Phobos' & 'Deimos'
Elon Musk hinted about sea launch platforms for Starship last June,
Elon Musk ✓ @elonmusk
SpaceX is building floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, moon & hypersonic travel around Earth
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1272972228326379520
NSF's Michael Baylor (nextspaceflight) discovered twin sea platforms have been bought by "Lone Star Mineral Development LLC," which is either a SpaceX subsidiary or a leasing company. Price: $3.5 million each,
Nailing it down; Lone Star was incorporated just before the sale, and the officer for Lone Star Mineral Development LLC is listed as Bret Johnsen - SpaceX's CFO
In their previous life they were Ensco 8500 and Ensco 8501, identical ultra-deepwater semi-submersibles. Deimos is in Brownsville, Phobos in Galveston.
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais...sel:ENSCO_8500
Ensco 8500
ENSCO_8500.jpg
Twitter thread,
https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/...42452410863617
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Meanwhile the twin F9 launches are now set for tomorrow and Thursday. Both earlier than I want to get up.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.
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SpaceX delays push Starship flight, two Falcon 9 launches into the same 25-hour period. SpaceX announced a third delay for its Starlink-16 mission late on January 18th, pushing the launch to no earlier than 8:02 am EST (13:02 UTC), Wednesday, January 20th “to allow additional time for pre-launch inspections.” Delayed from the 18th to the 19th “due to unfavorable weather in the recovery area,” Monday’s technical delay means that Starlink-16 is now scheduled to lift off as few as 25 hours before a second Falcon 9 launch is scheduled. Known as Transporter-1, the mission could launch between 9:24 and 10:24 am EST (14:24-15:24 UTC), Thursday, January 21st and will be SpaceX’s first dedicated Smallsat Rideshare Program launch, the second East Coast polar launch in half a century, and the first polar Starlink launch ever. Meanwhile, though far less certain, Starship prototype SN9 is preparing for a fifth static fire attempt that could – if successful – precede a high-altitude launch attempt by just a day or two. According to paperwork known as Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) filed with and approved by the FAA, SpaceX is targeting Starship SN9’s first high-altitude launch attempt no earlier than (NET) January 20th. That schedule is nevertheless highly uncertain and contingent upon a successful triple-Raptor static fire now planned for January 19th.
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-sta...ches-25-hours/
Do good work. —Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom
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The Falcon 9's upper stage has delivered the 60 Starlink satellites to a preliminary parking orbit. The second stage's Merlin engine will reignite at 8:47 a.m. EST (1347 GMT). Braving stiff winds, the Falcon 9 booster has successfully landed on SpaceX’s drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/01/2...status-center/
Do good work. —Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom
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It's always nice to see a good launch and recovery.
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And it was the eighth flight for this booster and Transporter-1 is scheduled for tomorrow. That's what you call a launch cadence...
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SpaceX surpasses 1,000-satellite mark in latest Starlink launch. The launch was the first time SpaceX flew a booster eight times. The booster, first used to launch the Demo-1 commercial crew test flight in March 2019, was most recently flown on the SXM-7 launch Dec. 13. The 38-day turnaround time between launches is also a record for the shortest time between flights of the same booster. With this launch, SpaceX has now delivered 1,015 Starlink satellites into orbit, dating back to the two “Tintin” prototypes launched in February 2018. Of those 1,015, 951 are still in orbit, according to statistics maintained by spaceflight observer Jonathan McDowell.
https://spacenews.com/spacex-surpass...arlink-launch/
Do good work. —Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom
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SpaceX drone ship OCISLY (Of Course I Still Love You) heads to The Bahamas for Falcon 9’s next polar launch. Known as Transporter-1, the mission OCISLY is tasked with supporting is significant for several reasons. Transporter-1 will be SpaceX’s first dedicated rideshare launch under its circa 2019 “Smallsat Rideshare Program” and will likely carry anywhere from 50 to 100+ spacecraft to orbit. More specifically, the mission is headed to a nearly polar sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), technically making it SpaceX and the United States’ second East Coast polar launch in roughly half a century. In a last-second change, SpaceX also received shockingly rapid FCC approval to add ten of its own Starlink satellites to the commercial rideshare. If successful, Transporter-1 will thus also mark SpaceX’s first polar launch of operational Starlink satellites. Of the first phase of SpaceX’s ~4400-satellite Starlink constellation, some 520 are expected to be sent to strictly polar orbits
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-fal...as-drone-ship/
Do good work. —Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom
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Starlink is likely the first commercial operator to have written off 64 satellites.
If I'm not mistaken, SN9 is doing a static fire around this time?
With sufficient thrust, water towers fly just fine.
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There's been SN-09 tank farm activity and venting from the vehicle, but not the tri-venting which precedes a static fire. We'll see.
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Siren
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Recycle
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Another try tomorrow...
https://twitter.com/bocachicagal/sta...73839036002309
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SpaceX's Transporter-1 (their Rideshare bulk launch program)
Rideshare = scheduled bulk launches about every 4 months
Date: January 22 (Thursday)
Time: 0924 Eastern (1424 UT).
Booster: 1058.5
Recovery: ASDS
Here's their Rideshare page,
https://www.spacex.com/rideshare/
COST AS LOW AS $1M
$1M for 200kg to SSO with additional*mass at $5k/kg. Affordable rates also available to Mid-Inclination LEO, GTO, and TLI.
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Does that mass *have* to be nonliving objects? Asking for a friend. Also, anyone know a good diet program?
With sufficient thrust, water towers fly just fine.
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SpaceX Repurposing Oil Rigs From Bankrupt Valaris as Floating Launch Pads. The rigs will hold the company's massive Starship rocket vehicles. Both rigs are in the port of Brownsville in Texas, near the Starship development facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/...krupt-valaris/
Do good work. —Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom
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Small point, the 22nd is Friday.
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SpaceX aborts several Starship static fire attempts, rolls test tank to the pad.
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-sta...orts-continue/
Do good work. —Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom
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See, Elon Musk really is a Bond villain!
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Or a Marvel hero.
Same difference.
"I'm planning to live forever. So far, that's working perfectly." Steven Wright
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Heh. In the picture of the test tank in the linked article, there is a trebuchet in the foreground. Wonder what they use that for?
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