Falcon 9 | Transporter-8 | 12.06.2023

[Lion97]

Numer misji   #244   
Data   12 czerwca 2023, 23:35 czasu polskiego
Lądowanie   udane
Okno startowe   57 minut
Materiały prasowe       Transporter-8 Press Kit
Miejsce startu   VSFB SLC-4E 
Miejsce lądowania   Landing Zone 4
Rakieta   Falcon 9 Block 5
Booster   1071.9
Ładunek   72 małe satelity
Docelowa orbita   SSO (polarna, LEO)
Klient   Exolaunch, Launcher, D-Orbit, Maverick Space Systems, inni

Ósma dedykowana misja prowadzonego przez SpaceX programu wynoszenia na orbitę małych satelitów, SmallSat Rideshare. Na orbitę heliosynchronizną wyniesione zostało kilkadziesiąt mikrosatelitów oraz cubesatów. Część satelitów była zakontraktowana przez pośredników – firmy Exolaunch, Launcher, D-Orbit oraz Maverick Space Systems, część natomiast bezpośrednio przez SpaceX.


źródło

https://twitter.com/launcher/status/1667200999914868736

[0x3ffe]

W tym locie będzie wyniesiony satelita, który ma sprawdzić działanie "Quantum Drive" w przestrzeni kosmicznej:

https://ivolimited.us/press-release-ivo-ltd-to-launch-quantum-drive-pure-electric-satellite-thruster-into-orbit-on-spacex-transporter-8-with-partner-rogue-space-systems/

https://www.universetoday.com/160516/the-first-all-electrical-thruster-the-ivo-quantum-drive-is-headed-to-space/

Ma to być jeden z testów teorii Mika McCullocha (QI):

https://physicsfromtheedge.blogspot.com/2023/03/dont-publish-facts-that-threaten-my.html

Fizycy drżyjcie...

[artpoz]

Start za 4 minuty

[Lion97]

Pierwszy stopień Falcona 9 wylądował w Landing Zone 4, oznaczając 200. pomyślne odzyskanie przez SpaceX rakiety klasy orbitalnej i 126. udane lądowaniu z rzędu!

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1668373536660914176

[0x3ffe]

Jednak "IVO Quantum Drive" leci następnym lotem   Transporter-9:

https://twitter.com/ivo_ltd/status/1668334869363974144

Fizycy macie szczęście

[jaNO]

Zaiste, eksperyment kwantowy. Kot Schrödingera . Przed wystrzeleniem , teoria jest jednocześnie prawdziwa i nieprawdziwa. Czyżby opóźnienie wynikało z obawy zajrzenia do pudełka ?

[Orionid]

Może jeszcze wystąpią jakieś rozbieżności nt wysłanych ładunków.
Na pokładzie znalazł się pierwszy watykański satelita CubeSat (3U)  z przesłaniem nadziei Spei Satelles (SpeiSat), w którym znajduje się Nanobook ze słowami Papieża, nadajnikiem i chipem pamięci.
https://www.asi.it/2023/06/spei-satelles-partito-il-primo-satellite-della-speranza/

Dwusetne lądowanie Falcona
  12.06. o 21:35:00,178 z Vandenberg wystrzelona została RN Falcon-9R, która wyniosła na orbitę w misji Transporter-8 72 satelity: 
AFR-1,
AII-DELTA,
Ayris-1, Ayris-2,
Blackjack Aces-1, Blackjack Aces-2, Blackjack Aces-3, Blackjack Aces-4,
DROID.001,
ION SCV-011 Savvy Simon [Alba Orbital Cluster 7 (Istanbul, MRC-100, ROM-2, SATLLA-2I, UNICORN-2I, URESAT-1), ELO-4, EPICHyper-2, Kelpie 2, Outpost Mission 1, SpeiSat, hosted payload: NaviLEOTM, ODIN-DU1, UKRI SWIMMR-1],
EIVE, FOSSASat-FEROX (x4),
GEISAT,
GHOSt-3,
Grégoire,
HotSat-1,
ICEYE-X (x4),
Launcher Orbiter SN3 [MDQSAT-1C, MDQSAT-1D, Otter Pup, Pleiades-Squared, hosted payload: Nightingale 1, TRL11-SN3-Demo, Remora],
LEMUR 2 EMBRIONOVIS, LEMUR 2 NAZIYAH, LEMUR 2 AADAM-ALIYAH,
MISR-A, MISR-B,
MuSat-1,
NewSat 40, NewSat 41, NewSat 42, NewSat 43,
Runner-1,
Skykraft-3 (x5),
Spacebee [(x12, 168, …, 179),
Tiger-4,
Tomorrow-R2,
QPS-SAR-6 AMATERU-III,
W-Series 1 (Winnebago-1) i
XVI.
Pierwszy stopień RN (B1071.9) w T+8' 26" wylądował na LZ-4.
http://lk.astronautilus.pl/n230601.htm#07

SpaceX Starlink 87 launch and Falcon 9 first stage landing, 12 June 2023

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1668418954170347521

Here are some statistics for today's mission:
232nd of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
243rd launch of Falcon rocket family since 2006
9th launch of Falcon 9 booster B1071
173rd flight of a reused Falcon booster
8th dedicated small satellite rideshare launch by SpaceX
44th SpaceX launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base
38th Falcon 9 launch of 2023
41st SpaceX launch of 2023
12th orbital launch based out of Vandenberg in 2023
https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/06/12/falcon-9-transporter-8-mission-status-center/
https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews/status/1668355013041610781
https://twitter.com/StarfishSpace/status/1634321974628433921
https://twitter.com/launcher/status/1648008617415815174
https://twitter.com/launcher/status/1648758400640245760
https://twitter.com/launcher/status/1650562317237772288
https://twitter.com/launcher/status/1652081445366796289
https://twitter.com/launcher/status/1658239480590131200
https://twitter.com/launcher/status/1668016915619647488
https://twitter.com/D_Orbit/status/1668945605379366914

SpaceX nails 200th rocket landing after launch with 72 small satellites
June 12, 2023 Stephen Clark

(...) The satellites aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 8 mission ranged in size from a loaf of bread to a refrigerator. The satellites will test new technologies for the U.S. military and international companies, collect weather data, and observe the Earth’s surface in high resolution.

One of the Transporter 8 payloads is from Varda Space Industries, a California-based startup planning a series of satellite missions to host microgravity experiments from pharmaceutical companies. Varda’s first space mission is among the 72 payloads buttoned up for launch today from California.

Varda’s 660-pound (300-kilogram) satellite is the first in what the company calls its Winnebago series. The idea is that a small re-entry capsule, about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, will bring pharmaceutical research specimens back to Earth for laboratory analysis, and potentially eventual commercial exploitation.

Astronauts perform similar research on the International Space Station, but there’s a long waiting list for experiments to fly to the space station. And perhaps more importantly, there’s a limited capacity to return cargo from the station to Earth, a capability almost exclusively provided by SpaceX resupply missions flying to and from the orbiting research lab about three times per year.

Founded in 2020 by two venture capitalists and a former SpaceX engineer, Varda wants to help move some pharmaceutical research off the space station. The company’s missions will be hosted on robotic spacecraft, the first four of which are built by Rocket Lab.

Previous research has shown some drugs are better produced without influence from Earth’s gravity. Varda’s first mission will focus on growing crystals associated with ritonavir, an antiviral ingredient in the COVID medication Paxlovid, and also used in treatment of HIV.

Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite platform will provide power, communications, propulsion, and attitude control for Varda’s re-entry capsule. At the end of the mission, likely some time in July, the Photon satellite platform will fire its engine to steer on a trajectory back into Earth’s atmosphere. The nearly 200-pound re-entry capsule will fall through the atmosphere, encountering temperatures of thousands of degrees while protected by an ablative carbon-based heat shield developed by NASA.

The capsule will deploy a parachute to slow for landing at the U.S. Air Force’s Utah Test and Training Range, where Varda specialists will be on-hand to recover the spacecraft.

Other payloads on the Transporter 8 mission include space tugs, or orbital transfer vehicles, from the U.S. company Launcher and the Italian space transportation provider D-Orbit. Each transfer vehicle has its own propulsion, and will deploy additional satellites over the coming weeks and months.

One of the satellites on Launcher’s transfer vehicle is from a Seattle area startup named Starfish Space. The company’s first satellite will attempt to perform the first rendezvous and docking in orbit using only electric propulsion. Electric propulsion uses ion thrusters, which are highly fuel-efficient but low-thrust, typically fired for large-scale orbit change maneuvers or on interplanetary voyages.

Spacecraft that need to connect with another object orbit have previously used higher-thrust liquid-fueled rocket engines, which are suited for quick course-correction maneuvers as one satellite moves in for docking with another one.

“People have been docking objects in space for almost 60 years now,” said Austin Link, co-founder of Starfish Space, and a former engineer at Blue Origin. “The problem is that, to date, all satellite dockings have cost hundreds of millions of dollars to get to that point, and these are large and complex spacecrafts with really long development timelines and really expensive development timelines.”

Aside from crew and supply spacecraft that regularly dock at the International Space Station, Northrop Grumman has developed satellite life extension vehicle to autonomously link up with aging satellites in geostationary orbit. And DARPA, the military’s research and development agency, demonstrated automated docking in low Earth orbit on its Orbital Express mission launched in 2007.

Link said ambitions to operationalize satellite servicing and space debris removal require a significant reduction in costs.

Starfish hopes their first demonstration mission, called Otter Pup, will prove out technologies that could be applied to future satellite servicing or space debris removal missions that could be flown at a lower cost than existing spacecraft.

“This is a 40 kilogram (88-pound) satellite that we’re going to have tried to go dock with another satellite,” Link said. “And if we’re successful, this will be the first ever commercial satellite docking in low Earth orbit. It’ll be the first ever satellite docking using electric propulsion, and we will have just docked a satellite for less than $10 million total cost, which is about 5% the cost of any previous satellite docking mission … If we’re successful, yes, it opens up the business case for us to do satellite life extension and space debris removal.”

Some time in the coming weeks, Starfish’s Otter Pup satellite will separate from Launcher’s orbital transfer vehicle, which will also deploy several other customer satellites. After a series of checkouts and tests, Otter Pup will re-approach the orbital transfer vehicle and attempt to dock.

“This will be over the course of a few months,” Link said. “We’re going to separate from them, drift several kilometers apart, and attempt to come back together and dock with their satellite.”

Otter Pup’s xenon-fueled electric propulsion system was supplied by Exotrail, and the satellite carries an electrostatic capture mechanism from Redwire to structurally link up with Launcher’s orbital transfer vehicle to complete the docking sequence.

The spacecraft itself was built by Astro Digital, and will use a binocular computer vision system to feed range, closure, and position data into Otter Pup’s autonomous guidance computer to oversee the rendezvous and docking.

Link and Trevor Bennett, another veteran of Blue Origin, founded Starfish Space in 2019.

“We are developing the Otter, which is a satellite servicing vehicle designed to grab and move other satellites in space,” Link said. “We focus on using this to extend the life of geostationary satellites, and also dispose of dead satellites in low Earth orbit. And the Otter Pup is really the key technology demonstration vehicle to make this possible.”

According to Link, Starfish has raised more than $20 million in venture capital funding, and has contracts with NASA and the U.S. military. The company currently has a staff of about 40 full-time employees.

“We’re still in the early stages, and it comes with a lot of uncertainty,” Like told Spaceflight Now in an interview. “Otter Pup could go up there and dock and open up the Otter and this brilliant future, or it could not dock, and then we try again.”

Also on-board the Transporter 8 mission were three small experimental U.S. military satellites to test communications technology. Two of the satellites are part of the military’s Modular Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, or MISR, mission to demonstrate two-way communications with devices on the ground. Another satellite, named XVI, will use the military’s encrypted Link 16 network to test communications with tactical-level military forces on the ground. The XVI experiment is a joint effort between the Air Force Research Laboratory and Viasat.

The Finnish company Iceye launched four new radar imaging satellites on the Transporter 8 mission. The satellites, each with a mass of less than 200 pounds (about 85 kilograms), are part of Iceye’s latest generation of Earth observation spacecraft, with the ability to image Earth’s land and water surfaces night and day in all weather conditions.

The new-generation Ice satellites have a resolution of about 20 inches, or 50 centimeters, allowing the company to debut a new image product it calls “Spot Fine.” Iceye as now launched 27 radar imaging spacecraft, and plans to add four more to its commercial Earth-imaging fleet later this year.

“Spot Fine means what it says. Customers can understand their areas of interest with finer detail and therefore extract better, more reliable, more actionable information about what is happening on the ground,” said John Cartwright, head of data products at Iceye.  “SAR (synthetic aperture radar) imagery enables precise detections of objects and features on the ground. With Spot Fine, the shape, structure, and even changes in these objects and features can be more easily identified and characterized.”

Satellogic, the Argentine remote sensing company, launched four high-resolution optical Earth-imaging satellites on the Transporter 8 mission, bringing its fleet to 38 microsatellites. Satellogic aims to field a fleet of 200 optical Earth-imaging satellites in the coming years.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/06/12/spacex-nails-200th-rocket-landing-after-launch-with-72-small-satellites/

https://www.americaspace.com/2023/06/12/spacex-wraps-up-200th-booster-landing-second-launch-in-14-hours/
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/06/spacex-transporter-8/

W-Series 1 (Winnebago 1)  USA  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/winnebago-1.htm
Skykraft Deployer 3  Australia  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/skykraft-deployer-1.htm
    Skykraft 3A  Australia  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/skykraft_block2.htm
    Skykraft 3B
    Skykraft 3C
    Skykraft 3D ▲
ICEYE X23   Finlandia https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/iceye-x4.htm
ICEYE X25
ICEYE X26
ICEYE X30 ▲
GHOSt 3  USA (85 kg)  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ghost-1.htm
Grégoire  Belgia (100 kg)  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/gregoire.htm
Runner 1 (FASat Delta) Izrael (86 kg)  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/runner-1.htm
Tomorrow R2  USA (86 kg)  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/tomorrow-r1.htm
QPS-SAR 6 (Amateru 3)  Japonia (~100 kg)  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/qps-sar-3.htm
ÑuSat 40 (NewSat 40, Aleph-1 40, Carolyn Shoemaker)   Argentyna https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nusat-1.htm
ÑuSat 41 (NewSat 41, Aleph-1 41, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin)
ÑuSat 42 (NewSat 42, Aleph-1 42, Rose Dieng-Kuntz)
ÑuSat 43 (NewSat 43, Aleph-1 43, María Wonenburger) ▲
Aces 1  USA  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/aces-1.htm
Aces 2
Aces 3
Aces 4 ▲
HOTSAT 1  UK (130 kg) https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/hotsat-1.htm
AFR (ABA First Runner)  Indie (80 kg) https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/afr.htm
DROID.001  USA  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/droid-001.htm
MuSat 1  USA (70 kg) https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/musat-1_muon.htm
ION-SCV 011 (Savvy Simon, Above the Sky)  Włochy  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ion-scv-2.htm
    Outpost Mission 0
    EPICHyper 2 (Drgonette 002) CubeSat (6U)  UK  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/epichyper-1.htm
    Kelpie 2 (AAC-AIS-SAT 2)  CubeSat (3U)  Szwecja https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/kelpie-1.htm
    Spei Satelles (SpeiSat) CubeSat (3U) (3 kg) Watykan   https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/spei-satelles.htm
    (undisc. Cubesat) 
    MRC-100 
    Unicorn 2I  PocketQube (3P) (< 1 kg) UK  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/unicorn-2a.htm
    SATLLA 2I  PocketQube (2P)  Izrael https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/satlla-2.htm
    URESAT 1
    Istanbul 
    ROM 2 
Orbiter SN3 [dyspenser]  USA https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/orbiter-sn1.htm
    Otter Pup   USA  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/otter-pup.htm
    MDQSAT 1C CubeSat (0.5U)   Argentyna  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/mdqsat-1a.htm
    MDQSAT 1D
    Pleiades-Squared  CubeSat (1U) (1.75 kg)  USA  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/proves-yearling.htm
GEI-SAT Precursor CubeSat (16U)  Hiszpania  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/gei-sat-precursor.htm
XVI (Link-16) CubeSat (12U) (23 kg) USA  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/xvi.htm
AII-Delta CubeSat (6U) USA   https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/aii-bravo.htm
Ayris 1 
Ayris 2
EIVE   CubeSat (6U)  Niemcy  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/eive.htm
Lemur-2 166 (Lemur-2 Aadam-Aliyah)  CubeSat (6U)  Niemcy  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/lemur-2_6u.htm
Lemur-2 167 (Lemur-2 Embrionovis) 
Lemur-2 168 (Lemur-2 Naziyah)
MISR-A 1 CubeSat (6U) USA   https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/misr-a.htm
MISR-B 2 
Tiger 4 CubeSat (6U)  Luksemburg   https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/tiger-2.htm
FOSSASat FEROX 1  1.5U (3×2×0.25U) CubeSat Hiszpania  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/fossasat-ferox-1.htm
FOSSASat FEROX 2
FOSSASat FEROX 3
FOSSASat FEROX 4 ▲
SpaceBEE 168  CubeSat (0.25U)  USA  https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/spacebee-10.htm
SpaceBEE 169
SpaceBEE 170
SpaceBEE 171
SpaceBEE 172
SpaceBEE 173
SpaceBEE 174
SpaceBEE 175
SpaceBEE 176
SpaceBEE 177
SpaceBEE 178
SpaceBEE 179 ▲

[Orionid]

Pojawiła się anomalia po starcie w przypadku Launchera Orbiter SN3.
Miał zbyt dużą prędkość obrotową i zaryzykowano wcześniejsze uwolnienie satelitów.
Jednak główny ładunek Otter Pup firmy Starfish Space uzyskał zbyt dużą rotację, przez co misję można uznać praktycznie za straconą.
https://www.launcherspace.com/updates/orbiter-sn3-mission-update
https://payloadspace.com/starfish-space-announces-otter-pup-mission/

Second Orbiter transfer vehicle malfunctions
Jeff Foust June 23, 2023

(...) Launcher said it then attempted to restore control of Orbiter SN3, shutting down non-critical systems to preserve power. However, the spacecraft remained in a power-negative state and controllers lost contact with it after six more ground station passes.

Starfish Space, meanwhile, has been working to get Otter Pup under control. The company said it was able to get into contact with the spacecraft three hours after deployment. “This transmission indicated that Otter Pup was power positive,” the company stated, “but that it was experiencing significant rotation induced from its emergency deployment from Orbiter.”

Starfish says that it is able to communicate with Otter Pup and that the spacecraft is responding to commands. However, the company says it has to reduce Otter Pup’s rotation rate before moving forward with any operational mission for the spacecraft.

“In the coming months, Starfish will work diligently to attempt to stabilize Otter Pup and verify the health of its systems,” the company stated. “Given the events experienced post-launch and the current state of the satellite, it is unlikely that Otter Pup will be able to continue with its mission. However, we will continue to try to save Otter Pup, and we are grateful for the continued support of our mission partners.”

Even if Starfish can stabilize Otter Pup, the spacecraft won’t be able to go ahead with its original mission to rendezvous with Orbiter SN3 because of that spacecraft is no longer operating. The company didn’t state what alternative missions it can perform to test technology it plans to use on future satellite servicing vehicles. (...)
https://spacenews.com/second-orbiter-transfer-vehicle-malfunctions/
https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1671552828798644224
https://twitter.com/StarfishSpace/status/1656058943205154817