SpaceX launches second commercial satellite

[Buster's Uncle]

SpaceX launches second commercial satellite
AFP
18 hours ago



This NASA image shows the SpaceX capsule Dragon about to be captured by the Canada Arm at the the International Space Staion on March 3, 2013 (AFP Photo/Chris Hadfield)



Washington (AFP) - US company SpaceX said Monday it had deployed a commercial Thai satellite, in its second successful launch in weeks.

The private firm's two-stage Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 2206 GMT, carrying with it the Thaicom 6 telecommunications satellite.

Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX, confirmed on Twitter that Thaicom 6 had been delivered "to a perfect orbit."

Thaicom 6, which belongs to satellite operator Thaicom, will provide services to Southeast Asia and parts of Africa.

SpaceX successfully launched its first commercial satellite on December 3pp for Luxembourg company SES, which had previously used European Ariane rockets or the Russian Proton for its launches.

The SES-8 satellite was due to provide television, cable TV and other services to countries including Thailand, India and Vietnam.

With Monday's second successful launch, SpaceX seems to be making its mark in the commercial satellite launch business, estimated to be worth $190 billion.

Its orders amount to $4 billion for 50 launches, 75 percent of which are for commercial satellites.

This second successful launch is also important as SpaceX seeks to be considered a serious candidate by the Pentagon for launching large military satellites.

These launches are currently reserved for the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

It takes at least three successful launches to qualify.

Both Monday's and last month's launches used an improved version of the Falcon 9.

The Falcon 9 has already succeeded in sending its Dragon capsules to the International Space Station under a $1.6 billion contract with the US space agency, NASA.

The Dragon capsule takes cargo into space and brings back material from scientific experiments.

The California-based SpaceX is owned by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk.


http://news.yahoo.com/spacex-launches-second-commercial-satellite-050316638.html

[Buster's Uncle]

SpaceX Kicks Off 2014 With Launch of Telecom Satellite
SPACE.com
By Stephen Clark, Spaceflight Now  12 hours ago



A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Jan. 6, 2014



Launching for the second time in five weeks, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Monday (Jan. 6) and successfully put a broadcasting satellite in a high-altitude orbit for a Thai communications operator.

The half-hour mission came just over one month after SpaceX tallied its first launch into geostationary transfer orbit, an orbit favored by communications satellite companies seeking to deploy spacecraft in orbits over the equator synchronized with Earth's rotation.

The 224-foot-tall rocket lifted off in a blaze of golden exhaust at 2206 GMT (5:06 p.m. EST), and its on-board guidance computer maneuvered the slender white booster east from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad, soaring over the Atlantic Ocean and through a deck of overcast clouds less than a minute into the flight.

SpaceX's webcast streamed video from cameras mounted on the rocket, showing a smooth ascent into the upper atmosphere before the Falcon 9 shed its nine-engine first stage about three minutes after liftoff.

The second stage's Merlin 1D engine, fitted with an expansive nozzle optimized for firing in a vacuum, ignited to propel the Thaicom 6 spacecraft into a temporary orbit. The second stage shut down its engine and coasted across the Atlantic before restarting to boost Thaicom 6 into a targeted orbit reaching as high as 90,000 kilometers, or 55,923 miles.

SpaceX confirmed the launch was successful on the company's Twitter account: "Falcon 9 has successfully deployed Thaicom 6 into its target orbit."

SpaceX worked over the holidays to ready the Falcon 9 launch pad after the company's successful Dec. 3 launch of the SES 8 television broadcasting satellite, marking the Falcon 9's first mission to geostationary transfer orbit.

Officials delayed the launch from Friday to resolve a technical concern with the Falcon 9 rocket.

Emily Shanklin, a SpaceX spokesperson, said the company did not plan to recover the first stage from Monday's launch, giving Thaicom 6 all the power it needs to soar into a high-altitude orbit stretching as high as 90,000 kilometers, or 55,923 miles, from Earth.

The rocket was shooting for an orbit with a targeted perigee, or low point of 295 kilometers, or 183 miles, and an inclination of 22.5 degrees. Reports from SpaceX say the rocket nailed it.

SpaceX hopes to make the Falcon 9's first stage reusable, eventually guiding the spent rocket stages back to a rocket-assisted touchdown on a landing pad near the launch site. Engineers tested the terminal phase of a first stage's return with a testbed named Grasshopper, which completed hops as high as 2,400 feet at SpaceX's rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas.



SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched the Thaicom 6 communications satellite from Cape Canaveral, Fl


On the Falcon 9 rocket's first flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sept. 29, SpaceX attempted to recover the first stage with a controlled soft landing in the Pacific Ocean south of the launch site. The rocket re-ignited its engines to slow its speed for splashdown, but the first stage began spinning and the leftover propellant in the fuel tanks centrifuged outward and away from lines leading to the engines, causing a premature engine shutdown.

Monday's launch came about a year later than scheduled when Thaicom, a public company partially owned by the Thai government and based in the Bangkok metropolitan region, announced the launch contract for Thaicom 6 in June 2011.

Thaicom said in 2011 the Thaicom 6 project was a $160 million investment for the company, including the spacecraft, launch services and insurance.

Thaicom 6's operator has sold more than 66 percent of the satellite's capacity, according to a Dec. 25 press release. Thaicom 6 will be positioned in geostationary orbit at 78.5 degrees east longitude, reaching customers across the Asia-Pacific and parts of Africa.

The satellite, built by Orbital Sciences Corp., will provide the broadcast industry with improved television quality and additional high-definition channels, according to Thaicom. It carries 18 C-band and eight Ku-band transponders connected to three antennas.

In May, Thaicom announced it acquired an unidentified satellite already in orbit to provide interim communications capacity from the 78.5 degrees east position while waiting for the launch of Thaicom 6.

Fearing Thaicom 6 would not be launched to meet regulatory deadlines, Thaicom said the newly-acquired in-orbit satellite would ensure digital terrestrial television stations waiting to use Thaicom 6 complied with "must-carry" regulations requiring broadcasting by a certain date.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks global satellite and launch activity, said the AsiaSat 7 satellite was the only candidate for the acquisition by Thaicom. It maneuvered into position last summer at 78.6 degrees east longitude, based on publicly available orbital tracking data, McDowell said.

The launch of SES 8 required an in-flight restart of the Falcon 9's upper stage Merlin 1D engine, a tricky endeavor which failed on a test flight of SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket in September.

The launch of Thaicom 6 largely duplicated the Dec. 3 flight, sending the 3.6-ton satellite to an orbit stretching more than 50,000 miles from Earth at its highest point. The mission took about a half-hour from launch to spacecraft separation.

It marked the eighth flight of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010, and the third launch of the launcher's newest version since its debut in September in a flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The Falcon 9 has established a nearly perfect track record in seven launches to date, with the only blemish coming during an October 2012 launch when one of the rocket's nine first stage engines shut down prematurely. The loss of thrust doomed an Orbcomm communications satellite riding piggyback on the rocket, but the launch's primary payload — a Dragon capsule bound for the International Space Station — went on to achieve a successful mission.

The upgraded Falcon 9, known as the Falcon 9 v1.1, uses upgraded Merlin 1D engines configured in a circular arrangement dubbed the "octaweb" and employs larger propellant tanks and more redundant avionics systems. It also features a simplified stage separation system, using three attachment points instead of 12, according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.

Monday's launch opened a busy calendar of missions planned by SpaceX in 2014.

A mix of missions for NASA and commercial satellites are on SpaceX's docket for this year. Here is a list of Falcon launches that could launch in 2014 after Thaicom 6:

— SpaceX will launch up to three resupply missions from Florida to the International Space Station using the company's Dragon cargo spacecraft. The flights would mark the third, fourth and fifth operational logistics launches under a 12-flight, $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

— Two Falcon 9 launches are planned from Cape Canaveral with a total of 17 small second-generation data relay satellites for Orbcomm.

— A pair of Falcon 9 rockets will launch from Cape Canaveral with the AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8 communications satellites for AsiaSat of Hong Kong.

— Turkmenistan's first satellite, Turkmensat 1, will launch from Florida in late 2014 on a Falcon 9 rocket. The satellite is part of Turkmenistan's National System of Satellite Communications and was originally contracted to launch on a Chinese Long March rocket before SpaceX scored the launch in June 2013.

— The first test flight of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket is scheduled to launch in 2014 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Falcon Heavy is powered by 28 engines, with 27 of the Merlin powerplants designed to ignite on the launch pad. SpaceX says it can loft up to 53,000 kilograms, or nearly 117,000 pounds, to low Earth orbit.

— Two critical tests for SpaceX's efforts to develop a crewed version of the Dragon spacecraft are on tap for 2014. One of the tests will simulate an aborted liftoff from the launch pad, with the Dragon's pusher escape thrusters taking the capsule away from a failing launch vehicle. Another demonstration, currently set for mid-2014, will test the Dragon's ability to escape its booster at the point of maximum aerodynamic stress about a minute after launching on a Falcon 9 rocket.

­— The SAOCOM 1A radar observation satellite is scheduled to launch in late 2014 or early 2015 on a Falcon 9 rocket from California.


http://news.yahoo.com/spacex-kicks-off-2014-launch-telecom-satellite-112404314.html

[Buster's Uncle]

SpaceX Successfully Launches Thaicom Satellite
SpaceX starts the year off with another successful commercial satellite launch.
Alex Knapp, Forbes Staff






On Monday evening, SpaceX started off the new year with a commercial satellite launch. This launch was the second successful commercial deployment for its Falcon 9 rocket, after launching its first, the SES-8, in December of 2013.

The Falcon 9 rocket was carrying the Thaicom 6 satellite for Thai telecommunications company Thaicom.  The satellite, which was built by the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences, is primarily intended to provide stronger digital broadcast and HD channels to its customers. According to Thaicom, 66% of the satellite’s bandwidth has already been booked.

SpaceX’s rocket lifted off from Cape Canveral at 5:06pm EST. It successfully deployed the Thaicom 6 into geosynchronous orbit at 5:37pm EST.

Now that the satellite in is orbit, Orbital Sciences will spend the next few weeks testing out the satellites system and ensuring that it is ready for operation. Once its operations have been verified, Orbital will then hand the reins of the satellite over to Thaicom for regular operation.

This is the first of 15 launches that SpaceX currently has on its launch manifest for 2014, including 4 flights to provide cargo to the International Space Station and a test flight of its Falcon Heavy rocket. It’s next launch will be a cargo resupply to the ISS. According to a SpaceX spokesperson, that resupply flight is currently “targeted for the end of February.”

The next major launch for an American commercial space company is this Wednesday, January 8. On that day, Orbital Sciences is currently scheduled to send its Cygnus cargo vessel to the ISS for the second time. That flight was originally scheduled to occur in mid-December, but had to be postponed so that astronauts could make repairs to  a faulty cooling pump on the ISS.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2014/01/06/spacex-successfully-launches-thaicom-satellite/?partner=yahootix

[Buster's Uncle]

UPDATE 1-SpaceX Falcon rocket lifts off with Thaicom digital TV satellite
Reuters
8 hours ago



(In Jan 6 item, corrects value of SpaceX commercial launches in 8th paragraph to $4 billion, not $40 billion)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Jan 6 (Reuters) - A Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday to put a commercial communications spacecraft into orbit for Thai satellite operator Thaicom.

The 224-foot-tall (68 meters) rocket lifted off its seaside launch pad at 5:06 p.m. (2206 GMT), soaring through overcast skies as it headed toward the satellite's drop-off point more than 55,000 miles (88,500 km) above Earth, or about one-quarter of the way to the moon.

From that position, the 6,649-pound (3,016 kg) Thaicom 6 satellite is expected to lower itself to about 22,300 miles (35,888 km) above Earth and shift the angle of its orbit so that it can be permanently stationed to beam high-definition and digital television services to customers in Thailand and surrounding areas.

The satellite, built by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp , also is equipped to provide other communications services for customers in Southeast Asia and Africa, including Madagascar, Thaicom's website shows.

Including launch services and insurance, the Thaicom 6 satellite cost about $160 million, and so far, about two-thirds of the satellite's capacity has been sold, according to Thaicom .

Monday's launch was the second in just over a month for Space Exploration Technologies, also known as SpaceX.

In December, the California-based firm, owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is also chief executive of electric car maker Tesla Motors, launched its first commercial communications satellite, staking a claim in a global satellite launch industry. The industry is worth about $6.5 billion a year, a study by the Satellite Industry Association trade group shows.

So far, privately owned SpaceX has sold about 50 commercial launches worth about $4 billion. About 25 percent of the flights are for NASA, which hired SpaceX, along with Orbital Sciences, to fly cargo to the International Space Station, a $100 billion research complex that flies about 250 miles (about 400 km) above Earth.

SpaceX's next flight, slated for late February, will be the third of 12 station resupply missions under its $1.6 billion NASA contract.

Orbital Sciences, which holds a separate $1.9 billion NASA contract, is preparing to launch the first of its eight station cargo runs on Wednesday. The company's Antares rockets fly from a commercial spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia.

With Monday's launch, Falcon 9 rockets have flown eight times, all successfully, though on its first cargo flight to the station, in October 2012, one of the rocket's nine first-stage engines shut down prematurely. Other motors compensated, and the rocket was able to deliver its Dragon cargo ship to the intended orbit without a problem.

SpaceX is working on three parallel programs to expand its business and cut costs, including reusing its first-stage boosters. However, a proposed demonstration to restart the engine so it could cushion the splashdown into the ocean was not attempted on the Thaicom 6 mission, said SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin.


HEAVY-LIFT FALCON MISSION

In addition, the company is working on a 27-engine, heavy-lift Falcon rocket as well as a version of its Dragon cargo capsule that can carry astronauts and other passengers to the space station.

A Falcon Heavy demonstration mission from SpaceX's second launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is slated for 2014, the company's website shows.

Monday's successful flight also could clear SpaceX to enter a lucrative competition to launch U.S. military reconnaissance and communications satellites, a service now exclusively provided by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.


http://news.yahoo.com/1-spacex-falcon-rocket-lifts-170346893.html