SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.1 - Cassiope - Launching September 29, 2013
Screenshot from dxrts copy of SpaceX Webcast of the launch of Cassiope
Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.1 - Cassiope
Written: February 5, 2021
Go west young man, and then jump south
CASSIOPE is a satellite project from the Canadian Space Agency, launched by SpaceX on 29 September 2013 on the first flight of the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle, a new and much larger redesign of the Falcon 9 V1.0 with a number of launch mission firsts including first flight of new rocket engines on a 30-percent larger launch vehicle with 50-percent more initial thrust, and was also the first launch from a new launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, a site SpaceX had not previously flown from.
The satellite is planned to be deployed in an elliptical polar orbit and will carry a commercial communications system called Cascade as well as a scientific experiment package called e-POP (enhanced Polar Outflow Probe). This combination gives rise to the acronym CASSIOPE, from "CAscade, SmallSat and IOnospheric Polar Explorer"
After the second stage separated from the booster stage, SpaceX conducted a novel flight test where the booster conducted a test to attempt to reenter the lower atmosphere in a controlled manner and decelerate to a simulated over-water landing. The test was partially successful, but the booster stage was not recovered.
The Science Payload
Cascade, Smallsat and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE), is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) multi-mission satellite operated by the University of Calgary. The mission development and operations from launch to February 2018 was funded through CSA and the Technology Partnerships Canada program.
In February, 2018 CASSIOPE became part of the European Space Agency's Swarm constellation through the Third Party Mission Program, known as Swarm Echo, or Swarm-E. It was launched September 29, 2013, on the first flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle. CASSIOPE is the first Canadian hybrid satellite to carry a dual mission in the fields of telecommunications and scientific research. The main objectives are to gather information to better understand the science of space weather, while verifying high-speed communications concepts through the use of advanced space technologies.
The satellite deployed in an elliptical polar orbit has a commercial communications system called Cascade as well as a scientific experiment package called e-POP (enhanced Polar Outflow Probe). The satellites payloads are instrument packages with a given design function which are mounted on the main satellite “Bus”, that is providing solar power, thrust, stability in orbit and control over satellite position relative to the Earth, the stars and the orbit position at any given time. SatNav at its best.
CASSIOPE is a 500 kg (1,100 lb) small satellite that is 180 cm (5.9 ft) long and 125 cm (4.10 ft) deeb. It combines the function of two distinct missions in order to be more cost-effective and reduce risk.
Five nanosatellite spacecrafts plus one dispenser were also carried to orbit on the same launch vehicle that carried the CASSIOPE primary payload:
Nanosat-4 with CUSat 1 and 2 built by Cornell University are released together, and will separate from each other after establishment of ground contact and determination of position and orientation - CUSat 2 didn’t separate
Drag and Atmospheric Neutral Density Explorer (DANDE) built by University of Colorado Boulder and apparently first released two weeks after launch pending a thorough check out from ground station prior to deployment
3U CubeSat releasing 3 Polar Orbiting Passive Atmospheric Calibration Spheres (POPACS), each a 10 cm (4 in) white aluminum sphere, built by a joint project of Morehead State University, University of Arkansas, Montana State University, Drexel University, and Planetary Systems Corporation.
Falcon 9 V1.1 test program
After the second stage separated from the booster stage, SpaceX conducted a novel flight test where the booster conducted a test to attempt to reenter the lower atmosphere in a controlled manner and decelerate to a simulated over-water landing. The test was successful, but the booster stage was not recovered.
After the three-minute boost phase of September 29, 2013 launch, the booster stage attitude was reversed, and three of the nine engines relit at high altitude, as planned, to initiate the deceleration and controlled descent trajectory to the surface of the ocean. The first phase of the test worked well and the first stage re-entered safely.
However, the first stage began to roll due to aerodynamic forces during the descent through the atmosphere, and the roll rate exceeded the capabilities of the booster attitude control system (ACS) to null it out.
The fuel in the tanks centrifuged to the outside of the tanks and the single engine involved in the low-altitude deceleration maneuver shut down. Debris from the first stage RUD - Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly - was subsequently retrieved from the ocean.
SpaceX also ran a post-mission test on the second stage. While a number of the new capabilities were successfully tested on the September 29, 2013, CASSIOPE flight, there was an issue with the second stage restart test.
The test to reignite the second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine once the rocket had deployed its primary payload (CASSIOPE) and all of its nanosat secondary payloads was unsuccessful. The Merlin vacuum engine failed to restart while the second stage was coasting in low Earth orbit. The fuel lines froze solid, disabling the reignition. The problem is now solved by bleeding the Merlin 1D vacuum engines fuel and oxygen pipes until they are empty, thus disabling freezing shut and with insolation of the smaller pipes.
The Falcon 9 upper stage used to launch CASSIOPE was left derelict in a decaying elliptical low Earth orbit that, as of January 20, 2016, had a perigee of 317 km (197 mi) and an apogee of 1,283 km (797 mi).
Falcon 9 V1.1 Rocket
SpaceX has after launching five Falcon 9 V1.0 or Block 1 rockets gathered enough flight data to rebuild its current launch vehicle to the new longer, heavier, stronger and more powerful Falcon 9 V1.1, F9R or Block 2, as it will be known later on.
Falcon 9 V1.1 is 68,4 meter - 224 feet tall, has the same diameter of 3,66 meter - 12 feet and is now capable of launching payloads to other planets, though it will mainly launch satellites to a geostationary orbit, ISS and other low earth orbits. The new Merlin 1D engines have a total of 5 885 kN - 1 400 000 lbf of thrust and can be throttled down to 70% by reducing propellant flow in the main fuel pipes.
There is a 60% increase in overall weight of the launch vehicle, as well as a claimed 60% increase in thrust enabling it to maintain its old thrust to weight ratio, but it’s lower now because the thrust increase from 549 kN to 654 kN is only 19%. The engine block design is changed from a square 3 x 3 to a round welded octaweb with 8 engines in a circle and the last engine nr. 9 in the center position.
First stage consists of an engine block 3,8 meter tall attached to a 46,1 meter tank section minus bulkheads containing propellants in the form of RP-1 and LOX. On top of the tanks is the 6,1 meter long interstage sleeve hiding and protecting the Merlin 1D vacuum engine before stage separation. First stage stands 47 meter from the engine bell bottom edge to the top edge of the interstage.
Second stage consists of an Merlin 1D vacuum engine attached to the bottom of a 8 meter long tank section minus two bulkheads also containing propellants in the form of RP-1 and LOX and a short Payload Adaptor Fitting on top, upon which the 13,1 meter tall fairings and satellite payloads can be attached. A taller 1,1 meter “turtleneck” Payload Adaptor Fitting is used to hold the 7,2 meter tall Trunk and Cargo Dragon.
Falcon 9 V1.1 carrying a Cargo Dragon stands 63,3 meter tall, about 5,1 meter shorter than the satellite launching Falcon 9 V1.1 with its huge fairings. The amount of RP-1, LOX, compressed Helium used as tank backfiller, and RCS Nitrogen gas carried in the fuel tanks in COPV tanks of varying sizes is as yet unknown.
There are also tanks containing igniter fluids TEA-TEB which stands for Triethylaluminum and Triethylborane who both are strongly porophoric in contact with oxygen.
My source for lengths above is from Ed Kyle. Link to it is dead, I'm sad to say.
