SpaceX Falcon 9 - EchoStar XXIII

 SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust - EchoStar XXIII - Launching March 16, 2017

Screenshot from SpaceX Webcast of the launch of EchoStar XXIII

Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 FT - EchoStar XXIII

Written: January 28, 2021

Lift Off Time	March 16, 2017 - 06:00 UTC - 02:00 EDT
Mission Name	EchoStar XXIII
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	EchoStar Corporation
Rocket	Falcon 9 Full Thrust serial number B1030
Launch Location	Kennedy Launch Complex 39A - LC-39A Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Payload	SSL-1300 TV Broadcast Satellite
Payload mass	5 600 kg ~ 12 320 pounds
Where did the satellite go?	Geostationary Transfer Orbit to the 45o W slot Initial orbit 179 km x 35 903 km x 22,43o - 633 minutes
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?	No. One way ticket flying “bareback” with no grid fins or landing legs + hydraulic tanks, pumps...
Where will the first stage land?	In the Atlantic ocean east of Florida
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	No - Unknown - Maybe a test attempt?
Are these fairings new?	Yes - Two Type 1 boat hull sized fairings - 34 x 17 feet with 10 evenly spaced ventilation ports in a circle
This will be the:	– 31st flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 11th flight of Falcon 9 Full Trust “V1.2” booster  – 2nd SpaceX launch from LC-39A – 23th crash landing. Soft, hard, deliberate, ups... – 3rd mission for SpaceX in 2017 – 21st commercial launch from LC-39A since Jan 1986
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Want to know and learn more link go see Tim Dodd

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

T-00:17:27 Hosts: T-00:00:03 T  00:00:00 T+00:01:18 T+00:02:44 - T+00:02:55 T+00:03:33 T+00:00:00 T+00:00:00 T+00:08:32 T+00:26:07 T+00:26:18 - T+00:34:01 -

SpaceX live feed at 00:31 Lauren Lyons, Michael Hammersley and Tom Praderio TEA-TAB ignition - Full thrust check Liftoff at 18:00 MaxQ at 19:17 MECO 20:44, stage separation 20:47 Velocity 9 504 km/h - Alt. 73,4 km - Burn 166 seconds SES-1 at 20:54 - Velocity 9 527 km/h - Altitude 84,6 km Faring separation at 21:32 No Entry burn No Landing burn SECO at 26:31 and coasting at 26 719 km/h SpaceX resumes live feed at 44:06 SES-2 - SECO-2 in 61 seconds at 44:17 No flight telemetry shown SpaceX shows deployment at 52:00 Rap up from SpaceX at 52:54

CRS-10	Echostar 23	SES-10	NROL-76	Inmarsat-5 F4
CRS-11	BulgariaSat-1	Iridium-2 Next	Intelsat 35E	CRS-12

A big satellite = A one way trip

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will deliver EchoStar XXIII, a commercial communications satellite for EchoStar Corporation, to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).  SpaceX is targeting the launch of EchoStar XXIII from historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The two and a half hour launch window reopens on Thursday, March 16, at 1:34 a.m. EDT or 5:34 a.m. UTC.

The satellite will be deployed approximately 34 minutes after launch. SpaceX will not attempt to land Falcon 9’s first stage after launch due to mission requirements.

The Payload

EchoStar Corporation is an American company, a worldwide provider of satellite communication and Internet services through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business segments.

On January 31, 2017, EchoStar announced that it had reached an agreement with DISH to transfer the EchoStar Technologies businesses, which designed, developed and distributed digital set-top boxes, provided satellite uplinking and broadcast services and developed and supported streaming video technology back to DISH. The transaction was completed on January 31, 2017, substantially returning DISH to its pre-2008 status as a set-top-box hardware manufacturer.

In March 2017, after two delays caused by weather worries, SpaceX delivered EchoStar XXIII into orbit. The satellite was launched on a Falcon 9 Rocket and provided broadcast services for Brazil. Because EchoStar XXIII is a heavy satellite, this mission did not include a rocket landing post-takeoff, as it would require too much fuel.

This was the 21st time a purely commercial satellite was launched from pad 39A, which once served as the launch site for most of the 12 Saturn V Apollo missions and 82 of the 135 Space Shuttle flights. The previous CRS-10 launch was the first use of LC-39A.

EchoStar XXIII was constructed by Space Systems Loral (SSL), based on the SSL-1300 bus. The satellite was originally constructed as EchoStar XIII, or CMBStar, which was intended to be used under a partnership between EchoStar and the Chinese government to provide s-band mobile video broadcasting during the 2008 Summer Olympics. It failed to launch in time and was mothballed.

The EchoStar XXIII satellite was then recommissioned in 2014. The large antenna which would have served mobile users of the EchoStar XIII satellite has been replaced with four Ku-band antennas with thirty-two transponders, while the satellite is also able to offer S-band and Ka-band communications.

The satellite has a design life of fifteen years and will begin its service life in an orbital slot at a longitude of 45 degrees West. However, it is able to operate in any of EchoStar’s eight geosynchronous slots allotted to Ku-band broadcasting satellites.

Rare view of second stage LOX tank. Not much left. Enough to deorbit? T+29:00 and T+32:00

B1030 will after boosting EchoStar XXIII 9 504 km/h into orbit end its life in this hazard area

Author William Graham link link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list