SpaceX Falcon 9 - Iridium-2 NEXT

  SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust - Iridium-2 NEXT - Launching June 25, 2017

Screenshot from SpaceX - Iridium-2 NEXT - Tim Dodd was too slow to have this shot

Mission Rundown: SpaceX FT - Iridium-2 NEXT

Written: January 26, 2021

Lift Off Time	June 25, 2017 - 20:25:18 UTC - 13:25:18 PDT
Mission Name	Iridium-2 NEXT
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	Iridium communications.
Rocket	Falcon 9 Full Thrust serial number B1036-1
Launch Location	Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Payload	10 Iridium NEXT Communication Satellites
Payload mass	8 600 kg ~ 18 960 pounds + 1 000 kg dispenser
Where are the satellites going?	Polar Low Earth Orbit - 625 km parking orbit at 86.66° below the 778 x 778 km operational 86.4° orbit
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?	Yes - JRTI has been towed downrange
Where will the first stage land?	Just Read The Instructions - 326 km down south
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	Yes - They tried, the parachutes failed
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:	– 37th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 17th flight of Falcon 9 Full Trust “V1.2” booster  – 15 maiden flight of a Falcon 9 FT rocket – 1st flight with titanium grid fins – 4th SpaceX launch from SLC-4E – 13th booster landing overall – 9th mission for SpaceX in 2017
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link hosted by John Insprucker Other link Tim Dodd’s old live videofeed

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

- T-00:13:17 - T  00:00:00 T+00:01:17 T+00:02:27 T+00:02:36 T+00:02:46 - T+00:03:16 T+00:05:52 T+00:07:12 T+00:09:09 - - T+00:52:15 - T+00:57:21 - - - -

Pre Launch Mission Rundown from 0:00 then Q&A SpaceX live but very, very mute feed at 00:00 Because of technical issues I watched both Webcasts Liftoff at 13:18 - No flight telemetry working MaxQ at 14:35 - The white vapour trail is Max Q MECO at 14:44, stage separation at 14:46 SES-1 at 15:54 Boost back burn at 16:03 by 3 Merlin 1D+ 32 seconds This was a boost brake burn - 1st stage didn’t fly back Fairing separation at 16:34 Entry burn 19:10 by 3 Merlin 1D+ for 20 seconds Landing burn 20:30 by 1 Merlin 1D+ for 31 seconds SECO-1 at 22:27 and coasting Iridium Infomercial at 1:03:19 Q&A with explanations until 1:03:30 SES-2 - SECO-2 taking 3 seconds gave a velocity boost from 26 638 km/h to 27 092 km/h at 1:05:33 SpaceX show deployment at 1:10:39 - T+00:59:01 - T+01:00:41 - T+01:02:21 - T+01:04:01 - T+01:05:41 - T+01:07:21 - T+01:09:01 - T+01:10:41 - T+01:12:21 Deployed 100 seconds apart - maybe 1 second delay Rap up from Tim Dodd at 1:25:50

CRS-11	BulgariaSat-1	Iridium-2 Next	Intelsat 35E	CRS-12
Formosat 5	OTV-5	Iridium-3 Next	Echostar 105 SES-11	KoreaSat 5A

The big bad Polar Bear job continues

SpaceX is targeting the launch of Iridium-2 from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The instantaneous launch window is at 01:25:18 p.m. PDT, or 20:25:18 UTC, on Sunday, June 25.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will deliver 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit for Iridium, a global leader in mobile voice and data satellite communications. This is the second set of 10 satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium’s next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium® NEXT. The 10 satellites will be delivered to orbit plane 3 and 5 of them will drift into orbit plane 2 and 4 after launch.

Going straight south from Vandenberg Air Force Base past LA. Blue dot was JRTI - bad weather

Maiden flight of the “Bearclaw” titanium grid fins

SpaceX have redesigned the stereable grid fins made from aluminium, because during reentry into the atmosphere they melted, burned away and fragged the shielding covering the outside fluid pipes, power cables, data cables and gave the interstage a hefty sanding, removing paint and structural surface areas.

Seeing on earlier flights how the aluminium grid fins glowed, melted and covered the outside downlink camera with molten aluminium, it must have long been a design feature, SpaceX wished to change on Falcon 9. There is now better flight control of the first stage booster in supersonic speeds, a better glidepath during descent and a more controllable steering in stronger side winds.

The titanium grid fins are slower to open up to their horizontal operating position, where they will control Pitch, Yar and Roll in conjunction with the RCS thrusters, of which you can see one below the Stars & Stripes. Their major function is creating an artificial gravity kick forcing the propellant towards the intake valves, so the engines can reignite without sucking in “air bubbles” from the propellant tanks.

Closeups of the brand new titanium “Bearclaw” grid fins - 8 by 6 feet I think.

Here you also can see that the interstage is at least two inches thicker than the 12 feet thick fuselage on the booster below the interstage. And you can count the screws. Hit the enlargement and on the far right bearclaw you can read SN=003. Source foto. And after the landing it looked like this in the last picture.

If you look for it. You will find it.

By the way this is Tim Dodd's very first live stream. He is way better at it now, too bad the flight suit didn’t get replaced by a newer spacesuit.

Just follow Mythbuster Adam Savage's examples.

Author Tim Dodd link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list

SpaceX Falcon 9 - BulgariaSat-1

  SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust - BulgariaSat-1 - Launching June 23, 2017

Screenshot from SpaceX Webcast

Mission Rundown: SpaceX FT - BulgariaSat-1 

Written: January 27, 2021

Lift Off Time	June 23, 2017 - 19:10 UTC - 15:10 EDT
Mission Name	BulgariaSat-1
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	Bulgaria Sat.
Rocket	Falcon 9 Full Thrust serial number B1029-2
Launch Location	Kennedy Launch Complex 39A - LC-39A Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Payload	SSL-1300 Communication Satellite
Payload mass	3 669 kg ~ 8 089 pounds
Where did the satellite go?	Super Synchronous Geostationary Transfer Orbit initially 212 km x 65 512 km later fixed at 35 780 km altitude
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?	Yes - A drone ship have been towed downrange
Where will the first stage land?	OCISLY - Stationed 679 km downrange
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	No - Engineers have landed at least two fairings so far
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:	– 36th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 16th flight of Falcon 9 Full Trust “V1.2” booster  – 2nd re-flight of a Falcon 9 FT booster – 7th SpaceX launch from LC-39A – 12th booster landing overall – 8th mission for SpaceX in 2017 – 1st use of Octograbber to secure boosters
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link If you want to learn more look up Tim Dodd

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

T-00:15:58 Host: T  00:00:00 T+00:01:20 T+00:02:39 T+00:02:46 T+00:03:37 T+00:06:30 T+00:08:18 - T+00:08:38 T+00:24:57 T+00:27:10 - T+00:34:58 -

SpaceX live feed at 00:32 John Federspiel is first man to bat Liftoff at 16:30 - Flight telemetry broke at T+7:14 MaxQ at 17:50 MECO 19:08, stage separation 19:11 SES-1 at 19:16 Faring separation at 20:07 Entry burn 23:00 by 3 Merlin 1D+ for 17 seconds Landing burn 24:47 by 3 Merlin 1D+ for 21 seconds Hard brake burn over water, then sliding sideways SECO at 25:08 and coasting. Wasn't shown SpaceX resumes live feed at 41:26 SES-2 43:40 and SECO-2 in 66 seconds gave a velocity boost from 26 477 km/h to 36 136 km/h SpaceX shows deployment at 51:28 SpaceX raps up from 52:00

CRS-11	BulgariaSat-1	Iridium-2 Next	Intelsat 35E	CRS-12
Formosat 5	OTV-5	Iridium-3 Next	Echostar 105 SES-11	KoreaSat 5A

Slamming the booster down hard

SpaceX is targeting the launch of BulgariaSat-1 from Launch Complex 39A - LC-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. BulgariaSat-1 is the first geostationary communications satellite in Bulgaria’s history. It got delayed to Friday June 23 launching at 19:10 UTC - 15:10 EDT.

Falcon 9’s first stage B1029 for the BulgariaSat-1 mission previously supported the Iridium-1 mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base in January of this year. Following stage separation, from a successful west coast landing Falcon 9’s first stage will now attempt a landing on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast.

The Payload

Screenshot of BulgariaSat-1 from SpaceX webcast

BulgariaSat-1 is based on an intermediate-power variant of the SSL 1300 satellite bus with a 15+ year design life. Coupled with the boost provided by its Falcon 9 launch vehicle, it carries enough fuel for more than 18 years of service. Power is supplied by two three-panel solar arrays delivering 10 kilowatts, while propulsion is provided by an R-4D-11 hypergolic rocket engine supplemented by an array of attitude control thrusters.

The spacecraft is equipped with 30 Ku-band broadcasting-satellite service (BSS) transponders and 3 Ku-band fixed-satellite service (FSS) transponders. It will be parked in a geostationary orbit at 1.9° East.

BulgariaSat-1 is the first Bulgarian satellite to operate in geostationary orbit, and is the nation's second spacecraft after Bulgaria 1300 in 1981.

SSL (formerly Space Systems/Loral) was announced in September 2014 to be the selected manufacturer of BulgariaSat-1. In addition, the company has partnered with Bulgaria Sat to secure financing, insurance, and the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The Export–Import Bank of the United States has provided US$151 million in export credit financing to Bulgaria Sat. The CEO of Bulgaria Sat, Maxim Zayakov, stated that the total cost of the BulgariaSat-1 project was US$ 235 million.

At the time of SSL's contract award, BulgariaSat-1 was scheduled to launch by the end of 2016. Delays within SpaceX, including the loss of two Falcon 9 rockets CRS-7 and Amos-6, pushed the launch back to 15 June 2017; additional delays resulting from pressure within SpaceX's launch schedule and the need to replace a valve in the Falcon 9 launch fairing pushed the launch to 23 June.

The “Helicopter” Landing

The Falcon 9 first stage landed with a one - three - one engine landing burn on OCISLY during the BulgariaSat-1 launch. This was the second successful launch and landing of a previously flown orbital booster. This was also the first booster to have landed on both active drone ships. While the landing was considered a success, the booster was "slammed sideways" and suffered a six degree tilted 'hard landing' which resulted in 'most of the emergency crush core being used'. Fast replay here.

This style of landings is similar to helicopter landings on warships. They hover to one side and then move sideways for the landing. It’s done for safety reasons in Navyes world wide, but SpaceX doesn't want a sizable hole in the Drone Ship deck, and rocket landings go extremely fast with last millisecond corrections.

A Falcon 9 crash landing at speed next to the Drone Ship is like dropping a depth charge in the water. That is not healthy for the hull and thrusters. It has happened before.

The leaning tower of Pisa is getting “competitors” from SpaceX these days.

Author Unknown SpaceX employe link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list