SpaceX Falcon 9 - GovSat-1/SES-16

 SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust - GovSat-1/SES-16 - Launching January 31, 2018

Screenshot from SpaceX launch of GovSat-1/SES-16

Mission Rundown: SpaceX FT - GovSat-1/SES-16

Written: January 21, 2021

Lift Off Time	January 31, 2018 - 21:25 UTC - 16:25 pm EST
Mission Name	GovSat-1/SES-16
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	Luxembourg Government - LuxGovSat SES S. A.
Rocket	Falcon 9 Full Thrust serial number B1032-2
Launch Location	Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Payload	GEOStar-3 Military Communication Satellite
Payload mass	4 230 kg ~ 9 330 lb
Where did the satellite go?	Super Synchronous Geostationary Transfer Orbit with an initial orbit of - 250 km x 51 500 km x 27o
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?	No. One way ticket test flying the Block 5 landing profiles with boost back, entry and high speed landing burn
Where will the first stage land?	Softly on the Atlantic Ocean 641 km east of Florida, then it was scuttled by a demolition crew
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	No - Engineers have landed at least four fairings so far and failed more than once
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:	– 48th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 23rd flight of a Full Trust “V1.2” rocket – 6th re-flight of Falcon 9 Full Trust boosters – 29th SpaceX launch from SLC-40 – 27th crash landing. Soft, hard, deliberate, Ups... – 2nd mission for SpaceX in 2018
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Other links Tim Dodd live

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

- T-00:12:25 Host: T 00:00:00 T+00:01:21 T+00:02:38 - T+00:02:50 T+00:03:40 T+00:06:30 T+00:08:28 - T+00:08:35 - T+00:25:40 T+00:26:46 - T+00:32:20 -

Pre Launch Mission Rundown from 0:01 then Q&A SpaceX live feed at 17:17 Michael Hammersley got a security desk job Liftoff at 29:42 MaxQ at 31:04 (2-3 sec delay on downlink camera) MECO 32:20, stage separation 32:24 - delay prof 0 - 8 338 km/h in 158 seconds - Altitude 65,8 km SES-1 at 32:32 - Velocity 8 225 km/h - Altitude 74,3 km Fairing  separation at 33:23 Entry burn 36:12 by 3 Merlin 1D+ for 29 seconds Landing burn 38:10 by 3 Merlin 1D+ for 10 seconds Flight telemetri cut at 38:12 - Data below incomplete SECO at 38:18 - Velocity 26 240 km/h - Altitude 164 km Q&A and ranting until 55:23 SpaceX resumes live feed at 55:24 - Audio first SES-2 - SECO-2 in 63 seconds gave a velocity boost from 26 491 km/h to 35 980 km/h at 56:29 Deployment at 1:02:02 Rap up from 1:02:52 with Q&A

CRS-13	Iridium-4 Next	ZUMA	GovSat-1 SES-16	Falcon Heavy 1
PAZ MicroSat 1&2	Hispasat 30W-6	Iridium-5 Next	CRS-14	TESS

Floating around. Someone tugging on my leg

It's the second SpaceX launch of 2018! SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a 4200 kg satellite called GovSat-1/SES-16 in a Geostationary Transfer Orbit. This satellite built by Orbital ATK serves the Luxembourg Government and a commercial customer, SES. This is the 2nd flight of this particular Falcon 9 first stage B1032-2, having first flown last year in May for the NROL-76 mission, but it will be its last.

Despite having plenty of fuel to land, they will be letting this one touch down softly in the ocean after its primary mission is over. This is because SpaceX has so many of these current block 3 boosters around which are not meant for long term reuse, and they require too much refurbishment to reuse them more than once, AND the drone ship needs to be ready for Falcon Heavy's center core planned for next week.

Pr. Elon Musk tweet B1032-2 survived a very high retro thrust landing - This is CRS-16 booster

The booster B1032-2 survived a three engine suicide landing burn taking 10 seconds and not much more. It touches down softly on the ocean's surface, but the interstage is not strong enough for the tip over bodyslam. It breaks or bends the parts in the interstage, and it can rupture the LOX tank.

Apparently a hired salvage/demolition crew on the tugboat Manisee destroyed and scuttled the booster because it was too expensive to salvage it. Command and control over the booster's FTS Flight Termination System must have been impossible; maybe the antenna or flight control computer received a fatal blow in the bodyslam.

B1032-2 sank to the bottom at approximately 27 north latitude -77 west longitude some 130 km NEE Northeast to East from Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco, Bahamas.

This is the third time SES has opted to fly on a previously flown booster; they were the first customers to do so in March, 2017 with mission SES-10. This is the 6th reuse of a booster for SpaceX. This is the 29th launch from SpaceX's launch pad, SLC-40, and the 48th overall launch of the Falcon 9.

The Payload

SES-16/GovSat satellite is one of three which SES first announced in February 2015, along with SES-14 and SES-15 will be used to provide military satellite bandwidth to governments and institutions. The Luxembourg government has pre-committed a significant amount of capacity in support of its NATO obligations.

Based on Orbital ATK’s recently introduced GEOStar-3™ satellite platform, SES-16/GovSat is a multi-mission satellite using dedicated military frequencies (X-band and military Ka-band) to provide high-powered and fully steerable spot beams for multiple government-specific missions. It is Orbital ATK’s 40th GEOStar satellite sale, the third GEOStar-3 satellite purchased, and seventh GEOStar satellite to be built for SES.

SES-16/GovSat will be designed, manufactured and tested at Orbital ATK’s satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, Virginia. It is slated for delivery in mid-2017. Once in orbit, it will be positioned on the European geostationary orbit arc with coverage areas over Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The satellite has a mass of about 4,230 kilograms (9,330 lb)  and will have a service life of 15 years.

The company also offers a hybrid electric propulsion GEOStar-3 design that provides the benefits of higher power/higher payload capability while still maintaining advantageous launch costs. The spacecraft’s propulsion system consists of a single IHI Aerospace BT-4 liquid apogee rocket motor and four Aerojet Rocketdyne XR-5 Hall-effect ion thrusters. The GEOStar design is optimized for satellite missions requiring up to eight kilowatts powered by a pair of deployable solar arrays.

GovSat-1 is located at the 21.5 degrees East orbital slot, which allows supporting missions over Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as providing extensive maritime coverage over the Mediterranean and Baltic seas, and the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Dedicated only to governmental, NATO and institutional users, GovSat-1 features high powered fully-steerable spot beams, an X-band Global beam, incorporating anti-jamming capabilities and a total of 86 transponder units in the 36 Megahertz range.

Davy Jones Locker

The tug Manisee met up with Go Searcher at booster B1032-2 landing site in the Atlantic Ocean east of the launch site, where they assessed the condition of the damaged booster. It was decided that it was too damaged to be towed ashore to Port Canaveral so the tug Manisee crew was given the order to scuttle the booster on site.

The “tip over'' of the booster destroyed the interstage, damaged the integrity of the tanks and probably broke a landing leg in the tug process. So it was slowly sinking and would become a water hazard for some time because the tanks could remain buoyant. Small charges were placed, fuzes lit and B1032-2 was scuttled into Davy Jones Locker.

As with December’s Iridium-NEXT launch, SpaceX will dispose of the older Block 3 booster by flying it in an expendable configuration, despite still sporting landing legs. New-build Falcon 9 boosters are currently using the more capable Block 4 configuration, while the first Block 5 vehicles are expected to fly later this year, and SpaceX appears to have opted not to recover cores that would be unlikely to ever fly again.

Despite no attempt to land the stage, SpaceX still used B1032-2 for test demonstrations – such as a controlled water landing – after separation. This turned out to be the case, but more surprisingly, the booster survived the test.

Davy Jones Locker is an old maritime expression of lost ships, seamen and other things gone down never to be seen again by living souls. Pirate movies use this term and since rocket boosters and rocket stages since the fifties have been expendable usually to be lost in the ocean with the exception of Russia - USSR and China, who drop them all over the countryside and even Chinese towns.

I wonder if anyone has a count on all spent rocket parts, boosters, stages, payloads and deorbited space debris that is strewn all over the ocean flours from the world's launch sites. The number must be staggering high. First now, there has been a change in this behavior of “Fire and Forget” with rocket launch providers.

SpaceX has since december 22, 2015 landed 21 Falcon 9 boosters, reflown 6 of them and are gearing up to refly Falcon 9 Block 5 boosters 10 times or more, which they have done at this moment May 9, 2021. Spoiler. By that date it’s 83 landings of 117 launches.

A magnificent feat of human engineering.

First now do mankind have the technology needed to do such things, and therefore the way to reach the Planets and the Moon again? All it takes is money, determination, will power and know-how to make Science Fiction to Science Fact.

Author Tim Dodd link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list

SpaceX Falcon 9 - ZUMA

 SpaceX Falcon 9 B4 - ZUMA - Launching January 8, 2018

Screenshot of Tim Dodd hosting SpaceX ZUMA launch

Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 4 - ZUMA

Written: January 21, 2021

Lift Off Time	January 8, 2018 - 01:00 UTC January 7, 2018 - 20:00 EST
Mission Name	ZUMA
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	DoD, NSA or some other US three letter agency
Rocket	Falcon 9 Block 4 serial number B1043-1
Launch Location	Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Payload	USA-280 codenamed "Zuma" Military Satellite
Payload mass	Unknown, so don’t ask
Where are the satellite going?	Low Earth Orbit - It’s unknown
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?	Yes - The booster have enough fuel to return
Where will the first stage land?	LZ-1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	No - Engineers have landed at least four fairings so far and failed more than once
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:	– 47th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 5th flight of Falcon 9 Block 4 rocket – 5th maiden flight of Falcon 9 Block 4 rocket – 28th SpaceX launch from SLC-40 – 21th booster landing overall – 1st mission for SpaceX in 2018
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Other link Tim Dodd live stream

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

- T-00:13:27 Host: T 00:00:00 T+00:01:13 T+00:02:22 - T+00:02:53 T+00:02:33 T+00:03:08 T+00:06:21 T+00:07:33 T+00:08:40 - - - - -

Pre Launch Run Down from 0:01 then Q&A SpaceX live feed at 15:45 Brian Mahlstedt is working overtime tonight Liftoff at 29:13 - First stage burntime 143 seconds MaxQ at 30:25 - 2-3 second delay on downlink MECO 31:35, stage separation 31:39 - delayed Velocity 6 021 km/h - Altitude 61,5 km - 19 seconds left Boost back burn at 32:06 by 3 Merlin 1D# 35 seconds SES-1 at 31:46 - Velocity ? ???  km/h Altitude ??,? km Fairing separation at 32:20 - no audio but Entry burn 35:33 by 3 Merlin 1D# for 16 seconds Landing burn 36:45 by 1 Merlin 1D# for 28 seconds SECO at ??:?? - Velocity ?? ??? km/h Altitude ???,? km Q&A with explanations from 38:22 Rap up from Tim Dodd at 1:16:00 The rest of the ZUMA mission is classified - Both fairings went into Davy Jones locker - Arrgh Matey

CRS-13	Iridium-4 Next	ZUMA	GovSat-1 SES-16	Falcon Heavy 1
PAZ MicroSat 1&2	Hispasat 30W-6	Iridium-5 Next	CRS-14	TESS

Zuma summarum. It didn’t deploy.

SpaceX is launching an unknown payload “ZUMA” for an unknown customer tonight onboard their Falcon 9 rocket taking off from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission has a two hour launch window starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern (1:00​ UTC). SpaceX will be attempting to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 at the LZ-1 landing zone which is also at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

This is the 1st launch of 2018, the 2nd attempt of this particular mission (was supposed to launch in November last year), the 3rd classified payload SpaceX has launched, the 26th landing attempt and will be the 21st landing if successful and the 19th consecutive launch success Since AMOS-6. This will be the 47th launch of all Falcon 9 rocket models.

The ‘secret no one sees’ Payload

The Zuma satellite, manufactured by Northrop Grumman, was initially scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) in November 2017, and launch-license LLS 17-104 for the rocket was issued by the Office of Commercial Space Transportation on 9 November 2017. Northrop Grumman purchased a payload adapter to customize the release mechanism, which was then tested three times on the ground prior to payload fairing encapsulation.

The Falcon rocket performed a static fire test as part of its pre-flight preparation, but results from a payload fairing test for another customer led to a delay of nearly two months. On 22 December 2017, the launch license for special temporary authority to transmit signals at 2.2 GHz during launch of "Mission 1390" was re-issued with a change of the launchpad from Launch Complex 39A to Launch Complex 40. The launch was subsequently rescheduled for 4 January 2018, and was further delayed because of weather concerns related to the January 2018 North American blizzard.

The satellite was launched on 8 January 2018 at 01:00:00 UTC from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station SLC-40 in Florida. The Falcon 9 first stage touched down at Landing Zone 1, and SpaceX later announced that all data indicated the launch vehicle had performed properly.

The fate of the spacecraft is not publicly known. According to unsourced media claims, U.S. lawmakers were briefed about the loss of the spacecraft and an unnamed government official said that it had re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, possibly due to a failure in the payload adapter provided by Northrop Grumman in detaching from the second stage.

According to The Wall Street Journal, sensors had not reported the initial failure to detach. Later on, Zuma did ultimately detach from the upper stage payload adapter, but only after it was too late and with the orbit too low to attempt a rescue of the satellite.

On 8 April 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that two independent investigations "tentatively concluded" that the spacecraft failed to separate from the payload adapter after launch due to errors introduced by Northrop Grumman. The adapter had been bought by Northrop Grumman from a subcontractor and heavily modified for use on the mission.

The Payload Adaptor Fitting - PAF used by or rebuilt by Northrop Grumman should have been purchased from SpaceX including the release rings mounted to the satellite and on the top part of the PAF. They look like a barrel locking ring holding the lid onto the barrel, and when the three locks open the ring segments and release of the payload follows.

Without knowing anything about the Zuma satellite actual mounting on the PAF, it must be noted that SpaceX have a preference for attaching payloads and fairings to the Falcon 9 second stage lying down on the Transporter Erector Launcher - TEL, while most other companies in the rocket launching and satellite building industries like Northrop Grumman prefer to mount payloads on vertical launch ready rockets.

Therefore there is a chance that the satellite on the Payload Adaptor Fitting - PAF used by or rebuilt by Northrop Grumman got jammed or squeezed in the payload release ring. If so then the release ring opened up unevenly and the ring edge got stuck under one of the sides of the locking ring. In hindsight if two locks open but the third is still locked, then the release ring doesn't open wide enough, and the satellite ring can’t pass through the gap.

Due to the classified nature of the mission, detailed information on the satellite and its fate may not be publicly released. Officially, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) still lists the satellite but with no orbital parameters and the orbital status code "no elements available", which is standard procedure for classified missions.

A previous tweet by Dr. Marco Langbroek (@Marco_Langbroek), who later has written up his analysis (including trajectories and maps) of what's known about the 2nd stage. This is a really good read about the fate of Zuma or at least the second stage.

A number of articles published by the amateur satellite tracking community stated that if the satellite was still in orbit or operating covertly, then it would likely be located visually. In the process of searching for Zuma, amateur astronomers found radio transmissions from IMAGE instead, a NASA satellite that was lost in 2005.

Author Tim Dodd link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list