SpaceX Falcon 9 - PAZ + Microsat 2a, 2b

  SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust - PAZ + Microsat 2a, 2b - Launching February 22, 2018

SpaceX FT - PAZ - Microsat 2a, 2b Feb 22, 2018 hosted by Tim Dodd

Mission Rundown: SpaceX FT - PAZ + Microsat 2a, 2b

Written: January 20, 2021

Lift Off Time	February 22, 2018 - 14:17:00 UTC - 06:17:00 PST
Mission Name	PAZ Microsat 2a, 2b
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customers	Spanish Ministry of Defense Hispasat SpaceX
Rocket	Falcon 9 Full Thrust serial number B1038-2
Launch Location	Space Launch Complex 4 East - SLC-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Payload	1 Radar Observation Semi Surveillance Satellite 2 Starlink data relay Prototype Satellites
Payload mass	PAZ - 1 341 kg ~ 2 956 lb Tintin A & B - 2 x 400 kg ~ 880 lb
Where did the satellites go?	Polar LEO in a dusk/dawn Sun Synchronous Orbit Altitude = 514 km, inclination = 97.44º
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 Pacific Ocean 315 miles south of SLC-4E
Will they be attempting to recover the 2.0 fairings?	Yes. Mr Steven is out trying to catch the first one.
Are these fairings new?	Yes - Two bigger type 2 boat hull sized fairings - 34 x 17 feet with 8 evenly spaced ventilation ports in a circle
This will be the:	– 49th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 26th flight of a Full Trust “V1.2” rocket – 9th re-flight of Falcon 9 Full Trust boosters – 1st attempt of 2.0 fairing catch – 8th SpaceX launch from SLC-4E – 29th crash landing. Soft, hard, deliberate, Ups... – 4th mission for SpaceX in 2018
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Tim Dodd on PAZ February 22, 2018

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

- T-00:11:26 Host: T 00:00:00 T+00:01:18 - T+00:02:31 - T+00:02:41 T+00:03:01 T+00:09:11 T+00:10:07 T+00:11:13 T+00:16:56 - -

Pre Launch Mission Rundown from 0:01 then Q&A SpaceX live feed at 20:12 Tom Praderio caught the early bird Liftoff at 31:40 MaxQ at 32:57 (2-3 sec delay on downlink camera) Rocket exhaust in sunlight at 33:44 - enjoy the view MECO 34:11, stage separation 34:15 - delay 0 - 6 725 km/h in 151 seconds - Altitude 78,7 km SES-1 at 34:21 - Velocity 6 473 km/h - Altitude 93,2 km Fairing  separation at 34:40 SECO at 40:51 - velocity 27 660 km/h - altitude 517 km SpaceX resumes live feed at 41:47 Deployment of PAZ at 42:52 SpaceX doesn’t show deployment of Tintin A & B Rap up by Tim Dodd from 44:15 with Q&A Only one fairing landed softly on the ocean

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

Making room for the new hardware

SpaceX is targeting a Falcon 9 launch of the PAZ satellite to low-Earth orbit on Thursday, February 22 from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The instantaneous launch opportunity is at 6:17 a.m. PST, or 14:17​ UTC. The satellite will be deployed approximately eleven minutes after launch.

It was the final and 26th flight of a Block 3 first stage, and reused the booster B1038 from the Formosat-5 mission from SLC-4E in August 2017. SpaceX will not attempt to recover Falcon 9’s first stage after launch.

About PAZ

Paz (Spanish for "Peace") is a Spanish Earth observation and reconnaissance satellite launched on 22 February 2018. It is Spain's first spy satellite.

Screenshot of PAZ just before shipping to SpaceX

The satellite is operated by Hisdesat. Paz was previously referred to as SEOSAR (Satélite Español de Observación SAR).

For observational purposes, Paz uses a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to collect images of Earth for governmental and commercial use, as well as other ship tracking and weather sensors, which enables high-resolution mapping of large geographical areas at day and night. The X-band radar imaging payload operates at a wavelength of 3.1 centimeters (1.2 in), or a frequency of 9.65 gigahertz.

The Paz satellite is operated in a constellation with the German SAR fleet TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X in the same orbit. The collaboration was agreed on by both Hisdesat and former European aerospace manufacturer Astrium, operator of the two other satellites. The high-resolution images will be used for military operations, border control, intelligence, environmental monitoring, protection of natural resources, city, and infrastructure planning, and monitoring of natural catastrophes.

Originally, Paz was scheduled for launch from the Yasny launch base, Russia, in 2014, but this was delayed due to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, resulting in an International Court of Arbitration legal battle between Hisdesat and Kosmotras. The US launch was estimated to cost around €53 million, partially reduced by the inclusion of several mobile internet satellites on the same flight.

The satellite launched on a reused Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX from Vandenberg Air Force Base, SLC-4E on 22 February 2018 at 14:17 UTC. The satellite hosted two secondary payloads: an AIS receiver and the Radio-Occultation and Heavy Precipitation (ROHP) experiment. Paz weighs 1.282 kg (2.826 lb), and its mass with fuel is 1.341 kg (2.956 lb). The payloads were carried to a Sun-synchronous dawn-dusk orbit. The launch was originally scheduled for 30 January 2018.

The Share Ride - Tintin A & B

Paz was joined aboard Falcon 9 by MicroSat-2a and 2b, two 400 kilogram - 880 lb SpaceX test satellites for their future constellation Starlink, nicknamed Tintin A and B. Tests of these satellites include video transmission from earth to A, relaying it to B and receiving it from B on earth. The pair of satellites are the first prototypes in a fleet which may consist of up to 12,000 spacecraft.

SpaceX aims to have Starlink fully operational by 2024, with the operational constellation expected to contain 4,425 satellites across 83 planes in the higher 360 km orbit, with a further 7,518 satellites in the lower 340 km orbits and in polar orbits.

Payload Adaptor Fittings PAF on rockets comes in all sizes with different functions, but they reduce the rocket’s 12 foot “shoulder” to this 5 foot tube, where the satellites are locked on

SpaceX was conducting a recovery attempt using a crew boat named Mr Steven that was equipped with a huge net on four steel poles. The new 2.0 fairing measures 34,4 x 17,2 feet and as is evident in this picture, they are like friggin 'huge’ boats.

The PAZ fairing narrowly missed the boat, leading to a soft water landing. Twitter Elon Musk.

Comparing Type 1 and Type 2 fairings

PAZ also featured Fairing 2.0 with which the recovery attempt was made using a crew boat named Mr Steven that was equipped with a huge net on four steel poles. The 2.0 fairing measures 34,4 x 17,2 feet.

By comparison of pixel counts, a difference in fairing measurements between type 1 and 2 can be found. Type 2 seems to have an extra layer of honeycomb aluminum outside on the old layer

Type 2 have fewer ventilation ports at the bottom part of the fairings. These 8 ports vent out the “Nitrolox” atmosphere in the fairing used to keep the payload moisture free and in a rust-free working order. The fairings are pressurized and during ascent they are slowly depressurized until fairing deployment.

Type 2 have specifically been built with recovery in mind they are equipped with RCS thrusters, flight guidance computers, a drogue chute mortar afth and a steerable parafoil parachute for soft landings on the ocean. The fairing in itself is a suborbital space vehicle capable of reentry and autonomous landing with very little design change.

The ventilation ports at the bottom part of the fairing still let in seawater which flooded the bottom black cotton pads used as sound and vibration suppression material.

Author link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list

SpaceX Falcon Heavy 1 - Tesla Roadster

  SpaceX Falcon Heavy 1 Full Thrust - Launching February 6, 2018

Screenshot of Falcon Heavy 1 February 6, 2018 - B1023-2, B1033 and B1025-2 in view

Mission Rundown: SpaceX FH 1 - Test Flight 1

Written: January 19, 2021

Lift Off Time	February 6, 2018 - 20:45 UTC - 15:45 pm EST
Mission Name	Falcon Heavy 1 Test Flight 1
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	SpaceX
Rockets	Falcon 9 Full Thrust serial number B1023-2   -Y Falcon 9 Full Thrust serial number B1033 Core Falcon 9 Full Thrust serial number B1025-2  +Y The x axis is the length, y axis is width, z axis is height as Falcon 9 is lying down before launch
Launch Location	Kennedy Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Payload	Payload Adaptor Fitting with a Tesla Roadster
Payload mass Mission dependent	63 800 kg ~ 140 700 lb in LEO expended 22 800 kg ~ 50 265 lb in LEO at 27.0° 26 700 kg ~ 58 863 lb in GTO expended   8 300 kg ~ 18 298 lb in GTO at 27.0°   8 000 kg ~ 17 637 lb in GEO expended   5 500 kg ~ 12 225 lb in GEO at 27.0° 16 800 kg ~ 37 038 lb to Mars orbit expended   4 020 kg ~ 8 863 lb to Mars orbit   3 500 kg ~ 7 716 lb to Pluto orbit expended Actually 1 200 kg Tesla Roadster plus adapter Unfortunately not with Dragon Trunk power supply
Where are the Tesla going?	Heliocentric Orbit between Earth and beyond Mars
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?	Yes, Yes and Yes - There’s enough fuel to try
Where will the first stage land?	LZ-1, LZ-2 and OCISLY towed downrange
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	Yes - 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:	– 1st Falcon Heavy launch by SpaceX – 1st flight of Falcon Heavy Block 3 core booster – 7th and 8th re-flight of a Falcon 9 Block 3 side boosters – 24th & 25th flight of Full Thrust “V1.2” rockets – 13th SpaceX launch from LC-39A – 22nd, 23rd, 24th booster landing overall – 28th crash landing. Soft, hard, deliberate, Ups... – 3rd mission for SpaceX in 2018 – 1st attempt on a triple booster landing
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Tim Dodd onsite One Potato and Two Tomato
Launch debriefing (This is what happend)	Tim Dodd not quite live from Florida at 6:56 Tim Dodd a lot more live from Florida at 22:26  Mission run down from 6:56 then Q&A Last appearance of orange flight suit at 1:17:12 aka. pumpkin suit said by guest host Emery Stagmer Liftoff at 1:18:10 in Tim Dodd live stream Double landing burn spotted at 1:26:00 Turning to SpaceX live Webcast - Sorry Tim

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

- T-00:21:17 Hosts: - T-00:00:05 T-00:00:02 T 00:00:00 T+00:01:08 T+00:02:32 T+00:02:33 T+00:02:50 T+00:03:09 T+00:03:16 T+00:03:24 T+00:03:49 T+00:06:35 T+00:06:54 T+00:07:48 T+00:08:19 T+00:08:33 - - T+00:28:22 T+00:28:52 - T+06:00:00 -

Pre Launch Mission Rundown go see Tim Dodd Turning to SpaceX live Webcast at 00:42 Lauren Lyons, Michael Hammersley, John Insprucker and Brian Mahlstedt are all out in force Side booster ignition at 21:55 Center Core ignition at 21:57 - Full thrust tjeck Liftoff at 22:00 - 92% thrust at launch MaxQ at 23:08 (2-3 sec delay on downlink camera) BECO at 24:32 - Booster Engine Cut Off Boosters release at 24:33 Boost back burn by boosters at 24:50 - 80 seconds MECO 25:09, stage separation 25:11 SES-1 at 25:16 - velocity 9 463 km/h - altitude 93,9 km Center Core boost back burn at 25:24 Fairing separation at 25:48 Boosters entry burn 28:35 by 3 Merlin 1D+ for 12 seconds Center Core entry burn 28:54 by 3 Merlin 1D+ for 21 sec Boosters landing burn 29:48 by 1 Merlin 1D+ for 18 sec Center Core landing burn 30:19 by 1 Merlin 1D+ failed SECO-1 at 30:33 - velocity 26 600 km/h - altitude 179 km Stage 2 with Tesla Roadster now in LEO SpaceX rap up from 32:48 SES-2 Transfer Orbit on the Equator line SECO-2 on course toward Van Allen Belts 6 hour experiment on Van Allen Radiation Belts SES-3 Interplanetary Transfer Orbit to Mars A 1 million year journey has begun… Are we there yet?

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

Falcon Heavy. Triple the fun in one trip

Following its first test launch, Falcon Heavy is now the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb) - a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel - Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost. Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9.

Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate 5,13 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V Moon rocket's first stage delivering 7 891 000 pounds of thrust, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restore the possibility of flying missions to the Moon or Mars, using Crew Dragon with an extended trunk fully loaded.

Configuration of Falcon Heavy

Falcon Heavy flew in its reusable configuration, allowing for a landing approach of both side boosters and the central core. The side boosters consisted of two previously flown Falcon 9 first stages, being reused from the CRS-9 mission in July 2016 and the Thaicom 8 launch in May 2016. The central core was newly built because it needed to support stronger forces during ascent, so that a regular first stage could not be used. The upper second stage was the same as on a regular Falcon 9.

Side boosters equipped with a nose cone have different aerodynamic properties than the usual Falcon 9 boosters with a cylindrical open interstage. For this reason, SpaceX equipped them with larger and sturdier grid fins made of titanium, to help guide the atmospheric descent accurately and to ensure survivability of the side boosters.

The central core, however, still used conventional aluminum grid fins, as its aerodynamic properties are very similar to those of a conventional Falcon 9 first stage. But with the reinforcements of the booster to carry the side booster fittings its dry mass is higher, so it will fall faster, generate a larger bowchock front and be harder to reignite just before reentry and landing burns. B1033's fate during its landing suggests so.

The Roadster was mounted on the second stage using a custom-made payload adapter fitting, and was encapsulated in a conventional fairing. Falcon Heavy also supports the launch of Crew Dragon capsules without a fairing.

The payload

The dummy payload for this test flight was a sports car, Tesla Roadster, owned by Elon Musk. SpaceX stated the payload had to be "something fun and without irreplaceable sentimental value". Sitting in the driver's seat of the Roadster is "Starman", a dummy astronaut clad in a SpaceX spacesuit. It has his right hand on the steering wheel and left elbow resting on the open window sill. Starman is named for the David Bowie song "Starman". The car's sound system was looping the symbolic Bowie songs "Space Oddity" and "Life on Mars?".

It was launched with sufficient velocity to escape the Earth and enter an elliptic orbit around the Sun that crosses the orbit of Mars, reaching an aphelion (maximum distance from the Sun) of 1.66 AU. During the early portion of its voyage it functioned as a broadcast device, sending video back to Earth for four hours. The Roadster remains attached to the second stage.

This launcher demonstration made the Roadster the first consumer car sent into space. Three manned rovers were sent to space on the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions in the 1970s, and these vehicles were left on the Moon. The Roadster is one of two formerly manned vehicles (albeit not a manned space vehicle) derelict in solar orbit, joining LM-4 Snoopy, Apollo 10's lunar module ascent stage. Also included was Arch Mission 1.2, which is a crystal disk with Isaac Asimov's Foundation series of books in the Tesla Roadster.

There is a copy of Douglas Adams' 1979 novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the glovebox, along with references to the book in the form of a towel and a sign on the dashboard that reads "Don't Panic!". A Hot Wheels miniature Roadster with a miniature Starman is mounted on the dashboard. A plaque bearing the names of the employees who worked on the project is underneath the car reads:

"Made on Earth by humans".

Falcon Heavy on a personal note

SpaceX should have equipped the “Dummy payload” with a Dragon Trunk for power supply and cooling of whatever available scientific instruments that would have been possible to scrape together before launch. The DSCOVR mission comes to mind.

They had 5 years to lumb something together. Radiation instruments, magnetic field sensors, solar wind detectors, a small earth telescope, cameras, radar range finders, lidar topography mapmakers of whatever they fly by or find by chance.

Krypton Ion thrusters could have given this test mission wings. It could have been a contender. It could have taught students worldwide about “Rocket Science”.

It could have taken very long exposure pictures of stars, the planets or Earth like a small cheap Hubble telescope. It could have made science on a low budget. Even a change in its orbit would have revealed a source of gravity, aka. an asteroid passing close by. High School students would have learned something new.

The world is experiencing something not seen since the glory days in the sixties with Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. It’s a second chance to better mankind out there and through the development of new techniques to better mankind downhere.

Once I was a child looking at a man walking on the moon, 

now I’m an old man watching rockets land like it was nothing. 

What more will my eyes see before they close?

Author Tim Dodd link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list