SpaceX Falcon 9 - SES-12

  SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 4 - SES-12 - Launching June 4, 2018

Screenshot of SpaceX Falcon 9 B4 - SES-12 with Tim Dodd as host

Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 4 - SES-12

Written: January 14, 2021

Lift Off Time	June 4, 2018 - 04:45 UTC - 00:45 EDT
Mission Name	SES-12
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	SES S. A.
Rocket	Falcon 9 Block 4 serial number B1040-2
Launch Location	Space Launch Complex 40 - SLC 40 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Payload	Eurostar 3000 Communication Satellite
Payload mass	5 384 kg ~ 11 869,4 pounds
Where are the satellite going?	Geostationary Transfer Orbit - 248 x 58 599 km x 25.94°
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?	The Atlantic Ocean 807 km east of Florida
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	No. Only on the West coast are they trying. Go Pursuit is stationed 907 km downrange for salvage purpose
Are these fairings new?	Yes - Type 1 boat hull sized fairings - 34 x 17 feet with 10 evenly spaced ventilation ports in a circle
This will be the:	– 56th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 13th re-flight of all Falcon 9 boosters – 11th flight of Falcon 9 Block 4 rocket – 4th re-flight of Falcon 9 Block 4 booster – 33rd SpaceX launch from SLC-40 – 34th crash landing soft, hard, deliberate, Ups... – 11th mission for SpaceX in 2018
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Everyday Astronaut Tim Dodd link

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

- T-00:12:27 Host: - T 00:00:00 T+00:01:21 T+00:02:48 - T+00:02:58 T+00:03:34 - T+00:08:30 - T+00:25:31 T+00:26:14 - - - T+00:32:17 - -

Pre Launch Mission Rundown from 0:04 then Q&A SpaceX live feed at 16:51 Brian Mahlstedt is still up tonight Oxygen venting is very loud and noisy on Block 4 Liftoff at 29:19 MaxQ at 30:41 (3 sec delay on downlink camera) MECO 32:08, stage separation 32:10 0 - 9531 km/h in 168 seconds SES-1 at 32:17 - velocity 9 426 km/h - altitude 83,6 km Fairing separation at 22:53 Thermal blanket on stage two engine blown lose SECO at 37:49 and coasting - data stream cut short Q&A until 54:48 and this from Galerie Sakura Paris SpaceX resumes live feed at 54:50 SES-2 - SECO-2 in  65 seconds gave a velocity boost from 26 457 km/h to 35 859 km/h at 55:33 Sadly the music from Airbus is too loud until 59:48 Q&A during the music then more quietly to 1:00:38 SES-12 deployment at 1:01:36 - 10th year anniversary Q&A, Replay and rap up from Tim Dodd at 1:02:51 One fairings lost at sea, the other was recovered

Bangabandhu-1	Iridium-6 Next Grace-FO	SES-12	CRS-15	Telstar 19 V
Iridium-7 Next	Merah Putih (Telkom-4)	Telstar 18V Apstar-5C	SAOCOM 1A	Es’hail-2

Connecting the dots of the orbit

SpaceX will launch a flight-proven Falcon 9 booster with a Block 5 second stage to put the SES-12 communication satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. SES-12 is the heaviest payload ever launched to GTO by a Falcon 9 rocket at 5 384 kg.

The launch is scheduled for 12:45 a.m. EDT local time (4:45​ UTC) on June 4th, 2018 in a four hour launch window out of SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. 

This first stage previously flew on the OTV-5 mission in September of 2017. There will be no attempt to recover the booster.

The Payload

SES-12 was designed and manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. It has a mass of 5 383,85 kilograms (11 869,4 lb) and has a design life of at least 15 years.

Constructed by Airbus Defence and Space the satellite is built around a Eurostar E3000e platform – a variant of Airbus’ Eurostar 3000 product line that relies solely on its Russian designed SPT-140D thrusters as electric propulsion for orbit-raising and station keeping maneuvers. There are regular thrusters available as emergency avoidance thrusters.

The SES-12 satellite during radiotesting at Airbus

The SES-12 satellite expands SES's capabilities to provide direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting, VSAT, Mobility, and High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) data connectivity services in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, including rapidly growing markets such as India and Indonesia. The satellite replaces NSS-6 at this location and is co-located with SES-8 on 95.0° East. SES 12 is capable of supporting requirements in multiple verticals from Cyprus in the West to Japan in the East, and from Russia in the North to Australia in the South.

Together with SES-8, it reaches 18 million homes.

What did we learn today

Second stage is a Block 5 version, so SpaceX must be tweaking the second stage flight profile or fuel loading procedures. Anyway I assume the Block 5 second stage has a stronger thrust to weight ratio, since the Payload weighs 5 384 kg, and I assume that the previous second stage Block 3/4 model wouldn’t be able to do the GTO insertion to the same degree of satisfaction regarding the transfer orbits maximum apogee.

The picture above represents SES-12's seven month journey from its deployment in a Geostationary Transfer Orbit to its final Geostationary Orbit. Each dot is a burn using the onboard Hall Effect thrusters to raise its perigee - Blue dots, lower its apogee - Reed dots, and change the inclination - Green dots. It has been a long, slow trip for SES-12 since the Block 5 second stage deployed it on June 4th, 2018.

The spent second stage is now a derelict piece of space debris slowly deorbiting itself every time it reaches its perigee and experiences more and more drag from the upper atmosphere. It should deorbit within a couple of years.

Author Tim Dodd link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list