SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 - Nusantara Satu - Launching February 21/22, 2019
Photo: Screenshot from Tim Dodd: SpaceX Falcon 9 with NUSANTARA SATU (PSN IV)
Mission Rundown: SpaceX - Nusantara SATU (PSN IV)
Written: January 9, 2021
Let’s go to the Moon because we want to
SpaceX will be launching the Nusantara Satu telecommunication satellite aka. PSN IV for Indonesia’s telecommunication company PT Pasifik Satelit. The Space System Loral built satellite Nusantara will ride a Falcon 9 to Geostationary Orbit (GEO).
Nusantara Satu is equipped with 26 C-Band, 12 Extended C-Band and 8 Ku-Band spot beam transponders. The satellite will be located at an orbital location 146 east and provide voice, data and video service to the Indonesian archipelago.
SpaceX is targeting Thursday, February 21 for launch of the Nusantara Satu satellite from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
The 32-minute launch window opens at 20:45 EST, or 1:45 UTC on February 22. Falcon 9 will also deliver the Beresheet lunar spacecraft and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) S5 spacecraft to orbit.
Deployments will occur at approximately 33 and 44 minutes after liftoff.
Falcon 9’s first stage for the Nusantara Satu mission previously supported the Iridium-7 mission in July 2018 and the SAOCOM 1A mission in October 2018.
Following stage separation, SpaceX will attempt to land Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Payloads
Nurantara Satu getting ready to be tested by NASA. (Credit:)
The primary payload on this Falcon 9 launch was Nusantara Satu, a high-throughput communications satellite that will be operated by Indonesia’s PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN). However, much attention in the build up to this launch has been paid to the Israeli Beresheet spacecraft that is piggy-backing on the Falcon 9 launch.
Previously known as PSN VI or PSN-6, the Nusantara Satu satellite was built by Space Systems Loral around the SSL-1300 platform. Bound for a slot in geostationary orbit above the Earth’s equator at 148 degrees East, Nusantara Satu carries 26 C-band and 12 extended C-band transponders and eight Ku-band transponders which will produce spot beams. The satellite offers a total bandwidth of 15 gigabits per second.
The 4,100 kilogram (9,040 lb) Nusantara Satu spacecraft is expected to operate for at least fifteen years. It will provide communications links to rural parts of Indonesia, allowing PSN to expand broadband internet services into these regions. Nusantara Satu is equipped with electric propulsion which will be used for orbit-raising maneuvers: Falcon 9 will drop the satellite off in an elliptical supersynchronous transfer orbit, with Nusantara Satu using its own engines to reach its final geostationary slot.
Tagging along for the ride
Two additional payloads will be riding to space as a part of the GTO-1 rideshare mission organized by Spaceflight Inc. It will test the feasibility of using the microsat constellation for space situational awareness and updates to the GTO space catalog.
The second stage will first deploy Beresheet, the Lunar orbiter and lander mission placed on top of Nusantara Satu five and a half minutes after SECO-2, and then the second double deployment will take place eleven minutes after the first deployment.
Once Nusantara Satu has arrived in geostationary orbit, it will deploy its subsatellite, S5. This is the US Air Force Research Laboratory’s space situational awareness experiment – a 60 kilogram (130 lb) spacecraft that will detect and track objects in orbits close to the geostationary belt.
Screenshot of S5, who will be lurking around in geostationary orbit
S5 was constructed by Blue Canyon Technologies, with its instruments provided by Applied Defense Systems. The data it collects will help the Air Force to update its satellite catalog with accurate orbital parameters for these spacecraft and debris objects. S5 is intended as a proof-of-concept to demonstrate that low-cost miniature satellites can be used for accurate tracking of geostationary satellites. It only operates for one year.
SpaceIL is a non-profit organization that was formed to compete for the Google Lunar X-Prize, a competition organized by the X Prize Foundation and financed by Google which would have awarded twenty million US dollars for the first privately-funded spacecraft to land on the Moon, with a further ten million dollars for other achievements.
The rules initially stipulated that the prize would have to be claimed by the end of 2014, and while this was extended several times no competitor was able to launch their mission. The contest came to a halt, when it was determined that none of the teams competing would reach the Moon before the March 30, 2018 extended deadline.
Although it will attempt to become the first privately-operated spacecraft to land on the Moon, Beresheet will not be the first commercial spacecraft to visit the Moon.
In late 1997 the Blok-DM3 upper stage of a Russian Proton-K rocket malfunctioned, leaving the AsiaSat-3 communications satellite stranded in an unusable orbit. Renamed HGS-1 and under the ownership of Hughes Space and Communications, the satellite flew past the Moon in May 1998 to gain a gravity assist as part of a complex series of maneuvers that eventually saw it reach geosynchronous orbit.
Beresheet was constructed by Israel Aircraft Industries, the country’s largest aerospace manufacturer, and incorporates guidance and control, communications, power-generation, propulsion and landing systems as well as cameras and scientific instruments. The lander has four legs that will support it and provide a stable footing on the surface – these include aluminum honeycomb shock absorbers that will be crushed on touchdown, absorbing energy to protect the rest of the spacecraft. Solar panels provide power.
At launch, Beresheet has a mass of 600 kilograms (1,320 lb), including the propellant that it will expend getting to the Moon and making its landing on the surface. By the time it has landed on the Lunar surface, this mass will have fallen to around 160 kilograms (350 lb). Beresheet stands 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) tall, with a diameter of 1.5 meters (4.9 feet).
In addition to scientific instruments, a digital time capsule and Israeli flag are also aboard the lander. Once on the surface, Beresheet will use a magnetometer to study magnetic fields at its landing site. Mare Serenitatis was chosen because of known magnetic anomalies that the spacecraft will be able to study.
The first Israeli lunar spacecraft, named Beresheet, about to be shipped to SpaceX.
After being deployed from the second stage of Falcon 9, the Beresheet will slowly raise its orbit over the course of 40 days until it is captured by the Moon’s gravity. It will then slowly decrease its orbit over a 6 day period until it reaches a 15 km perilune over its landing site at Mare Serenitatis.
If all goes according to plan, the lander will be on the surface of the Moon April 11, 2019.
Unfortunately the Beresheet Lunar Lander lost one of its two Inertia Measurement Units IMU in the middle of the descent towards the surface. The flight computer rebooted at the worst possible moment, and being out of control it crash landed with 3000 km/h velocity on the Moon’s surface. Left alone was the Beresheet Orbiter, who now is delivering high resolution surface pictures of the Moon.
The fairings were going to be recovered over 700km downrange. The first attempt to catch a fairing halve is canceled, because Mr Steven is returning to port with two damaged arms meant to hold the fairing catching net.
Mr Steven has been relocated from Santa Barbara to Port Canaveral, Florida, where it will be even busier attempting to catch fairings. The Pacific was just a training ground.
