SpaceX YouTube webcast of the EchoStar 24 launch. Pad 39A needs a 4th TE for single stick only
Mission Rundown: Falcon Heavy 7 - EchoStar 24
Written: July 28, 2023
EchoStar 24… >< …or Jupiter 3
SpaceX will be launching the EchoStar 24 mission for EchoStar on a Falcon Heavy rocket. This Falcon Heavy is composed of a new block 5 center core ‘B1074-1’ and the two flight proven block 5 side boosters; B1064-3 and B1065-3.
EchoStar launched at 23:04 EDT - 03:04 UTC on July 28/29, 2023. The Falcon Heavy will be lifting off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
After burning for about 2 and a third minutes, the side boosters will separate from the core booster and return to Florida and land on LZ-1 and LZ-2 at CCSFS.
The core booster will continue burning before shutting down and separating from the second stage, which will continue burning until reaching orbit velocity and coast to the continent of Africa and the Equator.
The core booster will crash land way out in the Atlantic Ocean. Compared to FH3 with STP-2 with its attempt to land on OCISLY some 1236 km downrange, that extra burntime gives a 21% increase in range and thereby performance with a bigger payload.
The Falcon Heavy is scheduled to fly two more missions this year. The USSF-52 mission was scheduled for launch on or about June 23, but that was delayed along with the NASA Psyche asteroid probe launch which was targeted for October 5.
Map made by Raul from the NGA notice. Side booster will land on LZ-1 and LZ-2. The Core booster splashdown about 1500 km downrange. Fairing recovery zone is 1533 km downrange
Space Photo of Falcon Heavy mission viewed in details - A contemporary graphic picture can be found here
Falcon Heavy will have completed its seventh mission since the first testflight.
SpaceX didn’t perform a static fire test of the Falcon Heavy 7 with EchoStar 24 at 18:00 EDT on July 25, 2023 while waiting for its launch out of Cape Canaveral.
Falcon Heavy is constructed by joining of three Falcon 9 boosters side by side with a central long mission duration second stage carrying the payload into orbit.
The side boosters B1064 and B1065 will after detachment do a ‘boost back’ burn to Cape Canaveral. A re-entry burn will slow down the boosters and protect them from heating, and a landing burn to land the side boosters at Landing Zones 1 and 2, from where they will be made ready by minor refurbishments in preparations for their fourth flight.
The center core B1074-1 is flying bareback without landing legs; grid fins and using an old white interstage just like on the previous three Falcon Heavy missions. The center core will be expended to offer additional performance to the payload.
After second stage separation the Merlin vacuum engine ignited followed by the payload fairing separation. The first second stage burns will inject Jupiter 3 into a near-circular low-Earth parking orbit.
After a short coast period, the second Mvac burn will inject Jupiter 3 into a geostationary transfer orbit. After a three hour coast a third burn will expand the transfer orbit making it easier for Jupiter 3 after deployment to use its onboard propulsion to reach its final 95o West longitude position in its geostationary orbit.
The second stage has a mission extension package; it has a gray strip, which helps keep the RP-1 warm in sunlight, an increased number of composite-overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) for pressurization control, and additional TEA-TEB canisters.
The fairings are both reused, flying for the fifth and sixth time with no known previous missions flown together, and will be recovered ~1533 km downrange by recovery vessel Doug, who will lift both fairings out of the water and sail them back for refurbishment. Recovery vessel Doug is named after Demo-2 Astronaut Doug Hurley.
The EchoStar 24 Payload
The EchoStar 24 communication satellite was built by Space System/Loral − SSL − on contract by Hughes Network Systems and launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy FH7 on July 28, 2023 at 23:04:00 EDT.
EchoStar 24 is the sixth geostationary communication satellite that is intended to provide continuous TV and broadband service to its customers.
The EchoStar 24 satellite weighing approximately 9,200 kilograms (Kg), will be utilizing the Ka-band with multi-spot beams to various areas and regions below.
The EchoStar 24 will also have fourteen solar panels that can collectively generate around 20 kilowatts (kW) of power. Its solar panels will have a span of 38.7 meters.
The power system and reflector will enable the EchoStar 24 to have a throughput of up to 500 gigabit per second, which is a huge chunk added to the throughput of EchoStar’s satellite fleet launched up to now.
EchoStar 24 is planned to use the geostationary orbital slot at 95 degrees West and is designed for an orbital lifetime of at least 15 years. The satellite, based on the SSL1300 bus, was built at Maxar’s Space System/Loral facility in California and shipped to Florida aboard a Ukrainian Antonov AN-124-100 cargo aircraft.
Something known about EchoStar 24/Jupiter 3 from Hughes, an EchoStar Company − Confused
Falcon Heavy rocket
Falcon Heavy stands 70 meters tall, weighs about 1.4 million kg at liftoff, and produces a thrust of approximately 22,241 kN from its 27 Merlin 1D engines. The rocket is capable of delivering 63.8 tonnes to low Earth orbit and 26.7 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit.
SpaceX photo of FH3 STP-2 hanging under the loft cranes in the Horizontal Integration Hangar
Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX. It is derived from the Falcon 9 vehicle and consists of a strengthened Falcon 9 first stage as the center core with two additional Falcon 9-like first stages as strap-on boosters. Falcon Heavy has the highest payload capacity of any currently operational launch vehicle, and the third-highest capacity of any rocket ever to reach orbit, trailing the Saturn V and Energia.
The combined thrust of the Falcon Heavy 27 Merlin 1D# is 2/3 of the first stage thrust of the five F1 engines on the Saturn V rocket that lifted mankind through the atmosphere on its way to the Moon. This means that Falcon Heavy is almost capable of a Lunar mission like the Apollo Saturn V was. Two launches of Falcon Heavy should be able to do it.
Falcon Heavy consists of a structurally strengthened and therefore heavier Falcon 9 as the "core" component, with two additional Falcon 9 first stages without interstages but with nose cone acting as liquid fuel strap-on boosters, which is conceptually similar to Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Delta IV Heavy launcher.
The rocket was designed to meet or exceed all current requirements of human rating. The structural safety margins are 40% above flight loads, higher than the 25% margins of other rockets. The Falcon 9 tank walls and domes are made from Aluminium–lithium alloy. SpaceX uses an all-friction stir welded tank. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and it would restore the possibility of flying crewed missions to the Moon or Mars.
The interstage, which connects the upper and lower stage for Falcon 9, is a carbon fiber aluminum core composite structure. Stage separation occurs via reusable separation collets and a pneumatic pusher system. The second stage tank of Falcon 9 is simply a shorter version of the first stage tank and uses most of the same tooling, material, and manufacturing techniques. This approach reduces overall costs during production.
The Falcon Heavy includes first-stage recovery systems, to allow SpaceX to return the first stage boosters to the launch site as well as recover the first stage core following landing at an Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship barge after completion of primary mission requirements. These systems include four deployable landing legs, which are locked against each first-stage tank core during ascent. Excess propellant reserved for Falcon Heavy first-stage recovery operations will be diverted for use on the primary mission objective, if required, ensuring sufficient performance margins for successful missions.
The nominal payload capacity to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is 8,000 kg (18,000 lb) with recovery of all three first-stage cores versus 26,700 kg (58,900 lb) in expendable mode − They all get expended downrange. The Falcon Heavy can also inject a 16,000 kg (35,000 lb) payload into GTO if only the two boosters are recovered.
The second stage is painted partial gray to prevent the RP-1 from freezing solid during the several hours long transfer trip to its geostationary orbit position. The Sun’s heat will not easily be reflected by the gray paint thus transferring surface heat to the RP-1.
The second stage will reignite to circularize the transfer orbit thus saving fuel consumption in EchoStar 24, so it will have an extra long service life in its geostationary slot. Additional rideshare payloads may be deployed depending on their individual mission profiles.
After the deployment there will probably not be enough propellant in the second stage tanks to deorbit. The seventh Falcon Heavy second stage will probably be the 32nd large piece of space debris that will take centuries to deorbit on its own.
2nd stages used on GTO missions usually remain in the highly elliptical transfer orbit with a perigee just a few hundred km above the Earth. The low perigee means it experiences significant drag and the orbit will decay within a year or two, until it reenters.
FH7's current expanded orbit is 7941 Km x 35494 Km x 10.41o and can be expected to take a few decades to deteriorate. The 2nd stage should be equipped with a passive payload packet from NASA so it can do some good doing a bit of science.
The 2nd stage is with its avionics package in itself a satellite bus, what's missing is solar panels for power supply, gyroscopes for orientation, various military/science instruments and even Hall effect thrusters to deorbit itself with.
SpaceX is the first entity ever that recovers and reflies its fairings. After being jettisoned, the two fairing halves will use cold gas thrusters to orientate themselves as they descend through the atmosphere. Once at a lower altitude, they will deploy drogue chutes and parafoils to help them glide down to a soft landing for recovery.
Lately it’s apparent that the fairings are actively being aiming for the droneship in order to speed up the recovery process and cut corners of the time table. The fairing is actively breaking its speed and turning back before deploying its parachute at the last moment.
Another solution is a ‘vertical’ boost lifting the fairings apogee so the ballistic trajectory is changed aiming for a landing nearer the droneship. It’s equivalent to raising the angle on a water hose giving the water stream an higher arc but giving it a shorter reach.
It’s not clear whether or not the cold gas nitrogen thrusters alone are capable of doing a ‘boost back’ or a ‘push up’ so the fairings can alter their forward momentum mid-flight.
Comparison of Type 1 and 2 with measurements based on pixels - Type 2 are 5-6 inches thicker
There are three known types of 34 x 17 foot fairings used by SpaceX to protect payload during ascent through the atmosphere. The first type had 10 evenly spaced ventilation ports in a circle on the bottom part of the fairings. This type was not aerodynamic enough to carry a parachute and ACS - Attitude Control System.
The aerodynamic balance during descent must have made them prone to stalling, or they burned up too easily. ACS gas tanks, flight orientation computers and ACS thrusters must have helped with these problems during development of type 2 fairings.
The second type is a slightly thicker fairing with only 8 evenly spaced ventilation ports in a circle on the bottom part of the fairings. The ventilation ports release the pressurized Nitrox gas during ascent, but let seawater in which makes it harder to refurbish the fairings after recovery from the ocean.
The new third type has 8 ventilation ports in pair’s near the edge of the fairings. Some old type 2 fairings have been rebuilt and reused in Starlink launches. That have been a test program to develop the type 3 fairings to prevent saltwater from the ocean from flooding and sinking the fairing, and makes refurbishment toward the next flight easier.
Falcon fairings halfs have been recovered and reused since 2019. Improved design changes and overall refurbishment procedures have decreased the effects of water landings and led to an increased recovery rate of fairings.
