SpaceX Falcon 9 - AsiaSat 8

  SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.1 - AsiaSat 8 - Launching August 5, 2014

Screenshot from SpaceX Webcast of the launch of AsiaSat 8, note the green TEA-TEB flash

Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.1 - AsiaSat 8

Written: February 4, 2021

Lift Off Time	August 5, 2014 - 08:00:00 UTC - 04:00 EDT
Mission Name	AsiaSat 8
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	Thaicom AsiaSat
Rocket	Falcon 9 V1.1 serial number B1008
Launch Location	Space Launch Complex 40 - SLC-40 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Payload	LS-1300LL shared Communication Satellite
Payload mass	4 535 kg ~ 9 998 pounds
Where did the satellite go?	Geostationary Transfer Orbit initially 198 km x 35 786 km
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 Atlantic ocean east of Florida
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	No - Not expected to survive reentry or water impact
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:	– 11th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 6th flight of Falcon 9 V1.1 rocket – 10th SpaceX launch from SLC-40 – 11th crash landing. Soft, hard, deliberate, ups... – 4th mission for SpaceX in 2014
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Longer copy of SpaceX webcast from Megneous Want to learn more link visit Tim Dodd

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

T-00:00:06 Host: T 00:00:00 T+00:01:28 T+00:03:03 T+00:03:09 T+00:03:59 - - T+00:08:40 T+00:09:30 - T+00:26:00 - T+00:32:00

SpaceX live feed at 00:00 John Insprucker doesn’t say much this time Liftoff at 00:06 right of the pad MaxQ at 1:33 MECO 3:08, stage separation 3:10 SES-1 at 3:14 - Camera clocks are 10 seconds ahead Faring separation at 4:05 Stage 1 in a free parabolic fall from max. 116 km and a down range lateral speed of about 7 061 km/h SECO at 8:45 and coasting Rap up from 09:36 by Sprechstallmeister John Insprucker SpaceX doesn't resumes its live feed SES-2 - SECO-2 in “60” seconds gave a velocity boost from 26 477 km/h to 36 136 km/h ish... SpaceX doesn't show deployment

CASSIOPE	SES-8	Thaicom 6	CRS-3	ORBCOMM OG2-1
AsiaSat 8	AsiaSat 6	CRS-4	CRS-5	DISCOVR

Let’s split the bill going to GTO

SpaceX was contracted to launch AsiaSat 8 using a Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle. The launch took place from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 5 August 2014.

SpaceX is launching the AsiaSat 8 satellite to a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. The launch is targeted for the early morning hours of August 5th. The launch window opens at 07:50​ UTC and closes at 09:04​ UTC.

The Payload

AsiaSat 8 or Amos-7 is a Hong Kong-turned-Israeli geostationary communications satellite which is operated by the Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company.

AsiaSat 8 was built by Space Systems/Loral, and is based on the LS-1300LL satellite bus. The satellite carries 24 Ku band transponders and a single Ka band transponder as the payload, and was planned to be positioned at a longitude of 105.5 degrees East, providing coverage of south and south-eastern Asia, China and the Middle East.

In addition to AsiaSat-8, the company plans to introduce two more satellites in the coming years; AsiaSat-6 is scheduled for launch later this month and will be positioned in a Thai slot at 120 degrees East, under an agreement which will see half of its transponder capacity leased to Thaicom.

Later AsiaSat-9 will launch on a Proton in 2016 to replace AsiaSat-4. Like AsiaSat-8, both of these spacecraft are based on Loral’s LS-1300 platform.

SpaceX was contracted to launch AsiaSat 8, using a Falcon 9 v1.1 carrier rocket. The launch took place from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 5 August 2014 at 08:00 UTC.

Western Union Telegraph Company satellite Westar-6 being captured by a Discovery crewmember

AsiaSat’s first satellite, AsiaSat-1, had originally been named as Westar-6 and was launched by Space Shuttle Challenger during 1984’s STS-41B mission. However, a failed Payload Assist Module which was to have boosted the satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit resulted in the spacecraft becoming stranded in low Earth orbit.

The spacecraft was recovered and returned to Earth by Shuttle Discovery nine months later and following refurbishment it was sold to AsiaSat as AsiaSat-1. The satellite was returned to orbit by a Chang Zheng 3 rocket in April 1990 on flight 7, in what was China’s first ever commercial launch, and operated successfully for thirteen years.

Second scene, act two: Exit of 2nd stage

The Falcon 9 second stage used to launch AsiaSat 8 is derelict in a decaying elliptical low-Earth orbit that, as of 13 August 2014, had an initial perigee of 195 km (121 mi) and an initial apogee of 35,673 km (22,166 mi).

The transfer orbit took 10.5 hours, so it hit the aero brakes at perigee ever so slightly twice a day, and every time the apogee also was reduced by miles.

By September the orbit had decayed to an altitude of 185 km (115 mi) at its closest approach to Earth, and by November had decayed to a 169 km (105 mi) perigee.

Every orbit in the perigee faze the second stage enters the thin upper atmosphere and loses its velocity. It will deorbit eventually, but with the given data a loss of 10 miles in the first month and another 10 miles in two months, it's a given that the second stage is deorbited after 6 or 7 months.

All SpaceX had to do, if there wasn't enough fuel to slam the brakes at perigee, was to orient the second stage, so it flew sideways into the thin upper atmosphere bleeding more and more orbital speed off. It’s like skipping a stone across a lake, it loses speed with every skip “orbit”, and it will eventually sink aka. deorbit.

Another possibility is to deploy a solar sail and use sunlight to break the speed of the second stage. The Payload Adaptor Fairing carrying the payload should be equipped with solar panels to charge the onboard lithium battery pack, so the second stage could be controlled during its deorbit. The onboard pressurized Helium and Nitrogen could be used at apogee to lower the perigee driving it deeper into the atmosphere.

Author William Graham link link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list

SpaceX Falcon 9 - ORBCOMM OG2-1

  SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.1 - ORBCOMM OG2-1 - Launching July 14, 2014

Screenshot from SpaceX Webcast of the launch of ORBCOMM OG2-1

Mission Rundown: 

SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.1 - ORBCOMM OG2-1

Written: February 4, 2021

Lift Off Time	July 14, 2014 - 15:15 UTC - 11:15 EDT
Mission Name	ORBCOMM OG2-1
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	OrbComm
Rocket	Falcon 9 V1.1 serial number B1007
Launch Location	Space Launch Complex 40 - SLC-40 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Payload	6 SN-100A Communication and Tracking Satellites
Payload mass	1 316 kg ~ 2 901 pounds
Where are the satellites going?	Low Earth Orbit on a 620 km x 740 km x 47o
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?	No. It’s an soft controlled test landing on the ocean
Where will the first stage land?	In the Atlantic ocean to demonstrate the future landing profile of Falcon 9 on barges
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	No - Not expected to survive reentry or water impact
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:	– 10th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 5th flight of Falcon 9 V1.1 rocket – 9th SpaceX launch from SLC-40 – 10th crash landing. Soft, hard, deliberate, ups… – 3rd test landing of a booster just with landing legs – 3rd mission for SpaceX in 2014
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Want to learn more link visit Tim Dodd

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

T-00:15:19 Host: T 00:00:00 T+00:01:25 T+00:02:42 T+00:02:52 T+00:03:00 T+00:03:04 T+00:06:00 T+00:11:30 T+00:09:37 - T+00:14:35 T+00:15:45 T+00:16:55

SpaceX live feed at 00:00 Our master's voice by John Insprucker Liftoff at 15:20 MaxQ at 16:44 MECO 18:00, stage separation 18:03 SES-1 at 18:11 No Boost brake burn at ??? Faring separation at 18:23 Entry burn by three Merlin 1D for ?? seconds Landing burn  by one Merlin 1D for 30 seconds SECO at 24:56 and coasting Rap up from 25:52 SpaceX doesn't show OrbComm deployment at 29:56 Second pair deployed Third pair deployed

CASSIOPE	SES-8	Thaicom 6	CRS-3	ORBCOMM OG2-1
AsiaSat 8	AsiaSat 6	CRS-4	CRS-5	DISCOVR

We got legs. We got Ocean. What’s missing?

SpaceX is targeting to launch ORBCOMM OG2 Mission 1 on Monday, June 14, 2014. The launch window opens at 15:15​ UTC. Source.

OrbComm is a family of low Earth orbit communications satellites, operated by the American satellite communications company OrbComm. As of July 2014, 51 such satellites have orbited Earth, with 50 still continuing to do so.

The Payload

OrbComm Generation 2 (OrbComm-OG2) second-generation satellites are intended to supplement and eventually replace the current first generation constellation. Eighteen satellites were ordered by 2008—nominally intended to be launched in three groups of six during 2010–2014—and by 2015 have all been launched, on three flights. OrbComm has options for a further thirty OG2 spacecraft.

The first OrbComm-OG2 launch with a Dragon didn’t go well, when NASA insisted that their mission to the ISS took priority, when the first stage booster V1.0 couldn’t lift the second stage all the way up in orbit, because a Merlin 1C failed during ascent.

The OrbComm-OG2 satellite was for safety reasons left in a too low orbit, so it burned up a few days later on 9 October 2012.

The second launch, with a constellation of six OG2 satellites, launched on July 14, 2014. The payload included six satellites weighing 172 kg (379 lb) each and two 142 kg (313 lb) mass simulators.

Elon Musk and OrbComm planned in the early days to launch the 18 Orbcomm-OG2 one by one on the smaller Falcon 1e rocket. But Falcon 9 V1.1 could launch six, and Falcon 9 Full Thrust could launch the rest, meaning 11 satellites weighing 172 kg (379 lb) each and one 142 kg (313 lb) mass simulator.

The prime contractor for the OG2 program is the Sierra Nevada Corporation, with Argon ST of Virginia producing their communications subsystems.

Each spacecraft is based on Sierra Nevada’s SN-100A bus, with a mass of 172 kilograms (380 lb) and is designed for an operational lifespan of at least five years. The spacecraft are each powered by a gallium-arsenide solar panel producing 400 watts of electrical power. Each OG2 spacecraft is three-axis stabilized with hydrazine thrusters used for attitude control.

The satellites’ communications systems offer transfer rates up to four megabits per second at VHF frequencies between 137 and 153 megahertz, with each vehicle also carrying an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver to pick up identification and tracking signals broadcast by ships at sea – OrbComm intends to sell this data to coastguard services.

1, 2, 3 testing. Just testing

Following the end of the use of the first stage for the OrbComm orbital mission, SpaceX used the booster stage—which would ordinarily be destroyed on reentering the Earth's atmosphere and impact with the ocean—for a flight test of a number of reusable launch vehicle technologies to safely reenter and execute a "soft vertical landing" on the ocean surface. This is the third attempt on a controlled descent and landing on water.

Equipped for the second time with landing legs, the first-stage booster successfully conducted a controlled-descent test consisting of a burn (boost back or brake burn) for deceleration from hypersonic velocity in the upper atmosphere, a reentry burn through the atmosphere, and a final landing burn before soft-landing on the ocean surface.

The first stage was not recovered as the hull integrity was breached on landing or on the subsequent "tip over and body slam". The First stage is about 47 meter high - 154 feet, so it packs a serious punch, when the top hits the water. Tweet from Elon Musk.

NASA WB-57 and Falcon 900EX on flight tracker. They will both monitor and record B1007 flight telemetry during the boost break burn, reentry burn and landing burn after stage separation.

The RP-1 fuel tank wasn’t depressurized so the petroleum vapors went Kaboom. That punctured the propellant tanks and booster B1007 went down engines first.

Author William Graham link link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list