SpaceX F9 - Turksat 5A - SLC-40

[Grendal]

The first launch of 2021!

Launch Date: January 7
Launch Window: 8:27 p.m.-12:29 a.m. EST on 6th/7th (0127-0529 GMT on 7th)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Core Booster Recovery: ASDS - JRTI
Booster: B1060.4
Fairings: TBD
Mass: Approx 3500 kg
Orbit: GTO to GEO

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Turksat 5A communications satellite for Turksat, a Turkish satellite operator. Built by Airbus Defense and Space with significant Turkish contributions, the Turkish 5A satellite will provide Ku-band television broadcast services over Turkey, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Türksat 5A - Wikipedia
Türksat 5A

Turkey picks Airbus for Turksat 5A and 5B - SpaceNews
Türksat 5A | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Everyday Astronaut

 

[Grendal]

80% go.

 

[ICUDoc]

2021- let's go, Spacex!

 

[Grendal]

Now it's 70% chance. The rocket is vertical on the pad.

 

[Grendal]

Webcast:

 

[Grendal]

45 minute delay. It has a long launch window and SpaceX is probably looking for the best weather window.

 

[Grendal]

Starting 2021 off right. Successful launch, MECO, SECO, and landing recovery of the booster so far. We have a 15 minute coast phase before another second stage burn.

Second stage burn successful and satellite deployed into GTO successfully.

Fairing recovery will be attempted. We'll find out about that later.

 

[ICUDoc]

No change in speed / velocity with SES-2?

 

[Cosmacelf]

Anyone else watch these communication satellites go up and wonder if the operators will get bankrupted by Starlink in a few years??

 

[e-FTW]

Nicely centered landing!

 

[MyJoule]

No change in speed / velocity with SES-2?

I think the ground station that was supposed to catch that data was off line. Looks like all was successful and they did get a good downlink of video for the release Way to go SpaceX. Making it look routine

 

[wwu123]

Anyone else watch these communication satellites go up and wonder if the operators will get bankrupted by Starlink in a few years??

No, as the function, bandwidth, and geographic concentration (at the equator, where Starlink will be the least dense) is entirely different.

 

[Cosmacelf]

No, as the function, bandwidth, and geographic concentration (at the equator, where Starlink will be the least dense) is entirely different.

Starlink will eventually cover such areas. As for function people will eventually cord cut. Who needs the equivalent of directv when you have streaming. Admittedly that will take a while.

 

[hmcgregoraz]

Starlink will eventually cover such areas. As for function people will eventually cord cut. Who needs the equivalent of directv when you have streaming. Admittedly that will take a while.

I expect most of these Geo satellites will be able to live out their expected life time (generally 15-20 years), and remain profitable for that time. I don't know if they will be able to be replaced and continue that longer term.

-Harry

 

[adiggs]

Rocket launch thread, and this comment is #14 in the thread.

Are we so blasé about putting things into orbit and landing / reusing the boosters? .

 

[bxr140]

No, as the function, bandwidth, and geographic concentration (at the equator, where Starlink will be the least dense) is entirely different.

Definitely function and frequency for the next decade or so, however, the ‘geographic concentration’ comment misses the mark. Virtually all radiated power from GEOs is directed at land mass, except for those specifically intended for ocean use (Inmarsats, for instance) or archipelagos with low land to water ratios; that the sats are located above the equator is in context pretty irrelevant.

GEOs classically have hyper specific physical shaping on their antenna surfaces, specifically relative to their orbital slots, in order to not waste energy broadcasting over oceans where nobody needs that service. Usually the roll off at the edge of a major continent is on the order of many tens to maybe a few hundred km, depending on the mission and the specific geometry. Something directly under a sat can have a very sharp cutoff, if the target land mass is near the edge of the earth disk (where user elevation is lowest) the antenna pattern contours spread out and smear a bit.