SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 4 - Iridium Next 21-30 - SLC-4E

[Grendal]

Launch Date: NET October 4
Launch time: 1306 GMT (9:06 a.m. EDT; 6:06 a.m. PDT)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 10 satellites for the Iridium next mobile communications fleet. This is the third out of eight launches for Iridium. An additional launch may occur due to failure of a number of the satellites already launched.

This will be another ASDS landing attempt on JRTI as with all of the Iridium launches. All the current Iridium launches are contracted for new rockets. If there is an additional launch necessary, I would almost expect Iridium to use a previously flown booster to lower costs.

Iridium satellite constellation - Wikipedia

Matt Desch on Twitter

Formosat-5 now off “our” pad. @SpaceX informs us they need a few more days, so our L3 now Oct 4, 6:06am local. Ship 1st 2 sats tomorrow!
Click to expand...​

This will be SpaceX's 14th launch of the year.

 

[Electroman]

due to failure of a number of the satellites

Wow.. since the satellites from a single launch are all released one after the other and follow the same trajectory with more or less equid distance between them, if they lose a few how will they fill those specific slots that failed?

 

[Dave EV]

An additional launch may occur due to failure of a number of the satellites already launched.

Any more information on these failures? That's the first I've heard of any failures of the NEXT satellites.

Edit: Some websites one can use to watch Iridium satellite status:
Iridium Constellation Status
Iridium in Space - Iridium.online
Stuff in Space (more than just Iridium, you can see SpaceX boosters still floating around - 5 from this year still up according to the site)

Wow.. since the satellites from a single launch are all released one after the other and follow the same trajectory with more or less equid distance between them, if they lose a few how will they fill those specific slots that failed?

Shifting satellites between spots in the same plane is easy - just lower the orbit of the satellite, wait until it catches up to the right spot, then raise it back up again.

Shifting satellites between planes is harder - you have to change the inclination and wait until the satellite drifts over far enough, then straighten it back out again.

 

[Grendal]

Any more information on these failures? That's the first I've heard of any failures of the NEXT satellites.

Edit: Some websites one can use to watch Iridium satellite status:
Iridium Constellation Status
Iridium in Space - Iridium.online
Stuff in Space (more than just Iridium, you can see SpaceX boosters still floating around - 5 from this year still up according to the site)

Wow. It looks like I have made an error. I am mixing up the new Iridium Next with the older Iridium satellites which have had a few failures. From Wiki:

As of mid 2016, Iridium has experienced in-orbit failures which cannot be corrected with in-orbit spare satellites, thus only 64 of the 66 satellites required for seamless global coverage are in operation. Therefore, service interruptions can be observed, especially around the equatorial region where the satellite footprints are most spread out and there is least overlap.

In reading an article on that I incorrectly thought it was failures of these new satellites.

Thanks for spotting the error and allowing me to correct the bad data.

 

[e-FTW]

Stuff in Space (more than just Iridium, you can see SpaceX boosters still floating around - 5 from this year still up according to the site)

Whoa, this is an awesome site! I may spend the evening there, looking at numbers change...
Are those second stages? I have to think so.

 

[Grendal]

Whoa, this is an awesome site! I may spend the evening there, looking at numbers change...
Are those second stages? I have to think so.

It does take a while for some of the second stages to de-orbit. In some cases a couple years from what I've picked up.

Agreed that is an awesome site. Thanks for sharing Drees.

 

[e-FTW]

It does take a while for some of the second stages to de-orbit. In some cases a couple years from what I've picked up.

Agreed that is an awesome site. Thanks for sharing Drees.

And do they fully burn up, or did they calculate that those de-orbits would fall into the ocean? If it is the latter, man do I suck at math compared to those folks... I can barely calculate a tip.

 

[dhanson865]

It does take a while for some of the second stages to de-orbit. In some cases a couple years from what I've picked up.

Agreed that is an awesome site. Thanks for sharing Drees.

if they ever do.

* Falcon 1 from 2008 still up there (Ratsat, or DemoSat, was a 165-kilogram non-functional boilerplate spacecraft used as a mass simulator on the fourth flight of the Falcon 1 rocket.)
* Falcon 1 from 2009 still up there (On 14 July 2009, Falcon 1 made its final flight and successfully delivered the Malaysian RazakSAT satellite to orbit on SpaceX's first commercial launch)
* Falcon 9 from 2010 still up there

and so on totaling 12 falcon 9 bodies and 2 falcon 1 bodies if I counted right.

Stuff in Space - http://stuffin.space/?intldes=2013-055G&search=falcon

 

[oneday]

No idea if this will effect SpaceX launch but I figure it was relevant since it's a Vandenberg launch.

"

Media Update: ULA Atlas V NROL-42 Launch
(Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Sept. 8, 2017) - The ULA Atlas V carrying the NROL-42 mission scheduled for Sept. 14 from Vandenberg Air Force Base has been postponed. The launch vehicle and spacecraft are healthy and secure at Space Launch Complex-3.
The decision to delay launch is based on the current forecasting for Hurricane Irma. Some critical members of the ULA launch team that support launch on both coasts are returning to Florida due to the threat from Hurricane Irma which is currently forecast to impact the Cape Canaveral area early Monday morning. The safety of our employees and their families are at the forefront of this decision. Hurricane preparations and hardware securing are underway at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A new launch date for the NROL-42 mission will be determined once the impacts of the storm are understood."

 

[Grendal]

if they ever do.

* Falcon 1 from 2008 still up there (Ratsat, or DemoSat, was a 165-kilogram non-functional boilerplate spacecraft used as a mass simulator on the fourth flight of the Falcon 1 rocket.)
* Falcon 1 from 2009 still up there (On 14 July 2009, Falcon 1 made its final flight and successfully delivered the Malaysian RazakSAT satellite to orbit on SpaceX's first commercial launch)
* Falcon 9 from 2010 still up there

and so on totaling 12 falcon 9 bodies and 2 falcon 1 bodies if I counted right.

Stuff in Space - http://stuffin.space/?intldes=2013-055G&search=falcon

Along these lines:

Jonathan McDowell on Twitter

The Falcon 9 second stage from the JCSAT-14 launch reentered on Sep 16 after a year in geotransfer orbit

 

[Grendal]

Back to the topic of this thread:

Matt Desch on Twitter

T - minus 14 days and counting! Satellites all mated and being fueled today.

 

[Grendal]

SES-11 has been delayed making this the 14th launch of the year again. Also, this will be a Block 4 booster. This is the third Block 4 used and hopefully recovered. If successful, this will be the 16th recovered booster.

 

[Grendal]

Ring around the Rosey...

Iridium is also delayed.

Now targeting a launch of:

Launch Date: Oct. 9th - Monday
Launch time: 1237 GMT (8:37 a.m. EDT; 5:37 a.m. PDT)

So SES will be a sunset launch and Iridium will be a sunrise launch.

So Iridium is again the 15th launch for SpaceX and SES-11 is now the 14th.

Unless something happens from the static fires or prep work then both of these dates should be pretty solid.

 

[Grendal]

The stack is prepped and ready to go:

 

[miimura]

The stack is prepped and ready to go:

I must be missing something. How is that a stack of 10 satellites?

 

[Grendal]

I must be missing something. How is that a stack of 10 satellites?

It's pentagonal? Five in the top and five in the bottom...

 

[miimura]

It's pentagonal? Five in the top and five in the bottom...

That would be a solution, but that's not what I'm seeing in that picture. The sides facing the camera look perpendicular.

 

[dhanson865]

That would be a solution, but that's not what I'm seeing in that picture. The sides facing the camera look perpendicular.

doesn't look that way to me, I'd say it is 5 sided x 2

edit: how about this view

 

[Grendal]

doesn't look that way to me, I'd say it is 5 sided x 2

or another possibility (6 sided with 1 blank ) x 2

I'm pretty sure the dispenser is made specifically for Iridium. So a blank would not make much sense.

Here is a picture that might clear it up a bit:

The shape of the one on its side sure looks like it part of a five sided structure. The sides are not at a 45 degree angle.

 

[dhanson865]

I'm pretty sure the dispenser is made specifically for Iridium. So a blank would not make much sense.

Yeah, I edited that part back out after finding the stacking picture I edited in.

I don't think your picture with only one mounted helps as the visual difference between a 36 degree and 45 degree angle on something like that is hard to eyeball without a reference.