Fwd: SpaceX launches AsiaSat 6

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: September 7, 2014 9:43:07 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: SpaceX launches AsiaSat 6

 

AsiaSat Media Release

http://www.asiasat.com/asiasat/EN/upload/doc/pressrelease/news_e20140907.pdf

 

 

 

Florida Today

 

SpaceX delivers commercial satellite to orbit

James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 

2:20 a.m. EDT September 7, 2014

 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket takes flight from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying AsiaSat 6. Posted Sept. 7, 2014

 

SpaceX delivered another commercial communications satellite to orbit early Sunday, completing its second launch in just over a month for Hong Kong-based AsiaSat.

 

The AsiaSat 6 mission was postponed more than a week after a SpaceX test rocket failed in Texas.

 

But the 224-foot Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station showed no sign of trouble.

 

After a smooth countdown, the rocket roared from Launch Complex 40 at 1 a.m. with 1.3 million pounds of thrust, slightly later than planned to allow weather to clear.

 

Its trail of flame rose eastward over the Atlantic Ocean, illuminating a thin web of clouds overhead as it approached and cut through.

 

SpaceX confirmed the rocket deployed its payload as planned 32 minutes into the flight, earning the Falcon 9 a 12th successful flight in as many tries since 2010.

 

AsiaSat 6 was headed for an orbit 22,300 miles over the equator at 120 degrees East longitude, where it is designed to beam video and telecommunications services to China and Southeast Asia for at least 15 years.

 

"Although it has quite a large coverage, its main focus is to add additional capacity for China," said AsiaSat CEO William Wade.

 

The addition of AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8 – the latter launched by a Falcon 9 on Aug. 5 – grows the company's fleet to six spacecraft.

 

Thaicom will operate half of the newest satellite's 28-transponder capacity under the name Thaicom 7.

 

SpaceX launched Thaicom 6 in January, and since has completed three more commercial satellite missions and one for NASA delivering cargo to the International Space Station.

 

SpaceX's next ISS cargo launch from Cape Canaveral is scheduled no earlier than Sept. 19, a few days after a planned United Launch Alliance Atlas V mission.

 

The test rocket that failed Aug. 22 in McGregor, Texas, was a single-stage, three-engine rocket SpaceX used to advance development of reusable boosters, which the company believes can dramatically lower launch costs.

 

CEO Elon Musk said a blocked sensor port resulted in the rocket blowing itself up, and that additional sensors on operational Falcon 9 rockets would have overcome the same problem. But SpaceX took time to "triple-check" systems before proceeding with Sunday's launch.

 

Because the launch was to a high orbit more than 20,000 miles up, the Falcon 9 booster did not have enough extra fuel for SpaceX to try flying it back to a soft ocean landing for recovery.

 

The company may try that again on its next launch, of a Dragon cargo capsule to low Earth orbit.

 

SpaceX is one of several companies awaiting word from NASA on whether it has won a contract to launch astronauts from the Space Coast to the ISS, possibly by 2017.

 

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.

 

Copyright © 2014, Florida Today

 

 

 

SpaceX launches AsiaSat 6 relay station

09/07/2014 02:08 AM 

By WILLIAM HARWOOD

CBS News

 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered to life and vaulted into space early Sunday, boosting a commercial communications satellite into orbit for the Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co., the second AsiaSat relay station in a row to be launched by an upgraded Falcon 9.

 

Running 10 minutes late to give clouds more time to dissipate, the 224-foot-tall rocket's nine Merlin 1D first-stage engines ignited with a brilliant burst of orange flame at 1 a.m. EDT, throttled up to full thrust and quickly pushed the booster away from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

 

After an initially vertical climb out, the slender rocket tipped over to the east on computer command and raced toward space through thin clouds, rapidly shedding weight and accelerating as it consumed the first stage's load of liquid oxygen and kerosene rocket fuel.

 

The Merlin engines shut down about three minutes after liftoff, the spent first stage fell away and the Falcon 9 second stage's single Merlin engine fired up to continue the climb to orbit. An onboard "rocketcam" showed the engine nozzle glowing bright orange as the rocket streaked toward space.

 

Two second stage "burns" were required to put AsiaSat 6 into an initially elliptical orbit with a low point, or perigee, of around 115 miles and an apogee, or high point, of 22,230 miles. The satellite was released from the second stage about a half hour after launch and AsiaSat engineers successfully contacted the spacecraft shortly thereafter.

 

The flight plan called for on-board thrusters to fire over the next few days to circularize the orbit at 22,300 miles above the equator where communications satellites take 24 hours to complete one orbit and thus appear to hang stationary in the sky.

 

This was the second launch in just four-and-a-half weeks for SpaceX and the Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co., or AsiaSat, following the successful launch of the AsiaSat 8 relay station on Aug. 5. The AsiaSat 6 mission, including the satellite, rocket and insurance, was valued at $190 million.

 

SpaceX originally planned to launch AsiaSat 6 on Aug. 26, but the flight was put on hold after an experimental rocket used to test landing techniques at the company's McGregor, Texas, flight facility suffered an engine failure that triggered the vehicle's self-destruct system.

 

The test rocket was a modified Falcon 9 first stage powered by 3 Merlin 1D engines. Reviewing telemetry, engineers concluded the engine problem likely was caused by trouble with a single sensor.

 

Operational versions of the Falcon 9 utilize the same engine -- nine in the first stage and one in the second -- but multiple sensors are in place along with more robust computer control software. Company officials said a similar failure would have no impact on an operational mission and there were no signs of any trouble during Sunday's flight.

 

The back-to-back rapid-fire launchings marked a first for AsiaSat.

 

"These two satellites launching a month apart are really growth satellites for us," William Wade, AsiaSat's president and CEO, told Spaceflight Now in a pre-launch interview. "They're not replacements. They're new, incremental growth satellites for us across Asia, with C-band on AsiaSat 6 mainly in China, and Ku-band on AsiaSat 8, which was mainly for the Indian subcontinent as well as the Middle East."

 

Quickly launching two satellites in a row "is a little bit different for us," he said. "We went out and ordered two satellites at the same time from Loral, with the idea that we had opportunities to bring on new capacity for growth. This was new for us. I think it's unusual in the industry, particularly to use the same launcher back-to-back to launch two satellites in a row."

 

AsiaSat 8 included both C-band and Ku-band transponders for broadband service and direct-to-home television while AsiaSat 6 is equipped with 28 C-band transponders that will be shared equally by AsiaSat and Thaicom Public Co.

 

"For AsiaSat, the bulk of that capacity as we see it will be used in China -- C-band capacity in China for video services and other telecommunications and data services in China -- whereas we expect the Thais to use it for data services in Southeast Asia," Wade said.

 

AsiaSat 8 was expected to go into service around Sept. 1 following several weeks of tests and checkout. AsiaSat 6 is expected to follow suit in early October.

 

"It takes a few days to do orbit-raising and get all the antennas deployed," Wade said. "Then once all the deployments are done and everything is ready to go through in-orbit testing, we'll test all the transponders and subsystems. That usually takes a little less than 30 days. Once that's done, then it will come online."

 

SpaceX hopes to follow up its back-to-back commercial launches with a space station resupply mission, the company's fourth flight under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for 12 flights to deliver some 44,000 pounds of cargo to the orbiting lab complex. Launch is targeted for Sept. 19.

 

© 2011 William Harwood/CBS News

 

 

 

SpaceX achieves back-to-back successes for AsiaSat

BY STEPHEN CLARK

SPACEFLIGHT NOW

September 7, 2014

 

Putting on a late summer sky show along Florida's Space Coast, a Falcon 9 rocket climbed into space after midnight Sunday with a commercial communications satellite to connect growing markets in China and Southeast Asia.

 

The mission began at 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT) Sunday with the fiery ignition of the 224-foot-tall launcher's nine Merlin first stage engines. Once the kerosene-burning engines ramped up to full power, the Falcon 9 rocket soared away from Cape Canaveral atop a flickering pillar of red-hot exhaust, piercing through clouds before arcing east over the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The rocket's booster stage gave way to a single-engine upper stage about three minutes after liftoff, beginning the first of a pair of burns to propel the nearly five-ton AsiaSat 6 communications satellite to geostationary transfer orbit, a waypoint on its way to a permanent operating post fixed 22,300 miles over the equator.

 

SpaceX declared the launch a success shortly after 1:30 a.m. EDT (0530 GMT), when the Falcon 9 was programmed to release AsiaSat 6 into an egg-shaped transfer orbit.

 

AsiaSat, a commercial satellite operator based in Hong Kong, confirmed ground controllers established communications with AsiaSat 6 a few minutes later, verifying its functionality after Sunday's launch.

 

The mission was valued at $190 million, including the launcher, satellite and insurance, according to William Wade, AsiaSat's president and CEO.

 

Manufactured by Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif., AsiaSat 6 was expected to raise its orbit to geosynchronous altitude within a few days, where it will hover over the equator for its 15-year mission.

 

"It takes a few days to do orbit-raising and get all the antennas deployed, and then once all the deployments are done and everything is ready to go through in-orbit testing, where we'll test all the transponders and subsystems," Wade said in an interview before the launch of AsiaSat 6. "That usually takes a little less than 30 days, and once that's done, then it will come online."

 

If everything goes as planned, AsiaSat 6 should be operational some time in October.

 

The spacecraft hosts 28 C-band transponders and two communications beams.

 

AsiaSat will share up to 50 percent of the satellite's communications capacity with Thaicom, Wade said.

 

"For AsiaSat, the bulk of that capacity as we see it will be used in China -- C-band capacity in China -- for video services and other telecommunications and data services ... whereas we expect the Thais to use it for data services in Southeast Asia," Wade said.

 

Thaicom has named its share of the satellite Thaicom 7.

 

"Our new bird will help fulfill the increasing demand in satellite capacity in Thailand and in the Asia-Pacific region," said Suphajee Suthumpun, chairman and CEO of Thaicom. "Thaicom 7 will help strengthen the company's servicing capacity, as well as allow it to expand into new markets overseas."

 

In a press release Sunday, Thaicom said its capacity on the new satellite was fully booked at the time of launch, made up of about 50 percent pre-launch sales, with the remainder in the final contract stages.

 

For AsiaSat, Sunday's launch marked the end of a nearly $400 million development program started in 2011. The initiative culminated in back-to-back launches of AsiaSat satellites aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets.

 

AsiaSat 8 lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 5 and was expected to enter service in early September. AsiaSat 6 was supposed to launch Aug. 26, but SpaceX delayed the flight to review data from a rocket mishap at the company's test site in Central Texas.

 

The prototype rocket lost in Texas uses the same type of Merlin engine as operational Falcon 9 missions, but investigators traced the cause of the mishap to a sensor failure. SpaceX officials said the Falcon 9 rocket uses more advanced software logic and is not susceptible to a single bad sensor.

 

"Our history has usually been a little bit more conservative where we launched satellites usually three-to-four years apart mainly for replacement satellites or some growth that way," Wade said. "But this is a little bit different for us. We went out and ordered two satellites at the same time from Loral, with the idea that we had opportunities to bring on new capacity for growth.

 

"These two satellites launching a month apart are really growth satellites for us," Wade said. "They're not replacements. They're new, incremental growth satellites for us across Asia, with C-band on AsiaSat 6 mainly in China, and Ku-band on AsiaSat 8, which was mainly for the Indian subcontinent as well as the Middle East."

 

AsiaSat paid SpaceX $52.2 million for each of the launches, according to regulatory filings.

 

AsiaSat's next satellite -- AsiaSat 9 -- is bigger than the two craft launched by SpaceX. It is booked to launch on an International Launch Services Proton rocket in late 2016 or early 2016.

 

"We don't have anything booked with [SpaceX] now, but certainly our experience with them would warrant a repeat," Wade said.

 

SpaceX's next launch is scheduled for no earlier than Sept. 19, when another Falcon 9 rocket will blast off from Florida with a Dragon cargo capsule on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

 

© 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.

 

 

 

Dazzling SpaceX Nighttime Launch Sends AsiaSat 6 Satellite Into Orbit

SPACE.com

By by Mike Wall, Senior Writer 

 

The private spaceflight company SpaceX successfully launched a new commercial telecommunications satellite for Asia early Sunday (Sept. 7) in a dazzling nighttime liftoff that ended a nearly two-week delay for the mission.

 

A SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT) Sunday, carrying the AsiaSat 6 satellite into space for Hong Kong-based firm AsiaSat. 

 

The launch was originally scheduled for Aug. 26, but SpaceX pushed it back to give engineers time to investigate the self-destruction of its Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) rocket during an Aug. 22 flight test in Texas.

 

SpaceX's F9R rocket prototype is quite different than the company's operational Falcon 9 booster, so the mishap did not raise any specific red flags about SpaceX's commercial liftoffs, company representatives said. But SpaceX wanted to do a thorough check of its launch systems regardless, to make sure all is well.

 

"What we do want to triple-check is whether even highly improbable corner case scenarios have the optimal fault detection and recovery logic," SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said in a statement late last month.

 

Sunday's launch appeared to go off without a hitch, with SpaceX declaring the mission a success about 30 minutes after liftoff. 

 

"Launch Success! At 1am ET, Falcon 9 lifted off carrying the AsiaSat 6 satellite." SpaceX representatives wrote in a Twitter update. "Contact [with] satellite is confirmed."

 

AsiaSat 6, which was built by California-based firm Space Systems/Loral, will distribute broadband and video service throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It has a design life of 15 years. AsiaSat is sharing half of AsiaSat 6's communications capacity with Thailand satellite communications company Thaicom, which has named its part of the satellite Thaicom-7.

 

"The launch of Thaicom-7 is a great success," said Thaicom CEO Suphajee Suthumpun in a statement. "I would like to thank our partners and team for a job well done. Our new bird will help fulfill the increasing demand in satellite capacity in Thailand and in the Asia Pacific region."

 

Sunday's liftoff marked the second time in two months that SpaceX delivered a payload for AsiaSat. A Falcon 9 rocket launched the AsiaSat 8 satellite into orbit on Aug. 5, with Sunday's AsiaSat 6 launch marking successful back-to-back flights for AsiaSat for SpaceX.

 

"This year marks a major milestone for AsiaSat," said AsiaSat President and CEO William Wade in a statement. "The addition of AsiaSat 6 to AsiaSat's expanding fleet of five in-orbit satellites including the new AsiaSat 8 significantly enhances our capability to offer a wider range of transponder capacity to our clients."

 

SpaceX has managed to bring the first stage of a Falcon 9 back to Earth for a soft ocean splashdown twice this year during successful satellite launches. No such attempts were made during either AsiaSat launch, however.

 

SpaceX's work with the F9R is part of an effort to develop fully and rapidly reusable launch systems, a key priority for the company. Such technology could slash the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100, Musk has said.

 

Next up for SpaceX is the Sept. 19 launch of the company's Dragon capsule on an unmanned cargo run to the International Space Station for NASA. SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion deal with the space agency to fly 12 such missions and has already completed three of those flights.

 

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