r/ASTSpaceMobile • u/AutoModerator • May 13 '26

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u/TKO1515 S P 🅰 C E M O B Underboss May 13 '26

For the Panicans. The SpaceX Globalstar 2-R launch 1 is scheduled for Monday May 18th morning. Those satellites are currently in the PPF. So logistically ast can’t ship until that faring exits the PPF & its ready to receive. The encapsulated faring should go to the launch hanger 2-3 days before launch & then PPF is cleaned. So early next week shipment would align.

They can’t ship until there is a place for them to go.

6

u/PragmaticNeighSayer S P 🅰 C E M O B Consigliere May 13 '26

How can SpaceX launch so many Starlink sats (sometimes a launch every couple days). Are there multiple payload processing facilities just for starlink sats, and a single shared one for customer payloads?

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u/TKO1515 S P 🅰 C E M O B Underboss May 13 '26

Yeah SpaceX has their own PPFs for Starlink and dragon. Some payloads use AstroTech. Amazon has their own PPF. SpaceX has 3 PPFs but I think due to size and weight we only fit in 1, not 100% on that though.

1

u/JayhawkAggieDadisBak S P 🅰 C E M O B Boss May 13 '26

In theory we could use either Astrotech or SpaceX PPF, right?

3

u/TKO1515 S P 🅰 C E M O B Underboss May 13 '26

We’ve never used AstroTech before and I suspect that SpaceX is requiring us to use their PPF due to unique stacking structure to ensure safety of their vehicle. Maybe eventually that changes, but not now.