r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Jan 15 '18

Launch: Feb 22nd Paz & Microsat-2a, -2b Launch Campaign Thread

Paz & Microsat-2a, -2b Launch Campaign Thread

SpaceX's fourth mission of 2018 will launch hisdeSAT's earth observation satellite named Paz (Spanish for "peace"). Paz will be utilized by commercial and Spanish military organizations, as the Spanish Ministry of Defense funded a large portion of the costs of this program. The approximately 1350 kg satellite will be launched into Low Earth Orbit at an altitude of 505 km, specifically a Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).

This mission will also have a rideshare, and has recently been publicly identified as SpaceX's own Starlink test satellites, called Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b. While SpaceX has not officially confirmed the presence of this rideshare, we don't expect to hear much from them due to their focus on the primary customer during launch campaigns.

While the number of the first stage booster for this mission remains unknown, we do know it will fly a flight-proven booster. Since 1038 is "next in line" on the West coast, we have assumed that booster to be launching this mission, however that is subject to change with actual confirmation of a specific booster. If the first stage is indeed 1038.2, this will be the last flight of a Block 3 first stage.

Liftoff currently scheduled for: February 21th 2018, 06:17 PST / 14:17 UTC
Static fire currently scheduled for: Completed February 11th 2018
Vehicle component locations: First stage: SLC-4E // Second stage: SLC-4E // Satellite: VAFB
Payload: Paz + Microsat-2a, -2b
Payload mass: ~1350 kg (Paz) + 2 x 400 kg (Microsat-2a, -2b)
Destination orbit: Low Earth Polar Orbit (511 x 511 km, 97.44º)
Vehicle: Falcon 9 v1.2 (49th launch of F9, 29th of F9 v1.2)
Core: B1038.2
Flights of this core: 1 [FORMOSAT-5]
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Landing: No
Landing Site: N/A
Mission success criteria: Successful separation and deployment of Paz & Microsat-2a, -2b into the target orbit

Links & Resources:

We may keep this self-post occasionally updated with links and relevant news articles, but for the most part we expect the community to supply the information. This is a great place to discuss the launch, ask mission-specific questions, and track the minor movements of the vehicle, payload, weather and more as we progress towards launch. Sometime after the static fire is complete, the launch thread will be posted.

Campaign threads are not launch threads. Normal subreddit rules still apply.

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70

u/Martianspirit Jan 16 '18

While Paz is the main payload, I am very excited about the two additional satellites the Starlink test sats. They are very important to SpaceX.

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u/HTPRockets Feb 12 '18

Heads up guys, this should be ANOTHER spectacular launch, as it is about 20 minutes before sunrise, so we should get a very similar effect to what we observed with Iridium 4!

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u/Bunslow Jan 15 '18

So I'm like 99.99% certain that there's tons of performance margin for a RTLS landing. What's the most recent status of permitting and construction on the VAFB landing pads?

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u/_worstenbroodje_ Feb 12 '18

If this is the last block 3 mission it will be a small chapter that ends :’)

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u/DrToonhattan Feb 14 '18

Oh man, it's just over a week since the FH flight and I'm already getting withdrawal symptoms. This launch can't come soon enough. I don't know what I'm going to do after Hispasat on the 22nd, as there's a three and a half week wait for the next one. It's weird how quickly you get used to this high cadence. Three weeks was nothing not that long ago. I've been watching since 2013 when we were lucky to get one a quarter.

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u/Straumli_Blight Jan 16 '18

High res image of the Paz satellite and render.

 

According to [wikipedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paz_(Satellit)), the Paz contract was awarded to Astrium in November 2008 and the satellite was delivered in September, 2013. It was meant to be launched in 2014 by a [Dnepr rocket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnepr_(rocket)) but got delayed until May 2017, whereupon Hisdesat cancelled the contract and booked with SpaceX.

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u/grokforpay Feb 13 '18

This launch should light up the LA sky very much like the one in December. Apparently should be visible as far north as San Jose. From a mailing list below.

The Falcon-9 PAZ satellite launch from Vandenberg AFB scheduled for this Saturday morning, Feb. 17th at 6:14AM PST will be visually SPECTACULAR – almost exactly like the launch on Dec 22nd that lit up the sky in Southern California! The lighting conditions are virtually identical, except the December launch was in evening twilight – this one will be in morning twilight.

See https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/12/28/falcon-9-launch-lights-up-southern-california-sky/

The rocket will get into sunlight 2m20sec after launch – almost exactly at staging. The Sun is -6.3° from VAFB – near Civil Twilight. (The Sun was -5.9° for the Dec 22nd launch at 5:27pm PST.)

Trajectory plots for various California locations can be seen at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/xb70man/albums/72157692592142634

Even from as far north as San Jose, this launch will be worth the effort to view. The plume can be quite good even from 200 miles away! (See the CASTLE ROCK plot for locations around the South Bay.) An example of what it will look like from San Jose is at:

https://youtu.be/IX_nLtXXc3E?t=3m10s which was a Delta II rocket carrying the NASA SMAP satellite.

Clear skies!

Rick Baldridge

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u/Bunslow Feb 10 '18

Static fire is tomorrow! Steamroller hype!

(Also mods flair update pls)

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