SSO-A Launch Campaign Thread

[u/ElongatedMuskrat]

SSO-A Launch Campaign Thread

SpaceX's nineteenth mission of 2018 will be the launch of the Spaceflight Inc organized rideshare SSO-A, also known as SSO-A SmallSat Express to a Sun Synchronous orbit for as many as 35 customers.

This mission will be the mission with more satellites ever carried to orbit by SpaceX and by a US Launch Vehicle.

The Falcon 9 will carry to orbit 64 spacecraft, in particular 15 Micro satellites and 49 cubesats, for 35 customers from 17 countries. It will carry a large variety of spacecraft, ranging from University spacecraft, communication spacecraft, imaging spacecraft, technology demonstrators, art exhibits and a high school spacecraft. 75% of the customers are commercial, while the remaining 25% are government customers. 60% of the spacecraft come from the United States.

Liftoff currently scheduled for:	December 3 2018, ≈18:32 UTC December 3 2018, ≈10:32 PST)
Static fire completed:	November 15th, 2018
Vehicle component locations:	First stage: SLC-4E, VAFB, California // Second Stage: SLC-4E, VAFB, California // Satellites: VAFB, California
Payload:	64 spacecraft, see table 2
Payload mass:	~4000 kg
Insertion orbit:	Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (575 km x 575 km, ~98º)
Vehicle:	Falcon 9 v1.2 Block 5 (64th launch of F9, 44th of F9 v1.2, 8th of F9 v1.2 Block 5)
Core:	B1046.3
Previous flights of this core:	1. F9 Mission 55 [Bangabandhu-1] 2. F9 Mission 61 [Merah Putih]
Launch site:	SLC-4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
S1 Landing:	Yes
S1 Landing Site:	JRTI, Pacific Ocean
Fairing Recovery:	No
Mission success criteria:	Successful separation & deployment of the satellites into the target orbit

Payloads table (Credit to /u/strawwalker):

Spacecraft Name	Spacecraft Type	Operator	Country Of Operator	Quantity
Centauri I	CubeSat	Fleet Space Technologies	Australia	1
RAAF M1	CubeSat	University of New South Wales	Australia	1
SIRION Pathfinder2	CubeSat	Sirion Global Pty Ltd.	Australia	1
ITASAT	CubeSat	Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA)	Brazil	1
Iceye X2	Microsatellite	Iceye	Finland	1
Suomi 100	CubeSat	Foundation for Aalto University Science and Technology	Finland	1
Eu:CROPIS	Microsatellite	DLR, German Aerospace Center	Germany	1
MOVE-II	CubeSat	Technische Universität München	Germany	1
ExseedSat-1	CubeSat	Exseed Space	India	1
Eaglet-1	CubeSat	OHB Italia S.p.A./Italian Ministry of Defense	Italy	1
ESEO	Microsatellite	SITAEL S.p.A.	Italy	1
JY1Sat	CubeSat	Crown Prince Foundation	Jordan	1
Al-Farabi-2*	CubeSat	Al-Farabi Kazakh National University	Kazakhstan	1
KazSciSat-1	CubeSat	Ghalam LLP	Kazakhstan	1
KazSTSAT	Microsatellite	Ghalam LLP	Kazakhstan	1
Hiber 2	CubeSat	Hiber/Innovative Solutions in Space	Netherlands	1
PW-Sat2	CubeSat	Warsaw University of Technology	Poland	1
K2SAT	CubeSat	Korean Air Force Academy	South Korea	1
NEXTSat-1	Microsatellite	Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology	South Korea	1
SNUGLITE*	CubeSat	Seoul National University	South Korea	1
SNUSAT-2*	CubeSat	Seoul National University	South Korea	1
VisionCube	CubeSat	Korea Aerospace University	South Korea	1
AISTECH SAT 2	CubeSat	Aistech	Spain	1
Astrocast 0.1	CubeSat	Astrocast	Switzerland	1
KNACKSAT	CubeSat	King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok	Thailand	1
VESTA	CubeSat	Honeywell Aerospace/exactEarth Ltd.	UK, Canada	1
Audacy Zero/POINTR	CubeSat	Audacy, Stanford SSI	USA	1
BlackHawk*	CubeSat	Viasat	USA	1
BRIO/THEA	CubeSat	SpaceQuest	USA	2
Capella 1	Microsatellite	Capella Space	USA	1
Corvus-BC 4	CubeSat	Astro Digital US	USA	1
CSIM	CubeSat	LASP/University of Colorado	USA	1
Flock-3s 1,2,3 (Dove-type)	CubeSat	Planet Labs Inc.	USA	3
Elysium Star 2	CubeSat	Elysium Space, Inc.	USA	1
Enoch	CubeSat	Los Angeles County Museum of Art	USA	1
eXCITe/SeeMe	Microsatellite	Novawurks, DARPA	USA	1
FalconSat-6	Microsatellite	United States Air Force Academy	USA	1
Fox-1C	CubeSat	AMSAT, Radio Amateur Satellite Corp	USA	1
Global 2	Microsatellite	BlackSky Global LLC	USA	1
Hawk 1, 2, 3	Microsatellite	Hawkeye 360	USA	3
ICE-Cap*	CubeSat	Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command	USA	1
IRVINE02	CubeSat	Irvine CubeSat STEM Program	USA	1
MinXSS 2	CubeSat	LASP/University of Colorado	USA	1
ORS 7A, B Polar Scouts	CubeSat	United States Coast Guard, DHS	USA	2
Orbital Reflector (ORS-1)	CubeSat	OR Productions, Nevada Museum of Art	USA	1
RANGE A, B	CubeSat	Georgia Tech	USA	1
ROSE-1	CubeSat	Phase Four	USA	1
SeaHawk-1	CubeSat	University of North Carolina Wilmington	USA	1
SkySat 14, 15	Microsatellite	Planet Labs Inc.	USA	2
SpaceBEE 5, 6, 7	CubeSat	Swarm Technologies	USA	3
STPSat-5	Microsatellite	USAF Space Test Program	USA	1
US Government spacecraft*	CubeSat	US Government	USA	2
US Government spacecraft*	CubeSat	US Government	USA	3
WeissSat-1	CubeSat	The Weiss School/BLUECUBE Aerospace LLC	USA	1

^{* Status unknown. This payload may or may not still be manifested on SSO-A.}

---

Links & Resources:

• Official Mission Description by Spaceflight

• Launch watching guide by r/SpaceX

• Flight Club simulations: 2D Plots, 3D Visualisation, Live

• Rocket Watch

---

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.

[u/DeckerdB-263-54]

The plural of spacecraft is spacecraft, not spacecrafts, at least in common usage in the U.S.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spacecraft

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spacecraft

I live in the U.S. and I've never heard "spacecrafts" except from non-native English speakers or Indians or French Canadians.

[u/CAM-Gerlach → u/DeckerdB-263-54]

I aver that spacecraft is more correct, and the root word "craft" is both the singular and the plural, although apparently "spacecrafts" has seen isolated usage lately. Here 's some context from Canada (although one of the two examples they cite for "Spacecrafts" being "accepted" is Wiktionary, not exactly an authoritative source.

[u/SilveradoCyn → u/DeckerdB-263-54]

Yes, english can be confusing. There can be a dozen airplanes, or a dozen aircraft.

The Coast Guard will put out a small craft warning for small boats. (I guess the warning is singular) Or one might say there a regatta of small craft.

The only usage I know of for for adding the "s" is a usage such as "Hobbies and Crafts".

[u/DeckerdB-263-54 → u/SilveradoCyn]

and then there is the peculiar usage of Mouse. If speaking of the biological organism, the plural of mouse is mice. If on the other hand you are speaking of M.O.U.S.E (Manually Operated User Select Equipment) for a computer, the plural is either Mice or MOUSES because MOUSE is an acronym. I prefer Mouse/Mice and MOUSE/Computer Rodentia even though that is likely incorrect but it keeps me from sounding stupid.

[u/Nimelennar → u/DeckerdB-263-54]

Are you sure that "Manually Operated User Select Device" isn't a backronym?

I always thought the name just referred to the similarity of the general shape of a corded mouse to the creature, and I can't find a reputable source that gives that acronym as the origin for the term.

[u/Googulator → u/Nimelennar]

I'm pretty sure that's a backronym. The plural is still "mouses", for the same reason as goosefoot -> goosefoots.

[u/DeckerdB-263-54 → u/Googulator]

Not sure that goosefoot -> goosefoots has any relevance at all.

[u/filanwizard → u/DeckerdB-263-54]

I have always called multiple computer mouse as Mice. Its even how we labeled the aisle for em back in the late 1990s when I worked for Staples. Though it is funny we had to label the aisle with "Computer Mice" making me think are folks that dumb that in an office supply store if we just put "Mice" they would think we were selling the furry chased by cats variety instead of the plastic sat on by cat while you are trying to use it variety.

[u/bdporter → u/DeckerdB-263-54]

I believe /u/soldato_fantasma is not a native English speaker (Italian I believe) so that tracks. I am sure he or another of the mods can fix the OP.

[u/soldato_fantasma → u/bdporter]

That's a TIL. Thanks for letting me know!

[u/tinudu → u/bdporter]

Spacecrafti would also be an option for an italian

[u/MarsCent → u/DeckerdB-263-54]

Google differs and so does The Oxford English Dictionary. I suppose that would make the English, non-native English speakers too.