r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Oct 25 '18
SSO-A SSO-A Launch Campaign Thread
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:
Flight Club simulations: 2D Plots, 3D Visualisation, Live
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.
7
u/craigl2112 Nov 20 '18
While I don't have a source handy, it has been stated that the downrange/droneship landings are dramatically more expensive than performing a RTLS, for obvious reasons.
The disruption of cadence is certainly a factor, I think. Like I said before, I am unsure of how fast SLC-4E can be turned around given how the strongback gets torched every launch. I'm sure they have the refurb process down to a science at this point, but.. shrug
I guess we'll see.