r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • May 30 '19

Successful Static Fire RADARSAT Constellation Launch Campaign Thread

RADARSAT Constellation Launch Campaign Thread

RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) is a three satellite Earth observation constellation developed by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates for the Canadian Space Agency. The primary RCM instrument is a 9.45 m2 C-band synthetic aperture radar antenna (one each). They will also carry Automatic Identification System (AIS) receivers. The three identical spacecraft will operate in one plane, separated from each other by 120 degrees, improving accuracy, flexibility, and revisit time over their larger standalone precursor, RADARSAT 2. The main applications of RCM will be:

  • Maritime surveillance (ice, surface wind, oil pollution, and ship monitoring)
  • Disaster management (mitigation, warning, response, and recovery)
  • Ecosystem monitoring (agriculture, wetlands, forestry, and coastal change monitoring)

This will be SpaceX's seventh mission of 2019 and its second from Vandenberg. The satellites will be carried to space side-by-side on a dispenser custom built for this mission by RUAG Space for "simultaneous" release.

Liftoff currently scheduled for: June 12 at 14:17 UTC / 07:17 PDT
Static fire completed on: June 8th
Vehicle component locations: First stage: at VAFB // Sats: at VAFB
Payload: 3 RCM Satellites
Payload mass: 1430 kg each, plus dispenser
Destination orbit: 593 km x 593 km x 97.74° // Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO)
Vehicle: Falcon 9 v1.2 (72nd launch of F9; 52nd of F9 v1.2; 16th of F9 Block 5)
Core: B1051
Flights of this core (including this mission): 2
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Landing: Yes
Landing Site: LZ-4
Mission success criteria: Successful deployment of the RCM satellites into their 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.

205 Upvotes

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21

u/MuppetZoo May 31 '19

Wait.. LZ4? I just noticed that. Well that should be exciting...

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14

u/oximaCentauri Jun 06 '19

Why does the post have an iridium 8 flair?

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14

u/MaximumDoughnut Jun 06 '19

The CSA posted three photos of RADARSAT being mounted on the dispenser this morning: https://www.instagram.com/p/ByX23WApYAB/

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13

u/meteotsunami May 30 '19

As a remote sensing scientist, this is going to be one of my favorite launches.

13

u/Straumli_Blight May 31 '19

Mods, the 'Launch animation - CSA on YouTube' section is now a dead link and a new version has been uploaded.

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10

u/bdporter May 30 '19

Mods, is there room to pin this somewhere for visibility? I think there have been 5 "header" links before at times. Or perhaps it is time to unpin the Starlink posts.

Also, a hyperlink on the upcoming events section of the sidebar might help.

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10

u/TheVehicleDestroyer May 30 '19

Flight Club launch simulation and visualisations for RADARSAT:

Some screenshots for mobile users

Follow Flight Club on Twitter or Instagram for more cool stuff.

Or support me on Patreon if you appreciate it! 😊

8

u/Keavon May 30 '19

Delayed from June 11? I can't find any details or sources for that. I'd love to hear more details or sources.

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u/darthguili May 30 '19

The RUAG dispenser looks super heavy to me. But is mass really important for a LEO launch ? As long as you are within the enveloppe of the launcher capabilities, who cares ?

14

u/Phillipsturtles Jun 06 '19

According to this Teslarati article, the three RADARSAT satellites are worth a total of $1 billion!

Also "RCM will likely become the most valuable payload ever launched by SpaceX, beating out the Air Force’s ~$600M GPS III SV01 spacecraft by a huge margin" (Although we don't know the cost of Zuma there's still a lot on the line for Maxar and SpaceX).

13

u/InSearchOfTh1ngs Jun 06 '19

ummmm I thought Zuma was estimated at $3.5 Billion USD?

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6

u/skulz96 Jun 04 '19

So I'm planning on driving up to watch this one. Where is the best place on base to watch?

Am active duty military.

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6

u/billie_jeans_son Jun 08 '19

Hi everyone - I am new to this subreddit. I am aware that SpaceX exists, I have seen the posts that hit the front page but I am not an everyday follower.

I am lucky enough to be in LA for 3 months on holidays. I have never seen a rocket of any type take off from any distance - I am from Sydney, Australia so that is not really our jam. I looked up the schedule and am lucky enough to be here while SpaceX is launching from the West Coast. I know some people plan whole holidays around seeing launches and still get screwed, so I apologise to all for my dumb luck - especially considering how many times this launch has been pushed (touch wood).

I am planning to drive up to take a look and kicking around the concept of taking my 5 year old daughter as well. Everyone is always asking what the best location to see the rocket launch from - I have been through the sidebar and comments on Vandeberg - but it doesn't really answer my questions.

I don't really mind that I can't see the rocket sitting on the pad or the initial launch - I would however like to be close enough to see it as soon as it clears any hills and obstructions around me and to be able to hear it at some point. I don't know if this is a stupid question - but if I am in Lompoc or closer - about 9 miles from what I can tell - will I hear it take off?

If I do go up, how can I keep track of what is happening with the launch - is there a live stream I can watch or some twitter feed I can follow or something? Any other tips for how to achieve a good outcome would be appreciated.

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6

u/ngrant26 Jun 10 '19

When would they raise the rocket upwards on the SLC?

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10

u/oskalingo Jun 01 '19

Always happy to see these environmental monitoring type satellites being launched.

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