Featured image credit: SpaceX
Lift Off Time | June 8, 2022 – 21:04 UTC | 17:04 EDT |
|---|---|
Mission Name | Nilesat-301, a communication satellite |
Launch Provider | SpaceX |
Customer | Nilesat |
Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5, B1062-7; 39.98 day turnaround time |
Launch Location | Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, USA |
Payload mass | ~ 4,100 kg (9,000 lb) |
Where are the satellites going? | Geostationary Earth Orbit, 7° West Slot (Initial Orbit: Supersynchronous GTO-1600) |
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage? | Yes |
Where will the first stage land? | ~687 km downrange on Just Read the Instructions Tug: Bob; Support: Bob |
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings? | The fairing halves will be recovered from the water ~822 km downrange by Bob |
Are these fairings new? | No, both fairing halves are flight proven |
How’s the weather looking? | The weather is currently 60% GO for launch (as of June 7, 2022 12:30 UTC) |
This will be the: | – Furthest downrange recovery for a Falcon 9, ever (Previous Record: 681 km) – 157th Falcon 9 launch – 95th Falcon 9 flight with a flight proven booster – 99th re-flight of a booster – 21st re-flight of a booster in 2022 – 123rd booster landing – 49th consecutive landing (a record) – 23rd launch for SpaceX in 2022 – 88th SpaceX launch from SLC-40 – 63rd orbital launch attempt of 2022 |
Where to watch | Official Livestream |
What’s This All Mean?
SpaceX will launch the Nilesat-301 satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) atop the Falcon 9 Block 5. The vehicle will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and will place the payload into a Supersynchronous GTO-1600; this means the payload will only need 1,600 m/s of delta V to raise its orbit into its operational 7° West GEO slot.
What Is Nilesat-301?
Built by Thales Alenia Space, the Nilesat-301 satellite is a follow up to the Nilesat-101, Nilesat-102, Nilesat-103, and Nilesat-201 satellites. This geostationary satellite constellation provides television, radio, and data transmission to Northern Africa and the Middle East. Nilesat-301 will replace the aging Nilesat-201 satellite, which was launched in 2010 atop an Ariane 5.
The Nilesat-301 satellite has a launch mass of 4,100 kg and an on orbit mass of ~3,900 kg and is based on the Spacebus-4000B2 satellite bus. Attached to this bus are 32 Ku-band transponders and 6 Ka-band transponders. These are powered by two large deployable solar arrays, and batteries to hold power through the orbital night.
Nilesat-301 is equipped with an S400 engine which runs on monomethylhydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide. The S400 creates ~420 newtons of thrust in a vacuum with a specific impulse of 3,150 m/s (321 seconds).
What Is The Falcon 9 Block 5?
The Falcon 9 Block 5 is SpaceX’s partially reusable two-stage medium-lift launch vehicle. The vehicle consists of a reusable first stage, an expendable second stage, and, when in payload configuration, a pair of reusable fairing halves.
First Stage
The Falcon 9 first stage contains 9 Merlin 1D+ sea level engines. Each engine uses an open gas generator cycle and runs on RP-1 and liquid oxygen (LOx). Each engine produces 845 kN of thrust at sea level, with a specific impulse (ISP) of 285 seconds, and 934 kN in a vacuum with an ISP of 313 seconds. Due to the powerful nature of the engine, and the large amount of them, the Falcon 9 first stage is able to lose an engine right off the pad, or up to two later in flight, and be able to successfully place the payload into orbit.
The Merlin engines are ignited by triethylaluminum and triethylborane (TEA-TEB), which instantaneously burst into flames when mixed in the presence of oxygen. During static fire and launch the TEA-TEB is provided by the ground service equipment. However, as the Falcon 9 first stage is able to propulsively land, three of the Merlin engines (E1, E5, and E9) contain TEA-TEB canisters to relight for the boost back, reentry, and landing burns.
Second Stage
The Falcon 9 second stage is the only expendable part of the Falcon 9. It contains a singular MVacD engine that produces 992 kN of thrust and an ISP of 348 seconds. The second stage is capable of doing several burns, allowing the Falcon 9 to put payloads in several different orbits.
For missions with many burns and/or long coasts between burns, the second stage is able to be equipped with a mission extension package. When the second stage has this package it has a grey strip, which helps keep the RP-1 warm, an increased number of composite-overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) for pressurization control, and additional TEA-TEB.
Falcon 9 Booster
The booster supporting the Nilesast-301 mission is B1062, which has supported six previous flights. Hence, its designation for the Nilesat-301 mission is B1062-7; this will change to B1062-8 upon successful landing.
| B1062’s missions | Launch Date (UTC) | Turnaround Time (Days) |
| GPS Block III SV04 | November 5, 2020 23:24 | N/A |
| GPS Block III SV05 | June 17, 2021 16:09 | 223.70 |
| Inspiration4 | September 16, 2021 0:02 | 90.33 |
| Starlink Group 4-5 | January 6, 2022 21:49 | 112.91 |
| Ax-1 | April 8, 2022 15:17 | 91.73 |
| Starlink Group 4-16 | April 29, 2022 21:27 | 21.26 |
| Nilesat-301 | June 8, 2022 21:04 | 39.98 |
Following stage separation, the Falcon 9 will conduct two burns. These burns aim to softly touch down the booster on one of SpaceX’s autonomous spaceport drone ships.
Falcon 9 Fairings
The Falcon 9’s fairing consists of two dissimilar reusable halves. The first half (the half that faces away from the transport erector) is called the active half, and houses the pneumatics for the separation system. The other fairing half is called the passive half. As the name implies, this half plays a purely passive role in the fairing separation process, as it relies on the pneumatics from the active half.
Both fairing halves are equipped with cold gas thrusters and a parafoil which are used to softly touch down the fairing half in the ocean. SpaceX used to attempt to catch the fairing halves, however, at the end of 2020 this program was canceled due to safety risks and a low success rate. On Nilesat-301, SpaceX will attempt to recover the fairing halves from the water with their recovery vessel Bob.
In 2021, SpaceX started flying a new version of the Falcon 9 fairing. The new “upgraded” version has vents only at the top of each fairing half, by the gap between the halves, whereas the old version had vents placed spread equidistantly around the base of the fairing. Moving the vents decreases the chance of water getting into the fairing, making the chance of a successful scoop significantly higher.
Nilesat-301 Countdown
All times are approximate
| HR/MIN/SEC | EVENT |
|---|---|
| 00:38:00 | SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load |
| 00:35:00 | RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading underway |
| 00:35:00 | 1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading underway |
| 00:16:00 | 2nd stage LOX loading underway |
| 00:07:00 | Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch |
| 00:01:00 | Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks |
| 00:01:00 | Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins |
| 00:00:45 | SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch |
| 00:00:03 | Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start |
| 00:00:00 | Falcon 9 liftoff |
Nilesat-301 Launch, Landing, and Deployment
All times are approximate
| HR/MIN/SEC | EVENT |
|---|---|
| 00:01:12 | Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket) |
| 00:02:34 | 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO) |
| 00:02:37 | 1st and 2nd stages separate |
| 00:02:45 | 2nd stage engine starts |
| 00:03:24 | Fairing deployment |
| 00:06:28 | 1st stage entry burn begins |
| 00:06:50 | 1st stage entry burn complete |
| 00:08:05 | 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO) |
| 00:08:19 | 1st stage landing burn begins |
| 00:08:42 | 1st stage landing |
| 00:26:56 | 2nd stage engine restarts |
| 00:28:02 | 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2) |
| 00:33:13 | Nilesat 301 deployment |
Tim, when will the 2nd stage renter for this mission. NileSat 301