Lift Off Time (Subject to change) |
August 7th, 2018 at 01:18 a.m. EDT until 3:18 a.m. EDT (05:18 – 07:18 UTC)(There is a two hour long launch window) |
|---|---|
Mission Name and what it is |
Merah Putih (Formerly Telkom-4) communications satellite |
Launch Provider (What rocket company is launching it?) |
SpaceX |
Customer (who’s paying for this?) |
Telkom Indonesia |
Rocket |
Falcon 9 (Block 5) Serial Number B1046.2 (What’s the difference between block 4 and block 5? Click here to find out) |
Launch Location |
Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida |
Payload mass |
5800 KG (12,800 pounds) |
Where’s the satellite going? |
Geostationary Transfer Orbit, 108 degrees East |
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage? |
Yes |
Where will the first stage land? |
“Of Course I Still Love You” (OCISLY) The autonomous spaceport drone ship parked a few hundred km downrange in the Atlantic Ocean |
Will they be attempting to recover the fairing? |
No, currently only west coast launches have fairing recovery attempts |
Will they be attempting to recover the second stage? |
Currently there have been no known attempts to recover a Falcon 9 or Heavy second stage |
This will be the: |
60th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, 15th mission for SpaceX in 2018, 28th successfully landed core, 15th reflown booster, 2nd flight of this particular booster (Previously flew the Bangabandhu-1 mission), 1st reflight of a Block 5 booster |
Where to watch |
SpaceX official Stream
Maybe even more fun you can watch with me starting at T minus 30! Come ask questions and join the conversation live! If you happen to be in the area, here’s where you can watch in person! |
What’s all this mean?
SpaceX got paid by Telkom Indonesia to send the Merah Putih satellite towards its parking orbit. SpaceX will be launching the satellite on top of one of their Falcon 9 rockets. The rocket is currently at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at the launch pad, SLC-40, waiting for its chance to fly.
There’s a two hour window of opportunity for the Falcon 9 to take off. Since the Falcon 9 uses super chilled propellants, once it begins to fuel up, it has to basically commit to the T-0 time. If a problem pops up once fuel is flowing, there normally isn’t enough time to detank the rocket and refill again within the window of opportunity and the launch will be scrubbed.
Telkom Indonesia is the largest telecommunications network provider in Indonesia. They hired Space Systems Loral (SSL) to build the satellite which will replace the aging Telkom 1 satellite. The satellite is based on the SSL-1300 platform with 60 C-band transponders, of which 36 of them will be used in Indonesia and the rest will be used in India.
The Falcon 9 rocket will be attempting to land on the drone ship (OCISLY) and we expect a successful recovery. Why do they land on the droneship sometimes, on land other times, or sometimes not at all? Here’s a video for you:
Although SpaceX is working on recovering the large, $6,000,000 fairings that protect the satellites during ascent, they are only attempting to recovering them on the west coast (for now).
I will be livestreaming this launch starting at T minus 30 minutes. So come ask questions and join the conversation live! If you want the best way to know when a launch is coming, I’d suggest downloading the SpaceXNow OR Launch Alarm apps to stay in the know!
Thanks everybody, that’s gonna do it for me, I’m Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut. Bringing space down to Earth for everyday people.
9 Comments
You can know everything from this. Awesome Work Tim.
Great prelaunch preview .. very detailed Information.. The best website.. Fabulous work Tim. keep it up. Love from India…
Great content! Very glad to see these getting posted :) Now I don’t have to scour through the SpaceX press kit :)
I believe it is the 61st f9 launch not the 60th. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Great job Tim, very useful :)
but ye, I actually believe this wasnt 60th, nor 61th F9 flight :DD Hispasat was widely reported as a 50th F9 mission – and assuming launch manifest on SX´s website is up to date prior next flight – it should be only 59th flight.
Clearly two of us three are missing something :D Can you double check it, Tim? thanks
Well, Im thinking about it… there is CRS-7 and Amos-6 missing in manifest, obviously. So, if Hispasat was 50th, it means CRS-7 was counted (tho is missing in manifest) and Amos-6 wasnt counted (as it never actually lifted off). Still, it means (to me) today it was only 59th officialy counted flight. Pls, bring some more light to this guys, Im really curious :P
Ok, so I got it in the end (sry for the monologue) :P
The problem was I assumed SX´s manifest is complete…. it isnt. For some reason there is last CRS (15) flight missing in it – that makes it 60th.
Gabe, why do you think it was 61th? Did you count Amos-6 in there? (which we shouldnt I guess)
Hi Tim. Just watched this launch and excited to see the rapid reusability of these boosters. I’m wondering if this development puts all other space carriers out of business. IF spacex can use the booster 10x they need to build 10 boosters for every 100 boosters of any other launch provider. I don’t see how anyone else can compete. Let alone this allows spacex more room to develop new technology and gather more data from its launches. We all have be preached at that data is king and spacex has exponentially more data the any other launch provider. It also means spacex can work on the BFR and developing that launch system and not worry about building new rockets because it needs to build one rocket for every ten of any other provider. This is situation would be like if Tesla was the only electric car maker right now and if the other car makers were only pursuing hybrids (Ariane Space, Boeing (partial resuability)) or just not letting the public know what they had up there sleeve ( Blue Origin) while Tesla has already sold all the cars they could make for the next two years. (5000 a week level with the current deposit levels). To me it looks like a dire situation for all other providers. Elon was arguing with Warren buffet about moats in May and it looks like he has created a massive moat around this company he has right now in spacex.
Thanks Tim Dodd for this website.Now I am imformed of every launch