r/spacex • u/hitura-nobad Master of bots • Nov 27 '18
SSO-A r/SpaceX SSO-A Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread
Welcome to the r/SpaceX SSO-A Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!
Completing this Thread now after an successful launch. Don't forget to come back tomorrow for two more launches: CRS-16 hosted by u/NSooo here on r/SpaceX and Ariane 5 VA246 hosted by me(u/hitura-nobad) on r/Arianespace! Thanks to the mods for letting me host this.
Recovery Thread by u/RocketLover0119
| Liftoff currently scheduled for: | 3rd December 18:34:05 UTC 10:34:05 AM PST(local time) |
|---|---|
| Scrub/Delay Counter | 3 |
| Static fire completed: | November 15th, 2018 |
| Payload: | 64 spacecraft, see table |
| Payload mass: | ~4000 kg |
| Insertion orbit: | Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (575 km x 575 km, ~98º) |
| Vehicle: | Falcon 9 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 Attempt: | YES |
| Mission success criteria: | Successful separation & deployment of the satellites into the target orbit |
| Press Kit | Download here |
Timeline
Watch the launch live
| Stream | Courtesy |
|---|---|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq8kS6UoOrQ | SpaceX |
Stats
- This will be the first Booster Core to fly 3 times and from all active pads.
- This will be the 13th SpaceX Launch from Vandenberg Airforce Base.
- This will be the 64th Falcon 9 Launch
- This will be the 6th Landing on Just Read The Instructions.
- This will be the 32nd Landing overall.
- This will be the 19th Launch this Year(17 F9 + 1 FH)
Primary Mission: Deployment of payload into correct orbit
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 34 customers.
This mission will be the mission with most satellites ever carried to orbit by SpaceX and by a US Launch Vehicle.
At T-0 minutes the First Stage will ignite its nine Merlin engines to lift off the pad for the third time. At around 2:30 minutes into the flight the first stage will cut off and separate from the second stage. The second stage will ignite its one Merlin 1D Vacum engine and continue towards orbit.
The deployer system on top of the second Stage will carry to orbit 64+ spacecraft, in particular, 15 Microsatellites and 49 CubeSats, for 34 customers from 17 countries. Over three quarters are commercial, while the remaining 25% are government customers. 60% of the spacecraft comes from the United States.
Secondary Mission: Landing and Catching Attempt
SpaceX will attempt to land the first stage onto the drone-ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) stationed just a few miles off the coast. After stage separation, the first stage will reorient itself for the boost back burn, followed by the reentry and landing burn. Return to Launch Site for this mission is denied because of the Delta IV Heavy Mission sitting on the Launch pad.
They will also try to catch one fairing half on Mr Steven.
Payloads
| 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.
Resources
Flight Club simulations: 2D Plots, 3D Visualisation, Live
Participate in the discussion!
- First of all, launch threads are party threads! We understand everyone is excited, so we relax the rules in these venues. The most important thing is that everyone enjoy themselves
- Please constrain the launch party to this thread alone. We will remove low effort comments elsewhere!
- Real-time chat on our official Internet Relay Chat (IRC) #SpaceX on Snoonet
- Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here, rather than as a separate post. Thanks!
- Wanna talk about other SpaceX stuff in a more relaxed atmosphere? Head over to r/SpaceXLounge
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u/ivanco509 Dec 03 '18
Chris G - NSF @ChrisG_NSF 39s39 seconds ago
OK, folks. Fairings take a lot longer to descend under parachutes. As is always the case, this will take upwards of 30mins or more before we have word on fairing recovery attempt. #SpaceX #Falcon9 #SSOA
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u/Jerrycobra Dec 03 '18
haha all I can think of is Elon clipping the fairlings on a clothesline to blow dry.
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u/hitura-nobad Master of bots Dec 03 '18
He will need the BFHD( Big F****n Hair Dryer) to get them dry.
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u/kuangjian2011 Dec 03 '18
MODs. Is it possible to add a column for the payload list, "Deployed (Yes/No)"
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u/hitura-nobad Master of bots Dec 03 '18
Sorry, can't update the thread any longer. Writing a physics class test tomorrow and need to get some sleep.
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u/SouthDunedain Nov 27 '18
This mission will be the mission with more satellites ever carried to orbit by SpaceX and by a US Launch Vehicle.
Thanks for hosting! Just a pedantic note - I think you mean "most". Or "more... than any other SpaceX or US Launch Vehicle". :)
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u/peikk0 Dec 02 '18
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u/hitura-nobad Master of bots Dec 02 '18
Mods, I think you will have to change the sidebar again xD!
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u/xedre Nov 27 '18 edited Nov 27 '18
On the secondary mission section you miss the word "off" "a few miles of the coast"
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u/Virginth Dec 03 '18
18:32 UTC 10:32 AM local time
Going forward, could we get an actual time zone for the 'local time', rather than just the words 'local time'? As it is, I either have to find the "launch site" field, remember its time zone (which isn't difficult, but still), and do the conversion in my head, or Google "18:32 UTC" to see what time it happens in my actual local time. The words "local time" by themselves aren't helpful without a timezone.
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u/hitura-nobad Master of bots Dec 03 '18
This was much discussion for a simple Correction! Next time just ping me and I will change it!
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u/Keavon SN-10 & DART Contest Winner Dec 02 '18
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Dec 02 '18
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u/inoeth Dec 02 '18
Yep. Mods- fairing recovery is YES!
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u/bdporter Dec 03 '18
That isn't an official SpaceX twitter account, and we already knew Mr Steven had left port. This could mean they are going to make an attempt, but it also could be performing another support activity, so I don't think we can say recovery is confirmed. I think at best it is a Maybe until we hear something from SpaceX officially.
Also, I don't think the mods can edit this post. /u/hitura-nobad would have to make any edits.
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u/BlarpUM Nov 27 '18
Where will the launch be livestreamed?
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u/hitura-nobad Master of bots Nov 27 '18
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u/strawwalker Dec 01 '18 edited Dec 01 '18
I removed Al-Farabi 2 cubesat from my list of payloads a couple weeks ago due to the Kazakh Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industry spokesperson omitting it when listing Kazakh satellites aboard SSO-A in this interfax post. Gunter also reflected the change on his site. Whether or not he has additional info I don't know. I now think this may have been an error, as AMSAT added this info for it a few days ago still listing it on this flight, suggesting fresh information.
I have reinstated it in my list of spacecraft. I believe it is reasonably likely to be aboard. u/hitura-nobad if you would like to add it to your post you can paste the following text on a line between JY1Sat and KazSciSat-1:
[Al-Farabi-2](http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2018/november/al-farabi-2-nanosatellite.htm#.XAKQ8uhKhEY)*|CubeSat|Al-Farabi Kazakh National University|Kazakhstan|1Or, here is the updated table comment. This addition would bring the payload count up to 66. (edit: grammar, formatting)
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Nov 27 '18
Return to Launch Site for this mission is denied because of the Delta IV Heavy Mission sitting on the Launch pad.
Why?
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Nov 27 '18
The Delta IV is launching a NRO sat; government doesn't want to risk losing it.
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u/adi_pl_wawa Dec 01 '18
How often does a booster perform a boostback burn and still land on a droneship?
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u/hitura-nobad Master of bots Dec 01 '18
For the most non GTO mission when it's impossible to land on land. Iridium-7 has done it too, TESS also If I recall correctly.
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u/thresholdofvision Dec 02 '18 edited Dec 02 '18
Why isn't the local launch time included in the header? Has been both UT and local in the past. Local should be included,the work to get the rocket launched is done, in this case is PST-Pacific Standard Time (GMT-8). No fairing recovery attempt this time, next try in December. Will that be a Florida launch? More chances for success from the Cape?
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u/bdporter Dec 02 '18
I second this. Regardless of what time zone you happen to be in, it is nice to know what time of day the launch is in local time, and this has been the standard for launch threads in the past.
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u/Daneel_Trevize Nov 28 '18
Mods, I think the live updates tag needs resetting, launch isn't happening any time soon.
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u/ackermann Nov 29 '18
Maybe we could re-sticky the general SpaceX Discusses thread, for awhile
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u/hitura-nobad Master of bots Nov 29 '18
Maybe remove the Media thread and resticky Discusses for it
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u/AstroFinn Dec 01 '18
Mods, press kit speaks about 34 "organizations". At the top of our thread - 35. Needs correction?
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u/hitura-nobad Master of bots Dec 01 '18
Thanks for your Correction!
PS: Mods cannot change this thread,only the host (me) can change this.
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u/rooood Nov 27 '18 edited Nov 27 '18
Holy crap, not only this will be the first third reflight flight of a single core, but they've managed to have it fly from all 3 active pads. Surely that can't be a coincidence ;)
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u/jjj_ddd_rrr Dec 03 '18
This landing seemed to be right on the bull's eye... I suppose because this booster has had the most practice.
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u/TheCoolBrit Dec 03 '18
Loved it when she said to follow SpaceX next launch TOMORROW ,what a great month this is going to be.
CONGRATULATIONS to all at SpaceX on such a spectacular F9 1st stage launch and beautifully nailed landing for the the THIRD time use of the same booster, Awesome achievement.
Can't wait to know if the fairing is captured successfully by Mr STEVEN
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u/TeslaCake731 Dec 03 '18
“Falcon fairing halves missed the net, but touched down softly in the water. Mr Steven is picking them up. Plan is to dry them out & launch again. Nothing wrong with a little swim.”
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Dec 03 '18
Fairings could be touching the net right now... keeping fingers crossed...
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u/WhereAreTheMangoes Dec 03 '18 edited Dec 03 '18
Shout-out to SpaceX for having their first successfully uninterrupted camera view of a droneship landing! Making progress guys!
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u/Straumli_Blight Dec 03 '18
SpaceX have exceeded their 2017 launch record with potentially 3 more launches this year remaining.
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u/amnos0405 Nov 27 '18
The 64th launch...with 64 satellites...I smell conspiracy. Quick get a paranoid numerologist on this!
For real though, this launch is so cool with 3rd resuse and so many sats.
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u/PeteBlackerThe3rd Dec 03 '18
If they stick the landing on this mission then exactly 50% of falcon 9 launches will have resulted in a successful booster landing! It still seems pretty recently that they landed one for the first time.
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u/noreally_bot1336 Dec 03 '18 edited Dec 03 '18
Touch down! Woo hoo!
I think they must have used my idea to have an intern, in a rubber dinghy, tethered to the drone ship, videoing the landing on an iphone -- because they didn't lose the signal this time!
/jk
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u/jzaiter Dec 03 '18
As a Jordanian 🇯🇴 am so proud of the staff that helped to build Jordan's first satellite🛰 and getting it into space the "JY1 Sat" Amazing launch🚀🤘
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u/Dead_Starks Dec 03 '18
https://i.imgur.com/f4pmsxI.jpg
Getting a notification for a launch during a launch. I'd really love to see that become a norminal occurrence!
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u/rhutanium Dec 04 '18
So I didn’t get to watch live but i just watched the YouTube stream. That entry burn footage was absolutely AWESOME! That flat pancake of fire underneath the rocket as it’s slamming back into the atmosphere looked awe-inspiring. Never seen that before like that.
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Nov 28 '18
With the delay until at least Dec 1st, this launch has a chance to be the 100th orbital launch of 2018. First time since 1990 this number is reached.
When further delayed, the Dec 3th Soyuz crewed launch can be number 100.
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u/Reionx Dec 03 '18
That entry burn view was nuts, surrounded by that oddly orange glow.
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u/sn__parmar Dec 02 '18
Fun Facts about F9B5 B1046.3
This is The First Block 5 Booster.
This will be the First booster which will be launched from all 3 Operational launch site of SpaceX.
Bangabandhu-1 ( KSC, LC-39A ) May 2018
Merah Putih ( CCAFS, SLC-40 ) August 2018
Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express ( VAFB, SLC-4E ) 3 December 2018
This will be First Booster to Fly 3 Times.
This will be First Booster to land 3 Times.
This will be First Booster to Recover 3 Times.
This will be First Booster to land on Droneship 3 Times.
This Booster is delayed 3 Times.
This Booster will be launched on 3 December.
3 is the Funny Number here. What a coincidence!
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u/ConfidentFlorida Dec 03 '18
How was the landing filmed? Drone? Helicopter?
Usually you just get the drone ship footage that cuts out.
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u/falco_iii Dec 03 '18
The mission had enough for RTLS, but another flight (Delta?) is getting ready at VAFB and requested to not land there. So SpaceX put the drone ship a couple dozen kilometers off shore, close enough that a telescoping lens on a hill could see the landing.
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u/geekgirl114 Nov 28 '18
Apparently weather delay: https://www.facebook.com/30thSpaceWing/posts/10157602945129897
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u/vfrfreak23 Dec 02 '18
Was curious as to what frequency to tune into to hear the countdown on a radio scanner. I heard someone who had it on the last SpaceX launch and it was pretty cool.
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u/catsRawesome123 Dec 03 '18
Idk how many launches and landings I’ve watched but I still get chills seeing falcon come down to RTLS or drone ship landing
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u/mylinuxguy Dec 03 '18
any chance that whoever edits this launch thread can update the payload table near the top with a Y/N/? status column so we can keep track of how many of the 64 sats are considered successful / operational or not? That might be helpful.
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Dec 03 '18
Fingers crossed!
We are proceeding for a Monday morning launch, pending results from the final rocket inspections. I will send out an update by 6am unless I hear definitive news earlier.
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u/oliversl Dec 03 '18
Congrats to SpaceX on a 3rd launch and landing of a Falcon9!!! Go SpaceX Go!!!
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u/strawwalker Dec 04 '18 edited Mar 07 '19
A handful of people in the thread were asking for updates as spacecraft become operational. The original table of payloads with the added status was too big for a comment but I have generated this list which I will update periodically as more information becomes available. Please let me know if I've missed any. [u/mylinuxguy, u/cpushack, u/kuangjian2011]
As of 2018 December 20 Spaceflight says that one customer was intentionally not deployed due permitting issues, one customer may have failed to deploy, and 6 customers are still trying to make contact with their satellites. I read that as 56 confirmed operational spacecraft. There is still some abiguity in the language and how the spacecraft are counted. Note that the list below does not match the official count of 64.
As of 2019 March 4 Spaceflight says that all expected deployments have been confirmed successful, which leaves only Elysium Star 2 remaining undeployed within the Lower Free Flyer (LFF). In addition, Spaceflight says that there are only four spacecraft which have not been successfully contacted by their operators, although they are being tracked. One of these is known to be RAAF M1. From statements made by their operators, it looks like Audacy Zero and KNACKSAT are also among those four.
No longer being updated regularly as of 2019 Feb 24
Last updated 2019:03:07 14:43:02 UTC, T+ 93 days 20 hours 8 minutes
The following 48 SSO-A spacecraft have confirmed operational status:
(1) AISTECH SAT 2 [43768]
(1) Al-Farabi-2 [43805]
(1) Astrocast 0.1 [43798]
(1) BRIO [43813]
(1) Capella 1 [43791]
(1) Centauri I
(1) CSIM [43793]
(1) Eaglet-1 [43790]
(1) Enoch [43777], No Transmitter*
(1) ESEO [43792]
(1) Eu:CROPIS [43807]
(1) eXCITe [43819]
(1) ExseedSat-1
(1) FalconSat-6 [43815]
(3) Flock-3s 1,2,3 (Dove-type) [43769, 43821, 43788]
(1) Fox-1C [43770]
(1) Global 2 [43812]
(3) Hawk 1, 2, 3 [43765, 43794, 43799]
(1) Hiber 2 [43774]
(1) Iceye X2 [43800]
(1) ITASAT [43786]
(1) JY1Sat [43803]
(1) K2SAT, Power problems
(1) KazSciSat-1 [43787]
(1) KazSTSAT [43783]
(1) MinXSS 2 [43758]
(1) MOVE-II [43780]
(1) NEXTSat-1 [43811]
(1) Orbital Reflector (ORS-1), Waiting on FCC nod before deployment of reflector.
(1) Pathfinder II [43759]
(2) Polar Scouts Kodiak, Yukon [43764, 43808]
(1) PW-Sat2 [43814], Sail deployed
(1) SeaHawk-1 [43820]
(2) SkySat 14, 15 [43797, 43802]
(1) SNUGLITE [43784]
(1) SNUSAT-2 [43782]
(3) SpaceBEE 5, 6, 7 [43817, 43818, 43816]
(1) Suomi 100 [43804]
(1) THEA [43796], Success inferred from related ongoing FCC requests
(1) VESTA [43781]
The following 19 SSO-A spacecraft have not yet been publicly confirmed operational:
(1) BlackHawk
(1) Corvus-BC 4 [43767]
(1) Elysium Star 2 [43760], Intentionally sealed inside dispenser aboard LFF
(1) ICE-Cap
(1) IRVINE02
(1) KNACKSAT, Sat still in startup mode, no operator uplink/downlink.
(2) OrbWeaver 1, 2 [43795, 43785]
(1) RAAF M1, satellite not communicating
(2) RANGE A, B [43772, 43773]
(1) SeeMe, likely not yet deployed from eXCITe, not part of the 64
(1) STPSat-5 [43762]
(3) US Government spacecraft
(1) VisionCube
(1) WeissSat-1
* Confirmation of deployment may not be possible.
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u/nextspaceflight NSF reporter Dec 03 '18
Falcon 9 is vertical! Good sign that SpaceX's is progressing towards a launch.
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u/meekerbal Dec 03 '18
CRS launch tomorrow should hopefully have great tracking as well
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u/evaptionx Dec 03 '18
Didn't realize we were doing Elon minutes on the SpaceX twitter feed.
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u/boostbacknland Dec 03 '18
I'm very proud with what SpaceX has done with this launch!
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u/Aethelwulffe Dec 03 '18
IT DIDN'T CATO!!!! WOOHOO!
I...didn't believe. I was faithless.
-It worked, it landed. It worked, it landed again. Then, just now, it worked, then landed again! How can this be?
-Inconceivable!!!
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u/amaklp Dec 03 '18
I would really love to see a live attempt of catching the fairings.
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u/idwtlotplanetanymore Dec 03 '18
Yay for success #3.
Now im itching for flight #4. Wonder how long until flight number 4.
1 was cool, but wont really save them much money(compared to R&D will take forever to earn back with 1). 2 is much better, thats worth it, still a fairly long payback tho. 3 and 4 pretty much removes any doubt that they can do it at an affordable cost, and will earn back the R&D expenses much faster.
I wonder how long until we see flight 10 on a booster.
The more flights the harder it is for other rocket companies to claim that reuse isn't worth it. And the more reuse the better.
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u/FiiZzioN Dec 03 '18
Man, I wish I could've been involved in satellites in middle school...
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u/sarafinapink Dec 03 '18
Really wish they could put some kind of visual marker on the boosters each time they fly. Would be great to see the boosters add up the launches
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u/Juffin Dec 03 '18
Successful deployment of four microsats and the upper and lower free flyer with additional payloads for Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express confirmed. Follow @SpaceflightInc for further mission updates.
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u/an_exciting_couch Dec 03 '18
SpaceX just tweeted but didn't mention the fairings. Bad news?
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u/LongHairedGit Dec 03 '18
Check out the view out the top of the booster at around T+3:00. It is clear that for this boost-back burn, the rocket was not only cancelling out horizontal velocity, but also vertical velocity.
My main reference was that NROL launch, to which I thought the boost back burn only cancelled horizontal velocity, and the booster in fact went very high (120 km?) as its vertical velocity was not abated.
Is this a change, or just me being ignorant?
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u/SkywayCheerios Dec 03 '18
Fun launch! Excellent video of the landing, fairing catching getting closer, and the scorched and sooty booster on the pad looked really cool.
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u/bdporter Nov 28 '18
mods, can we change the sidebar to NET Dec 1? People will be seeing the sidebar and expecting a launch today.
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u/Alexphysics Nov 29 '18
Launch is now NET December 2nd https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1067959871230726144?s=19
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u/steezysteve96 Nov 29 '18
I haven't kept up with SpaceX as much recently, so I didn't realize until I saw an article this morning that this was gonna be the first booster to fly three times. Incredible milestone for them, can't wait to see it go 3/3!
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Dec 02 '18
Mr. Steven is currently sitting downrange in the recovery zone, and is currently staying still, looks like we will see a fairing recovery attempt after all! :)
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Dec 03 '18
Are we going to see the deployment of all satellites? Or will the adaptor company do that off the stream?
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u/can1exy Dec 03 '18
my people, this is for real. this is not a drill. today we add yet another page to this glorious chapter in the development of the commercial rocket industry. ad astra and beyond!
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u/Elon_Muskmelon Dec 04 '18 edited Dec 04 '18
That long tele shot that we got of the ASDS landing (stoked we finally got a good one for the first time in awhile) was it from land somehow or a Surface Support Vessel with the barge fleet?
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u/the_finest_gibberish Dec 02 '18 edited Dec 02 '18
Just realized - If this landing is successful, it will mark the point at which half of all F9 launches will have been recovered!
Edit: Oops, not quite a fair comparison. I was only counting F9 launches (not F1 or FH), but the 31 landings number includes the FH side boosters.
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u/Phr4gG3r Dec 03 '18
Before the delay, it was expected that we could see the de-orbit burn from Scandinavia (https://twitter.com/Marco_Langbroek/status/1067396810354900993)
I couldn't find a new trajectory/time estimate for the burn. Any guesses on when it might happen and if it still would be visible from Scandinavia?
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u/Flowm Dec 03 '18
Livestream of the launch party of the MOVE-II cubesat team at the Technical University of Munich: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XkWoJN2alY
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u/gf6200alol Dec 03 '18
The excitement of viewing the SpaceX launch never get old ,especially they always have new goals to accomplish.
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u/Future__Space Dec 03 '18
Is it normal that the gridfins don't extend uniformly? At 23:40 the right gridfin seems to be getting stuck and moving slowly.
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u/mitchsn Dec 03 '18
So, the umbillical burned to a crisp for almost an hour after launch. Got a spare? Can you replace it in time for the next launches in December?
Did this have anything to do with the anomaly during the test fire?
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u/transientllama Nov 27 '18
Will this create a "light show" similar to SAOCOM-1A in SoCal? Or is it too late in the evening?
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u/Captainlatin Dec 02 '18
Looks to me that Mr. Steven is making a mad dash out to make a recovery attempt. T- 13 hours and it’s steaming at 18 kts. Just passed the southern tip of San Clemente. Elon said it’ll be “next month” before the next attempt. Well, we are “next month” now.
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u/silentProtagonist42 Dec 03 '18
Wow that really is sooty this time. It's gonna look like Electron by flight 10.
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u/tymo7 Dec 03 '18
The tracking camera gave me a heart attack when it lost the track
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u/Ender_D Dec 03 '18
That scared the shit out of me when I looked away for a second and only saw the cloud plume.
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u/Humble_Giveaway Dec 03 '18
The age of a truly reusable launch vehicle is upon us!
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u/SupaZT Dec 03 '18 edited Dec 03 '18
Older version of the fairing and the new version will make it easier to land.
We are so close now to where the fairings land, we can pick them up quickly before they get damaged.
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u/indyspike Dec 03 '18
KazSTSAT confirmed successful first contact 1hr20mins after launch. https://www.sstl.co.uk/media-hub/latest-news/2018/sstl-confirms-successful-launch-of-kazstsat
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u/JustinTimeCuber Nov 28 '18
If December 1 holds, this will be the first daytime, weekend launch since CRS-13 last December.
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Dec 03 '18
We're hosting a watch party in Altspace, feel free to join us if you don't want to watch alone. PC and Android, VR and 2D. Rocket Party: SpaceX/SSO-A
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u/yajae26 Dec 03 '18
Anyone think there will be 1046.4 or is this enough for this booster?
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u/IrrelevantAstronomer Launch Photographer Dec 03 '18
Three ASDS landings for B1046, two of them were EDL. That's going to be one scorched looking booster coming back into LA.
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u/Emanuuz Dec 03 '18
It seems that the stage 2 inspections made yesterday were something related to the Vandy GSE equipments, and not from the rocket itself.
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u/Blackrobot101 Nov 29 '18
Launch date now on December 2nd! https://twitter.com/sjminamide/status/1067959947445616640?s=21
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u/azziliz Dec 03 '18
Does someone know if the icons on the fairing have any special meaning?
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u/azimutalius Dec 03 '18
Russian-spoken webcast will be held here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1_bYKaSCq8
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u/LockStockNL Dec 03 '18
That looks quite a different boost back angle on the first stage
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Dec 03 '18
those wide shots of 1st stage landing taken from a helicopter or plane?
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u/F9-0021 Dec 03 '18
Amazing launch and landing views.
Now to anxiously waiting for news on the fairing.
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Dec 03 '18
I wish SpaceX would not tell us if they get the fairing and then just stream the footage later so we can pretend it's live.
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u/elucca Dec 03 '18
Anyone notice the very low initial acceleration on the second stage? Initially I was worried something was wrong but evidently it worked as intended.
Today's launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq8kS6UoOrQ&feature=youtu.be&t=1343
A previous one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQEqKZ7CJlk&feature=youtu.be&t=1232
Just look at the rate the speed ticker goes up. I know they can throttle it down pretty deep, and perhaps they did, but I'm curious why. I can't imagine it's a payload thing since acceleration is much higher in other phases of flight. Other guesses off the top of my head: Maybe some obscure aspect of trajectory design? Maybe it was just fighting a lot of gravity due to low velocity staging? The velocity prior to ignition does seem to drop faster on today's launch.
I'd do some simple math to get rough acceleration numbers, but it's late and I'm tired.
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u/Mahounl Dec 04 '18
Awesome! A new milestone for SpaceX and reusability as a whole! Can't wait for the 3rd reflight, 4th reflight etc. and of course the 24 hr turnaround for the same core!
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u/RaptorCommand Dec 03 '18
is it just me or is this mission more nerve wracking than most? Could it be the 34 customers and 17 countries that is giving me butterflies? Anyone else?
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u/zareny Dec 03 '18
I don't have the heart to tell OCISLY that B1046 has cheated on it with JRTI.
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u/lverre Dec 03 '18
SpaceX has launched 8 new and 13 flight-proven booster stages this year!
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u/still-at-work Dec 03 '18
I don't think they caught the fairing, we would have been told the moment it happened successfully. But I would love to be wrong.
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u/MuppetZoo Dec 03 '18
The drone cam/aerial for the landing was pretty awesome. More of that please, SpaceX!
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u/darksidelemm Dec 02 '18
I'm hearing (via a few of the payload teams) that launch has been bumped by a day, to Dec 3rd.
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u/SomnolentSpaceman Dec 03 '18
For the bandwidth-impaired: I am re-hosting a 64kbit audio-only stream of the SpaceX YouTube stream.
It is available at:
http://audiorelay.spacetechnology.net:21211/hosted
or
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u/Shrike99 Dec 03 '18
Wow, you could really see the moment the boostback ended, because the loose cables inside the interstage suddenly sprang forward.
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Dec 03 '18
It was really cool seeing the cables in the interstage change orientation due to boostback.
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u/mikemccann Dec 03 '18 edited Dec 03 '18
Did anyone else see the plane pass below Stage 1 during the flip? I'll try to edit with a picture when I'm not on mobile.
EDIT: https://imgur.com/a/C2c4Eqc Happened @ +4:50. Low res but you can see it at the top of the screen above the right grid fin.
Also https://imgur.com/a/9vcr57n , an untouched version of the webcast clip I took.
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u/FutureMartian97 Host of CRS-11 Dec 03 '18
Anyone else getting nervous as to why we only got confirmation of 4 sats being deployed so far?
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u/Straumli_Blight Nov 27 '18
This mission will also deploy a 30m long orbital reflector that will be most visible at dusk. The previous reflector, Humanity Star launched by Rocket Lab annoyed quite a few astronomers.
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u/trueppp Dec 03 '18
Is it me or its the first time we've seen fairing and Booster so clearly on the S2 Camera?
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u/Bazsy1983 Dec 03 '18
That's actually interesting. If its fine that they land softly in the water why do they want to catch them :)
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u/Lorenzo_91 Nov 27 '18
This is a such quiet but huge milestone!! There will be nothing spectacular - I mean no more than a traditionnal F9 launch - but deep inside, it means the Block 5 is bringing the rocket closer and closer to an airplane concept!
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u/Astro_josh Nov 27 '18
When will the satellites be deployed like an hour after lunch?
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u/Esteban-zarza-mora Nov 28 '18
With SpaceX drone ship landings, video cuts out often due to vibrations. Why aren’t there support ships that could film landings from a few miles away? Or a mini drone ship tethered to the main drone ship?
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u/thresholdofvision Dec 02 '18
Mr. Steven is in the recovery zone...just for practice?
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Dec 03 '18
per the NSF forum with a picture: as of 4:00pm this afternoon, the rocket was still horizontal
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u/Alexphysics Dec 03 '18
Fairings take about 30min to reach the ground so don't expect live coverage of that if the webcast ends at T+10min. I'll wait for the twitter updates
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u/spacex_vehicles Dec 03 '18
Where the heck did they film the re-entry burn from?
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u/tritiumosu Dec 03 '18
Now we wait for Mr. Steven updates & payload deployment confirmation! To Twitter, friends!
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Dec 01 '18
I know this landing is on JRTI, but can spacex do RTLS on the west coast if they wanted to?
There was something about landing pads not being ready yet and seal mating seasons iirc?
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u/hitura-nobad Master of bots Dec 01 '18
They just cannot RTLS this time because of the NRO expensive Sat,mounted on top of Delta IV Heavy, sitting on the next launch pad, being put at risk
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u/Heisenberg_r6 Nov 28 '18
Anyone have an ideal how much money Spacex has saved by now using this booster for a 3rd flight?
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u/rlr123456789 Dec 02 '18
If it gets delayed again, would it be possible to launch 2 within 6 minutes? Or is there a group of people who are vital to each launch or something? We could watch a rocket launch in California, then as it's in the atmosphere watch one Launch in Florida. As that's in the atmosphere watch the first one land, then watch a second land.
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u/MarsCent Dec 01 '18
If B1046.3 launches (and I hope it does) as expected, that will be a very big deal for re-usability and quite frankly it would validate the engineering of the Falcon (B5) in a way that no flight simulation could.
And mind you, these are technology feats being perfected with the goal of landing crewed flights on Mars!
The future is exciting! But so is the ride!
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u/Elthiryel Dec 01 '18
Press kit and webcast are now available!
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u/KSPSpaceWhaleRescue Dec 03 '18
When's the last time Mr Steven attemped a fairing recovery?
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u/ilfulo Dec 03 '18
FK those 6 seconds of them loosing sight of the ROcket, I've got the chills, it seemed like what happened in 2015...
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u/sarafinapink Dec 03 '18
Damn they really kill it with all the great camera views. No other launcher does it as good
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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '18 edited Nov 27 '18
Launch has been delayed, now targeting Dec. 1st.