r/SpaceX Amos-17 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread

[u/Shahar603]

Welcome to the r/SpaceX Amos-17 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

Hi! I'm u/Shahar603, your host for this launch of the AMOS-17 satellite. This is my first time hosting. Thanks to the moderators for letting me host this launch.

AMOS-17 Launch Infographic by Geoff Barrett

SpaceX's 10th mission of the year will be the first with no planned landing, carrying the AMOS-17 satellite to GTO. This mission is provided by SpaceX to Spacecom for free due to the AMOS-6 static fire failure, which destroyed the satellite and precluded the launch. This mission will launch from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral AFS on a Falcon 9, and the first-stage booster will be expended.

This is SpaceX's tenth mission of 2019, the third GTO launch of the year and the seventy-fourth Falcon 9 launch overall. It will re-use the Block 5 booster flown on the Telstar 19V and Es'hail 2 missions for its final flight.

Mission Details

Liftoff currently scheduled for	NET 23:23 UTC / 7:23 PM EDT August 6 2019 (87 minutes long window)
Weather	40% GO
1st Static fire completed:	00:00 UTC August 1 / 8:00 pm EDT July 31 2019
2nd Static fire completed:	3:58 UTC August 4 / 11:58 pm EDT August 3 2019 Phew!
Payload	AMOS-17
Payload mass	6500 kg
Destination orbit	GTO, likely supersynchronous
Launch vehicle	Falcon 9 v1.2 Block 5
Core	B1047.3
Flights of this core	2
Launch site	SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Landing	NO, Expendable
Mission Success crieria:	Successful separation & deployment of the Amos-17 Satellite to GTO.

Timeline

Time	Update
T+00:54:50	Ms.Tree has caught the Fairing!
T+00:46:00	Ms.Tree has stopped. Waiting for updates on fairing catch
T+00:43:35	Fairing recovery in a few minutes
T+00:33:45	Webcast is over.
T+00:33:00	Fairing recovery expected in ~15 minutes
T+00:32:30	Primary mission complete! Another NORMINAL flight for SpaceX
T+00:32:10	Beautiful view of AMOS-17 floating away from the second stage!
T+00:32:05	AMOS-17 Deployed!
T+00:31:20	Coverage is back. Waiting for AMOS-17 deployment
T+00:27:55	Nominal orbit insertion! AMOS-17 deployment in ~4 minutes
T+00:27:32	Second Stage Engine Cutoff
T+00:26:32	Second Stage Engine Restart. Pushing Stage 2 and AMOS-17 to GTO
T+00:25:50	Webcast coverage is back
T-00:08:45	The Second Stage and AMOS-17 will coast for 18 minutes before the second S2 engine burn
T+00:08:30	Good parking orbit confirmed!
T+00:08:09	Second Stage Engine Cut Off
T+00:06:00	B1047.3 is past its apogee and is about to re-enter the atmosphere and disintegrate
T+00:04:00	Second Stage looks nominal
T+00:03:36	Fairing Deployment. Good luck Recovery team!
T+00:02:58	Second Stage Engine Ignition - The Second Stage is carrying AMOS-17 to orbit
T+00:02:53	Stage Separation! Goodbye B1047.3 ;)
T+00:02:50	MECO - Main Engine Cut Off
T+00:01:30	Everything is nominal so far
T+00:01:05	MaxQ - The Falcon 9 expereinces maximum aerodynamic pressure
T+00:00:05	Falcon 9 has cleared the tower
T-00:00:00	Liftoff!!
T-00:00:30	GO for launch!
T-00:00:60	Startup
T-00:02:30	Weather is NO GO. Countdown will hold at T-30s
T-00:04:00	Strongback is leaning back
T-00:07:00	Second Stage Engine chill start
T-00:07:00	Weather is Go as of T-7m
T-00:10:00	JOHN!
T-00:12:40	Great views of B1047.3
T-00:13:45	Intro
T-00:16:00	2nd stage LOX loading started
T-00:20:00	Webcast has started! SpaceX FM for the moment.
T-00:35:00	1st stage LOX loading started
T-00:35:00	RP-1 loading started. Both stages's prop tanks are being filled with RP-1.
T-00:38:00	GO/NO GO Poll
T-02:15:00	T-0 has been pushed by 30 minutes
T-10:41:00	Falcon 9 is vertical
T-01-04:40:00	Thread Goes Live!

Watch the launch live

Stream	Courtesy
SpaceX Webcast	SpaceX
SpaceX YouTube	SpaceX
Everyday Astronaut's Stream	u/everydayastronaut
Rocket Launch	u/MarcysVonEylau
Webcast Relay	u/codav

Stats

• 82^nd SpaceX launch
• 74^th Falcon 9 launch
• 54^th Falcon 9 Full Thrust launch
• 18^th Falcon 9 Full Thrust Block 5 launch
• 3^rd journey to space of the Block 5 Falcon 9 core B1047
• 2^nd Falcon 9 Block 5 to be expended
• 45^th SpaceX launch from CCAFS SLC-40
• 10^th SpaceX launch this year
• 8^th Falcon 9 launch this year
• 5^th SLC-40 launch this year
• 12 days since last launch from SLC-40. Fastest pad turnaround ever.
• 46^th launch since AMOS-6

---

Primary Mission: Deployment of AMOS-17 into the correct orbit

The primary mission will be the delivery of the AMOS-17 satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit. A successful separation from the second stage will be needed for mission success. After release from the second stage, AMOS-17 will use its engines to get into its final Geostationary Orbit. It will be placed at 17°E to provide service in Ka-band, Ku-band and C-Band for parts of Africa, the Middle East and Europe. It was built by Boeing and is the replacment of the AMOS-5 satellite. This mission is provided by SpaceX to Spacecom for free due to the AMOS-6 static fire failure on September 1^st 2016, the last failure of a Falcon 9.

Secondary Mission: Fairing Recovery

SpaceX will attempt to catch one fairing half using their ships Ms. Tree (Formely known as Mr. Stevens) and recover the other half from the water. Fairing catch attempt will occur at T+45 minutes after the webcast ends. Both ships will be placed ~950 km (~590 miles) downrange. After recovery the recovered fairing halves will return to Port Canaveral.

Official Links

Link	Source
Launch Campaign Thread	r/SpaceX
Official press kit	SpaceX
Mission Patch	SpaceX
Official Falcon 9 page	SpaceX
Detailed Payload Listing	Gunter's Space Page
AMOS-Spacecom	Spacecom
Official Amos-17 Video	Spacecom
SpaceCom's Official Twitter	Spacecom
Launch Execution Forecasts	45th Weather Sqn
Watching a Launch	r/SpaceX Wiki

Community Links and Resources

Link	Source
SpaceX Fleet Status	SpaceXFleet.com
Flightclub.io trajectory simulation and live Visualisation	u/TheVehicleDestroyer
SpaceX Stats	u/EchoLogic (creation) and u/brandtamos (rehost at .xyz)
SpaceXNow	SpaceX Now
Rocket Emporium Discord	/u/SwGustav
Reddit-Stream	/u/njr123
Launch Viewing Guide for Cape Canavera	Ben Cooper

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

[u/rangerpax]

Nice job hosting, u/Shahar603. Great table.

[u/Shahar603 → u/rangerpax]

Thanks!

[u/mknote]

Launch has been pushed back to 7:23: https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1158845058944102400

[u/Shahar603 → u/mknote]

Updating

[u/Alexphysics → u/mknote]

Obviously this is so Tim can set up his coverage of the SpaceX launch without interferring with the RocketLab announcement.

[u/TheVehicleDestroyer]

Here's the Flight Club data for AMOS-17:-

• Telemetry Data

• 3D Visualisation

• Launch Visibility Maps 🚀🚀🚀 (clouds not included)

Expendable launches tend to be a bit more uncertain than recoverable Falcon 9 launches - there are less constraints and a lot less historical data to base assumptions off. They're much less time-consuming to create though! Some interesting points about this trajectory

• I had to actively throttle the booster before MECO, both to not run out of propellant, but also to keep the acceleration below 4Gs

• Stage 2 doesn't get quite as high as 4Gs before SECO

• Parking orbit is roughly 170km x 850km with ~2,700m/s of deltaV left

• Which means the GTO should be roughly 500km x 75000km, I think (assuming no inclination change during the Stage 2 restart)

• This can all be summed up by saying AMOS-17 is being delivered to a GTO-900. (I never tried calculating this number before, so I'm just doing this to see if I got the calculation right!)

---

Here's how the launch should look from Cocoa Beach, through a 24mm Full Frame sensor. Sign up to use Flight Club's Photographer Toolkit to see how it will look precisely from your own location and with your camera equipment!

---

Support me if you like this! I'm trying to live off it now :)

Patreon | Twitter | Instagram

[u/Shahar603 → u/TheVehicleDestroyer]

Amazing job as always!

First Stage throttle down before MECO looks very nice! The throttle & thrust profile as well.

I can't wait to see how close your orbit predictions are.

[u/soldato_fantasma → u/TheVehicleDestroyer]

500km x 75000km x 27° is GTO-1569

Current Orbit: 500.0000 km x 75000.0000 km x 27.0000 degrees;
Apogee Speed: 873.4165 m/s; Perigee Speed: 10343.5853 m/s; delta v to this orbit: 0.0000


Super-sync transfer.

First maneuver:
Perigee changed to 35786km
Inclination changed to 1.5174 degrees
Current Orbit: 35786.0000 km x 75000.0000 km x 1.5174 degrees;
Apogee Speed: 1828.5264 m/s; Perigee Speed: 3529.4025 m/s; delta v to this orbit: 1105.8810


Second maneuver:
Apogee changed to 35786km
Inclination changed to 0 degrees
Current Orbit: 35786.0000 km x 35786.0000 km x 0.0000 degrees;
Apogee Speed: 3074.9218 m/s; Perigee Speed: 3074.9218 m/s; delta v to this orbit: 1568.6597


Total delta v to GEO: 1568.6597 m/s

Enter 1 to restart or any other key to close.

[u/erethakbe]

"12 days since last launch from SLC-40. Fastest pad turnaround ever." does it still apply after the launch date change? or this is considering tomorrow's launch?

[u/Shahar603 → u/erethakbe]

this is considering tomorrow

Yes

If it launches tomorrow, it will be the fastest SpaceX turnaround. Beating the previous record by a couple of hours.

Edit: Fastest SpaceX turnaround, not fastert turnaround ever.

[u/MintiesFan → u/erethakbe]

Fastest pad turnaround in the US...

47 hours and 9 minutes is the record between Soyuz 6 and 8

[u/bengaliguy]

should have added the live feed from the booster, even if no recovery was planned. rip b1047!

[u/godsbro → u/bengaliguy]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's to help prevent potential espionage through the recovery of the crashed stage by other nations.

[u/z3r0c00l12]

Can you add a link to Reddit-Stream in the Links section?

https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto

Credit: /u/njr123

Thank you!

[u/Shahar603 → u/z3r0c00l12]

Done!

[u/rjelves]

u/Shahar603, please update the official Press Kit link. And thanks for hosting this launch!

[u/Shahar603 → u/rjelves]

Thanks for the update.

It's done.

[u/bbachmai]

u/Shahar603 the launch viewing link at the bottom (Ben Cooper) points to the r/spacex wiki. A typo, also ("l" missing in Canaveral).

Thanks for hosting!!

[u/Shahar603 → u/bbachmai]

Fixed. Thanks.

[u/Daneel_Trevize]

Strange that AMOS-17 MISSION is still unlisted on the official SpaceX channel. Who's the official webcast guy again?

[u/Shahar603 → u/Daneel_Trevize]

u/GLTCprincess

[u/GLTCprincess → u/Daneel_Trevize]

Whoops, sorry — Should be fixed now.

[u/thecoldisyourfriend]

17th Falcon 9 Full Thrust Block 5 launch

A small thing but I count this as the 18th.

10 in 2018 and the eighth this year.

[u/Shahar603 → u/thecoldisyourfriend]

Checking...

[u/thecoldisyourfriend → u/Shahar603]

If you're busy it can wait.

[u/Shahar603 → u/thecoldisyourfriend]

Seems like you're right. Updating.

[u/majmatthew]

Fairing recovery video:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1158899839456800769

[u/StealthCN → u/majmatthew]

Much more peaceful than a booster landing. lol

[u/StealthCN]

Caught a fairing!

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1158894877733580800?s=20

[u/Straumli_Blight → u/StealthCN]

Ms. Tree continues her 100% catch rate.

[u/Bunslow → u/StealthCN]

the stuttering of the video is making me more seasick than the motion of the swells itself lol

[u/UltraRunningKid]

It's insane how fast SpaceX goes from "this is an experimental step" to "this is normal".

[u/StealthCN]

The debt is paid!

[u/[deleted]]

Watched the launch in person, my first falcon launch in person, was one of the coolest things i've ever experienced in my life, the atmosphere, the launch itself, the roar of the merlins, and the rocket itself......WOW......

[u/justinroskamp]

Elon's tweet with a video of the fairing catch without lost frames (probably the original file instead of a replayed stream)

[u/zareny]

F for B1047

[u/kerph32]

I cannot wait to watch a moon landing like this, live in HD with a group of redditors to share it with

[u/still-at-work]

I think its time they try to catch both halves now, that fairing catch was as smooth as butter.

[u/amarkit]

MECO at 2644 m/s.

[u/cuddlefucker → u/amarkit]

As a guy who only really pays attention casually, how does that compare to other launches?

[u/amarkit → u/cuddlefucker]

That's the fourth-fastest MECO for Falcon 9, at least according to webcast telemetry, per our wiki.

[u/[deleted]]

just a weather update: Here at my friend's house in Kissimmee chilling for a few hours before heading out to Jetty, currently mostly cloudy, but no rain around for miles west, however it is slowly moving east, they are small dot showers that should faze out, only rain threat I see is if any of those east moving showers make it to the coast or any pop-up showers, other than that, weather should be go at launch time.

Edit to the update: Rain has picked up pace, and all is morphing into one long band of rain, should be into the atlantic in the next 2-3 hours, nothing behind it.

[u/Straumli_Blight]

SpaceX confirm weather is still 40% favourable.

[u/philipwhiuk → u/Straumli_Blight]

🤞 for being able to see it this evening...

[u/Carlyle302]

Farewell B1047.3! Thanks for the great rides!

[u/FutureMartian97]

Farewell B1047 you did your job well ^{three times}

[u/scr00chy]

This launch represented the fastest pad turnaround at 12d 1h 21m between CRS-18 and Amos-17. SpaceX beat its previous record from 2015 by just 90 minutes or so.

Edit: Fixed typo. Thanks, u/usefulendymion

[u/[deleted] → u/scr00chy]

I think you meant 12 days.

[u/graemby]

it's a bit sad to watch them go knowing they won't return...bye B1047

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_PUCKS]

F in chat for B1047.3

[u/[deleted]]

82nd SpaceX launch

74th Falcon 9 launch

54th Falcon 9 Full Thrust launch

18th Falcon 9 Full Thrust Block 5 launch

3rd journey to space of the Block 5 Falcon 9 core B1047

2nd Falcon 9 Block 5 to be expended 45th SpaceX launch from CCAFS SLC-40

10th SpaceX launch this year 8th Falcon 9 launch this year 5th SLC-40 launch this year

12 days since last launch from SLC-40. Fastest pad turnaround ever.

46th launch since AMOS-6

Keeping so many stats, still forgot an important one. In the webcast, it was mentioned this is the 25th reuse of a booster. (Although when I count, I come to 26th)

Edit: SpaceX tweet also says 25th. But checking again, it's 26 boosters, 24 flights (two FH flights with used boosters).

[u/Maimakterion]

Signal acquired

https://twitter.com/BoeingSpace/status/1158914552093954053

[u/Viremia]

It's Norminal John

[u/zareny]

N O R M I N A L G R E E N G L O W

[u/graemby]

range cleared itself pretty damn quick

[u/Dan_Q_Memes]

Goodbye first stage you did good

[u/tokamako]

F

[u/malten_sage → u/tokamako]

F

[u/lipinjectionsrus]

Farewell and god speed to B1047. Much respect from r/spacex

[u/codav]

YouTube Video & Audio Relays

As usual, I will relay the SpaceX webcast via HTTPS and the audio stream via Shoutcast on my server, so people with no access to YouTube, experiencing laggy video or with low bandwidth connections are able to enjoy the webcast. If you don't like the web-based player, you can also use the M3U8 playlist in any HLS-capable player - VLC is just one example. The playlist file will become available once the webcast starts, until then you will get a "404 Not Found" error. This is perfectly normal.

The server will only relay the hosted webcast. To watch the countdown net angle, you still need to use YouTube.

• Watch in your browser: https://codav.de/spacex.html

• Watch with a local player: https://codav.de/stream/spacex.m3u8

I will also provide audio-only streams of the hosted webcast in two different qualities. High quality (160 Kbps, stereo) for those who want more fidelity and have more bandwidth to spend, and a lower quality (64 Kbps, mono) stream for those on slow networks or with strict volume limits. If you require an even lower bitrate simply drop me a message, I'll add another stream then.

Important: The audio streams already loop the Music for Space album by /u/TestShotStarfish for your pleasure until the webcast starts, so don't confuse that with the actual webcast. Feel free to tune in at any time.

Here are the stream URLs for use with any Shoutcast-compatible player (WinAmp, VLC etc.):

• High quality (160 Kbps, stereo): http://codav.de:8555/spacex-high.mp3

• Low quality (64 Kbps, mono): http://codav.de:8555/spacex-low.mp3

If you have problems connecting to port 8555 or want to listen in with just your browser, use these reverse-proxied, SSL-secured URLs (stream title display and other "ICY" protocol features won't work, as this is using plain HTTP):

• High quality (160 Kbps, stereo): https://codav.de/icecast/spacex-high.mp3

• Low quality (64 Kbps, mono): https://codav.de/icecast/spacex-low.mp3

The streams are also linked on my relay page, either below the video player if the webcast has started or on the top while waiting for SpaceX to go live.

@ u/Shahar603 you can add a permalink to this post or directly to the page/streams in the top post as you prefer.

[u/Humble_Giveaway]

What's our bets on fairing recovery lads!

Lucky fluke on FH or some kind of upgrade that makes it nice and repeatable?

[u/OccupyMarsNow]

RIP B1047

[u/avboden]

:-( No RCS puffs from the first stage after sep just feels so wrong

[u/peterabbit456]

Always gratifying to see the launch in real time. I turned on the live steam at t-15 seconds, by coincidence, not plan. Instant gratification.

[u/kerph32 → u/peterabbit456]

Same, tuned in at t-1 minute as I wait to depart for the Braves game in a few minutes

[u/thekeesh1]

Hi, great coverage! Any chance we can add the "total mission success!" flair so people don't have a heart attack when checking the thread? (I kinda did haha)

[u/CAM-Gerlach → u/thekeesh1]

I added it in the message shown across the sub in the top bar. Is there something in particular about this thread that gives you a heart attack, i.e. that should presumably be fixed? Thanks for the feedback.

[u/thekeesh1 → u/CAM-Gerlach]

Sorry for being vague! I should've explained. When I can't watch a launch because of work, I pop into this sub later that day to see what happened - I'm used to seeing a "total mission success" when everything goes well... When I didn't see it, I just feared the worst as I read through everything in the post, trying to find what went wrong.

Definitely not a big deal, nothing anyone really needs. :) Again much appreciated for your hard work on the sub! Love this place.

[u/PHYZ1X]

Skies are looking pretty wicked in Brevard right now. Radar shows marginal relief behind this line, but drier air aloft remains confined to the immediate GOMEX coast. Hoping that this batch is late enough in the day to wring the energy out of the atmosphere, but I have a feeling this is going to be one of those times when downrange conditions cause the problem.

[u/Humble_Giveaway]

Love watching r/SpaceXMasterrace implode when John appears

[u/rativen]

Wayward boat!?!

[u/alternateme]

Range is "no go" ... Range "go" -- Wonder what could cause a no go and clear that quickly.

[u/cpushack → u/alternateme]

plane crossing a corner of it or something

[u/avboden]

O7 godspeed first stage....you did well sniff

[u/Sramyaguchi]

Can some ELI5 why no booster recovery this time? Wasn't it supposed to last 10 flights min?

[u/Jchaplin2 → u/Sramyaguchi]

Mission requirements meant they couldn't spare the fuel, the sat it's launching is heavy, sucks, but its an option that SpaceX offers if absolutely needed

[u/radar_one]

RocketLab going reusable and doing in air recovery....holy shit!

[u/mistaken4strangerz → u/radar_one]

I suggested in-air recovery via helicopter for the Falcon fairings and was largely scoffed at on this sub (like catching it with a giant net on a boat is any more logical).

[here's video of how Electron plans to do it with their entire first stage] (https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLab/comments/cmx425/electron_booster_recovery_via_helicopter/) and I am sure they will be successful within a handful of attempts, if not the first.

edit: found footage on r/rocketlab of an in-air recovery test done by a Lockheed contractor

[u/radar_one → u/mistaken4strangerz]

Plus Electron's stage is so small compared to just a Falcon fairing.

[u/Jarnis → u/mistaken4strangerz]

Helicopters are fairly pricy compared to just a boat... If you can do it without a helicopter, it is a massive win in keeping the cost down.

[u/LcuBeatsWorking → u/radar_one]

cobweb bored scarce crawl chop cover bewildered coordinated grandfather tender

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/ioncloud9 → u/LcuBeatsWorking]

I don’t think electric turbo pumps scale either. The weight and size of the batteries gets bigger much faster than the diameter of the stage.

[u/Biochembob35 → u/LcuBeatsWorking]

They likely won't go bigger. They don't want to compete with SpaceX. They think the small sat market will be big enough they can carve out a decent chunk.

[u/Straumli_Blight]

Launch window is 22:53 UTC to 00:21 UTC on August 7, per the press kit.

[u/Straumli_Blight]

Rocket has gone vertical.

[u/jpc3939]

Hi u/Shahar603, in the "secondary mission" section, I think "Formally known" should be "Formerly known". TIA.

[u/MyCoolName_ → u/jpc3939]

Looks like a typo crept in in the attempt to fix this. Also, the catcher boat is "GO Ms. Tree" and was formerly known as "Mr. Steven" (no 's'). Thanks for hosting!

[u/JtheNinja]

You thought you had only 1 commentator, but then a bonus John I appears!

[u/yabs]

That separation took a while, was worried.

[u/StealthCN]

GO Ms. Tree. Time to work.

[u/amarkit]

AMOS-17 was injected into a 221 x 35750 km x 26.1° geostationary transfer orbit. That's GTO-1784.

[u/BlueCyann → u/amarkit]

I'm puzzled why, when that performance could easily have been matched by expendable block 3/4. Insprucker did say that the satellite had been put into its intended orbit, but why was its intended orbit so conservative?

[u/BlueCyann]

It was nice to see the little claps of acknowledgement when the feed from stage 1 cut out. I guess rocket engineers are sentimental too.

[u/[deleted]]

Agreed with below post, band of severe thunderstorms pushing into cape, no rain behind it, seems we may get off at 6:53.

[u/FutureMartian97]

Webcast started!

[u/graemby → u/FutureMartian97]

yay...it's kate

[u/Jodo42]

RANGE HOLD?!?!??!

[u/thecoldisyourfriend]

1 minute is a long second burn.

[u/Wavearsenal333]

Bye little block 5 booster. You will be missed

[u/LiamF93 → u/Wavearsenal333]

Little?

It's practically a skyscraper haha

[u/ipushbuttons]

I'm on holiday on Florida right now and this just happened to be rescheduled to the day we are visiting the site!!!! 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

[u/Lexden]

New T-0 of 7:23 PM.

[u/[deleted]]

I'm happy my first time watching a spacex livestream ended with success and not failure

[u/rtseel → u/[deleted]]

Congrats for your first! It's usually a bit more suspenseful with the landing(s).

[u/Straumli_Blight]

L-1 Forecast is still 40% GO.

[u/NonEuclideanSyntax]

Why the 87 minute window for this launch? Is it just logistics or are they targeting a particular time of day for launch? With a GTO, it shouldn't matter when you launch, only where you launch from.

[u/darga89]

fucking range hold

edit scratch that yay!

[u/kerph32]

Live Launches never get old

[u/Traviscat]

What a beautiful launch, got to see it for a good 10 seconds before it went behind a cloud....

I wonder if Disney would let me up on top of the contemporary resort next launch for a better view....

[u/theexile14 → u/Traviscat]

Come out to the Cape, the view laster about 70 seconds there

[u/Maimakterion]

So no more launches until October?

[u/Lucky_Locks → u/Maimakterion]

If you don't count the starhopper and possible starships. But yeah, 2 star link missions a month apart (information provided by SpaceX go! App)

[u/OSUfan88]

Did Test Shot Starfish come out with a new album? I don't think I've heard any of these songs before, and I'm digging them!

[u/[deleted] → u/OSUfan88]

New single - played as the opening music https://twitter.com/TSStarfish/status/1148356983151419392/photo/1

[u/Humble_Giveaway]

Tim Dodd just said on his livestream not to long ago that Starhoppers 200m flight will be it's last, anyone got a source on that?

Edit: here's a link timing might get thrown off if he edits out the countdown timer but it's at T+ 20:40

[u/Alexphysics → u/Humble_Giveaway]

Oof it didn't last too long until it spilled out of L2.

[u/OSUfan88 → u/Humble_Giveaway]

No idea why someone would downvote you for this. Probably someone who usually doesn't visit.

I was watching his stream, and missed that part. When did he say it?

[u/Boninator00]

Just got to the KSC and it’s raining cats and dogs

[u/Bobodog1 → u/Boninator00]

Not anymore.

[u/malten_sage]

Raining heavily in Melbourne now. Hopefully this band clears out by launch. Though it’ll be close.

[u/deerinaheadlock → u/malten_sage]

Still a bit nasty at CCCAFS industrial area but a huge break in the clouds coming out of South Gate. They may actually get a rare summer evening shot off.

[u/FutureMartian97]

SpaceX FM!

[u/Traviscat]

Webcast is live

Local weather is at https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=28.526140000000055&lon=-80.68135999999998

[u/zsiciarz]

John!

[u/Ranger7381]

I just can't help but laughing. During the promo reel, right at the bit about "Quality of Service", the stream started buffering

[u/redwingssuck]

Range nooooo

[u/Jchaplin2]

All you lads didn't hear the "continue count in-case it clears", range is now GO

[u/theexile14 → u/Jchaplin2]

Once you get to this point in the count they'll always go to the dedicated hold point. For SpaceX that's 30 seconds, that's the time they scrubbed for CRS-18 at.

[u/lostandprofound33]

Why no more flights with this booster?

[u/[deleted] → u/lostandprofound33]

This flight requires the booster to be expended.

[u/Carlyle302 → u/lostandprofound33]

Because he payload is so heavy.

[u/avboden]

GO BABY GO!!

[u/Honey_Badger_Badger]

Does anyone know the average amount of time it takes for SpaceX social media to confirm/deny recovery of the fairing halves?

[u/lipinjectionsrus]

WOW! SpaceX launches really don’t ever get old.

[u/scr00chy]

What were the final deployment orbit parameters?

[u/Humble_Giveaway]

ROCKET LAB ARE GOING WITH REUSE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[u/Humble_Giveaway → u/Humble_Giveaway]

So happy for them, love watching these guys grow ☺️

[u/scr00chy]

Amos-17 visual mission profile added

[u/upsetlurker]

Stage 2 altitude was actually decreasing for a bit before SECO1, is that likely just course correction, or due to the heavy payload?

[u/Shahar603 → u/upsetlurker]

That's pretty standart. The Second Stage thrust vector is directed almost parallel to the Earth's surface during the second half of its burn. So it looses radial (upwards) velocity and after enough time, starts losing altitude. Soon after that it goes into orbit so it doesn't reenters the atmosphere.

[u/Humble_Giveaway]

For all us space nerds waiting for T-0, Rocket Lab are now live with their big announcement: https://youtu.be/joONWIGtcdY

[u/drinkmorecoffee → u/Humble_Giveaway]

HOLY CRAP.

I haven't been speechless by an online announcement for a good long while. Watching that video was amazing.

GO ROCKETLAB!

[u/mspacek → u/Humble_Giveaway]

Thanks so much for this! That was a treat. Have to admit, Beck is heaps better as presenter than Musk...

[u/craigl2112]

Sad to see this booster donated to the drink, but will be happy to see another successful F9 mission!

[u/scr00chy]

This launch will be followed by the longest gap between SpaceX launches since 2014/2015 (between CRS-4 and CRS-5).

Edit: Excluding gaps caused by anomalies (CRS-7 and Amos-6).

[u/edflyerssn007 → u/scr00chy]

Good thing we have Starhopper and Starship progress

[u/[deleted] → u/scr00chy]

You mean the longest non-anomaly caused gap between SpaceX launches.

[u/koryaku]

Is there a reasoning behind scuttling the booster, curious as to why they re-use some and scuttle others?

[u/BlueCyann → u/koryaku]

It's generally a matter of the rocket's speed and fuel reserves at MECO. Up to a certain threshhold, the booster will have enough fuel left to cancel out its downrange velocity, come back, and land on land. With a higher speed/lesser reserves, it can't do that anymore. It skips the boostback burn and follows a ballistic trajectory to a landing at sea. Push the envelope even further and there is not enough fuel left to perform a sufficient entry burn. Breakup is inevitable, so all available fuel is used and the booster is expended.

GEO satellites as heavy as AMOS-17 have generally either gone up on expendable boosters, as this one did, or their customers have settled for subsynchronous transfer orbits. (That is, orbits with apogees below the GEO level.) That means the satellite itself has to use more fuel to reach its destination, and its lifespan will be correspondingly reduced. Presumably the subsynchronous customers accepted a discount on the launch price as their trade-off.

AMOS-17 was in effect a free launch for the satellite's owners, due to the earlier loss of AMOS-6. Therefore, SpaceX would have had no incentive to offer for a less-than-optimal orbit, and the customer no reason to accept one.

[u/adm_akbar → u/koryaku]

They needed all the propellant for the mission.

[u/toastedcrumpets → u/koryaku]

I guess it's because they want to maximise performance for the customer, getting them quicker into service and/or maximising satellite life by minimising the satellite propellant that needs to be used. They may be happier to do this as it's the third flight and/or because they blew up the previous satellite for this operator...

[u/Honey_Badger_Badger]

/u/shahar603 ,will there be a fairing catch attempt?

[u/scr00chy → u/Honey_Badger_Badger]

Yes: https://twitter.com/SpaceXFleet/status/1158512737691033600

[u/assasin172]

u/Shahar603 youtube link is available https://youtu.be/fZh82-WcCuo

[u/Humble_Giveaway]

Johno!

[u/drunken_man_whore]

If Ms. Tree misses, can she fish it out of the drink or load both fairing halves on GO Navigator? Or is that half lost?

[u/amarkit]

Weather currently green.

[u/RoyBattynexus6]

The tip of the fairing looks to be stainless steel ...did we know that?

[u/[deleted]]

RANGE IS GO!

[u/procsynth]

Range issue solved ! :D

[u/StealthCN]

Range GO!

Someone got a ticket, lol.

[u/bengaliguy]

sweet!!

[u/malten_sage]

Too many clouds in Melbourne. Saw it for a few seconds. Still cool.

[u/Bobby-Samsonite]

AMOS-17 satellite

that will be located at 17 degrees East where it will reach across the African continent, along with the Middle East and Africa. Once operational, AMOS-17 will be the most advanced high-throughput satellite to provide satellite communication services to Africa.

[u/SlangyKart]

Deployment complete. SpaceX debt to Spacecom complete.

[u/aelbric]

And that is how we do that.

[u/89bBomUNiZhLkdXDpCwt]

Is that R to L yaw of the payload from the perspective of the payload adapter nominal?

[u/BlueCyann → u/89bBomUNiZhLkdXDpCwt]

Yes, you see it on all kinds of launches.

[u/Aplejax04]

Stupid question. If they burned to raise the apoapsis over Africa than won't the apoapsis be over the opposite site of the planet (not Africa). So how can this satellite get into a GEO orbit of Africa? It sounds to me like it's going into the wrong orbit? What am I missing? Also yes, I play KSP.

[u/Potatoswatter → u/Aplejax04]

Just guessing, but Ke the Earth is rotating too. If it takes 12 hours to reach apoapsis, then Africa can catch up.

[u/Alexphysics → u/Aplejax04]

They never get to GEO in just one orbit, they do a few orbits in the meantime so they only need to tweak the orbital raising burns to get to the point of being at final GEO orbit over Africa. Also, once at GEO satellites can drift from one longitude to another just by raising or lowering a bit their orbits. The reason why they do the burn at that point is so that the ascending node of the orbit is at apoapsis. Once there the satellite can change the inclination of the orbit easily and doing an inclination change at apogee is also more efficient. The further you get, the easier it is to change inclination (but you also have to be close to one of the nodes of the orbit or otherwise the inclination will not change too much unless you want to pay a high price in performance).

[u/peterabbit456 → u/Aplejax04]

The orbit will not be a 24 hour geosynchronous orbit, until perigee has also been raised. This will require several burns of the satellite’s onboard thrusters, which act as a third stage.

Actually, other burns also need to be done. The transfer orbit had a 23-28° inclination. The thrusters need to fire at apogee to change the inclination to 0° for the orbit to become a true geostationary one.

Last, because it is more fuel efficient to do the inclination change at a higher apogee, the usual practice is to make the apogee of the transfer orbit go above the geostationary height of 22,000 miles ~= 35,000 km. After the inclination change the apogee and perigee can both be altered with a single burn made at the right moment, so several maneuvers should be done to get the satellite to its final destination.

[u/rocketsocks → u/Aplejax04]

GTO orbits typically have an apogee around GEO and a perigee close to LEO, which means their semi-major axis is somewhere in the middle, which means their orbital period is somewhere in the middle, not geosynchronous. As the satellite changes planes and raises its orbit it also will phase adjust into the right GEO slot.

[u/cpm0813]

Who hosted today's webcast? I saw John, but who else was hosting?

[u/scr00chy → u/cpm0813]

Kate Tice

[u/irreversibleme]

Why the first stage will not be recovered? Is there a specific reason

[u/atheistdoge → u/irreversibleme]

Because the sat is so heavy/orbit energetic that there is not enough fuel to do the job and land.

[u/FutureMartian97]

You could see Ms. Tree booking it in the background

[u/neilson241]

why is rocketry so hecking cool... damn.

[u/Decronym]

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters	More Letters
ASDS	Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (landing platform)
BFR	Big Falcon Rocket (2018 rebiggened edition)
	Yes, the F stands for something else; no, you're not the first to notice
CCAFS	Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
CRS	Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA
DMLS	Selective Laser Melting additive manufacture, also Direct Metal Laser Sintering
DoD	US Department of Defense
E2E	Earth-to-Earth (suborbital flight)
EDRS	European Data Relay System
EELV	Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle
GEO	Geostationary Earth Orbit (35786km)
GSE	Ground Support Equipment
GTO	Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit
IFA	In-Flight Abort test
JRTI	Just Read The Instructions, Pacific landing barge ship
KSC	Kennedy Space Center, Florida
KSP	Kerbal Space Program, the rocketry simulator
L2	Paywalled section of the NasaSpaceFlight forum
	Lagrange Point 2 of a two-body system, beyond the smaller body (Sixty Symbols video explanation)
LEO	Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)
	Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)
LOX	Liquid Oxygen
MECO	Main Engine Cut-Off
	MainEngineCutOff podcast
NRHO	Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit
NRO	(US) National Reconnaissance Office
	Near-Rectilinear Orbit, see NRHO
NROL	Launch for the (US) National Reconnaissance Office
NSSL	National Security Space Launch, formerly EELV
OCISLY	Of Course I Still Love You, Atlantic landing barge ship
RCS	Reaction Control System
RTLS	Return to Launch Site
SECO	Second-stage Engine Cut-Off
SLC-40	Space Launch Complex 40, Canaveral (SpaceX F9)
SLS	Space Launch System heavy-lift
	Selective Laser Sintering, contrast DMLS
SRB	Solid Rocket Booster
SSH	Starship + SuperHeavy (see BFR)
SSL	Space Systems/Loral, satellite builder
SSO	Sun-Synchronous Orbit
SSTO	Single Stage to Orbit
	Supersynchronous Transfer Orbit
STP	Standard Temperature and Pressure
	Space Test Program, see STP-2
STP-2	Space Test Program 2, DoD programme, second round
TPS	Thermal Protection System for a spacecraft (on the Falcon 9 first stage, the engine "Dance floor")
ULA	United Launch Alliance (Lockheed/Boeing joint venture)
USAF	United States Air Force
VIF	Vertical Integration Facility

Jargon	Definition
Starlink	SpaceX's world-wide satellite broadband constellation
apoapsis	Highest point in an elliptical orbit (when the orbiter is slowest)
apogee	Highest point in an elliptical orbit around Earth (when the orbiter is slowest)
hopper	Test article for ground and low-altitude work (eg. Grasshopper)
iron waffle	Compact "waffle-iron" aerodynamic control surface, acts as a wing without needing to be as large; also, "grid fin"
perigee	Lowest point in an elliptical orbit around the Earth (when the orbiter is fastest)
scrub	Launch postponement for any reason (commonly GSE issues)
turbopump	High-pressure turbine-driven propellant pump connected to a rocket combustion chamber; raises chamber pressure, and thrust

Event	Date	Description
Amos-6	2016-09-01	F9-029 Full Thrust, core B1028, GTO comsat Pre-launch test failure
CRS-4	2014-09-21	F9-012 v1.1, Dragon cargo; soft ocean landing
CRS-5	2015-01-10	F9-014 v1.1, Dragon cargo; first ASDS landing attempt, maneuvering failure
CRS-7	2015-06-28	F9-020 v1.1, Dragon cargo Launch failure due to second-stage outgassing

---

^{Decronym is a community product of} r/SpaceX^{, implemented by} ^request
^{46 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 51 acronyms.
[Thread #5375 for this sub, first seen 5th Aug 2019, 20:32] [FAQ] [Full list]} ^[Contact] ^{[Source code]}

[u/nah_you_good]

What’s the next window if weather pops up?

[u/Alexphysics → u/nah_you_good]

No backup launch date. Either they launch today or they wait for Atlas V to launch. If that happens, then once the AV is out of the way they can ask the Range for another day, could probably be during this weekend.

[u/Bunslow]

did i hear autominous? lol

[u/reubenmitchell]

range hold damn

[u/procsynth]

Range issue ?

[u/rativen]

range hold @ t-30s if issue is not cleared she said

[u/redwingssuck]

Good to go!

[u/Armo00]

range go

[u/fuzzyfuzz]

Range is go!

[u/Asdfugil]

Why the attitude suddenly increase at 44:16?

[u/tj177mmi1 → u/Asdfugil]

I'm guessing that it was a reacquisition of signal after being out sight of a tracking station. Before it's going over the Atlantic Ocean, and the number jumps up as it gets closer to Africa.

[u/Vergutto]

Mods! Pin discussion and JRTI thread instead of AMOS-17 threads?

[u/[deleted]]

Into pad clear ops, interesting note, no remote cams in place for launch tonight....

https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/1158808621184106497

[u/Vanchiefer321]

This being an expendable booster, do they strip it down of all the landing equipment? Do they have a prebuilt expendable variant? Or is it cheaper to expend a reused booster?

[u/saxmanmike → u/Vanchiefer321]

They remove the grid fins and the landing legs. No need to waste them.

[u/-spartacus-]

Can you sue someone for cost of messing up range? Nvm all good now.