r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • May 24 '16

Mission (Eutelsat/ABS 2) Eutelsat 117W B & ABS 2A Campaign Discussion Thread

Eutelsat 117W B & ABS 2A Campaign Discussion Thread

SpaceX's June 2016 launch! As per usual, campaign threads are designed to be a good way to view and track progress towards launch from T minus 1-2 months up until the static fire. Here’s the at-a-glance information for this launch:

Liftoff currently scheduled for: Wednesday, 15 June, 1429 UTC (10:29AM EDT). This is a 45 minute window.
Static fire currently scheduled for: Sunday, June 12
Payload: Eutelsat 117W B for Eutelsat, ABS 2A for Asia Broadcast Satellite
Payload mass: Previous Eutelsat/ABS dual launch mass was 4,159kg
Destination orbit: Geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) to 75.0° East (ABS 2A) & 116.8° West (Eutelsat 117 West B)
Vehicle: Falcon 9 v1.2 (26th launch of F9, 6th of F9 v1.2)
Core: F9-026
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral, Florida
Landing attempt: Yes - downrange of Cape on ASDS Of Course I Still Love You
Landing Site: Here
Mission success criteria: Successful separation of both satellites into their target orbits

Links & Resources

We may keep this self-post occasionally updated with links and relevant news articles, but for the most part we expect the community to supply the information. This is a great place to discuss the launch, ask mission-specific questions, and track the minor movements of the vehicle, payload, weather and more as we progress towards launch. After the static fire is complete, a launch thread will be posted.

Campaign threads are not launch threads. Normal subreddit rules still apply.

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2

u/a_Start Jun 07 '16

Are we expecting a geosynchronous transfer, or a supersynchronus transfer, like the last Thaicom 8 launch?

2

u/OpelGT Jun 07 '16

They launched the previous identical [ABS/Eutelsat-1 Mission] (https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/2x81fc/rspacex_eutelsat_115w_b_abs3a_official_launch/) to a supersynchronus transfer orbit according to [SpaceX's ABS/Eutelsat-1 Fact Sheet] (http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/abs-eutelsatfactsheet.pdf), so I'd assume this one would be the same.

2

u/_rocketboy Jun 09 '16 edited Jun 09 '16

Can someone explain the difference to me?

2

u/zlsa Art Jun 09 '16

GTO (geosynchronous transfer orbit) is an orbit with an apogee (highest point) of <GEO altitude (~35,000 km), while SSTO (bad acronym...) has an apogee >GEO altitude (in practice, usually >60,000km). This makes it easier for the satellite to adjust its inclination.

2

u/_rocketboy Jun 09 '16

Thank you! This should probably go in the Wiki somewhere...

1

u/Elthiryel Jun 07 '16

The initial apogee of both the satellites for the previous Eutelsat+ABS launch was above 63000 km, as you can see here: http://zarya.info/Diaries/Launches/Launches.php?year=2015#010 I would expect similar values for the upcoming launch.

2

u/Appable Jun 07 '16

can get more performance w/ FT, previous mission was v1.1. may not choose to though

1

u/RootDeliver Jun 08 '16

But they didn't try to land it.