SpaceX will launch SAOCOM 1A, a radar observation satellite for Argentina, on a Falcon 9 rocket today (Sunday, Oct 7) at 7:21 p.m. PDT (10:21 p.m. EDT), from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA.
For the first time on the West coast, SpaceX will attempt to land the Falcon 9’s first stage booster on land. So far, for West coast launches, SpaceX has recovered Falcon 9 first stages by landing on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.
The launch will take place from Space Launch Complex-4E, while the landing will be at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4), previously known as SLC-4W, just 300 meters away.
The launch can be seen online starting at 15 minutes before liftoff at www.spacex.com/…
Since the launch will take place just after sunset and skies are clear, this launch may put on another dazzling display, as it it did in the Dec 22, 2017 launch from Vandenberg. See the title image and diary www.dailykos.com/… for some gorgeous images and videos of that launch.
The rocket went vertical last night.
Sonic boom warnings have been issued for nearby counties.
From www.vandenberg.af.mil/… -
Local residents may see the first stage of the Falcon 9 returning to Vandenberg AFB, including multiple engine burns associated with the landing. During the landing attempt residents from Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties may hear one or more sonic booms. A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves from an aircraft or vehicle traveling faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate a sound similar to an explosion or a clap of thunder. The sonic boom experienced will depend on weather conditions and other factors.
The Launch and Landing Site
Vandenberg AFB is located West of Santa Barbara as shown in the map below.
The public can view the launch from the Hawk's Nest on Azalea Lane off of Hwy 1 just a half mile south of Vandenberg Air Force Base's main gate. There are plenty of other places for good viewing.
Credit: Google Maps
Here is a closeup of SpaceX Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) and SLC-4E at Vandenberg AFB.
Credit: Google Maps
SLC-4E was originally an Atlas launch pad activated in 1962; SLC-4E was in active use until its last Titan IV launch in 2005. SpaceX leased the complex in July 2011 and completed extensive modifications and reconstruction in the next 17 months. SpaceX first launched a Falcon 9 from SLC-4E on Sep 29, 2013.
The Rocket
The rocket for this mission includes a refurbished Block 5 first stage recovered from the launch of the Iridium NEXT batch 7 satellites from the same launch pad, on July 25, 2018. The booster made a successful landing on the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions.”
Landing boosters at Vandenberg will help reduce cost and decrease the turn-around time for reuse.
Mission Timeline
00:00:00 Falcon 9 liftoff
00:00:59 Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
00:02:20 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
00:02:24 1st and 2nd stages separate (altitude ~78 km)
00:02:31 2nd stage engine starts
00:02:36 Boostback burn
00:02:48 Fairing deployment (altitude ~110 km)
00:05:57 1st stage entry burn
00:07:46 1st stage landing
00:10:07 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) (altitude ~625 km)
00:12:37 SAOCOM 1A satellite deployment
The Satellite
SAOCOM-1A is a 1,600 kg satellite, being launched for CONAE, the Argentine space agency, to a Sun-Synchronous Orbit. SAOCOM-1A will be a part of a future six-satellite constellation in collaboration with the Italian COSMO-SkyMed constellation. The radar satellites will use L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar to image the globe at up to 7 m resolution in wide swaths, up to 400 km wide, twice a day. The data will help measure soil moisture and observe oil spills, floods, wildfires and other natural and human-caused disasters.
Mr. Steven
Mr. Steven the rocket catcher ship will try one more time to catch the payload fairings of this flight. All previous attempts have failed so far, but the fairings were picked up after splash-down The fairing is the 2-piece nose cone that covers the payload cargo at the top of the rocket.
The fairings cost about $6 million, hence the motivation to recover and reuse them.
The latest news is that Mr. Steven is still in port and will not carry out the fairing recovery mission, due to rough seas.
The Photographers
The usual cadre of outstanding photographers and many more will be on hand to capture images that most of us can only watch online and admire.
Here is an interesting video of a booster (for some future flight) being transported through the streets near SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, near L.A.
Other SpaceX News
Dirty conservative tricks -
Plus there is the ongoing flap between Elon Musk, the SEC and short-sellers.
NASA announced that crewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled for June 2019 by SpaceX and August 2019 by Boeing. Uncrewed test flights of the new spacecraft will take place in Jan and Mar 2019 resp.
Epilogue
Hope some of you are able to catch this historic flight tonight if you live in the L.A. area. We will post some pictures later tonight.
Photographs
And here are a few of the thousands of mesmerizing photographs captured by pro and amateur enthusiasts. See twitter.com/… for many more.
Further Reading
- Webcast — www.spacex.com/…
- Mission press kit — www.spacex.com/…
- SpaceX Falcon 9 set for SAOCOM 1A launch and first West Coast landing — www.nasaspaceflight.com/...
- Live coverage: SpaceX prepares for launch and landing in California — spaceflightnow.com/…
- Meet Mr. Steven, the SpaceX Rocket Catcher — www.dailykos.com/…
- A Beautiful SpaceX Rocket Launch — www.dailykos.com/…
- The Aug 7 SpaceX Launch of the Indonesian Satellite Merah Putih — www.dailykos.com/...