SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon 9 Carrying Starlink Demo Satellites (techcrunch.com)

SpaceX has successfully launched a Falcon 9 from SLC-4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base today, its first launch since its successful Falcon Heavy test earlier this month. The launch took off early Wednesday morning, after being rescheduled a couple of times from an initial target of this past weekend. From a report: The launch was primarily designed to bring the PAZ satellite to orbit (which was deployed as planned into a low Earth, sun-synchronous polar orbit), a satellite for a Spanish customer that's designed to provide geocommunications and radar imaging for both government and private commercial customers. This launch had a secondary purpose, however, and one that might ultimately be more important to SpaceX's long-term goals. SpaceX packed two demonstration micro satellites for its planned internet broadband service (which Elon Musk confided via tweet it will call 'Starlink'). These will perform tests required before it's certified to operate the service, which it hopes to use to generate revenue by signing up subscribers to its internet service, which will hopefully be globe-spanning once complete.

Comments

Also, new fairing successful

[JoshuaZ]

This launch was also the first launch of the new fairing https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/02/spacex-falcon-9-paz-launch-starlink-demo-new-fairing/. The fairing is the two halves of the nose-cone which protect the payload from wind when the payload is going up in the atmosphere (as well as helping keep the overall rocket have less drag). Once the rocket hits the upper atmosphere (generally about the same time or shortly after 2nd stage cut off, depending on the specific rocket), the fairing breaks off since it is extra, unnecessarily mass at that point. SpaceX has been very interested in recovering the fairings and the upgraded fairing is both slightly larger (which is good because volume limitations are an issue for the Falcon 9 and even more so for the Falcon Heavy), and is also aimed at trying to make fairing recovery possible. If they can get fairing recovery and reuse to work then SpaceX will have another way of reducing the cost of launches since the fairings cost a few million to manufacture. The fact that this fairing was used without any apparent major glitches is very promising.

Re:Also, new fairing successful

[Eloking]

Thanks, I was unaware of the new fairing.

A few interestings points in the linked article :

  - Falcon9 fairings have an estimated cost of about six million dollars. After a quick search, it's look like the advertised cost is 61.2 million maiking the fairing about 10% of the cost. Honestly, it's way more than I anticipaded.
  - The new fairing will not only survive atmosphere reentry, but they will "reorient themselves" before the ewentry and then deploy a parachute. It's bery impressing and I'm very curious about how they did this.
  - SpaceX is making a recovery boat with a big net to catch those new fairing that will come. For what I read, it's pretty similar to Of Course I Still Love You drone ship.

Can't wait to see if they succeded.

Re:Also, new fairing successful

[JoshuaZ]

Even the fuel tanks cost a lot- everything in a rocket is subject to very high stresses. The fuel tanks are subject to the same high acceleration stresses as well as having to deal with extremely cold temperatures and a broad range of pressure conditions. The fairings are not only subject to the same high acceleration stresses, they need to also deal with a massive amount of air hitting them at a variety of different angles. Moreover, the fairing need to easily separate into two parts at just the right moment. None of this easy. There's good reason why we use "rocket science" as short-hand for something very difficult.

Yes fairings are expensive

[sjbe]

From the article you linked: the fairing costs $6m? Really?

You are aware that economies of scale are rather limited here right? It's not at all shocking that something like that would cost $6m in the sort of volume SpaceX deals in. Plus they aren't an "inert chuck of metal". Per SpaceX it is composite structure consisting of a 2.5 cm (1 in.) thick aluminum honeycomb core surrounded by carbon fiber face sheet plies (see section 4.3.7). It will require a huge oven for the carbon fiber which you can be sure is expensive and a lot of fancy tooling.

It has to be light, designed to take quite a lot of pressure, shock, and vibration, and deal with temperatures, and it has to separate reliably. These are hard to make and expensive. In some cases the mission requires a custom fairing.

Article showing fairing recovery

[SuperKendall]

I found another article that has a link showing Mr Steven (the catcher boat) and the fairing (which Mr. Steven missed this time, but the fairing, er, faired quite well landing in the ocean).

Re:PINGS of 240 ms minimum! Not a gamers solution

[ElizabethGreene]

SpaceX's constellation will be orbiting 35 times closer than GEO, at ~1,100 kilometers. So... "Pings of 7-8 ms minimum" is slightly more accurate.

As satellites near the end of their life they'll carefully lower these orbits down to less than 300km before de-orbiting them. Their documentation does not indicate if they'll continue active communications during that period. My guess is they won't because of the shorter orbital period, but I could be wrong.

If I were a last-mile monopoly Telco I would be slightly concerned. Mr. Musk's companies have a delightful habit of redefining the impossible.