{"id":38520,"date":"2018-03-09T18:44:12","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T10:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-manifest-company-aims-for-five-falcon-9-launches-in-one-month\/"},"modified":"2018-03-09T18:44:12","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T10:44:12","slug":"spacex-manifest-company-aims-for-five-falcon-9-launches-in-one-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-manifest-company-aims-for-five-falcon-9-launches-in-one-month\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX manifest: company aims for five Falcon 9 launches in one month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Having already completed five Falcon family rocket launches this year, SpaceX is aiming to double that number by the end of April, with five Falcon 9 missions planned within a one month period starting at the end of March. &nbsp;The continuation and ramp up of such a rapid launch cadence is part of the company\u2019s overall goal of achieving approximately 30 Falcon family launches by the end of this year.<\/p>\n<p><b>Falcon 9 manifest takes shape for rapid flight sequence:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>SpaceX is preparing to significantly ramp up its launch cadence in 2018, aiming to double the total number of missions launched in the first 12 weeks of the year in just a four week period from late-March to late-April.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the Range-requested dates submitted by SpaceX to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, the current plan calls for all five of the upcoming Falcon 9 missions to launch within a one month period, beginning with Iridium NEXT-5 from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, on 29 March at 07:19:49 PDT (10:19:49 EDT; 14:19:49 UTC).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V11ohV4b2Mw?start=574&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid0\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This will kick off a busy seven day period for SpaceX, during which the first three of the five planned missions are scheduled to launch. <\/p>\n<p>Iridium NEXT-5 will see a new crop of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites for the company\u2019s upgraded orbital communications constellation lofted to orbit on the same Falcon 9 booster that launched the Iridium NEXT-3 mission back in October 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Following first stage flight on Iridium NEXT-3, the Falcon 9 first stage, B1041, performed a successful landing on the ASDS <i>Just Read The Instructions<\/i> drone ship off the southern California coast, returning to the Port of Los Angeles for refurbishment and reflight.<\/p>\n<p>Astronomy<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Spaceflight news subscription<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Space tourism guides<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>\n<p>     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n<p>B1041 was the first time Iridium used a Block 4 variant of Falcon 9, and its reuse for the upcoming Iridium NEXT-5 mission will be the first time a Block 4 Falcon 9 is reflown.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55364\" class=\"wp-image-55364 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-09-165234.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1403\" height=\"895\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-09-165234.jpg 1403w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-09-165234-350x223.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-09-165234-549x350.jpg 549w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-09-165234-768x490.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-09-165234-1170x746.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1403px) 100vw, 1403px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-55364\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CRS-13 launches on a flight-proven booster from SLC-40 in December 2017. (Credit: Brady Kenniston for NSF\/L2)<\/p>\n<p>In rapid succession, Iridium NEXT-5 will be followed just four days later by the launch of the CRS-14 Dragon mission to the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Resupply Services contract SpaceX has with NASA.\n<\/p>\n<p>CRS-14 is scheduled to launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station\u2019s SLC-40 pad on NET 2 April at 16:30 EDT (20:30 UTC).&nbsp;&nbsp;The resupply mission will use a previously flown Dragon capsule and is expected to make use of a flight-proven Falcon 9 booster that has flown only one prior mission on a low-energy LEO (Low Earth Orbit) flight.<\/p>\n<p>Given CRS-13\u2019s use of the flight-proven CRS-11 booster, it is likely that CRS-14 will use the CRS-12 booster; however, given the once-flown low-energy LEO parameter, there are three Falcon 9 boosters available for CRS-14, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B1039 \u2013 CRS-12 in August 2017<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B1040 \u2013 OTV-5 (X-37B) in September 2017<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">B1043 \u2013 Zuma in January 2018<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55367\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55367\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Zuma-landing.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1510\" height=\"932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Zuma-landing.jpg 1510w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Zuma-landing-350x216.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Zuma-landing-567x350.jpg 567w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Zuma-landing-180x110.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Zuma-landing-768x474.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Zuma-landing-1170x722.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1510px) 100vw, 1510px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-55367\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Falcon 9 Block 4 core B1043 lands at LZ-1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 7 January 2018. (Credit: SpaceX)<\/p>\n<p>All of the available Falcon 9 flight-proven boosters for CRS-14 are Block 4s.<\/p>\n<p>Impressively, just three days after CRS-14, SpaceX aims to launch again, this time from neighboring pad LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center with Bangabandhu-1 \u2013 Bangladesh\u2019s first satellite.<\/p>\n<p>Planned currently for just three days after CRS-14, SpaceX has actually accomplished such a rapid sequence launch cadence in an even shorter timeframe twice before.<\/p>\n<p>In June 2017, Bulgariasat and Iridium NEXT-2 launched within 49 hours 15 minutes of each other. &nbsp;Four months later, in October, Iridium NEXT-3 and SES-11\/Echostar 105 launched within 58 hours 25 minutes of each other.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55368\" class=\"wp-image-55368 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Bulgariasat-and-IR-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2070\" height=\"698\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Bulgariasat-and-IR-2.jpg 2070w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Bulgariasat-and-IR-2-350x118.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Bulgariasat-and-IR-2-630x212.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Bulgariasat-and-IR-2-768x259.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Bulgariasat-and-IR-2-1920x647.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Bulgariasat-and-IR-2-1170x395.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2070px) 100vw, 2070px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-55368\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bulgariasat (left) and Iridium NEXT-2 (right) launching just 49 hours 15 minutes apart from each other in June 2017. (Credit: SpaceX)<\/p>\n<p>What will be new here is that Bulgariasat to Iridium NEXT-2 and Iridium NEXT-3 to SES-11\/Echostar 105 all took place from different Ranges across the country from each other. &nbsp;CRS-14 to Bangabandhu-1 will take place just 3.6 miles from each other on the same Range.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"widget-title penci-border-arrow\">See Also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>SpaceX General Section<\/li>\n<li>SpaceX Missions Section<\/li>\n<li>L2 SpaceX Section<\/li>\n<li>Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But with no other missions scheduled from the Eastern Range in that period, the 45th Space Wing of the U.S. Air Force will have minimal reconfiguration needs as both missions will fly on Falcon 9s \u2013 with the Range technically able to support two Falcon 9s from two pads in just 16-18 hours thanks to Falcon 9\u2019s AFTS (Automated Flight Termination System).<\/p>\n<p>More importantly to Bangabandhu-1, this flight will debut the first Block 5 Falcon 9, B1046 \u2013 which is currently at McGregor, Texas, undergoing its hot fire acceptance test before final shipment to the Cape\/Kennedy.<\/p>\n<p>Given this is the first Block 5 and that a good number of personnel and resources are shared between SLC-40 (CRS-14) and LC-39A (Bangabandhu-1), Bangabnadhu-1 could potentially slip a few days from its planned 5 April target date.<\/p>\n<p>But if 5 April holds, Bangabandhu-1 would be the 3rd Falcon 9 to launch in just seven days.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55130\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55130\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/block5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5914\" height=\"3943\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-55130\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Core 1046, the first Block 5 booster, on the test stand at SpaceX\u2019s McGregor test facility. (Credit: User ScaryDare on NSF L2.)<\/p>\n<p>Once Bangabandhu-1 and the first Block 5 Falcon 9 have launched, attention will quickly shift back to SLC-40 at the Cape for final preparations for the launch of NASA\u2019s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).<\/p>\n<p>TESS is scheduled to launch NET 16 April at 18:32 EDT (22:32 UTC) and will bring the total number of Falcon 9 launches in just 18 days to four.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, TESS will launch on Falcon 9 first stage B1045, the last new Block 4 Falcon 9.<\/p>\n<p>Impressively, there is still one more flight on the docket for April: the rideshare flight of Iridium NEXT-6 and the twin GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellites owned by NASA and the German Aerospace Center.<\/p>\n<p>That mission will launch from SLC-4E at Vandenberg, and while a target date has not yet been announced, it is understood to be aiming for late-April.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i178349909812775207=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\udeec\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f6ec.svg\">Special Delivery! @NASA\u2019s twin GRACE-FO spacecraft arrived at California\u2019s Vandenberg Air Force Base in preparation for launch. https:\/\/t.co\/yeXdcOOpT2 pic.twitter.com\/mlVNMUHhII<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) December 14, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>That date is of course dependent on when the Iridium NEXT-5 mission launches from Vandenberg, how quickly SpaceX can turn around their West Coast launch facility, the readiness of both payloads, and scheduling the launch with the other activities Vandenberg Air Force Base supports for the U.S. government.<\/p>\n<p>Whether this mission will use a brand new Falcon 9 or a flight-proven core is currently unknown, but given Iridium\u2019s recent history,&nbsp;it\u2019s possible that the mission will use a flight-proven booster.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, based on the currently known schedule, the upcoming Falcon 9 manifest is as follows:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Date (No Earlier Than)<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Mission<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Rocket \u2013 Booster #<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Pad<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>29 March<\/td>\n<td>Iridium NEXT-5<\/td>\n<td>Falcon 9 \u2013 B1041.2 (first Block 4 reflight)<\/td>\n<td>SLC-4E<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2 April<\/td>\n<td>CRS-14<\/td>\n<td>Falcon 9 \u2013 Flight-proven core expected<\/td>\n<td>SLC-40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5 April<\/td>\n<td>Bangabandhu-1<\/td>\n<td>Falcon 9 \u2013 B1046 (first Block 5)<\/td>\n<td>LC-39A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>16 April<\/td>\n<td>TESS<\/td>\n<td>Falcon 9 \u2013 B1045 (last new Block 4)<\/td>\n<td>SLC-40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>End of April<\/td>\n<td>Iridium NEXT-6 \/ GRACE FO<\/td>\n<td>Falcon 9 \u2013 Flight-proven core possible<\/td>\n<td>SLC-4E<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Looking ahead into May and June, SpaceX and the other launch providers that make use of the Eastern Range in Florida will have to work around a planned down period during which no launches can occur.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55375\" class=\"wp-image-55375 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/CCAFS-e1520617474301.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1463\" height=\"1152\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/CCAFS-e1520617474301.jpg 1463w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/CCAFS-e1520617474301-350x276.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/CCAFS-e1520617474301-444x350.jpg 444w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/CCAFS-e1520617474301-768x605.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/CCAFS-e1520617474301-1170x921.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1463px) 100vw, 1463px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-55375\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Eastern Range in Florida. (Credit: Google Maps)<\/p>\n<p>Roughly twice a year, the Eastern Range and the 45th Space Wing of the Air Force schedules a planned period of inactivity during which Eastern Range personnel perform various inspections, upgrades, and maintenance to the Range\u2019s critical support equipment.<\/p>\n<p>The Range specifically plans this work and notifies launch providers well in advance of the week or weeks during which the Range will be unavailable so as to ensure that Range equipment functions properly during all launch campaigns. <\/p>\n<p>In 2017, there were two Range stand-down periods, one in July and one in December. <\/p>\n<p>The stand-down period dates are somewhat flexible given launch provider needs, as was seen in July last year when SpaceX\u2019s Intelsat 35e encountered two ground related computer scrubs and ended up launching the day before the Eastern Range stood down for scheduled maintenance.<\/p>\n<p>This year, the first range down period will occur from 29 May to the 8 June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having already completed five Falcon family rocket launches this year, SpaceX is aiming to double that number by the end of April, with five Falcon 9 missions planned within a one month period starting at the end of March. &nbsp;The continuation and ramp up of such a rapid launch cadence is part of the company\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[479,316],"class_list":["post-38520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-falcon-9","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}