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[Update: I noticed that the YouTube Live Feed page now shows the launch to be scheduled for 20:42 UTC -- a 30 minute delay. This is confirmed by SpaceX's Twitter feed. --martyb]
[Update 2: Another hour and 5 minutes of delay. T-0 scheduled for 5:47 PM EDT (21:47 UTC). --takyon]
[Update 3: The rocket aborted the launch sequence at T-58s. Launch window tomorrow at 4:14 PM EDT (20:14 UTC) to 6:21 PM EDT (22:21 UTC). --takyon]
[Update 3: The rocket aborted the launch sequence at T-58s. Launch window tomorrow at 4:14 PM EDT (20:14 UTC) to 6:21 PM EDT (22:21 UTC). --takyon]
[Update 4: Launch and booster landing successful. --takyon]
A Falcon 9 rocket has gone vertical on Thursday morning at Launch Complex 39A in Florida, and SpaceX is on track for the liftoff of a brand new version of its workhorse booster. The launch of the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 to geostationary transfer orbit is set for 4:12pm ET (20:12 UTC) Thursday, with a launch window that stretches for a little more than two hours.
The highlight of this flight is the debut of the Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 rocket (which Ars previewed thoroughly last week). SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said this will be the final "substantial" upgrade to the Falcon 9 rocket, optimizing the booster for reuse. The company hopes to be able to fly each Block 5 first stage 10 times before significant refurbishment is required.
[...] Ten flights of an individual booster would be hugely significant, as SpaceX has thus far only ever reused each of its Falcon 9 rockets a single time. Additionally, the company hopes to reduce the turnaround time between launches of a Falcon 9 booster, now several months, to a matter of weeks.
The launch will be live-streamed on YouTube:
SpaceX is targeting launch of Bangabandhu Satellite-1 on Thursday, May 10 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The launch window opens at 4:12 p.m. EDT, or 20:12 UTC, and closes at 6:22 p.m. EDT, or 22:22 UTC. Bangabandhu Satellite-1 will be deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) approximately 33 minutes after launch.
A backup launch window opens on Friday, May 11 at 4:14 p.m. EDT, or 20:14 UTC, and closes at 6:21 p.m. EDT, or 22:21 UTC.
The Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission will be the first to utilize Falcon 9 Block 5, the final substantial upgrade to SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Falcon 9 Block 5 is designed to be capable of 10 or more flights with very limited refurbishment as SpaceX continues to strive for rapid reusability and extremely high reliability.
Following stage separation, SpaceX will attempt to land Falcon 9's first stage on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Friday May 11 2018, @02:20PM
Yeah, I was unduly optimistic with that estimate, though I did couch the phrasing as Falcon 9 (i.e. not including Falcon Heavy).
The whole point being that they have dramatically reduced the cost of sending things into orbit. Instead of having to build a new booster for every flight, or for every other flight (at a cost of, what, $30M? I don't know offhand, but that sounds like it is in the ballpark) now the plan is to get 10 flights out of each booster.
For the sake of argument, let's say it was only $20M per F9 booster. How much would it cost SpaceX for 100 flights?
And that is with no allowance for fairing recovery which they are currently working on and which would save on the order of $5M per flight. Never mind reuse of the 2nd stage on which activity is now starting. They really are striving for just: inspect, refuel, and relaunch. Compared to the other launch providers (except for Blue Origin), who expend the whole rocket ever single flight.
Nothing. I don't know where you got that I thought they would end F9 flights -- the whole point of SpaceX's F9 efforts has been increasing their reusability. What I did suggest is that there may be less need for building new F9 boosters.
Last major update to this design. In order for SpaceX to launch Dragon missions to the ISS with passengers, NASA requires something like 7 successful flights of the same rocket design to qualify the design. SpaceX has been tweaking and modifying things all along the way, up until now. Sure, there may be minor changes in the near future, but nothing major which would jeopardize their ability to get their craft rated to accept passengers.
I don't recall saying that everything would be flying on the BFR. Certainly there are circumstances where a bespoke small rocket ala Rocket Lab's Electron, is preferable for some. But, the BFR/BFS is intended to be like an airplane or jet... just refuel, run through the checklist, and launch again. The primary cost is just that of fuel. Unless they can get full reusability out of an F9, it would be less expensive for someone to launch as part of a manifest on a BFR / BFS.
Wit is intellect, dancing.