On Monday, December 3 at 18:31:47 UTC (1:31pm EST) or about 10 hours after the time this story goes live. With this launch, SpaceX would mark 3 milestones:
First, it will be the first time that one of their boosters will have flown 3 times. The first launch of this booster was on May 11 (from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida) and the second was on August 7 (from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station). This launch will be from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California. (Attentive readers will notice that this booster will have been launched from three different launch pads. Another first.)
Second, it will be the most satellites deployed in a single launch by a U.S. company: 64 (15 microsats and 49 cubesats). Note the qualification, though; India's ISRO launched 88 cubesats using their PSLV into a 500 km altitude SSO on Feb 15, 2017.
Third, this would be SpaceX's 19th launch of the year — its most ever.
This flight has been rescheduled from Dec 1 (for weather) and Dec 2 (to check out the second stage). The launch will be live-streamed on YouTube with coverage expected to begin approximately 15 minutes before launch.
Next up is an ISS resupply mission on December 4, scheduled at 18:38 UTC (1:38pm EST). This would be SpaceX's 20th flight of the year and is scheduled 24 hours and 7 minutes after the Dec 3 launch. This launch is from pad SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
But wait, there's more! On Dec 18th, SpaceX plans a GPS satellite launch on December 18 @ 14:24 UTC (9:24am EST) from the same pad (SLC-40) as was used on Dec 4 That would mark a two-week turnaround time for that launch pad.
And, to wrap up the year, SpaceX plans an Iridium Next launch on Dec 30 @ 16:38 UTC (11:38am EDT) from pad SLC-4E at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Should all these flights go off as planned, this would make for a very Happy New Year for SpaceX as it would mark 22 launches in a single year, just under 2 flights per month!
Sources: Ars Technica and SpaceflightNow.com.
Related Stories
Monday's SpaceX launch was a success with both the landing and with the booster recovery. Unfortunately, the second launch mentioned in that story had to be delayed:
Moldy Mouse Food Postpones SpaceX Launch:
SpaceX has postponed its cargo launch to the International Space Station until Wednesday after mold was found on food bars for a mouse experiment bound for the orbiting outpost, NASA said.
[...] Some 40 mice are part of the experiment aimed at studying the effects of microgravity in the immune system.
The launch will be the 16th for SpaceX, as part of an ongoing contract with NASA to send supplies to the astronauts living at the space station.
Some 5,600 pounds (2,500 kilograms) of food, experiments and other gear is packed onto the unmanned Dragon cargo ship, which will blast off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Launch is scheduled for 1 hour after this story goes live.
The launch will be live-streamed on YouTube starting approximately 15 minutes before launch time.
(Score: 3, Informative) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday December 03 2018, @08:41AM (3 children)
Sounds like they're achieving what NASA promised fifty years ago with he shuttle.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by choose another one on Monday December 03 2018, @12:25PM (2 children)
In launch rate, maybe. In people launch rate - not so much. I think they'll get there though, hopefully without matching NASA's people-blown-up rate.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Monday December 03 2018, @12:46PM
Payload mass to orbit is what is important. We need big and cheap launches. Carrying humans is just a matter of ticking the checkboxes after that point.
Once BFR/Starship is ready, we can talk about giant telescopes and space stations at 1/10th the cost. That vehicle could carry humans even before it carries NASA astronauts. BFR/Starship in its current iteration also looks and acts a lot more like a Space Shuttle than Crew Dragon 2 does.
Falcon 9 + Crew Dragon 2 gets SpaceX a nice pile of NASA cash before the ISS becomes a thing of the past by 2025 or 2028. After that, SpaceX carrying astronauts for NASA is back up for negotiation, with the likely destination being the Moon or LOP-G in lunar orbit. Or Mars if we believe optimistic timelines.
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(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday December 03 2018, @03:10PM
Also without matching the SLS cost.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday December 03 2018, @12:55PM (4 children)
I'm wondering if the stream will show all of the satellite deployments and include ~64 little notches on the timeline.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_Heavy_launches#Future_2018_launches [wikipedia.org]
GPS launch:
Iridium:
It's possible that SpaceX launches will plateau or drop in 2019. But they could artificially raise the number with Starlink launches, which we would probably want to exclude from the total. The 2018 count includes the infamous Zuma launch and the Falcon Heavy demo.
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday December 03 2018, @03:17PM (3 children)
Why wouldn't Starlink, the infamous Zuma, and Falcon Heavy launches count as launches?
Do those not require the same attention to detail, preparation, planning, and costs as a "real" launch? A launch that is for SpaceX's own porpoises rather than revenue generating porpoises might count differently, but is still a launch.
I would probably count successful vs unsuccessful launches as more interesting rather than paid / unpaid launches. Personally I'm inclined to count Zuma as successfully launched (on SpaceX part) and successfully obfuscated, given the coverage of it at the time.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday December 03 2018, @03:58PM (2 children)
Starlink doesn't earn them money until it works and SpaceX becomes an ISP. A Falcon Heavy demo launch doesn't earn them money.
SpaceX insists that Zuma wasn't a failure on their part, and they probably got paid for it, but there is still a lot of mystery surrounding it.
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(Score: 5, Interesting) by insanumingenium on Monday December 03 2018, @04:44PM (1 child)
Even if making money was your only metric (which I don't subscribe to personally), I wouldn't have a hard time justifying calling Falcon Heavy and Starlink launches marketing, hard to argue that they build the value of "the brand" and advertise impressive capabilities if we are taking this from a purely pecuniary POV.
I don't watch SpaceX (or anyone else's) launches cause I want them to make money, I watch them because I support space exploration in general, and every attempted launch (successful or not) adds to the total human knowledge of rocketry. I have zero reason to think we have seen our last technological advancement to come from space exploration.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Monday December 03 2018, @05:15PM
I want the company to be successful, and to have staying power. I want SpaceX to be able to thrive even if Musk dies on a joyride around the Moon. I don't think they will have achieved stability until Starlink is successful and BFR/Starship is regularly flying for satellite customers. Starlink is risky but potentially very rewarding, and BFR is needed to cream the competition for a good while. Success with a fully reusable rocket should also ensure that if SpaceX goes bankrupt sometime in the future for whatever reason, their design choices will live on and all competitors will have already moved towards full and rapid reusability.
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(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday December 03 2018, @06:48PM (1 child)
Launch success, first time that a booster has flown and landed for the third time, and they got in the right orbit. No live video of the satellite deployment (booooo).
They are also attempting to catch the fairing yet again. No word on that yet.
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday December 04 2018, @12:39AM
Congratulations to all of the "DEPLORABLES" and to the everyone else at SpaceX! America is open for business and we are competitive once again. Great job! x1F1FA;🇸
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @12:42PM
If they launch so often maybe it's time to invest in skyhook? Even simplest ones could make huge savings.