There are four exciting rocket launches scheduled for launch in the next few days.
Here is some info about the missions and info on how to watch the launches.
Rocket |
Mission |
Launch Site |
Date/Time (ET) |
SpaceX Falcon 9 |
Es’hail-2 satellite |
Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
Thu Nov 15, 3:46 p.m. |
Northrop Grumman Antares |
ISS Cargo Resupply |
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia
|
Fri Nov 16, 4:23 a.m.
Sat Nov 17, 4:01 a.m
|
Soyuz Progress |
ISS Cargo Resupply |
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan |
Fri Nov 16,1:14 p.m. |
SpaceX Falcon 9 |
Spaceflight SSO-A; 71 small satellites |
Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
|
Mon Nov 19, 1:32 p.m.
Delayed
|
1. SpaceX Falcon 9 Es’hail-2 Mission (Thu Nov 15, 3:46 p.m. ET)
SpaceX is targeting launch of Qatar’s Es’hail-2 satellite on Thu, Nov 15 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, at around 3:46 p.m. ET. The previously used Falcon 9 first stage will land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Status: Successful launch, deployment and landing. Video at www.spacex.com/...
The Es'hail 2 satellite will provide communications and direct-to-home Television services. The 5,300-kg satellite was built by Mitsubishi Electric.
2. Northrop Grumman Antares Cargo Mission to the ISS (Sat Nov 17, 4:01 a.m. ET)
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket will launch the resupply spacecraft Cygnus to the ISS early Saturday morning at 4:01 a.m. ET, from Pad-0A at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Cygnus will transport approximately 7,400 pounds of crew supplies, science experiments, spacesuit gear, station hardware and computer resources to the ISS. It will reach the ISS on Monday around 4:35 a.m.ET.
Livestream at NASA TV. More info at blogs.nasa.gov/…
Status: Successful launch and deployment.
Here is the launch video -
3. Soyuz Progress ISS Cargo Resupply Mission (Fri Nov 16,1:14 p.m. ET)
A Russian MS Progress-10 cargo spacecraft is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday at 1:14 p.m. ET, to carry resupplies and cargo to the International Space Station. It is scheduled to dock with the Zvezda service module of the ISS at about 2:29 EST on Sunday Nov 18.
Livestream at NASA TV. More info at blogs.nasa.gov/…
Status: On time departure. Video few tweets below.
The Soyuz-FG launch vehicle will make a comeback after its failure a few weeks ago. The Oct. 11 flight ended in a launch abort when one of the rocket’s strap-on boosters failed to separate properly; all 3 on-board astronauts made a safe landing.
Here is a fascinating video of the preparations for the flight at Baikonur Cosmodrome -
Here is the video of the successful launch -
4. SpaceX Falcon 9 Spaceflight SSO-A Mission (Mon Nov 19, 1:32 p.m. ET)
There is a 4th launch scheduled for Monday Nov 19, at 1:32 p.m. ET. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch, from SLC-4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with Spaceflight’s SSO-A (Sun Synchronous Orbit A) rideshare mission.
The rocket will carry a stack of 71 small satellites which will be deployed into sun-synchronous polar orbit. The satellites were built for/by nearly 50 government and commercial organizations from 16 countries, including the United States, India, Finland, Germany, Jordan, Singapore and Thailand.
Status: Delayed for additional inspections. New launch date not set yet.
The 71 small satellites include a variety of new and novel applications, most at a fraction of the cost of previous similar missions. Many are targeted at Earth, atmosphere and Solar observation applications. Most of them are experimental prototypes, with plans for full scale constellations in the future. See directory.eoportal.org/… for a comprehensive list of payloads.
Here are a few interesting payloads —
- Eu:CROPIS (Euglena and Combined Regenerative Organic-Food Production in Space), a minisatellite (250 kg) of DLR, Germany. The objective is to study food production in space in support of future long-duration manned space missions (life sciences). The main payloads are two greenhouses, each maintained as a pressurized closed loop system, simulating the environmental conditions of the Moon or of Mars and a number of seeds.
- Hawk, a formation-flying cluster of three microsatellites (13.4 kg each) of HawkEye 360, Herndon, VA, USA. The goal is to demonstrate high-precision RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) geo-location technology monitoring. Apps include monitoring position and movement of maritime vessels, including “dark” pirate ships. Uses novel water-based propulsion.
- MinXSS-2 (Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer-2), a 3U CubeSat(4 kg) of LASP (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics) at the University of Colorado at Boulder,CO, USA. The objective is to study the energy distribution of solar flare SXR (Soft X-ray) emissions and its impact on the Earth's ITM (Ionosphere, Thermosphere, and Mesosphere) layers.
- JY1-Sat, a 1U CubeSat of Jordan developed by students of various universities. The satellite will carry a UHF/VHF amateur radio.
- eXCITe (eXperiment for Cellular Integration Technology), a DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) mission to demonstrate the 'satlets' technology. Satlets are a new low-cost, modular satellite architecture that can scale almost infinitely. Satlets are small modules that incorporate multiple essential satellite functions and share data, power and thermal management capabilities. Satlets physically aggregate in different combinations that would provide capabilities to accomplish diverse missions.
And a few crazy/silly satellites —
- Orbital Reflector, a 3U CubeSat project (4 kg) of the Nevada Museum of Art and artist Trevor Paylon. The Orbital Reflector is a 30 m sculpture constructed of a lightweight material similar to Mylar. On deployment, the sculpture self-inflates like a balloon. Sunlight reflects onto the sculpture making it visible from Earth with the naked eye — like a slowly moving artificial star as bright as a star in the Big Dipper.
- Elysium Star-2, a 1U CubeSat of Elysium Space providing space burial services. The company plans to transport ashes of cremated remains to space and to the moon.
- Sculpture in space ?!
Bon Voyage and happy viewing!