SpaceX Plans Rocket Launch Friday from Vandenberg SFB

A new batch of Starlink satellites will head to orbit Friday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base for third time this year.

Liftoff will occur at 11:12 a.m. from Space Launch Complex-4 on South Base. If needed, a backup opportunity would see the rocket blast off at 10:58 a.m. Saturday.

Space Exploration Technologies intends to send up another set of Starlink spacecraft as the firm continues expanding its system to provide internet access around the world, including remote areas where service isn’t available or reliable.

The mission initially aimed for a Wednesday departure but was delayed for an unknown reason.

The firm usually has an instantaneous window, not a time span, to get its Starlink missions off the ground so the spacecraft are placed where needed in space.

Notices to mariners and pilots have been re-issued for a Friday launch of a SpaceX rocket.

More than 3,800 Starlink satellites have launched from both coasts for the system SpaceX says will require approximately 30,000 spacecraft.

Starlink availability has slowly been added to various regions across the planet, mostly recently Iceland.

In December, SpaceX claimed Starlink had more than 1 million active subscribers. Several of those users live in Santa Barbara County.

This will be the fourth launch overall in 2023 from Vandenberg, with three involving the Falcon rocket and the fourth being a Minuteman III missile test with a mock warhead.

For Starlink missions, SpaceX typically plans to land the first-stage booster on a droneship, dubbed “Of Course I Still Love You,” positioned in the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles from the Central Coast.

That means residents in Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties won’t hear the sonic booms that accompany a first-stage return to land at Vandenberg.

The booster set to fly Friday has previously delivered two NASA spacecraft and six Starlink missions.

Recycling a rocket’s first-stage booster, typically one of most costly components, allows the firm to reduce the time between missions and trim costs to customers.

Vandenberg has restricted access, but several locations around the Lompoc Valley provide views of the launch and landing sites, which are south of West Ocean Avenue (Highway 246).

The locations include west of Lompoc, the peak of Harris Grade Road, and near the intersection of Moonglow and Stardust roads. Providence Landing Park, at 699 Mercury Ave. in Vandenberg Village, also is a popular gathering spot along with West Ocean Avenue west of the Lompoc’s city limits.

Quelle: Noozhawk

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Space Force: Weather mostly OK for Friday night SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral

Conditions around Cape Canaveral Space Force Station should be mostly favorable for SpaceX's next launch attempt, though some storms could arrive just before the opening of Friday's late-night window.

Space Force forecasters on Wednesday said weather should be 65% "go" for the liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 40, currently set to fly during a window that runs from 10:59 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 17, to 12:28 a.m. EST Saturday. Flying in the payload fairing will be a commercial communications satellite owned by British telecommunications company Inmarsat.

“The next low-pressure system is expected to drag a long cold front through the spaceport late Friday evening, although there is still some model disagreement around the timing of the front,” Space Launch Delta 45 forecasters said Wednesday. “Scattered rain showers with a possibility for a few storms should arrive in the local area just prior to the opening of the primary launch window and persist through early Saturday morning, accompanied by elevated winds reaching up to 30 mph.”

The primary concerns, forecasters said, were thick clouds, cumulus clouds, and liftoff winds. In the event of 24-hour delay due to weather or technical reasons, conditions would improve 90% “go.” The launch window would be roughly the same.

After liftoff and a flight toward the northeast, Falcon 9 will target a drone ship landing in the Atlantic Ocean.

Inmarsat chose Falcon 9 for its latest communications satellite, known as I-6 F2, which will eventually ascend to geostationary orbit some 22,236 miles above Earth. It’s expected to provide broadband connectivity to commercial and government users and follows I-6 F1, which launched from Japan in late 2021.

Inmarsat both satellites were manufactured in Airbus facilities in the United Kingdom before final assembly in France and, eventually, transport to Florida via Airbus’s unique Beluga aircraft.

The Space Coast's following launch, meanwhile, is set to be another SpaceX mission: a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule will take NASA's Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station at 2:07 a.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 26. The team of four will include NASA's Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg; the United Arab Emirates' Sultan Alneyadi; Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A will host.

Quelle: Florida Today

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SpaceX is targeting Friday, February 17 at 11:12 a.m. PT (19:12 UTC) for a Falcon 9 launch of 51 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. If needed, a backup opportunity is available on Saturday, February 18 at 10:58 a.m. PT (18:58 UTC).

The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, and six Starlink missions. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.

Quelle: SpaceX

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Start von SpaceX’s 69th Starlink mission and 70th Starlink / Inmarsat-6 F1 Satelliten