SAOCOM-1A, ITASAT-1 - Falcon 9 - Vandenberg SLC-4E - 08.10.2018

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/10/02/spacex-completes-hotfire-test-preps-for-first-california-rocket-landing/

SpaceX completes hotfire test, preps for first California rocket landing
October 2, 2018 | Stephen Clark


The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will launch Saturday will reuse the first stage booster from a July 25 mission that carried 10 Iridium communications satellites into orbit. This photo shows the Falcon 9 rocket before the July 25 launch from California. Credit: SpaceX

A Falcon 9 rocket powered by a recycled first stage lit its main engines for a hold-down firing on a launch pad Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, keeping pace with a scheduled liftoff Saturday night carrying a radar observation satellite for Argentina, a mission that will feature the first SpaceX booster landing on the West Coast.

SpaceX announced the completion of the static fire test in a tweet shortly after 2 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. PDT; 2100 GMT) Tuesday, confirming that the Falcon 9 launch is on track for Saturday at Vandenberg Air Force Base, a military-run spaceport on California's Central Coast northwest of Los Angeles.

Liftoff is scheduled for 7:21 p.m. PDT Saturday (10:21 p.m. EDT; 0221 GMT Sunday) from Space Launch Complex 4-West at Vandenberg with Argentina's SAOCOM 1A radar Earth-imaging satellite, according to a statement from the Air Force.

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The SAOCOM 1A spacecraft will be installed on the Falcon 9 rocket later this week, after ground crews lower the launcher from its SLC-4W launch pad and return it to a nearby hangar. A photo shared on Twitter showed the Falcon 9 rocket and its strongback structure vertical at the launch pad Tuesday evening, as a freight train rolled along a railroad track nearby overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Brian Sandoval‏ @brianksphotos

Train passing through Space Launch Complex 4, home to @SpaceX's #falcon9 after today's static fire.
#saocom #rtls #spacex



19:56 - 2 окт. 2018 г.

SAOCOM 1A arrived at the launch base in early August to begin final pre-flight preparations after riding an Antonov An-124 cargo plane from an airport near the satellite's factory in Bariloche, Argentina, to California, with stops in Cancun and a customs check in Los Angeles before landing on the runway at Vandenberg.

The satellite's purpose is to scan the Earth with an L-band steerable synthetic aperture radar, enabling all-weather imagery of the planet day and night. Radar imagers can see through clouds and are effective 24 hours a day, but optical cameras are hindered by clouds and darkness.

SAOCOM 1A is the first of two identical radar observation satellites developed by CONAE, Argentina's national space agency, and manufactured by a consortium of Argentine companies led by INVAP.

The new radar satellite will help measure soil moisture, and will watch for oil spills, floods, wildfires and other natural and human-caused disasters. The soil moisture data will provide scientists and agricultural planners information about the wetness of soil to a depth of more than 6 feet, or 2 meters, information that will help predict harvest yields, floods and droughts.

SAOCOM 1A is the first radar imaging satellite built in Argentina, and it will comprise part of a joint Argentine-Italian project to share complementary radar surveillance data between the SAOCOM satellites and Italy's Cosmo-SkyMed constellation.


The SAOCOM 1A radar observation satellite was encapsulated inside the Falcon 9 rocket's payload fairing last month. Credit: CONAE

For the first time, SpaceX will attempt to bring the Falcon 9's first stage booster back to land at Vandenberg, following a return trajectory pioneered on missions launched from Cape Canaveral. On previous flights from California, SpaceX has recovered Falcon 9 first stages on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.

The concrete landing zone at Vandenberg is similar in appearance to SpaceX's landing pads at Cape Canaveral. But the rocket's return point in California is much closer to SpaceX's launch pad than the landing zone in Florida.

SpaceX signaled earlier this year its intention to attempt the first rocket landing at Vandenberg, following lengthy environmental and safety reviews by the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration, NOAA, and state authorities. Regulators examined how the returns might affect wildlife and natural resources, including seals that could be spooked by sonic booms.

The Air Force said in a statement Tuesday that residents around Vandenberg Air Force Base may hear sonic booms as the rocket comes back to Earth for a propulsive landing.

"Local residents may see the first stage of the Falcon 9 returning to Vandenberg AFB, including multiple engine burns associated with the landing," the Air Force said in a statement. "During the landing attempt residents from Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties may hear one or more sonic booms.

SpaceX has named its landing pad at Vandenberg Landing Zone 4. It was formerly named Space Launch Complex 4-West, a sister pad to the SLC-4E launch facility now used by the Falcon 9 rocket.

The Air Force used SLC-4W for Titan 3B and Titan 2 rocket launches through 2003. The Air Force toppled the Titan 2's launch towers in 2014, and SpaceX leased the site from the military in 2015 to reconfigure the property into a landing pad. The SLC-4E pad was once the West Coast home of the Titan 4 rocket.

While SpaceX's landing zones at Cape Canaveral are several miles from the Falcon 9 rocket's launch pads, the landing zone at Vandenberg is just a quarter-mile — around 400 meters — from the Falcon 9's liftoff point at neighboring SLC-4E.

Onshore rocket landings are less expensive for SpaceX, and they save time for engineers inspecting and refurbishing the boosters for future missions. The deployment and return to port of a drone ship and its support vessels can take up to a week, assuming an on-time launch.

On missions with relatively light-mass payloads going into low-altitude orbits, the Falcon 9's first stage stage can reserve enough propellant for the engine burns required to steer it back to its launch base, rather than arcing downrange to a drone ship in the ocean.

Planet, which operates a fleet of more than 100 Earth-imaging satellites, released a pair of photos Monday taken from space showing changes at SpaceX's West Coast launch and landing sites between Sept. 20 and Sept. 30. The imagery shows the rocket's circular landing zone on the left — just inland from the Pacific Ocean — and the Falcon 9 launch pad on the right.


One of the satellites in Planet's growing Earth-observing constellation took this picture of SLC-4E and Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Credit: Planet

The first stage booster assigned to SAOCOM 1A previously flew July 25 on SpaceX's seventh launch of Iridium Next communications satellites, then landed on the company's offshore drone ship. Saturday night's flight will mark the 16th time SpaceX has reused one of its rocket boosters on an orbital mission.

SpaceX could also try again to catch part of the Falcon 9 rocket's nose shroud, an aerodynamic fairing the protects the SAOCOM 1A spacecraft during its climb into orbit. The company's net-equipped fairing-catcher, a high-speed boat named "Mr. Steven," may be dispatched into the Pacific Ocean to try and catch fairing as it descends into the Atlantic Ocean under a parafoil.

Like the reuse of the Falcon first stage, SpaceX aims to recover and re-fly fairings to further cut launch costs.

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[Max Andriyahov]

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NOTMAR

NAVAREA XII 416/2018 (18,19,83)

EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC.
CALIFORNIA.
HAWAII.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING
   070151Z TO 070306Z OCT, ALTERNATE
   0151Z TO 0306Z DAILY 08 THRU 10 OCT
   IN AREA BOUND BY
   33-03N 121-07W, 32-37N 120-35W,
   31-46N 121-00W, 31-14N 121-41W,
   31-25N 122-16W, 32-20N 122-34W,
   33-07N 122-08W, 33-10N 121-24W.
2. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS
   070407Z TO 070422Z OCT, ALTERNATE
   0407Z TO 0422Z DAILY 08 THRU 10 OCT
   IN AREA BOUND BY
   00-52S 152-42W, 00-20S 155-10W,
   07-06N 158-07W, 15-27N 156-51W,
   19-27N 153-30W, 18-43N 147-59W,
   14-23N 147-19W, 05-35N 149-07W.
3. CANCEL THIS MSG 100522Z OCT 18.

( 020924Z OCT 2018 )

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Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight 21 мин. назад

For planning purposes, the SpaceX SAOCOM 1A launch is now targeting NET October 7th local time at around 7:22 PM (October 8th at 2:22 UTC) from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Further slips remain possible.

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Raul‏ @Raul74Cz 5 мин. назад

SAOCOM-1A Launch Hazard Area based on issued NOTMAR. Stage2 Reentry Debris Area south of Hawaii active on the second orbit (04:07 to 04:22 UTC). https://goo.gl/JYk1ey 

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SpaceX‏Подлинная учетная запись @SpaceX 5 ч. назад

Now targeting October 7 for launch of SAOCOM 1A. Rocket and payload are healthy; additional time will be used to complete pre-flight vehicle checkouts.

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Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight 2 ч. назад

If #SpaceX cannot launch on Sunday, Thursday will be the next opportunity to launch #SAOCOM1A.

CONAE‏ @CONAE_Oficial 2 ч. назад

El lanzamiento del Satélite Argentino SAOCOM 1A cambia de fecha considerando el domingo 7 y el jueves 11 de octubre como fechas alternativas. Esta modificación fue solicitada por la empresa SpaceX para continuar con las pruebas que permitan asegurar un lanzamiento exitoso.

Пуск - 7 октября (по местному времени). Запасной день - 11 октября (по местному времени)

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30-е КК (АБ Ванденберг) извещает:

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NOTMAR обновлён

NAVAREA XII 417/2018 (18,19,83) 

EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC.
CALIFORNIA.
HAWAII.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING
   080151Z TO 080306Z OCT, ALTERNATE
   120151Z TO 120306Z OCT IN AREA BOUND BY
   33-03N 121-07W, 32-37N 120-35W,
   31-46N 121-00W, 31-14N 121-41W,
   31-25N 122-16W, 32-20N 122-34W,
   33-07N 122-08W, 33-10N 121-24W.
2. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS
   080407Z TO 080422Z OCT, ALTERNATE
   120407Z TO 120422Z OCT IN AREA BOUND BY
   00-52S 152-42W, 00-20S 155-10W,
   07-06N 158-07W, 15-27N 156-51W,
   19-27N 153-30W, 18-43N 147-59W,
   14-23N 147-19W, 05-35N 149-07W.
3. CANCEL NAVAREA XII 416/18.
4. CANCEL THIS MSG 120522Z OCT 18.

( 032052Z OCT 2018 )

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https://www.vandenberg.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1652283/central-california-residents-may-experience-sonic-boom/

Central California residents may experience sonic boom
0th Space Wing Public Affairs / Published October 02, 2018

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --
Team Vandenberg is scheduled to support launch of the SAOCOM 1A satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4E on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 7:21 p.m. PDT.

SpaceX is attempting the secondary mission of landing the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket at Landing Zone 4, which was previously called SLC-4W, at Vandenberg Air Force Base. This will be SpaceX's first land landing attempt at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Local residents may see the first stage of the Falcon 9 returning to Vandenberg AFB, including multiple engine burns associated with the landing. During the landing attempt residents from Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties may hear one or more sonic booms. A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves from an aircraft or vehicle traveling faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate a sound similar to an explosion or a clap of thunder. The sonic boom experienced will depend on weather conditions and other factors.

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SpaceX опубликовала брошюру миссии

saocom1apresskit.pdf - 359.1 KB, 2 СТР, 2018-10-07 04:57:38 UTC

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фото Landing Zone 4 (ранее называемая SLC-4W) - посадочная площадка, расположенная на территории базы Ванденберг, Калифорния .
Напомним, SpaceX будут впервые сажать ступень на базе Ванденберг.

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Эмблема миссии

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Корабль Mr. Steven для ловли обтекателя готов к возможному использованию в ходе миссии SAOCOM-1A

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Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight 1 мин.1 минуту назад


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X marks the spot. #SpaceX #LandingZone4

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SAOCOM 1A

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