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Jim Siegel
September 8, 2018
A photo of the former Falcon 9 launching from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Base. On September 9, 2018, SpaceX will send the Telstar 18V communications satellite into orbit. Photo credit: Scott Schilke / SpaceFlight Insider
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – The Sunday night sky above the Cape Canaveral Air Base 40 launch complex is set to explode briefly in a light as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Telstar 18 VANTAGE in-orbit communications satellite for Canada's Telesat satellite service provider.
Takeoff is currently targeted for the opening of a four-hour window that starts at 23:28 EDT 9 September (3:28 GMT Sept. 10), 2018. The 45th Weather Squadron estimates at 40% the probability that weather conditions will violate launching constraints. The main concerns are thick clouds and cumulus clouds. If a 24-hour cleanup occurred, the conditions should be similar for a Monday night launch.
An artistic rendering of Telstar 18V. Image Credit: Telesat
SpaceX is looking to continue its recent series of successes with this latest mission, which will be the 61st flight of a variant of any Falcon 9, the 41st of the Falcon 9 v1.2 and the third of a Block 5. In agreement with Elon CEO Musk's commitment to reusable rockets, the all-new first leg should be recovered in the Atlantic Ocean on the drone ship Of course I still love you. Aficionados will eagerly watch the response time of this booster, the speed with which the company can prepare it for another future launch.
The route to geostationary parking space planned for Telstar 18V at 138 degrees east longitude on the equator is actually a two-step process. Although SpaceX and Telesat have not yet published the exact details, the Falcon 9 is expected to propel the satellite into a highly elliptical geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), possibly with a near-final apogee.
After that, the 18V Telstar is designed to use its internal propulsion system to navigate the rest of its geostationary trajectory, moving its orbit at an altitude of about 35,300 kilometers (about 100 times that of the international space ). Station.
The satellite, although traveling at 11,806 km / h in its operational orbit, will have the same angular velocity as the Earth, one turn every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds, which will make the vehicle fly over indefinitely the same point. the Pacific Ocean.
SSL was contracted in 2015 to build Telestar 18V for Telesat, the world's fourth largest fixed satellite service provider. Telesat owns six other spacecraft bearing the Telstar name, the most recent being Telstar 19V, which was launched July 22, 2018, at the top of a Falcon 9 of the SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Base and serves the Americas.
Telesat's fleet also includes 10 other satellites. Telestar 18V will be the company's third strong "broadband satellite", both in C-band (for telecom video and data services) and Ku-band (its higher power allows for smaller antennas) .
With 15,564 pounds (7,060 kilograms), Telstar 18V weighs a few pounds less than the Telstar 19V and is designed to serve a large area from India and Pakistan in the west to Hawaii in the east, expanding Telesat coverage in China, Mongolia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean region .
Telstar 18V is expected to replace Telstar 18, launched in 2004 and also located at 138 degrees east longitude. according to SatBeamsthere are 374 active satellites in geostationary orbit above the Earth. 50 more were removed and 53 others were de-orbited.
Tagged: Cape Canaveral Air Station Space Launch Complex Falcon 9 40 SpaceX Telstar 18V The Range
Jim Siegel
Jim Siegel comes from a background in business and engineering, as well as journalism. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, an MBA from the University of Michigan, and certificates from Northwestern University and the University of Michigan. Duke University. Jim became interested in journalism in 2002. As a resident of Celebration, Florida, Disney's planned community outside of Orlando, he has written extensively and performed photographs for Celebration Independent and The Celebration News. He also wrote for the Detroit News, the Indianapolis Star and the Northwest Indiana Times (where he began his journalistic career at the age of 11 as a paperboy).
Jim is well known for Celebration for his photographs and he recently published a book of his favorite celebratory scenes. Jim has covered the Kennedy Space Center since 2006. His experience has brought a unique perspective to his coverage of the space shuttle program, and now of the post-shuttle era, as US space exploration accelerates its dependence on the in respect of commercial companies. He specializes in converting the often highly technical aspects of the space program into contexts that are understandable and appreciated by average Americans.
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