Sunday, September 9, 2018

Massive Canadian Comsat Set for Sunday Night Florida Blastoff on Upgraded SpaceX Booster Sept 9: Watch Live

Beautiful sunset view of raised Falcon 9 upgraded Block 5 rocket at Space Launch Complex-40 for SpaceX night launch of massive Telstar 18 VANTAGE comsat from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station targeted for Sept 9, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   9 September 2018

 CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL –  A massive Canadian commercial communications satellite is set for a pre-midnight blastoff late Sunday night September 9 on an upgraded and newly manufactured SpaceX Falcon 9 booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

 Note: Updated with UpClose pad photos from camera setup at sunset Sunday

 It Up! The Falcon 9 rocket and payload was just raised vertical this afternoon around 3 PM, with the nose cone encapsulating the Telstar 18v glistening beautifully on the afternoon sun.

Upright upgraded Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch Complex-40 for SpaceX night launch of 7.8 ton Telstar 18 VANTAGE comsat from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station targeted for Sept 9, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

See my photo above. It was not raised as of 1 PM today. 

 Weather is decent at the moment around the Florida Space Coast. 
Liftoff of the hefty 7.7 ton Telstar 18 VANTAGE high throughput telecommunications satellite (HTS) is targeted for the Sunday night just before midnight at 11:28 a.m. EDT (0328 GMT) Sunday, Sept. 9 on what is only the third production unit of the upgraded Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 to fly from the Cape and the fourth overall.

Beautiful sunset view of raised Falcon 9 upgraded Block 5 rocket at Space Launch Complex-40 for SpaceX night launch of massive Telstar 18 VANTAGE comsat from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station targeted for Sept 9, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
Tonights launch was just delayed a day by SpaceX to conduct additional tests of the rocket to ensure its readiness for flight. 

 The four-hour long launch window extends until 3:28 a.m. EDT (0728 GMT) on Monday, Sept 10. The long window will help increase the prospects of a launch. But as always there are no guarantees.  

 The 7,060 kilograms (15,564 pounds) Telstar 18v is one of heaviest payload launch by a Falcon 9 to date.  The recently launched Telstar 19v was literally just a tad heavier by some 20 kg, 35 pounds at 7,080 kilograms (15,600 lb).

UpClose view of nose cone encapsulating 7.7 ton Telstar 18 VANTAGE comsat atop SpaceX Falcon 9 at pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Launch targeted for Sept 9, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com


The satellite will be deployed approximately 32 minutes after liftoff.  It will be delivered to a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).  

 SpaceX will attempt to recover the first stage on an ocean going droneship prepositioned in the Atlantic Ocean.

UpClose view of landing legs at base of booster launching Telstar 18 VANTAGE comsat atop SpaceX Falcon 9 at pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Launch targeted for Sept 9, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

If you can’t be here to watch the launch in person, you can watch the launch live on a SpaceX hosted webcast that starts about 15 minutes prior to the opening of the nominal launch window at:


The path to launch was cleared on Wednesday afternoon after SpaceX engineers finally completed a successful static hot fire test of their recently upgraded Falcon 9 booster at about 10 AM.  

The new 229-foot tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket rolled out this afternoon to pad 40 with Telstar 18v encapsulated inside the payload fairing and was raised vertical.

 Check out our Space UpClose photos of the raised rocket at the pad taken this afternoon from a distance. Watch for additional photos later this evening at sunset during our remote camera setup.

 Weather forecasters with the Air Force 45th Space Wing predict a 60 percent chance of favorable conditions during the window.  

 The primary concerns are for the Thick Cloud Layer Rule and the Cumulous Cloud Rule.

Widespread distant thunder surrounded the Cape Canaveral Spaceport region from south to west and north, shortly after sunset Sunday Sep 9 just hours prior to planned premidnight liftoff of SpaceX Falcon9 carrying Telstar 18v.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
In case of a delay for any reason a back up launch opportunity exists on Monday, September 10 at about the same time. 

 The weather odds remain at 60 percent GO.

Telstar 18 VANTAGE is a Canadian owned commercial communications satellite,  designed as an advanced high throughput satellite (HTS) providing broadband services. 

 It will replace Telstar 18.

 The huge satellite was built by SSL (formerly Space Systemes/Loral) for Telesat, one of the world’s leading satellite operators. 

 Telstar 18 VANTAGE is the third high throughput satellite (HTS) in Telesat’s global fleet and the first with coverage over the Asia Pacific region. 

 “Its innovative payloads will provide Telesat’s customers with a new level of performance and value to serve growing satellite broadband requirements on land, at sea and in the air,” according to Telstar.  

 Telstar 18v will operate at Telesat’s 138 degrees West location, the same as the Telstar 18 satellite. 

 It will serve customers throughout the Asia Pacific region.

 Telstar 18v has a 15 year design lifetime.

 This is the second of two SpaceX launches planned for Telesat over a time space about two months apart at the Cape.

 The Sept 9 night launch will be only the 5th for the new Block 5 version, and the fourth from the Cape. 

 The Block 5 Falcon 9 will be cheaper to produce and much easier to turnaround with minimal maintenance, says SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. His goal is to relaunch a recovered Block 5 a second time within 24 hours by sometime next year. 

 SpaceX will attempt to recover this new Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 booster which replaces the older, now discontinued Block 4. 

 The last Block 4 launched in late June for NASA on the Dragon CRS-15 resupply mission to the ISS.

 Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.


Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
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Ken’s upcoming outreach events/photos for sale:

Learn more about the upcoming upcoming/recent NASA/ULA Parker Solar Probe, SpaceX Merah Putih & Telstar 18 & 19 launches, SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-15 launch to ISS,  SES-12 comsat launch, Falcon Heavy, TESS, GOES-S, Bangabandhu-1, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events at Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings.

Sep 9: “NASA/ULA Parker Solar Probe launch, SpaceX Merah Putih & Telstar 18v & 19v Launches, SpaceX Dragon CRS-15 resupply launch to ISS, SpaceX Falcon Heavy & Falcon 9 launches, SpaceX SES-12 comsat. ULA Atlas USAF SBIRS GEO 4 missile warning satellite, SpaceX GovSat-1, CRS-14 resupply launches to the ISS, NRO & USAF Spysats, SLS, Orion, Boeing and SpaceX Commercial crew capsules, OSIRIS-Rex, Juno at Jupiter, InSight Mars lander, Curiosity and Opportunity explore Mars, NH at Pluto and more,” Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings. Photos for sale

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