STP-2
STP-2 | |
---|---|
Mission emblem |
|
Type: | 24-fold satellite start |
Country: | United States |
Organization: |
US Air Force , NASA , SpaceX |
Mission dates | |
Start date: | June 25, 2019, 06:30 UTC |
Starting place: | KSC LC-39A |
Launcher: | Falcon Heavy |
Mission duration: | 6 hours |
Landing place: |
CCAFS LC-1 and LC-2 , Of Course I Still Love You |
STP-2 (short for Space Test Program 2 ) was a space mission of the United States Air Force , NASA and the company SpaceX . It took place on June 25, 2019 and involved the launch of 24 satellites with a Falcon Heavy . The satellites were deployed at three different levels . It was the most complex SpaceX flight to date.
Three of the satellites - LEO / StangSat and Armadillo - are provided by NASA under the mission name Elana XV out (short for Educational Launch of Nano Satellites XV - Start of nano satellites . For teaching purposes No. 15).
Background and preparation
The Space Test Program is an in-house service of the US military for the transport of research and development satellites into space. It was established in the 1960s and is organized by the US Department of Defense . The US Air Force was responsible for executing the launches until 2019, which in turn awarded subcontracts to space companies. The newly formed US Space Force later took on this task.
SpaceX received the order for the STP-2 launch back in 2012. The first flight of the Falcon Heavy was planned for 2013 or 2014, with the STP-2 to follow in mid-2015. However, due to difficulties in the development of the rocket and two Falcon 9 explosions , both dates were postponed several times over the years. Some of the satellites transported are even older; the TEPCE experiment, for example, was developed around 2010 and should start in 2012.
With the successful STP-2 mission , the Falcon Heavy qualified for launching sensitive military and intelligence payloads. In addition, STP-2 was a first step towards the permission to fly such missions with reused boosters . It was the first ever military space mission to use reused boosters: while the first stage of the rocket (serial number B1057) was being rebuilt, the two side boosters (no. B1052 and B1053) already completed their first flight with the Arabsat 6A .
Mission history
Like the first two Falcon Heavy specimens, the STP-2 rocket also launched in a reusable configuration . Initially, the same procedure resulted , with a double landing of the side booster on Cape Canaveral - landing zones 1 and 2 . Then the first stage was supposed to land again on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You , which was about 1,240 kilometers off the coast of Florida - further than on all previous landings. The first stage reached the highest landing speed up to that point. The pressures and temperatures were so high that the engine section of the stage was damaged and the thrust vector control of the center engine failed. The flight ended with a crash landing in the sea.
After reaching the first target orbit and switching off the second stage engine , the 70 kg Oculus-ASR experiment was initially suspended. The nanosatellites TEPCE 1/2 , Falconsat-7 , Armadillo , PSat 2 and Bricsat 2 , Prometheus 2-6 , E-TBEx A and B as well as LEO / StangSat followed one after the other - spread over a period of half an hour . After a further 22 minutes of unpowered flight, the engine burned a second time and brought the rocket stage with the remaining satellites into a higher orbit. There were successively Prox-1 / Light Sail , NPSat1 , OTB 1 and GPIM and six Formosat / Cosmic - Earth observation satellites ejected. Two further phases of acceleration followed up to an elliptical mean earth orbit . There, about three and a half hours after the start of the mission, the 600 kg DSX system was disconnected.
Finally, after another three-hour non-propulsion phase, the fuel residues should be drained and the second stage switched off. As usual, no further information is available about this part of the mission.
The two halves of the missile's payload fairing were recovered, one from the sea and the other for the first time using the safety net of the ship GO Ms. Tree .
Payloads
description
According to SpaceX and the US Air Force, the payload of the STP-2 mission consisted of 24 satellites. 20 of these are listed individually on the SpaceX website:
- DSX ( Demonstration & Science Experiments ), an experimental platform of the US Air Force with 13 different experiments. It is intended to investigate the environmental conditions at altitudes of 6,000 to 12,000 km, i.e. in the area between the two main zones of the Van Allen radiation belt . The Air Force would like to gain knowledge about the possible operation of military satellites in this radiation-rich region. Since the antenna masts were extended, the satellite has been 80 meters wide and isthe second largest man-made structure in spaceafter the ISS .
- E-TBEx ( Enhanced Tandem Beacon Experiment - improved tandem beacon experiment ), a NASA experiment that aimsto measurethe changing effects of the ionosphere on radio signals and thuscontribute tothe understanding of space weather . In addition to two dedicated satellites, it includes transmitters on board the six Formosat-7 / Cosmic-2 satellites and receivers on five Pacific islands.
- Formosat -7 / Cosmic-2 ( Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate - Constellation Observing System for Meteorology , Ionosphere and Climate), a constellation of six weather satellites of Taiwanese Space Agency and the US weather authorities .
- GPIM ( Green Propellant Infusion Mission ), a NASA satellite to test a hydroxylammonium nitrate- based propellant developed by the Air Force. This chemical compound is a possible alternative to the highly toxic hydrazine . The satellite carries additional experiments for observing space weather and for testing GPS navigation in low earth orbits.
- LEO ( Launch Environment Observer - even boot environment observers CP -9 called) and StangSat , two built by students and pupils CubeSats that measure during the rocket launch vibrations and temperatures and data via Wi-Fi should be replaced.
- Lightsail 2 , a solar sail demonstrator from the Planetary Society . It was on board the Prox-1 satellite during launch and was ejected from it one week after launch. The satellite demonstrated for the first time and successfully a pure solar saildrivein Earth orbit by increasing the apogee of its orbit by several kilometers.
- NPSat1 ( Naval Postgraduate School Satellite 1 ), a compilation of experiments with three mission objectives: observation of space weather in the ionosphere, testing of the usability of inexpensive standard components under space conditions, and operation of a satellite for teaching purposes.
- Oculus-ASR , a satellite built by Michigan Technological University students in collaboration with the US Air Force, equipped with reflectors and used to calibrate a ground-based satellite observation telescope.
- OTB-1 ( Orbital Test Bed 1 ), a testplatform from General Atomics and SSTL -US. It carries out experiments for testing various technologies in space or in earth orbit, including theNASA Deep Space Atomic Clock as well as electronic modules and solar modules .
- Prox-1 , an incomplete experiment from the Georgia Institute of Technology . The plan was to eject the Lightsail-2 satellite, navigate around it, and observe it. Due to problems with software development , the second part of the mission was given up; Prox-1 was only used to transport Lightsail.
- PSat-2 , an experimental amateur radio satellite from the United States Naval Academy .
- TEPCE ( Tether Electrodynamics Propulsion CubeSat Experiment - Cubesat experiment with electrodynamic rope propulsion ), a pair of satellites from the US Naval Research Laboratory , which is to test orbital changes using space tether . A 1 km long, electrically conductive cord is stretched between the satellites; electrical currents through the cord should enable navigation in the earth's magnetic field .
The following satellites also launched with STP-2:
- Armadillo (short for Attitude Related Maneuvers And Debris Instrument in Low (L) Orbit - positional maneuvers and space debris instrument in low earth orbit), a teaching and research satellite from the University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University . With its two main instruments, it will examine the finest space debris on the one hand and the earth's atmosphere on the other.
- Bricsat-2 , next to PSat-2, another experimental amateur radio satellite from the United States Naval Academy. He is also supposed to test a fine drive with miniaturized thermal arc engines.
- FalconSat-7 (also called DOTSI ), an experimental solar telescope from the United States Air Force Academy .
- Prometheus 2-6 , a technology testing satellite from the Los Alamos National Laboratory . Originally the sister satellite Prometheus 2-5 should also be on board; instead, only a dummy flew in the take-off bracket provided.
Data
As of April 26, 2020; italic = planned
The originally planned orbits were 300 × 860 km at 28.5 °, 720 × 720 km at 24 ° and 12,000 × 6,000 km at 43 °.
satellite | Format / bus | Weight (kg) approx. 1 |
Track height (km) 2 | Orbital inclination 2 | Mission duration | status | Cospair ID |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Armadillo | 3U Cubesat | 4th | 305 × 850 | 28.5 ° | ≥ 6 months | in orbit | 2019-036P |
Bricsat-2 PSat 2 |
1.5U Cubesat 1.5U Cubesat |
1 2 |
305 × 845 305 × 845 |
28.5 ° 28.5 ° |
several years several years |
in orbit in orbit |
2019-036S 2019-036R |
E-TBEx A E-TBEx B |
3U- Cubesat 3U- Cubesat |
4 4 |
300 × 845 300 × 845 |
28.5 ° 28.5 ° |
≤ 2 years ≤ 2 years |
in orbit in orbit |
2019-036T 2019-036W |
FalconSat-7 | 3U Cubesat | 5 | 310 x 850 | 28.5 ° | ? | in orbit | 2019-036J |
LEO (CP 9) StangSat |
2U-Cubesat 1U-Cubesat |
2 1 |
300 × 840 300 × 840 3 |
28.5 ° 28.5 ° |
? <3 hours |
in orbit in orbit |
2019-036X |
Oculus ASR | individually | 70 | 300 × 845 | 28.5 ° | <12 months | in orbit | 2019-036T |
Prometheus 2-6 | 1.5U cubesat | 2 | 305 × 845 | 28.5 ° | 3-5 years | in orbit | 2019-036AB |
TEPCE 1 TEPCE 2 |
1.5U Cubesat 1.5U Cubesat |
3 | 310 x 850 | 28.5 ° | ? ? |
in orbit in orbit |
2019-036H |
Formosat -7A Formosat-7B Formosat-7C Formosat-7D Formosat-7E Formosat-7F |
SSTL -150 SSTL-150 SSTL-150 SSTL-150 SSTL-150 SSTL-150 |
278 278 278 278 278 278 |
535 × 555 535 × 555 520–550 4 525 × 545 520–550 4 520–550 4 |
24 ° 24 ° 24 ° 24 ° 24 ° 24 ° |
5 years 5 years 5 years 5 years 5 years 5 years |
in orbit in orbit parking orbit in orbit parking orbit parking orbit |
2019-036L 2019-036N 2019-036E 2019-036M 2019-036V 2019-036Q |
GPIM | BCP-100 | 180 | 4 | 52524 ° | 2 months | Transfer orbit | 2019-036D |
Lightsail 2 Prox-1 |
3U-Cubesat individually |
5 71 |
710 × 725 710 × 725 |
24 ° 24 ° |
6 weeks 1 week |
in orbit in orbit |
2019-036AC 2019-036A |
NPSat1 | individually | 86 | 710 × 725 | 24 ° | 18 months | in orbit | 2019-036B |
OTB-1 | SSTL-150 | 138 | 710 × 725 | 24 ° | 2 years | in orbit | 2019-036C |
DSX | ESPA , SN-200 | 600 | 6,005 × 12,035 | 42.2 ° | 12 months | in orbit | 2019-036F |
Web links
- STP-2 Mission , SpaceX (English)
- Brochure for the STP-2 mission , SpaceX (English, PDF)
- Video recording of the STP-2 mission , SpaceX (English)
- Video of the falling payload fairing of the STP-2 mission , SpaceX
Individual evidence
Unless otherwise stated, the individual references are in English.
- ↑ a b c d e f STP-2 mission. In: spacex.com. SpaceX, accessed June 3, 2019 .
- ↑ Stephen Clark: Live coverage: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy set for overnight launch. In: Spaceflight Now. June 24, 2019, accessed June 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Upcoming ELaNa CubeSat Launches. NASA, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ United States Department of Defense (Ed.): Space Test Program (STP) Management . Washington, DC 1984 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ a b Stephen Clark: Rideshare mission for US military confirmed as second Falcon Heavy launch. In: Spaceflight Now. March 1, 2018, accessed April 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Stephen Clark: Launch Schedule. Spaceflight Now, April 12, 2019, accessed April 13, 2019 .
- ↑ Donna McKinney: NRL's TEPCE Spacecraft Undergoes Successful Deployment Test. In: US Naval Research Laboratory. May 18, 2010, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Sven Bilen: Space tethers. In: Aerospace America. December 2011, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ^ Sandra Erwin: Falcon Heavy's first commercial launch to pave the way for reusable rockets in national security missions. In: Spacenews. March 25, 2019, accessed April 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Michael Baylor: Falcon Heavy and Starlink headline SpaceX's upcoming manifest. In: NASASpaceflight. March 6, 2019, accessed March 6, 2019 .
- ↑ Stephen Clark: Falcon Heavy to flex muscles on demanding demo launch for the US Air Force. In: Spaceflight Now. June 23, 2019, accessed June 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Eric Ralph: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explains why Falcon Heavy's center core missed the drone ship. In: Teslarati. June 26, 2019, accessed June 25, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c STP-2 Misson . SpaceX, May 25, 2019 (Youtube video).
- ^ A b Jonathan McDowell: Jonathan's Space Report No. 766. July 7, 2019, accessed on October 8, 2019 (The Prometheus satellite was referred to here as “probably Prometheus 2.5”, but was later identified as Prometheus 2-6.).
- ↑ Eric Ralph: SpaceX successfully catches first Falcon Heavy fairing in Mr. Steven's / Ms. Tree's net. In: Teslarati. June 25, 2019, accessed June 25, 2019 .
- ↑ USAF Space & Missile Systems Center announces June 22 launch date for joint DOD / NASA / NOAA mission on SpaceX Falcon Heavy. In: Spaceref. Los Angeles Air Force Base, May 10, 2019, accessed June 3, 2019 .
- ↑ a b DSX (Demonstration and Science Experiments) in MEO. In: eoPortal. ESA, accessed April 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Sandra Erwin: Air Force experimental satellite billed as the 'largest unmanned structure in space'. In: Spacenews. July 24, 2019, accessed September 24, 2019 .
- ^ Roland Tsunoda: Toward Understanding the Day-to-Day Variability in Structuring of the Nighttime Equatorial Layer. (PDF) SRI International, accessed on April 21, 2019 .
- ^ NASA Tech One Step Closer to Launch on Next Falcon Heavy. NASA, April 12, 2019, accessed April 21, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Orbital Debris Assessment for TBEx on the STP-2 Mission via NASA-STD 8719.14A. (PDF) In: fcc.gov. NASA, April 21, 2017, accessed April 23, 2019 (FCC Application No. 0235-EX-PL-2016).
- ↑ a b FormoSat-7 / COSMIC-2 (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate). In: eoPortal. ESA, accessed April 21, 2019 .
- ↑ Ronald Spores, Robert Masse, Scott Kimbrel and Chris McLean: GPIM AF-M315E Propulsion System. (PDF) American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics , July 2013, accessed April 21, 2019 .
- ↑ a b GPIM (Green Propellant Infusion Mission) / STP-2. In: eoPortal. ESA, accessed April 21, 2019 .
- ↑ Stacie Flamos: Space Object Self-Tracker On-Board Orbit Determination Analysis. (PDF) Air Force Institute Of Technology, March 24, 2016, accessed April 21, 2019 (page 1).
- ↑ Jason Davis: First Contact! LightSail 2 Phones Home to Mission Control. The Planetary Society, July 2, 2019, accessed July 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Jason Davis: LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight by Light. Planetary Society, accessed July 31, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c Naval Postgraduate School NPSAT1 Spacecraft. Naval Postgraduate School, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ^ Oculus-ASR (Oculus-Attitude and Shape Recognition). In: eoPortal. ESA, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ OTB-1 (Orbital Test Bed-1) minisatellite mission of SST-US with DSAC hosted payload. In: eoPortal. ESA, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ Jason Davis: LightSail 2 updates: Prox-1 mission changes, new launch date. The Planetary Society, July 21, 2017, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d PSAT2 - Amateur Radio Communications Transponders USNA Student Satellite Project 2014-2019! In: aprs.org. Retrieved on April 23, 2019 (1.2 kg ballast mass as shown in the illustration): "" almost HALF the satellite's mass is in a huge lead ballast "" .
- ↑ Donna McKinney: NRL's TEPCE Spacecraft Undergoes Successful Deployment Test. May 18, 2010, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c Orbital Debris Assessment for The CubeSats on the STP-2 / ELaNa-XV Mission per NASA-STD 8719.14A Rev. 3. (PDF) In: fcc.gov. NASA, December 12, 2017, accessed April 23, 2019 (FCC Application No. 0285-EX-CN-2016).
- ↑ ARMADILLO (Attitude Related Maneuvers And Debris instrument in Low (L) Orbit). In: eoPortal. ESA, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ a b BRICSat-2 - The first APRS Satelilte with Thrusters. In: aprs.org. Retrieved April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ Jonathan Kolbeck, Michael Keidar: Micro-propulsion Based on Vacuum Arcs: A Review of Physics and Technology. (PDF) 2016, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Falcon Heavy STP-2. In: supercluster.com. Retrieved June 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Twitter message from SpaceX, June 25, 2019.
- ↑ a b FalconSat-7. In: eoPortal. ESA, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ James Newman: FalconSat-7 Support: MC3 Ground Station Infrastructure Research. Naval Postgraduate School, April 19, 2018, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ^ Gunter Dirk Krebs: Prometheus-2. In: skyrocket.de. Retrieved June 25, 2019 (here as Prometheus 2.6 ; more common spelling is Prometheus 2-6 .).
- ↑ a b Prox-1 Orbital Debris Assessment Report (ODAR) Revision C. (PDF) In: fcc.gov. Georgia Institute of Technology, August 30, 2016, accessed April 24, 2019 (FCC Application No. 0038-EX-PL-2016).
- ↑ Anthony Sirotti: Oculus-ASR Spacecraft Summary. (PDF) In: fcc.gov. Michigan Technological University, April 12, 2016, accessed April 24, 2019 (FCC Application # 0528-EX-ST-2016).
- ^ Lyon B. King, Philip Hohnstadt: Pre-launch Optical Characteristics of the Oculus-ASR Nanosatellite for Attitude and Shape Recognition Experiments. (PDF) Michigan Technological University , February 12, 2011, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ TEPCE 1, 2 in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed on April 24, 2019 (English).
- ↑ Light Sail - 2 Orbital Debris Assessment Report (ODAR). (PDF) In: fcc.gov. The Planetary Society, March 13, 2019, accessed April 23, 2019 (FCC Application No. 0055-EX-ST-2019).
- ^ Allison Willingham, David Spencer: Structural Design, Analysis, and Test of the Prox-1 Spacecraft. (PDF) Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ Jason Davis: LightSail 2 team completes key mission review and dress rehearsal. The Planetary Society, June 26, 2018, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ^ Daniel Sakoda, James A. Horning: Overview of the NPS Spacecraft Architecture and Technology Demonstration Satellite, NPSAT1. (PDF) 2002, accessed April 23, 2019 .
- ↑ Orbital Debris Assessment Report (ODAR) for the Orbital Test Bed (OTB) Satellite. (PDF) In: fcc.gov. December 2017 called on April 24, 2019 (FCC Application no. 0087-EX-CN-2018).
- ↑ Entries on www.space-track.org, accessed from June 25 to 29, 2019.