First we will discuss about the recent deal
between SpaceX and SES for O3b mPOWER Satellites
launch, followed by the recovery process of
SpaceX payload fairings and then some important
updates regarding Northrop Grumman.
Let’s get started.
On 20th August, Thursday, SES has revealed
that SpaceX will launch two additional Falcon
9 rockets from Cape Canaveral, Florida, adding
to a pair of Falcon 9 missions ordered by
SES last year for the launching of first set
of mPower platforms.
This time SpaceX will deliver more Boeing-built
O3b mPower broadband satellites into orbit.
SES is a Luxembourg based satellite and terrestrial
telecommunications network provider supplying
video and data connectivity worldwide to,
internet service providers, broadcasters,
mobile and fixed network operators, governments
and other institutions.
One of the largest fleets of commercial communications
satellites in geostationary orbit spanning
more than 22,000 miles which is approximately
around 36,000 kilometers, over the equator,
beaming television, data and Internet services
to customers around the world is currently
owned by SES.
Their O3b network is a supplier of Internet
connectivity to airplanes, ships, island nations
and other customers using a fleet of 20 satellites
flying in a unique equatorial medium Earth
orbit.
These satellites are flying at an altitude
of more than 5,000 miles or 8,000 kilometers.
Having two new SpaceX falcon 9 launches, SES
has reserved at least four SpaceX Falcon 9
missions for satellites launches in next few
years.
In 2017, SES acquired seven upgraded O3b satellites
from Boeing to expand the capacity supplied
by the network’s existing 20 spacecraft.
These existing satellites were built by Thales
Alenia Space in France.
As per SES, a single O3b mPower satellite
having ability to produce more than 4000 user
beams will have 10 times better capacity compared
to the current O3b satellite constellation.
The O3b mPower constellation is designed as
a multi-terabit global network which is capable
to produce gigabits of Ka-band capacity for
customers in aviation, government, energy
and other sectors.
At present SES owns around 70 satellites amongst
which 50 satellites are in the geostationary
arc for television and broadband, and 20 satellites
are in Medium Earth orbit catering to low-latency
internet services.
This seven mPower satellites should be able
to produce 10 terabits of total throughput
to cater 50 mbps to several gbps of capacity
to a single user.
They also anticipate that the expectations
from the users will grow in near future so
the company has already ordered Boeing for
four more O3b mPower satellites earlier this
month.
By the end of 2021, based on Boeing’s 702X
satellite platform, the first set of O3b mPower
satellites weighing nearly 2 tons each will
launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape
Canaveral.
Boeing unveiled small GEO satellites as part
of its 702X satellite lineup in September
2019 for customer.
“We have a strong and long-standing partnership
with SpaceX and we are excited to add the
launches of additional O3b mPower satellites
that will drive higher throughput, greater
efficiency and substantially more bandwidth
to our industry-leading network.”
said SES's CEO Steve Collar.
He also added "O3b mPower is the cornerstone
of our multi-orbit, cloud-enabled, high-performance
network that will serve our enterprise, mobility
and government customers into the next decade,
and we are merely a year away from its first
launch,” as per the agreement SpaceX will
launch all 11 of SES’s O3b mPower satellites
to medium Earth orbit across four Falcon 9
launches.
The first three Falcon launches will take
place on third quarter of 2021, the first
quarter of 2022, and the second half of 2022
respectively from Cape Canaveral.
Now let us take a look at the news regarding
SpaceX payload fairing Musk has recently tweeted
about.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk has recently shared
a video on Twitter regarding the recovery
process of the payload fairings.
SpaceX fairing are two piece shrouds to protect
satellites during launch and both of these
came back to earth in parachutes in guided
manner using small thrusts.
The two piece shroud shrugged off few moments
later after ignition of the upper state engine
of the Falcon 9's.
Those shrouds were caught by one of SpaceX’s
recovery boats on 18th August, Tuesday in
the Atlantic Ocean.
As per Elon Musk, recovery and reuse of such
fairings will enable SpaceX to save some amount
as these fairings costs around $6 million
each.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster and payload
fairing used on Tuesday’s mission were a
refurbished version which were already used
from previous launches.
As we have discussed in our previous videos,
this was the sixth time, the SpaceX falcon
9 first stage booster made the trip creating
a record.
The 70 meter rocket, approximately 229 feet
tall was launched from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral
Air Force station at 10.31 AM EDT Tuesday.
It carried 58 Starlink broadband Satellites
and three SkySat earth imaging Satellites.
As many of you liked our previous updates
on Northrop Grumman, we will try to share
some updates about other companies apart from
SpaceX as well.
On Thursday, Eric Berger, a reporter from
Ars Technica tweeted that the employees of
Northrop Grumman were informed by the company
that they will not pursue any further development
of OmegaA rockets in future but the company
officials denied to make any comment or confirm
this news.
In April 2018, discussions regarding OmegaA
rockets were started by Northrop Grumman.
They had a clear vision to compete with ULA
and SpaceX in the National Security Space
market at that time.
But two weeks back when 60% of the contracts
went to ULA and 40% to SpaceX to launch services
from 2022 to 2027, Northrop Grumman revisited
their future plans regarding OmegaA rockets
found the business significance of the vehicle
is not that great.
So far Northrop Grumman has refrained from
announcing any final decisions regarding their
OmegaA rockets as they are waiting for US
Air Force to clarify them the reason why the
vehicle was not selected.
Northrop Grumman announced in last December
that they signed up their first contract with
a startup called Saturn Satellite Networks
to launch a small geostationary communications
satellite.
Just before Air Force's announcement regarding
the contracts Northrop Grumman officials said
OmegA was on track for its first flight in
2021.
Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden said to
an analyst “If we are not successful, we
would continue to leverage that investment,”
on July 30 when asked about the future of
OmegA rockets in case they fail to win any
Air Force launch services contract.
As per Warden the investment in OmegA “was
a way to share our research and development
investments across the product line that we
can now utilize for other endeavors.”
Northrop Grumman spokeswoman Jennifer Bowman
said - “The post-award debriefing process
currently is underway, and we are learning
more about the U.S. Space Force’s evaluation
decisions,” she also added “We will determine
next steps once the debriefing process concludes.
We are very proud of our OmegA designs and
the value that OmegA can provide to the U.S.
Space Force and other customers.”
Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air
Force for Acquisition said on Aug. 7th - “We
have to determine what work has been done
and what rights to the data the government
has.
We want to make sure we retain those,”
Since 2018, US Air Force had been investing
in the solid propulsion OmegaA rockets as
they were in a $792 million agreement for
six years.
As the OmegaA vehicle did not win any launch
services contract this payment is going to
be stopped.
Though as per the Air Force financial obligations
regarding this deal and other issues are not
yet finalized.
In case Northrop Grumman decides not to pursue
development of OmegaA rockets they will still
have plenty of customers to acquire the effective
rocket motors.
Anyway they will continue to supply solid
boosters to United Launch Alliance for its
Vulcan Centaur rockets.
Northrop Grumman has also has a contract to
produce heavy-lift boosters for NASA’s Space
Launch System.
The rocket motors for Air Force’s Ground
Base Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) is a new intercontinental
ballistic missile to develop for Air Force
and this GBSD contract is planned to be awarded
this fall.
Producing solid rocket motors for this deal
will be Northrop Grumman’s biggest contract.
That's all for today, hope you have liked
it.
Stay safe, take care and watch out this channel
for more updates.
