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Lift Off Time/Launch Window
(Subject to change)
January 02, 2023 – 14:56:00 UTC | 09:56:00 EST
Mission Name
Transporter-6, the sixth SpaceX dedicated small satellite rideshare mission
Launch Provider
(What rocket company is launching it?)
SpaceX
Customer
(Who’s paying for this?)
Numerous
Rocket
Falcon 9 Block 5, B1060-15, 83.66-day turnaround.
Launch Location
Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, USA
Payload mass
Unknown
Where are the satellites going?
Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO)
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?
Yes
Where will the first stage land?
Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1)
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?
Yes, at approximately 604 km (~375 mi) downrange.
Are these fairings new?
TBD
How’s the weather looking?
The weather is currently 90% GO for launch (as of December 30, 2022 at 12:30 UTC)
This will be the:
– 1st orbital launch attempt of 2023
– 1st Falcon 9 launch of 2023
– 1st mission for SpaceX of 2023
– 196th Falcon 9 mission overall
– 172nd Falcon recovery booster attempt
– 205th SpaceX mission overall
Where to watch
What’s All This Mean?
SpaceX will launch their sixth dedicated small satellite rideshare mission, Transporter-6, from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida. Onboard Transporter-6 are numerous payloads from several customers. The previous mission, Transporter-5, hosted 59 payloads, but on this mission 114 will fly. This number includes sats of many different sizes, as well as transfer vehicles, or space tugs. The Falcon 9 Block 5 will perform a boostback burn and touchdown on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1).
What’s On Transporter-6?
Numerous payloads will be packed into the 5.2 m Falcon 9 fairing and deployed across nearly 20 minutes of mission time after reaching a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO). The deployment sequence is determined by many variables including customer needs and satellite placement on the payload adapter rings.
Payloads have specific volumetric constraints and interface with one of two rings, one with a 15 in (~38 cm) diameter and the other a 24 in (~61 cm) diameter. The larger ring allows for more volume, or a larger payload. Customers can also purchase the top slot, which allows for the largest possible payload on the mission. The 15-inch ring ports can support a payload mass up to 454 kg (1,000 lb) while the 24-inch ring ports can support up to a 830 kg (1,830 lb) payload mass.
Payloads included projects from Momentous, Skycraft, Exolaunch, D-Orbit, and others
D-Orbit
D-Orbit will host payloads from two companies: Astrocast and AAC Clyde Space. All five satellites are of 3U size and share similar goals of Earth data gathering. Astrocast has four 3U satellites which, according to their website, will “track assets, monitor the environment, and save lives.” They will do this by creating and continuing to expand on a connected Internet of Things network. Also on board is a single 3U cubesat for ACC Clyde Space called Kelpie which will deliver Automatic Identification System (AIS) data to ORBCOMM.
Launcher’s Orbiter
Created with a dual purpose, Orbiter will be hosting a number of payloads in this mission. Launcher is quite an interesting company, which developed this spacecraft: a transfer vehicle, or other times known as “space tug.” However, as the enterprise’s name implies, they are developing their own rocket: Light. Orbiter will not only reach orbit atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 — or other compatible rockets — but also as this small-lift launcher’s third stage.
In itself, the spacecraft masses at 200 kg ( lb), while being capable of carrying payloads up to 400 kg. Orbiter makes use of chemical propulsion giving it a delta-v capability of 500 m/s ( ft/s) burning ethane — the fuel — and N2O — the oxidizer. Because of this, this tug will be capable of carrying out maneuvers like altitude changes, plane changes, in-plane phasing, and inclination changes.
A 3D animation of Launcher’s Orbiter (credit: Launcher)
Last but not least, Orbiter can be implemented as satellite platform (bus), which confers this spacecraft even further versatility. In this flight it will, nevertheless, act as transfer vehicle under the designation “SN1.”
PROVES -Yearling
Bronco Space was founded by Cal Poly Pomona’s students, with the aim of developing the tools necessary to help undergraduate students to gain knowledge and experience related to the space industry. The cubesat they are launching this time is a part of PROVES: the Pleiades Rapid Orbital Verification Experimental System. This is intended to be a program that will build a 1U platform that other educators could use at their own institutions. The concept is for it to be easy to use, affordable, open source, and modular.
Yearling belongs to the PROVES cubesat cluster, being a 1U spacecraft built on the PyCubed architecture. It will carry a camera for attitude determination, as well as three inertial measurement units. This very small satellite will serve as a lab bench in space for students. Additionally, it will use HopeRF RFM98 radio modules to communicate with the ground. In this way, the cubesat will be able to report its health, as well as information from its sensors: temperature, light, gyroscopic, and magnetometer.
What Is Falcon 9 Block 5?
The Falcon 9 Block 5 is SpaceX’s partially reusable two-stage medium-lift launch vehicle. The vehicle consists of a reusable first stage, an expendable second stage, and, when in payload configuration, a pair of reusable fairing halves.
First Stage
The Falcon 9 first stage contains 9 Merlin 1D+ sea level engines. Each engine uses an open gas generator cycle and runs on RP-1 and liquid oxygen (LOx). Each engine produces 845 kN of thrust at sea level, with a specific impulse (ISP) of 285 seconds, and 934 kN in a vacuum with an ISP of 313 seconds. Due to the powerful nature of the engine, and the large amount of them, the Falcon 9 first stage is able to lose an engine right off the pad, or up to two later in flight, and be able to successfully place the payload into orbit.
The Merlin engines are ignited by triethylaluminum and triethylborane (TEA-TEB), which instantaneously burst into flames when mixed in the presence of oxygen. During static fire and launch the TEA-TEB is provided by the ground service equipment. However, as the Falcon 9 first stage is able to propulsively land, three of the Merlin engines (E1, E5, and E9) contain TEA-TEB canisters to relight for the boost back, reentry, and landing burns.
Second Stage
The Falcon 9 second stage is the only expendable part of the Falcon 9. It contains a singular MVacD engine that produces 992 kN of thrust and an ISP of 348 seconds. The second stage is capable of doing several burns, allowing the Falcon 9 to put payloads in several different orbits.
For missions with many burns and/or long coasts between burns, the second stage is able to be equipped with a mission extension package. When the second stage has this package it has a grey strip, which helps keep the RP-1 warm, an increased number of composite-overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) for pressurization control, and additional TEA-TEB.
Falcon 9 Block 5 launching on the Starlink V1.0 L27 mission (Credit: SpaceX)
Falcon 9 Booster
The booster supporting the Transporter-6 mission is B1060-15. As the name implies, the booster has supported 14 previous missions. Upon successful landing, the booster designation will change to B1060-16.
B1060’s missionsLaunch Date (UTC)Turn Around Time (Days)GPS III SV03June 30, 2020 20:10N/AStarlink V1.0 L11September 3, 2020 12:4664.69Starlink V1.0 L14October 24, 2020 15:3151.11Türksat-5AJanuary 8, 2021 02:1575.45Starlink V1.0 L18February 4, 2021 06:1927.17Starlink V1.0 L22March 24, 2021 08:2848.09Starlink V1.0 L24April 29, 2021 03:4438.50Transporter-2June 30, 2021 19:3162.66Starlink Group 4-3December 2, 2021 23:12155.15Starlink Group 4-6January 19, 2022 02:0247.22Starlink Group 4-9March 3, 2022 14:3543.52Starlink Group 4-14April 21, 2022 17:5149.14Starlink Group 4-19June 17, 2022 16:0956.93Galaxy 33 & 34October 8, 2022 23:05113.29Transporter-6January 2, 2023 14:5683.66
Following stage separation, the Falcon 9 will conduct three burns. These burns aim to softly touch down the booster on SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1).
Falcon 9 landing on Of Course I Still Love You after launching Bob and Doug (Credit: SpaceX)
Falcon 9 Fairings
The Falcon 9’s fairing consists of two dissimilar reusable halves. The first half (the half that faces away from the transport erector) is called the active half, and houses the pneumatics for the separation system. The other fairing half is called the passive half. As the name implies, this half plays a purely passive role in the fairing separation process, as it relies on the pneumatics from the active half.
Both fairing halves are equipped with cold gas thrusters and a parafoil which are used to softly touch down the fairing half in the ocean. SpaceX used to attempt to catch the fairing halves, however, at the end of 2020 this program was canceled due to safety risks and a low success rate. On Transporter-6, SpaceX will attempt to recover the fairing halves from the water with its recovery vessel Bob or Doug.
In 2021, SpaceX started flying a new version of the Falcon 9 fairing. The new “upgraded” version has vents only at the top of each fairing half, by the gap between the halves, whereas the old version had vents placed spread equidistantly around the base of the fairing. Moving the vents decreases the chance of water getting into the fairing, making the chance of a successful scoop significantly higher.
A passive fairing half being unloaded from Shelia Bordelon after the Starlink V1.0 L22 mission (Credit: Kyle M)
Countdown
HR/MIN/SECEVENT00:38:00SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load00:35:00RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins00:35:001st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins00:16:002nd stage LOX loading begins00:07:00Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch00:01:00Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks00:01:00Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins00:00:45SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch00:00:03Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start00:00:00Falcon 9 liftoff
Launch, Landing, And Deployment
All Times Approximate.
HR/MIN/SECEVENT00:01:12Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)00:02:171st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)00:02:201st and 2nd stages separate00:02:282nd stage engine starts00:02:331st stage boostback burn begins00:03:201st stage boostback burn ends00:03:46Fairing deployment00:06:441st stage entry burn begins00:07:071st stage entry burn ends00:07:581st stage landing burn begins00:08:232nd stage engine cutoff (SECO)00:08:301st stage landing00:55:202nd stage engine restarts (SES-2)00:55:222nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2)00:58:24KuwaitSat-1 deploys00:58:34BDSat-2 deploys00:58:35SharedSat 2211 deploys00:58:44LEMUR 2 EMMACULATE deploys00:58:55LEMUR 2 FUENTETAJA-01 deploys00:59:51ConnectaT1.2 deploys01:00:00GAMA Alpha deploys01:00:01BRO-8 deploys01:00:12Menut deploys01:00:18Huygens deploys01:00:24LEMUR 2 DISCLAIMER deploys01:00:35STAR VIBE deploys01:00:55LEMUR 2 STEVEALBERS deploys01:01:11ISILAUNCH Kleos KSF3-A deploys01:02:02Birkeland deploys01:02:07SPACEBEE-156/167 deploys01:02:47LEMUR 2 MMOLO deploys01:02:54ISILAUNCH Kleos KSF3-B deploys01:03:25ISILAUNCH Kleos KSF3-C deploys01:04:47LEMUR 2 PHILARI deploys01:05:02ISILAUNCH Kleos KSF3-D deploys01:05:03First Flock 4Y deploys01:05:11EWS RROCI deploys01:05:12SpaceBD ISILAUNCH PolyItan from Kiev deploys01:05:14Second Flock 4Y deploys01:05:23Guardian-alpha deploys01:05:25Third Flock 4Y deploys01:05:36Fourth Flock 4Y deploys01:05:40SpaceBD Sony Sphere-1 deploys01:05:50ISILAUNCH ClydeSpace NSLSat-2 deploys01:06:30ISILAUNCH Sternula-1 deploys01:06:35Fifth Flock 4Y deploys01:06:45Sixth Flock 4Y deploys01:06:58Seventh Flock 4Y deploys01:07:50Eighth Flock 4Y deploys01:08:33Ninth Flock 4Y deploys01:08:4510th Flock 4Y deploys01:09:1711th Flock 4Y deploys01:09:2812th Flock 4Y deploys01:09:3813th Flock 4Y deploys01:10:2414th Flock 4Y deploys01:10:4215th Flock 4Y deploys01:10:5516th Flock 4Y deploys01:11:2117th Flock 4Y deploys01:11:3218th Flock 4Y deploys01:11:4319th Flock 4Y deploys01:12:3020th Flock 4Y deploys01:12:4121st Flock 4Y deploys01:12:5322nd Flock 4Y deploys01:13:2623rd Flock 4Y deploys01:13:3624th Flock 4Y deploys01:13:5425th Flock 4Y deploys01:14:4026th Flock 4Y deploys01:14:5027th Flock 4Y deploys01:15:4028th Flock 4Y deploys01:15:5229th Flock 4Y deploys01:16:3830th Flock 4Y deploys01:16:4931st Flock 4Y deploys01:17:4032nd Flock 4Y deploys01:17:5033rd Flock 4Y deploys01:18:4134th Flock 4Y deploys01:18:5235th Flock 4Y deploys01:19:4236th Flock 4Y deploys01:19:46Lynk Tower 3 deploys01:20:00Albania 1 deploys01:20:02Lynk Tower 4 deploys01:20:42YAM-5 deploys01:21:48NewSat 34 deploys01:22:03Albania 2 deploys01:22:58X22 deploys01:23:04X21 deploys01:23:46First Umbra deploys01:23:50Second Umbra deploys01:24:47NewSat 35 deploys01:24:59ION SCV-007 GLORIOUS GRATIA deploys01:26:05ION SCV-008 FIERCE FRANCISCUS deploys01:26:11Launcher Orbiter SN1 deploys01:27:31X27 deploys01:27:34Skykraft 1 deploys01:28:10Vigoride 5 deploys01:28:54CHIMERA LEO 1 deploys01:31:10EOS SAT-1 deploys
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