Why does Arabsat 6A need a Falcon Heavy to launchWhat missions could be done with Orion on Falcon Heavy?Falcon 9R as SSTOWhat would the challenges be in developing a Falcon Heavy with three or four strap-on boosters?Why is the first launch of Falcon Heavy sending a car instead of something useful?Was anything else about the Falcon Heavy test launch “off nominal” besides the center core return?What accounted for the total mass of the Tesla/Starman?How much payload can Falcon Heavy Reusable lift?Why doesn't SpaceX deploy some module to cover whole fairing like a rain coat just before sea landing?Does the downrange position of an ASDS vary, depending on payload mass?What is meant by “a high-energy geostationary orbit”? (SpaceX Arabsat 6A)
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Why does Arabsat 6A need a Falcon Heavy to launch
What missions could be done with Orion on Falcon Heavy?Falcon 9R as SSTOWhat would the challenges be in developing a Falcon Heavy with three or four strap-on boosters?Why is the first launch of Falcon Heavy sending a car instead of something useful?Was anything else about the Falcon Heavy test launch “off nominal” besides the center core return?What accounted for the total mass of the Tesla/Starman?How much payload can Falcon Heavy Reusable lift?Why doesn't SpaceX deploy some module to cover whole fairing like a rain coat just before sea landing?Does the downrange position of an ASDS vary, depending on payload mass?What is meant by “a high-energy geostationary orbit”? (SpaceX Arabsat 6A)
$begingroup$
Is it just me or does a falcon heavy seem like a bit of an overkill to launch Arabsat 6A?
Falcon Heavy - GEO payload: 26,700 kilograms
Arabsat 6A - weight: ~6000 kilograms
Wouldn't some other launch options be more appropriate or is there something about the launch of Arabsat 6A that needs the additional power?
spacex launch falcon-9 falcon-heavy
New contributor
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Is it just me or does a falcon heavy seem like a bit of an overkill to launch Arabsat 6A?
Falcon Heavy - GEO payload: 26,700 kilograms
Arabsat 6A - weight: ~6000 kilograms
Wouldn't some other launch options be more appropriate or is there something about the launch of Arabsat 6A that needs the additional power?
spacex launch falcon-9 falcon-heavy
New contributor
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Is there anything else being launched ? 20k kilos of spare capacity could carry 3 more satellites, assuming there's physically room for them. Perhaps its like a bus, where not every seat is sold yet.
$endgroup$
– Criggie
Apr 4 at 23:37
1
$begingroup$
The given payload figure is for a fully expendable Falcon Heavy. In fully reusable mode, the payload is 8000kg to GTO, still more than Arabsat 6A requires and allows for up to 2000kg of GTO ridesharing (potentially more if they can be dropped off in LEO on the way, but I don't know if that is ever done).
$endgroup$
– asgallant
Apr 5 at 15:35
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Is it just me or does a falcon heavy seem like a bit of an overkill to launch Arabsat 6A?
Falcon Heavy - GEO payload: 26,700 kilograms
Arabsat 6A - weight: ~6000 kilograms
Wouldn't some other launch options be more appropriate or is there something about the launch of Arabsat 6A that needs the additional power?
spacex launch falcon-9 falcon-heavy
New contributor
$endgroup$
Is it just me or does a falcon heavy seem like a bit of an overkill to launch Arabsat 6A?
Falcon Heavy - GEO payload: 26,700 kilograms
Arabsat 6A - weight: ~6000 kilograms
Wouldn't some other launch options be more appropriate or is there something about the launch of Arabsat 6A that needs the additional power?
spacex launch falcon-9 falcon-heavy
spacex launch falcon-9 falcon-heavy
New contributor
New contributor
edited Apr 4 at 18:41
Jay Laughlin
New contributor
asked Apr 4 at 18:27
Jay LaughlinJay Laughlin
1016
1016
New contributor
New contributor
$begingroup$
Is there anything else being launched ? 20k kilos of spare capacity could carry 3 more satellites, assuming there's physically room for them. Perhaps its like a bus, where not every seat is sold yet.
$endgroup$
– Criggie
Apr 4 at 23:37
1
$begingroup$
The given payload figure is for a fully expendable Falcon Heavy. In fully reusable mode, the payload is 8000kg to GTO, still more than Arabsat 6A requires and allows for up to 2000kg of GTO ridesharing (potentially more if they can be dropped off in LEO on the way, but I don't know if that is ever done).
$endgroup$
– asgallant
Apr 5 at 15:35
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Is there anything else being launched ? 20k kilos of spare capacity could carry 3 more satellites, assuming there's physically room for them. Perhaps its like a bus, where not every seat is sold yet.
$endgroup$
– Criggie
Apr 4 at 23:37
1
$begingroup$
The given payload figure is for a fully expendable Falcon Heavy. In fully reusable mode, the payload is 8000kg to GTO, still more than Arabsat 6A requires and allows for up to 2000kg of GTO ridesharing (potentially more if they can be dropped off in LEO on the way, but I don't know if that is ever done).
$endgroup$
– asgallant
Apr 5 at 15:35
$begingroup$
Is there anything else being launched ? 20k kilos of spare capacity could carry 3 more satellites, assuming there's physically room for them. Perhaps its like a bus, where not every seat is sold yet.
$endgroup$
– Criggie
Apr 4 at 23:37
$begingroup$
Is there anything else being launched ? 20k kilos of spare capacity could carry 3 more satellites, assuming there's physically room for them. Perhaps its like a bus, where not every seat is sold yet.
$endgroup$
– Criggie
Apr 4 at 23:37
1
1
$begingroup$
The given payload figure is for a fully expendable Falcon Heavy. In fully reusable mode, the payload is 8000kg to GTO, still more than Arabsat 6A requires and allows for up to 2000kg of GTO ridesharing (potentially more if they can be dropped off in LEO on the way, but I don't know if that is ever done).
$endgroup$
– asgallant
Apr 5 at 15:35
$begingroup$
The given payload figure is for a fully expendable Falcon Heavy. In fully reusable mode, the payload is 8000kg to GTO, still more than Arabsat 6A requires and allows for up to 2000kg of GTO ridesharing (potentially more if they can be dropped off in LEO on the way, but I don't know if that is ever done).
$endgroup$
– asgallant
Apr 5 at 15:35
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
@geoffc's answer explains why Falcon Heavy over Falcon 9, but the reason for why not any of the other options is likely cost.
It's difficult to say with certainty what the launch costs would be, since costs are negotiated per launch, and are affected by a large number of factors (target orbit, payload mass, fuel costs, ridesharing, etc). Estimates put Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy's main competitors Ariane 5 at around $178M, Atlas 5 at $109M-179M, and Proton-M at about $100M1. Expendable Falcon 9 and Fully Reusable Falcon Heavy both cost an estimated $90M, and as @geoffc pointed out, FH has greater GTO capacity than F9, so the launch could use some combination of more favorable orbit and extra ridesharing capacity to reduce the effective launch cost.
Source
1 this reflects the likely cost as of the time when Arabsat 6A's launch was being negotiated; Proton-M has since been price-cut to be competitive to Falcon-9
New contributor
$endgroup$
4
$begingroup$
Also, this being the first revenue flight of FH (and the second overall), I'm pretty sure that SpaceX went out of their way to make the FH price really attractive this time, no matter what are their long-term price targets or costs.
$endgroup$
– TooTea
Apr 5 at 7:59
add a comment |
$begingroup$
6000 Kg is actually pretty big. I am sure SpaceX offered some discounts to attract a customer for Falcon Heavy.
So I will ignore the other options (Atlas 5 with side boosters, Ariane 5, or Proton) and focus on why not a Falcon 9.
Falcon 9's numbers are lower to GTO, Wikipedia has it around 5500kg reusable. 8300kg expendable, and SpaceX's point is, if you are bigger than a Falcon 9 can handle and still land, better off moving to a Falcon Heavy.
Also there are different GTO orbits, the higher the 'energy' the less work (aka burned up fuel) the satellite needs to do to get to a circular GEO orbit. SpaceX does aim for a lower of the set, usually to allow recovery.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I know the SpaceX website does list the Falcon 9 as having a 8,300 kg payload to GTO Falcon 9 GTO but the wiki for Falcon 9 launches also shows that the Telstar 18V / Apstar-5C launch on Sept. 10, 2018 was 7,060 kg to GTO and a successful drone ship landing was achieved with the Falcon 9 Wiki-Launch 61. This would be a higher weight than the Arabsat 6 and also a GTO launch that did a successful drone ship landing so it was a reusable launch.
The Arabsat 6 also uses powerful hypergolic main engine to boost to GEO from GTO according to Nasaspaceflight. There is no mention on the peak it will be sent in GTO but the satellite using those engines instead of electric seems to point to it needing a lot of thrust to circularize it's orbit.
Unless there are some other specs that show this is being put in a different GTO orbit or higher it seems like the Falcon 9 reusable could launch this satellite.
There must be another explanation such as SpaceX discount to use this as a Falcon Heavy qualification flight for the USAF or something else.
New contributor
$endgroup$
add a comment |
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3 Answers
3
active
oldest
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3 Answers
3
active
oldest
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active
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active
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$begingroup$
@geoffc's answer explains why Falcon Heavy over Falcon 9, but the reason for why not any of the other options is likely cost.
It's difficult to say with certainty what the launch costs would be, since costs are negotiated per launch, and are affected by a large number of factors (target orbit, payload mass, fuel costs, ridesharing, etc). Estimates put Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy's main competitors Ariane 5 at around $178M, Atlas 5 at $109M-179M, and Proton-M at about $100M1. Expendable Falcon 9 and Fully Reusable Falcon Heavy both cost an estimated $90M, and as @geoffc pointed out, FH has greater GTO capacity than F9, so the launch could use some combination of more favorable orbit and extra ridesharing capacity to reduce the effective launch cost.
Source
1 this reflects the likely cost as of the time when Arabsat 6A's launch was being negotiated; Proton-M has since been price-cut to be competitive to Falcon-9
New contributor
$endgroup$
4
$begingroup$
Also, this being the first revenue flight of FH (and the second overall), I'm pretty sure that SpaceX went out of their way to make the FH price really attractive this time, no matter what are their long-term price targets or costs.
$endgroup$
– TooTea
Apr 5 at 7:59
add a comment |
$begingroup$
@geoffc's answer explains why Falcon Heavy over Falcon 9, but the reason for why not any of the other options is likely cost.
It's difficult to say with certainty what the launch costs would be, since costs are negotiated per launch, and are affected by a large number of factors (target orbit, payload mass, fuel costs, ridesharing, etc). Estimates put Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy's main competitors Ariane 5 at around $178M, Atlas 5 at $109M-179M, and Proton-M at about $100M1. Expendable Falcon 9 and Fully Reusable Falcon Heavy both cost an estimated $90M, and as @geoffc pointed out, FH has greater GTO capacity than F9, so the launch could use some combination of more favorable orbit and extra ridesharing capacity to reduce the effective launch cost.
Source
1 this reflects the likely cost as of the time when Arabsat 6A's launch was being negotiated; Proton-M has since been price-cut to be competitive to Falcon-9
New contributor
$endgroup$
4
$begingroup$
Also, this being the first revenue flight of FH (and the second overall), I'm pretty sure that SpaceX went out of their way to make the FH price really attractive this time, no matter what are their long-term price targets or costs.
$endgroup$
– TooTea
Apr 5 at 7:59
add a comment |
$begingroup$
@geoffc's answer explains why Falcon Heavy over Falcon 9, but the reason for why not any of the other options is likely cost.
It's difficult to say with certainty what the launch costs would be, since costs are negotiated per launch, and are affected by a large number of factors (target orbit, payload mass, fuel costs, ridesharing, etc). Estimates put Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy's main competitors Ariane 5 at around $178M, Atlas 5 at $109M-179M, and Proton-M at about $100M1. Expendable Falcon 9 and Fully Reusable Falcon Heavy both cost an estimated $90M, and as @geoffc pointed out, FH has greater GTO capacity than F9, so the launch could use some combination of more favorable orbit and extra ridesharing capacity to reduce the effective launch cost.
Source
1 this reflects the likely cost as of the time when Arabsat 6A's launch was being negotiated; Proton-M has since been price-cut to be competitive to Falcon-9
New contributor
$endgroup$
@geoffc's answer explains why Falcon Heavy over Falcon 9, but the reason for why not any of the other options is likely cost.
It's difficult to say with certainty what the launch costs would be, since costs are negotiated per launch, and are affected by a large number of factors (target orbit, payload mass, fuel costs, ridesharing, etc). Estimates put Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy's main competitors Ariane 5 at around $178M, Atlas 5 at $109M-179M, and Proton-M at about $100M1. Expendable Falcon 9 and Fully Reusable Falcon Heavy both cost an estimated $90M, and as @geoffc pointed out, FH has greater GTO capacity than F9, so the launch could use some combination of more favorable orbit and extra ridesharing capacity to reduce the effective launch cost.
Source
1 this reflects the likely cost as of the time when Arabsat 6A's launch was being negotiated; Proton-M has since been price-cut to be competitive to Falcon-9
New contributor
New contributor
answered Apr 4 at 22:52
asgallantasgallant
1862
1862
New contributor
New contributor
4
$begingroup$
Also, this being the first revenue flight of FH (and the second overall), I'm pretty sure that SpaceX went out of their way to make the FH price really attractive this time, no matter what are their long-term price targets or costs.
$endgroup$
– TooTea
Apr 5 at 7:59
add a comment |
4
$begingroup$
Also, this being the first revenue flight of FH (and the second overall), I'm pretty sure that SpaceX went out of their way to make the FH price really attractive this time, no matter what are their long-term price targets or costs.
$endgroup$
– TooTea
Apr 5 at 7:59
4
4
$begingroup$
Also, this being the first revenue flight of FH (and the second overall), I'm pretty sure that SpaceX went out of their way to make the FH price really attractive this time, no matter what are their long-term price targets or costs.
$endgroup$
– TooTea
Apr 5 at 7:59
$begingroup$
Also, this being the first revenue flight of FH (and the second overall), I'm pretty sure that SpaceX went out of their way to make the FH price really attractive this time, no matter what are their long-term price targets or costs.
$endgroup$
– TooTea
Apr 5 at 7:59
add a comment |
$begingroup$
6000 Kg is actually pretty big. I am sure SpaceX offered some discounts to attract a customer for Falcon Heavy.
So I will ignore the other options (Atlas 5 with side boosters, Ariane 5, or Proton) and focus on why not a Falcon 9.
Falcon 9's numbers are lower to GTO, Wikipedia has it around 5500kg reusable. 8300kg expendable, and SpaceX's point is, if you are bigger than a Falcon 9 can handle and still land, better off moving to a Falcon Heavy.
Also there are different GTO orbits, the higher the 'energy' the less work (aka burned up fuel) the satellite needs to do to get to a circular GEO orbit. SpaceX does aim for a lower of the set, usually to allow recovery.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
6000 Kg is actually pretty big. I am sure SpaceX offered some discounts to attract a customer for Falcon Heavy.
So I will ignore the other options (Atlas 5 with side boosters, Ariane 5, or Proton) and focus on why not a Falcon 9.
Falcon 9's numbers are lower to GTO, Wikipedia has it around 5500kg reusable. 8300kg expendable, and SpaceX's point is, if you are bigger than a Falcon 9 can handle and still land, better off moving to a Falcon Heavy.
Also there are different GTO orbits, the higher the 'energy' the less work (aka burned up fuel) the satellite needs to do to get to a circular GEO orbit. SpaceX does aim for a lower of the set, usually to allow recovery.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
6000 Kg is actually pretty big. I am sure SpaceX offered some discounts to attract a customer for Falcon Heavy.
So I will ignore the other options (Atlas 5 with side boosters, Ariane 5, or Proton) and focus on why not a Falcon 9.
Falcon 9's numbers are lower to GTO, Wikipedia has it around 5500kg reusable. 8300kg expendable, and SpaceX's point is, if you are bigger than a Falcon 9 can handle and still land, better off moving to a Falcon Heavy.
Also there are different GTO orbits, the higher the 'energy' the less work (aka burned up fuel) the satellite needs to do to get to a circular GEO orbit. SpaceX does aim for a lower of the set, usually to allow recovery.
$endgroup$
6000 Kg is actually pretty big. I am sure SpaceX offered some discounts to attract a customer for Falcon Heavy.
So I will ignore the other options (Atlas 5 with side boosters, Ariane 5, or Proton) and focus on why not a Falcon 9.
Falcon 9's numbers are lower to GTO, Wikipedia has it around 5500kg reusable. 8300kg expendable, and SpaceX's point is, if you are bigger than a Falcon 9 can handle and still land, better off moving to a Falcon Heavy.
Also there are different GTO orbits, the higher the 'energy' the less work (aka burned up fuel) the satellite needs to do to get to a circular GEO orbit. SpaceX does aim for a lower of the set, usually to allow recovery.
answered Apr 4 at 18:38
geoffcgeoffc
56k10162310
56k10162310
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I know the SpaceX website does list the Falcon 9 as having a 8,300 kg payload to GTO Falcon 9 GTO but the wiki for Falcon 9 launches also shows that the Telstar 18V / Apstar-5C launch on Sept. 10, 2018 was 7,060 kg to GTO and a successful drone ship landing was achieved with the Falcon 9 Wiki-Launch 61. This would be a higher weight than the Arabsat 6 and also a GTO launch that did a successful drone ship landing so it was a reusable launch.
The Arabsat 6 also uses powerful hypergolic main engine to boost to GEO from GTO according to Nasaspaceflight. There is no mention on the peak it will be sent in GTO but the satellite using those engines instead of electric seems to point to it needing a lot of thrust to circularize it's orbit.
Unless there are some other specs that show this is being put in a different GTO orbit or higher it seems like the Falcon 9 reusable could launch this satellite.
There must be another explanation such as SpaceX discount to use this as a Falcon Heavy qualification flight for the USAF or something else.
New contributor
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I know the SpaceX website does list the Falcon 9 as having a 8,300 kg payload to GTO Falcon 9 GTO but the wiki for Falcon 9 launches also shows that the Telstar 18V / Apstar-5C launch on Sept. 10, 2018 was 7,060 kg to GTO and a successful drone ship landing was achieved with the Falcon 9 Wiki-Launch 61. This would be a higher weight than the Arabsat 6 and also a GTO launch that did a successful drone ship landing so it was a reusable launch.
The Arabsat 6 also uses powerful hypergolic main engine to boost to GEO from GTO according to Nasaspaceflight. There is no mention on the peak it will be sent in GTO but the satellite using those engines instead of electric seems to point to it needing a lot of thrust to circularize it's orbit.
Unless there are some other specs that show this is being put in a different GTO orbit or higher it seems like the Falcon 9 reusable could launch this satellite.
There must be another explanation such as SpaceX discount to use this as a Falcon Heavy qualification flight for the USAF or something else.
New contributor
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I know the SpaceX website does list the Falcon 9 as having a 8,300 kg payload to GTO Falcon 9 GTO but the wiki for Falcon 9 launches also shows that the Telstar 18V / Apstar-5C launch on Sept. 10, 2018 was 7,060 kg to GTO and a successful drone ship landing was achieved with the Falcon 9 Wiki-Launch 61. This would be a higher weight than the Arabsat 6 and also a GTO launch that did a successful drone ship landing so it was a reusable launch.
The Arabsat 6 also uses powerful hypergolic main engine to boost to GEO from GTO according to Nasaspaceflight. There is no mention on the peak it will be sent in GTO but the satellite using those engines instead of electric seems to point to it needing a lot of thrust to circularize it's orbit.
Unless there are some other specs that show this is being put in a different GTO orbit or higher it seems like the Falcon 9 reusable could launch this satellite.
There must be another explanation such as SpaceX discount to use this as a Falcon Heavy qualification flight for the USAF or something else.
New contributor
$endgroup$
I know the SpaceX website does list the Falcon 9 as having a 8,300 kg payload to GTO Falcon 9 GTO but the wiki for Falcon 9 launches also shows that the Telstar 18V / Apstar-5C launch on Sept. 10, 2018 was 7,060 kg to GTO and a successful drone ship landing was achieved with the Falcon 9 Wiki-Launch 61. This would be a higher weight than the Arabsat 6 and also a GTO launch that did a successful drone ship landing so it was a reusable launch.
The Arabsat 6 also uses powerful hypergolic main engine to boost to GEO from GTO according to Nasaspaceflight. There is no mention on the peak it will be sent in GTO but the satellite using those engines instead of electric seems to point to it needing a lot of thrust to circularize it's orbit.
Unless there are some other specs that show this is being put in a different GTO orbit or higher it seems like the Falcon 9 reusable could launch this satellite.
There must be another explanation such as SpaceX discount to use this as a Falcon Heavy qualification flight for the USAF or something else.
New contributor
New contributor
answered 3 hours ago
fosgatefosgate
211
211
New contributor
New contributor
add a comment |
add a comment |
Jay Laughlin is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Jay Laughlin is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Jay Laughlin is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Jay Laughlin is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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$begingroup$
Is there anything else being launched ? 20k kilos of spare capacity could carry 3 more satellites, assuming there's physically room for them. Perhaps its like a bus, where not every seat is sold yet.
$endgroup$
– Criggie
Apr 4 at 23:37
1
$begingroup$
The given payload figure is for a fully expendable Falcon Heavy. In fully reusable mode, the payload is 8000kg to GTO, still more than Arabsat 6A requires and allows for up to 2000kg of GTO ridesharing (potentially more if they can be dropped off in LEO on the way, but I don't know if that is ever done).
$endgroup$
– asgallant
Apr 5 at 15:35