Launch News Falcon 9 Block 5 | Es'hail 2 | November 15, 2018 20:46:00 UTC

[IronRain]

Qatar’s Es’hail-2 satellite will provide the first amateur radio geostationary communications that could link amateurs from Brazil to Thailand. The satellite is expected to be positioned at 25.5 degrees East. A launch is planned for the 4th quarter of 2018.

Es’hail-2 will carry two “Phase 4” amateur radio transponders operating in the 2400 MHz and 10450 MHz bands. A 250 kHz bandwidth linear transponder intended for conventional analogue operations and an 8 MHz bandwidth transponder for experimental digital modulation schemes and DVB amateur television.

Narrowband Linear transponder
2400.050 - 2400.300 MHz Uplink
10489.550 - 10489.800 MHz Downlink

Wideband digital transponder
2401.500 - 2409.500 MHz Uplink
10491.000 - 10499.000 MHz Downlink

Sources:
- https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/geosynchronous/eshail-2/

 

[IronRain]

Spaceflight now: SpaceX fires Falcon 9 booster on pad 39A, aims for comsat launch Thursday

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Monday night at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, clearing the way for a launch Thursday with Qatar’s Es’hail 2 communications satellite, the first daytime liftoff from Florida’s Space Coast in more than six months.

The rocket’s nine Merlin 1D first stage engines ignited at 8:30 p.m. EST Monday (0130 GMT Tuesday) and fired for several seconds as hold-down restraints kept the Falcon 9 grounded at pad 39A, the historic former starting point for numerous space shuttle launches and Saturn 5 moonshots.

SpaceX recovered from an apparent aborted hotfire attempt Monday morning, reloaded kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the launcher, and accomplished the static fire after nightfall Monday.

The two-stage rocket is set to blast of with a previously-flown first stage booster recovered on SpaceX’s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean following the July 22 launch of the Telstar 19 VANTAGE communications satellite.

The rocket will be rolled back to the hangar, connected with its commercial satellite payload, and returned to pad 39A in time for a launch window opening at 3:46 p.m. EST (2046 GMT) Thursday.

[...]

 

[Thunder Chicken]

They landed another rocket on a boat.



Twice.



Again.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Isn't it strange that something so extraordinary is now thought of as "ho-hum"?

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Isn't it strange that something so extraordinary is now thought of as "ho-hum"?

Something like this was probably said soon after airplanes and cars first came into regular use. It's a really important milestone for LEO operations. Maybe in not to many years it will be as regular as freight airline service now.

 

[IronRain]

SpaceX launches Qatar’s Es’hail 2 communications satellite

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket darted into a partly cloudy sky over Florida’s Space Coast with a roar Thursday afternoon, carrying the Japanese-built Es’hail 2 communications satellite into space to beam commercial video and data services across the Middle East and expand connectivity for Qatar’s military.

Finding a clearing after pervasive cloudiness much of the day, the Falcon 9 lit its nine Merlin main engines at 3:46 p.m. EST (2046 GMT) Thursday and climbed away from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in the first daytime launch since May at the Florida spaceport.

[...]

Sources:
- https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/11/15/spacex-launches-qatars-eshail-2-communications-satellite/