Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-09-12, 08:52 |
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Scheduled for (local) | 2024-09-12, 04:52 (EDT) |
Launch site | SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA |
Booster | B1078-13 |
Landing | LZ-1 |
Payload | BlueBird Block 1 #1-5 |
Customer | AST SpaceMobile |
Mission success criteria | Successful delivery of payload to LEO |
Webcasts
Stream | Link |
---|---|
Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBL5U_wwYqw |
Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeq5HVrfpFQ |
NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oqZtThBoG4 |
The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqLMETRJ7Ho |
SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1834149741481046421 |
The Space Devs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZvfKKyE8jw |
Stats
Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:
☑️ 19th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (if successful)
☑️ 43rd launch from SLC-40 this year
☑️ 6 days, 17:19:00 turnaround for this pad
☑️ 41 day turnaround for B1078
☑️ 44th landing on LZ-1
☑️ 348th Falcon Family Booster landing, 359th Falcon recovery attempt
☑️ 88th Falcon 9 mission this year, 374th Falcon 9 mission overall
☑️ 89th SpaceX mission of 2024, 389th mission overall (excluding Starship flights)
☑️ 91th SpaceX launch this year, 402nd SpaceX launch overall (including Starship flights)
Mission info
This mission will launch the first 5 commercial satellites in AST SpaceMobile’s cellphone-compatible broadband constellation. In orbit, they will provide connectivity for smartphones outside cellular coverage in partnership with mobile network operators (MNOs).
The satellites use AST & Science’s patented technologies for connecting to cellphones in a space environment for their SpaceMobile constellation. Each satellite will deploy a 10 m diameter phased array antenna with an area of 64 meters squared consisting of numerous identical sub-antenna modules to connect directly to standard mobile phones.
I’m not sure if the Bluebird sats have laser links, but the Starlink sats do. I think as launch costs continue to decrease, we’ll probably see larger antennas in space and smaller antennas on the ground.