
SES-10 Launching to Orbit on SpaceX's Flight-Proven Falcon 9 Rocket - loourr
http://www.ses.com/4233325/news/2016/22407810
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walrus01
It is really interesting to see that this is a very 'ordinary' commercial
geostationary launch customer, and not a government funded research satellite.
This is oversimplified, but traditionally, rockets that are in beta test mode
are tested like:

1) static pad tests/firings of engines

2) all-up launch of the full rocket, carrying a boilerplate satellite with
some instrumentation, maybe some cubesats or low cost small R&D satellites
tagging along

3) one or two launches of government science payloads, or government-funded
weather satellites, something like that

4) commercial launches begin

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kirrent
Not contradicting anything you've said seeing as the first few launches of the
falcon 9 followed your rough outline, but SES was SpaceX's first GTO launch so
they've clearly got an appetite for a bit of risk.

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Klathmon
Also I read elsewhere that SES is in a "unique" situation here.

They are still building up their fleet of satellites, so if they lose one now
it's not like it is some kind of company ending setback or will allow a
competitor to launch ahead of them.

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kilroy123
I wonder if they'll really save money right away doing this. I imagine they'll
spend a lot on inspections and getting things 100% right.

Either way, it's an amazing achievement.

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Patrick_Devine
There is a bigger question which was asked in the Economist this week
([http://www.economist.com/technology-
quarterly/2016-25-08/spa...](http://www.economist.com/technology-
quarterly/2016-25-08/space-2016#section-4)), which is can SpaceX create a big
enough market where they can realize the savings of reusability? Right now
satellites cost more than the price of the rocket, so if you shave off $10
million on a launch that's pretty much a drop in the bucket compared to the
overall price.

This isn't to take anything away from SpaceX. It's absolutely amazing what
they've done. I only hope that they can open up the market enough for things
like asteroid mining and space tourism.

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walrus01
Building many identical satellites in an assembly-line like fashion cuts down
on costs significantly. Large geostationary satellites are currently based on
standard buses (like the Boeing 702 and its variants), but each satellite is
generally a bespoke product. Larger quantities of the same thing like the
second generation Iridium network and the o3b MEO satellites are very
interesting from a per-unit cost perspective.

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Patrick_Devine
Right. It definitely looks like we could be in for a shakeup in the industry.
The question still remains though; what is the total size of the market for
all of those satellites? How many could we place in MEO/GEO/GSO before the
market is completely saturated? I honestly have no idea. I would think the LEO
satellite market will eventually be dominated by less powerful vehicles,
although if SpaceX can survive long enough to open up other markets (like Mars
tourism and mining), maybe those smaller rockets get cannibalized by payloads
being co-launched on larger vehicles.

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Animats
Geosync slots are scarce. There's a market in them.[1] Low-orbit slots are
more available.

[1]
[http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Paper_satellites_free_u...](http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Paper_satellites_free_use_outer_space.html#_Toc408928574)

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IgorPartola
So knowing nothing about this subject, why do they pursue landing rockets, or
at least landing them vertically? It seems like the hardest possible way to
handle this problem, as opposed to for example what the shuttles did. Can
anyone explain the reasoning behind this?

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timdiggerm
The experience of the Shuttle program demonstrated that taking off like a
rocket and landing like a plane has a lot of problems that make it not as
great as you might think. The wings, heat shield, etc are all pretty heavy -
notice that the shuttle required two whole extra rockets and a disposable fuel
tank to make it to orbit - and the heat shield required for landing like a
plane turned out to be a huge problem (see: The Columbia Disaster).

Plus, it turns out that landing a rocket vertically is now possible. I'm not
clear on if it's now possible thanks to advances in technology (particularly
in automation) or if it's just that no one had tried it until now.

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aninhumer
Note that the Space Shuttle only needs a heat shield because it's returning
from orbital velocity. The Falcon 9 first stage is suborbital.

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kirrent
Even at the far slower speed the first stage would still be damaged from re-
entry. That's why they do a re-entry burn to slow the stage down before the
atmosphere gets too dense. There's apparently also some interesting physics on
the engine firing dissipating the bow shock which helps keep temperatures
down.

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johnm1019
Hopefully someone can support/refute this: my off the cuff guess why this
happened is because the discount on the launch price is about equal to the
cost of building the satellite. So if it works, everyone is happy. If it
explodes, they can build another one and aren't out any money (but are out
time), and the launch costs for the next one are covered by SpaceX or
insurance - however they have it set up.

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gliptic
Payloads are insured and the insurance cost in this case is reportedly more or
less the same as on a new rocket. That makes it a no-brainer.

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weaksauce
Are the opportunity costs of not having the satellite up there for the
duration of however long it takes to build and launch a replacement insured as
well?

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Ffaine
Whenever see a news about SpaceX it gives me goosbumps. I hope it will land
successfully again.

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castratikron
Just wanted to say that the phrase "flight-proven" is genius marketing.

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ChuckMcM
Better than "Certified Pre-Owned Rocket" :-) I agree with the folks who have
tweeted they should start adding launch "check marks" to the paint but that
assumes that they will launch it w/recovery and then do it again.

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Animats
The title of this article should have been "Used Rocket".

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ChuckMcM
I think it would be funny if Gwen Shotwell put "Used Rocket Salesperson" on a
business card.

