tech2 News Staff The latest in a series of SpaceX launches, the geostationary communications satellite Merah Putih took to its orbit onboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on 7 August. As per a report by Space.com, this is also the first time that SpaceX reuses one of its powerful and new boosters, block 5, in a 'final upgrade' to Falcon 9, making it reusable up to 100 times for launches similar to Merah Putih's, into orbit. The block 5 is a particularly unique rocket in the SpaceX arsenal and one that the company's founder Elon Musk is counting on to be their first-choice for commercial astronauts flying to the International Space Station. Plans to send humans to space were recently deferred by NASA until next year, and block 5 will be SpaceX's answer to lower-cost space travel without compromising on reliability. The launch took place on 7 August at 10.48 am, and 32 minutes after which Merah Putih was successfully deployed into a high-orbit above Earth. In case you missed it, here's the launch as it happened: The first stage of Merah Putih's launch was supported by the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission in May 2018. Named after the red and white colors in the Indonesian flag, Merah Putih will soon be part of commercial telecommunication services provided by PT Telkom to Indonesia and parts of Southeast Asia. Following stage-separation of Falcon 9, SpaceX will attempt to land its booster on its “Of Course I Still Love You” drone-ship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.<doc-sep>SpaceX kept up its impressive launch pace as the company reused its first Block 5 Falcon 9 booster in Tuesday’s launch of Merah Putih. Liftoff, from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, occurred at the opening of a two-hour window at 01:18 Eastern Time (05:18 UTC). This was the first Block 5 Falcon 9 to have been reflown and successfully landed on the drone ship to allow for an expected third flight. Merah Putih, formerly known as Telkom 4, is a high-throughput C-band communications satellite that will be operated by Indonesia’s PT Telkom, or Telkom Indonesia. The satellite will restore communications capacity that were lost when the aging Telkom 1 satellite failed last August. The Merah Putih satellite was constructed by Space Systems/Loral, based around the SSL-1300 platform. Equipped with sixty C-band transponders, the 5,800-kilogram (12,786 pound) spacecraft will provide communications services to Indonesia and India. Marah Putih will be located in geostationary orbit at Telkom 1’s old slot at 108 degrees East and is expected to provide at least fifteen years of service. PT Telkom operates Indonesia’s largest fleet of communications satellites. Its fleet currently consists of the Telkom 2 and Telkom 3S satellites – launched in 2005 and 2017 respectively – the older Telkom 1 having failed unexpectedly last year. The company’s first satellite, Palapa A1, was launched aboard a Delta 2914 rocket in July 1976, with the identical Palapa A2 following it to orbit eight months later. Four second-generation Palapa B satellites were launched between 1983 and 1992 – the first, Palapa B1, was deployed from Space Shuttle Challenger during the STS-7 mission. Palapa B2 is notable for having been launched twice. Following deployment from Space Shuttle Challenger during 1984’s STS-41B mission, the satellite’s Payload Assist Module D (PAM-D) kick motor failed to fire, leaving the spacecraft stranded in low Earth orbit. After deploying its own satellites, Space Shuttle Discovery collected Palapa B2 nine months later during STS-51A – along with the Westar 6 satellite that had also been deployed from STS-41B and suffered a kick motor failure. After refurbishment, Palapa B2 returned to orbit as Palapa B2R in April 1990, atop a Delta II 6925-8 rocket. Palapa B3 – which was renamed Palapa B2P before launch – and Palapa B4 were both launched using expendable Delta rockets: Palapa B2P flying aboard a Delta 3920/PAM-D in Mach 1987 and Palapa B4 atop a Delta II 7925-8 in May 1992. Subsequent Palapa satellites would be operated by PT Indosat, following a reorganization of Indonesia’s state-owned telecommunications companies in the mid-1990s. From the end of the 1990s, PT Telkom adopted the name Telkom for its satellites. Telkom 1 was launched on 12 August 1998 aboard an Ariane 4 rocket, which flew in the 42P H10-3 configuration. A replacement for Palapa B2R, which was designed to operate for fifteen years, Telkom 1 had just completed its eighteenth year in orbit when it stopped transmitting at the end of August last year. While PT Telkom initially announced that they were experiencing problems re-pointing one of the spacecraft’s communications antennae, it soon became clear to observers that the satellite had begun to disintegrate in orbit. Once it became clear that they would not be able to return Telkom 1 to service, PT Telkom transferred customers to other satellites – including their own Telkom 2 and 3S and third-party spacecraft – which required customers to reorient their receiver antennae to point at the new satellites. Indonesia’s banking industry was particularly badly affected by the failure, which disrupted communications with thousands of ATMs across the country. Merah Putih, which was to have replaced Telkom 1 even if it was still operational, will take over at Telkom 1’s position, fully restoring normal service and providing expanded capacity for the future. Telkom 2 was launched in November 2005 aboard an Ariane 5ECA rocket, replacing the Palapa B4 satellite at 118 degrees East longitude. In August 2012 a second satellite – Telkom 3 – was launched to be co-located with Telkom 2, however the Proton-M/Briz-M rocket that was carrying the satellite left it, and Russia’s Ekspress-MD2 spacecraft, stranded in lower-than-planned orbits. An investigation found faults in both the third stage of the Proton – which did not affect the outcome of the mission – and in the Briz-M upper stage whose pressurization system had malfunctioned, causing an emergency shutdown a few seconds into the third of four planned burns. A replacement for Telkom 3, Telkom 3S, was successfully launched by an Ariane 5 ECA in February 2017. After it entered service, Telkom 2 was relocated to 157 degrees East to support a partnership between PT Telkom and Intelsat – the satellite operating alongside the twenty-year-old Intelsat 5 spacecraft. SpaceX undertook the launch of Merah Putih, using a Falcon 9 vehicle. The launch marked the first time a previously-flown, or “flight-proven” Block 5 first stage has been used. The Block 5 version of Falcon 9, designed to meet NASA’s requirements for human-rating the vehicle while also providing for rapid and repeated reuse of the first stage booster without major refurbishment, first flew in May with the successful launch of Bangladesh’s Bangabandhu-1 satellite. Merah Putih is set to lift off tomorrow morning at 1:18am Eastern with a window extending to 3:18am Eastern. This flight will be the first reflight of the Block 5 Falcon 9 booster B1046 that originally flew Bangabandhu-1 back in May. pic.twitter.com/fn3S9aZKTl — Brady Kenniston (@TheFavoritist) August 6, 2018 Block 5 replaces earlier Block 3 and Block 4 versions of the Falcon 9, also unofficially known collectively as Falcon 9 Full Thrust or Falcon 9 v1.2. Falcon 9 is the only rocket currently flying that re-uses stages from previous missions for subsequent launches.<doc-sep>Gallery: SpaceX launches Falcon 9 with Merah Putih CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — At 1:18 a.m. EDT (5:18 GMT) on August 7, 2018 SpaceX carried out its fifteenth launch of of the year. The payload on this flight was the Merah Putih telecommunications satellite which was sent to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) via a Falcon 9 rocket. The flight was carried out from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 located in Florida. Photos courtesy of Scott Schilke.<doc-sep>Update Tuesday August 7th, 1:50AM ET: SpaceX’s used Block 5 rocket successfully took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 1:18AM ET, deploying the Merah Putih satellite just over half an hour later. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster also performed another successful landing on one of the company’s drone ships in the Atlantic, becoming the 28th booster that SpaceX has ever recovered. Original Story: Early Tuesday morning, SpaceX is slated to launch a new communications satellite from the Florida coast, using one of its used Falcon 9 rockets for the job. However, this is the first time that SpaceX will reuse one of its new powerful Block 5 boosters — the final upgrade of the Falcon 9 that is supposed to be able to go to space and back up to 100 times. Previous versions of the vehicle were only able to fly to space twice, meaning this particular vehicle could be the first Falcon 9 to go into space for a third time. For this mission, SpaceX is using the very first Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket it’s flown, a vehicle that sent up a large communications satellite for Bangladesh in May from Florida. The vehicle landed on one of SpaceX’s drone ships after the flight, and the company has since done inspection and refurbishment on the vehicle over the last three months to get it ready for flight again. SpaceX is using the very first Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket it’s flown Eventually, SpaceX hopes to do as little refurbishment on these Block 5 vehicles as possible, if any at all. Limiting the amount of inspection and tweaking needed between re-flights could significantly up the cost savings that SpaceX gets from reusing its rockets. Less money is needed if fewer people and materials are needed to turn around the rockets each time. Ultimately, SpaceX hopes to fly each Block 5 vehicle a total of 10 times before any refurbishment is needed. However, since this was the first Block 5 flight, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk noted that inspection was necessary to ensure that these vehicles really do not need refurbishment immediately following a rocket landing. “Ironically, we need to take it apart to confirm that it does not need to be taken apart,” Musk said during a press call in May. On Twitter, Musk also indicated that the inspection went well, but that getting down to zero refurbishment may be tough. Looks good, but so many details need to be right. Journey back from hypersonic becomes extremely difficult as velocity increases. Altitude is easy, velocity is hard. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2018 Tonight’s launch will loft a communications satellite called Merah Putih into a high orbit above Earth. The satellite, which will eventually provide telecommunications services to parts of Indonesia and South Asia, is set to be deployed about 32 minutes after takeoff. Following launch, the used Falcon 9 booster will attempt to perform another landing on one of SpaceX’s drone ships in the Atlantic. SpaceX has a two-hour launch window to get this vehicle off the ground starting at 1:18AM ET on Tuesday, August 7th. So far, weather looks good, with an 80 percent chance that conditions will be favorable for a launch. SpaceX’s coverage is slated begin about 15 minutes before takeoff. Rocket enthusiasts and night owls should check back then to watch this mission live.<doc-sep>
SpaceX has checked off another reusability milestone, re-flying the latest version of its Falcon 9 rocket for the first time ever. The two-stage "Block 5" Falcon 9 launched at 1:18 a.m. EDT (0518 GMT) today (Aug. 7) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, successfully lofting an Indonesian telecommunications satellite to orbit. Less than 9 minutes after liftoff, the rocket's first stage came back to Earth for a vertical touchdown on SpaceX's "Of Course I Still Love You" drone ship, which was stationed a few hundred miles off the Florida coast. The landing was the second for this particular first stage, which also pulled one off on May 11 during the first-ever flight of a Block 5 Falcon 9. [Photos: SpaceX Launches, Lands 1st 'Block 5' Falcon 9 Rocket] A used SpaceX Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from a pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force in Florida before dawn on Aug. 7, 2018 carrying the Merah Putih communications satellite for Telkom Indonesia. (Image credit: SpaceX) Today's launch lofted the Merah Putih satellite to a high geostationary transfer orbit. The spacecraft — whose name translates as "red and white," a reference to the colors of the Indonesian flag — will become part of the network run by PT Telkom Indonesia, the nation's largest telecommunications provider. Merah Putih "will carry an all C-band payload capable of supporting a wide range of applications, including providing mobile broadband across Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The satellite is expected to have a service lifetime of 15 or more years," SpaceX representatives wrote in a mission description. The Block 5, which has now flown four orbital missions, is the latest (and final) variant of SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9. The Block 5 is slightly more powerful than its Block 4 predecessor, and it features a variety of upgrades designed to improve its reusability and reliability. Block 5 first stages are designed to fly 10 times with just inspections between landing and liftoff, and 100 times or more with some refurbishment involved, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said. Musk views such rapid and extensive reuse as key to slashing the cost of spaceflight enough to make bold exploration efforts, such as Mars colonization, economically feasible. The first stage of a SpaceX Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket stands on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" shortly after helping to launch the Merah Putih telecommunications satellite on Aug. 7, 2018. (Image credit: SpaceX) No Block 4 first stage has ever flown more than twice. (And SpaceX has yet to attempt reuse of the Falcon 9's second stage or its payload fairing, the protective shroud that covers satellites during launch. The company has tried to catch falling fairing halves using a net-equipped boat named Mr. Steven, but such efforts have come up empty to date.) "It's really better in every way than the Block 4," Musk said during a teleconference with reporters on May 10, a day before the Block 5's debut flight. "This rocket is really designed to be — the intent is to be the most reliable rocket ever built." It's unclear if any Block 5 first stage will reach 100 flights, because SpaceX plans to phase out the Falcon 9 — and all of its other currently operational space hardware, including the Dragon capsule and the Falcon Heavy rocket — in favor of the company's in-development BFR spaceflight system. The BFR, a huge, reusable rocket-spaceship combo, will be able to ferry people to and from Mars, launch satellites, clean up space junk, perform "point-to-point" passenger flights around Earth and do anything else SpaceX needs it to do, Musk has said. The Block 5 that lifted off this morning will fly for a third time later this year, if it passes post-landing tests and inspections, SpaceX representatives said during the Merah Putih launch webcast. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook orGoogle+. Originally published on Space.com.