Starlink Group 9-17 launch out of SLC-4E in California currently scheduled for 2024-09-19 14:12 UTC, or 2024-09-19 07:12 local time (PDT). Booster [unknown] to land on Of Course I Still Love You.

• NextSpaceflight page
• SpaceX mission page

Webcasts:

• Space Affairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJrDoL5OA78
• Spaceflight Now:
• NASASpaceflight:
• The Launch Pad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAjk68Z7HE
• SpaceX:
• The Space Devs:

The FAA announced Sept. 17 that it notified SpaceX of $633,009 in proposed fines for violating terms of its launch licenses during the June 2023 Falcon 9 launch of the Satria-1, or PSN Satria, broadband satellite and the July 2023 Falcon Heavy launch of Jupiter-3, or EchoStar-24, broadband satellite. Both launches were successful.

For the Satria-1 launch, the FAA said in its enforcement notice to the company that SpaceX had requested in May 2023 changes to its communications plan to allow the use of a new launch control center at the company’s “Hangar X” facility at the Kennedy Space Center and to skip a poll of launch controllers at two hours before liftoff.

The FAA notified SpaceX shortly before the scheduled launch that it would not be able to approve those changes and modify the license in time, although the enforcement notice did not state why. SpaceX went ahead and used the Hangar X control center and skipped the “T-2 hours” poll for the launch.

A month later, SpaceX conducted the Falcon Heavy launch of Jupiter-3, but nine days before the launch the company requested a modification to its launch license to allow it to use a new tank farm for RP-1 fuel at KSC’s Launch Complex 39A, according to a separate enforcement notice.

The FAA notified SpaceX two days before the scheduled launch that the agency would not be able to modify the license in time, but SpaceX nonetheless used the new tank farm for the launch. The agency said it proposed to fine SpaceX the maximum $283,009 for that violation.

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-09-17, 22:50 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-09-17, 18:50 (EDT) | | Launch site | SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA | | Booster | B1067-22 | | Landing | Just Read the Instructions | | Payload | Galileo FOC FM26 & FM32 | | Customer | ESA/EUSPA | | Mission success criteria | Successful delivery of payload to MEO |

Webcasts

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib_SNrBKOng | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPLDpwpXy5M | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TBeAMl-aEc | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3rqB8fFOOM | SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1836173431122907318 | The Space Devs |

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:

☑️ 21st consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (if successful)

☑️ 44th launch from SLC-40 this year

☑️ 5 days, 13:58:00 turnaround for this pad

☑️ 38 day turnaround for B1067

☑️ 92nd landing on JRTI

☑️ 350th Falcon Family Booster landing, 361st Falcon recovery attempt

☑️ 90th Falcon 9 mission this year, 376th Falcon 9 mission overall

☑️ 91st SpaceX mission of 2024, 391st mission overall (excluding Starship flights)

☑️ 93rd SpaceX launch this year, 404th SpaceX launch overall (including Starship flights)

Mission info

• SpaceX mission page
• NextSpaceflight mission page

Galileo is a global navigation satellite system that went live in 2016, created by the European Union through the European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by the European GNSS Agency (GSA). The €10 billion project is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. One of the aims of Galileo is to provide an independent high-precision positioning system so European nations do not have to rely on the US GPS, or the Russian GLONASS systems, which could be disabled or degraded by their operators at any time.

The use of basic (lower-precision) Galileo services is free and open to everyone. The higher-precision capabilities are available for paying commercial users. Galileo is intended to provide horizontal and vertical position measurements within 1-metre precision, and better positioning services at higher latitudes than other positioning systems. Galileo is also to provide a new global search and rescue (SAR) function as part of the MEOSAR system.

The first Galileo test satellite, the GIOVE-A, was launched on 28 December 2005, while the first satellite to be part of the operational system was launched on 21 October 2011. By July 2018, 26 of the planned 30 active satellites (including spares) were in orbit. Galileo started offering Early Operational Capability (EOC) on 15 December 2016, providing initial services with a weak signal and reached Full Operational Capability (FOC) in 2019. The full Galileo constellation will consist of 24 active satellites, which is expected by 2021. It is expected that the next generation of satellites will begin to become operational after 2025 to replace older equipment, which can then be used for backup capabilities.

Around 83 percent of NASA's facilities are beyond their design lifetimes, and the agency has a $3.3 billion backlog in maintenance. When you consider NASA's $250 million estimate for normal year-to-year maintenance, it would take a $600 million uptick in NASA's annual budget for infrastructure repairs to catch up on the backlog within the next 10 years.

"Worst" in terms of being overdue for repairs, not that they don't produce great work.

One of the most interesting uses of diffusion models I've seen thus far.

One of the most interesting uses of diffusion models I've seen thus far.

Infographic source: rykllan

https://x.com/_rykllan/status/1835310267904741878

• B1061 is the current flight leader at 22 flights. (B1062 reached 23 but failed recovery)
• B1067 in second place with 21 flights
• B1063 in third place with 20 flights.
• B1069 and B1071 tied for 4th place at 18 flights.
• B1073 in 5th place at 17 flights.

https://x.com/_rykllan/status/1835310271939723447

Main video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gojd8mTl3Do

Extra video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5IMSxRgeZk