Reside protection of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Area Launch Advanced 40 at Cape Canaveral Area Drive Station, Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will launch Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13F geostationary communications satellites. Observe us on Twitter.
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off at 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT) Saturday with Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13F tv broadcasting satellite tv for pc. The mission marked the a centesimal launch by SpaceX from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Area Drive Station in Florida.
Constructed by Airbus, the 9,868-pound (4,476-kilogram) Hotbird 13F spacecraft will beam a whole lot of tv and radio channels throughout Europe, the Center East, and North Africa. Hotbird 13F is the primary satellite tv for pc to be constructed on Airbus’s new Eurostar Neo spacecraft design, incorporating upgrades in propulsion, thermal management, and electrical programs.
The 116-minute launch window opened at 11:26 p.m. EDT Friday (0326 GMT Saturday) and ran till 1:22 a.m. (0522 GMT). Forecasters from the U.S. Area Drive’s forty fifth Climate Squadron predicted a 90% chance of favorable climate for liftoff, with solely a slight likelihood of cumulus clouds that may create a risk of lightning.
A frontal boundary moved by way of Central Florida earlier Friday.
“Drier, cooler air together with larger winds filtering in from the north within the wake of the entrance ought to tamper any important bathe protection this weekend and lead to favorable launch circumstances for each the first and backup launch alternatives,” the climate staff wrote within the official launch climate forecast.
SpaceX delayed the launch time to the tip of the launch window to permit extra time for knowledge evaluate. The corporate didn’t elaborate on the rationale for the info evaluate.
The launch early Saturday was the fourth flight of a Falcon 9 rocket this month, following three Falcon 9 launches in as many days final week.
In preparation for Saturday’s launch, SpaceX floor crews rolled the Falcon 9 rocket and its industrial satellite tv for pc payload to pad 40, then raised it vertical over the flame trench earlier within the day Friday. Throughout Saturday’s countdown, the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) launcher was full of 1,000,000 kilos of kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants within the last 35 minutes earlier than liftoff.
After groups verified technical and climate parameters had been all “inexperienced” for launch, the 9 Merlin 1D principal engines on the primary stage booster flashed to life with the assistance of an ignition fluid known as triethylaluminum/triethylborane, or TEA-TEB. As soon as the engines ramped as much as full throttle, hydraulic clamps opened to launch the Falcon 9 for its climb into area.
The 9 principal engines produced 1.7 million kilos of thrust for about two-and-a-half minutes, propelling the Falcon 9 and Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13F communications satellite tv for pc into the higher environment. Then the booster stage — tail quantity B1069 in SpaceX’s fleet — shut down and separated from the Falcon 9’s higher stage.
The booster prolonged titanium grid fins and pulsed chilly gasoline thrusters to orient itself for a tail-first entry again into the environment, earlier than reigniting its engines for a braking burn and a last touchdown burn, focusing on a vertical descent to the drone ship “Simply Learn the Directions” parked about 410 miles (about 660 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral.
A profitable rocket touchdown on the drone ship marked the completion of the booster’s third flight to area, following launch final December on a cargo mission to the Worldwide Area Station after which on Aug. 27 with a batch of Starlink web satellites.
The booster was broken, apparently as a consequence of tough seas, after touchdown on its first mission in December. SpaceX repaired the rocket and returned it to the energetic rotation of Falcon 9 boosters in August.
On Saturday morning’s mission, the Falcon 9 rocket fired its higher stage engine two occasions to inject the Hotbird 13F spacecraft into an elliptical geostationary switch orbit with an apogee, or excessive level, greater than 20,000 miles above Earth.
Hotbird 13F separated from the Falcon 9 rocket about 36 minutes into the mission.
After flying freed from its SpaceX launcher, Hotbird 13F will unfurl photo voltaic panels and swap on its plasma propulsion system for a number of months of orbit-raising maneuver to achieve a round geostationary orbit greater than 22,000 miles (practically 36,000 kilometers) over the equator. The orbit-raising utilizing electrical propulsion takes longer than maneuvers counting on standard rocket engines.
Hotbird 13F will orbit in lock-step with Earth’s rotation at 13 levels east longitude.
By the center of subsequent yr, Hotbird 13F ought to be able to enter industrial service to begin a 15-year mission broadcasting tv programming to Eutelsat clients. Hotbird 13G, set for launch in November on one other Falcon 9 rocket, will comply with a few month after its twin satellite tv for pc, heading for a similar place in geostationary orbit.
“Hotbird 13F is the primary of two satellites to be positioned on the Eutelsat flagship 13 levels east place, so this is a vital occasion for us,” mentioned Pascal Homsy, Eutelsat’s chief technical officer. “It will likely be the primary satellite tv for pc based mostly on the electrical propulsion Eurostar Neo platform by Airbus, fostering innovation and competitiveness within the European area business.”
Due to enhancements in satellite tv for pc communications know-how, Eutelsat will solely want two new Hotbird satellites to switch the three ageing Hotbird spacecraft working at 13 diploma east.
Homsy mentioned the Hotbird fleet at 13 levels east kind the best capability satellite tv for pc broadcasting system masking the Europe, Center East, and North Africa areas, delivering 1,000 TV channels to greater than 160 million houses. Hotbird 13F and 13G will broadcast alerts in Ku-band frequencies.
“We’ve one thing like over 600 pay TV channels, 300 free to air channels, 450 excessive definition TV, and 14 extremely excessive definition channels broadcast from this flagship 13 levels east place,” Homsy mentioned. “We’re ready additionally to offer 500 radio stations and multimedia companies.”
ROCKET: Falcon 9 (B1069.3)
PAYLOAD: Hotbird 13F communications satellite tv for pc
LAUNCH SITE: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Area Drive Station, Florida
LAUNCH DATE: Oct. 14/15, 2022
LAUNCH WINDOW: 11:26 p.m. – 1:22 a.m. EDT (0326-0522 GMT)
WEATHER FORECAST: 90% chance of acceptable climate
BOOSTER RECOVERY: “Simply Learn the Directions” drone ship
LAUNCH AZIMUTH: East
TARGET ORBIT: Geostationary switch orbit
LAUNCH TIMELINE:
- T+00:00: Liftoff
- T+01:12: Most aerodynamic stress (Max-Q)
- T+02:32: First stage principal engine cutoff (MECO)
- T+02:35: Stage separation
- T+02:42: Second stage engine ignition
- T+03:22: Fairing jettison
- T+06:29: First stage entry burn ignition (three engines)
- T+06:57: First stage entry burn ends
- T+08:07: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 1)
- T+08:22: First stage touchdown burn ignition (one engine)
- T+08:45: First stage touchdown
- T+29:12: Second stage engine restart
- T+30:10: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 2)
- T+36:11: Hotbird 13F separation
MISSION STATS:
- 181st launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
- 189th launch of Falcon rocket household since 2006
- third launch of Falcon 9 booster B1069
- a hundred and fifty fifth Falcon 9 launch from Florida’s Area Coast
- a centesimal Falcon 9 launch from pad 40
- a hundred and fifty fifth launch general from pad 40
- 122nd flight of a reused Falcon 9 booster
- third SpaceX launch for Eutelsat
- forty seventh Falcon 9 launch of 2022
- forty seventh launch by SpaceX in 2022
- forty fifth orbital launch try based mostly out of Cape Canaveral in 2022
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Observe Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.
