Echostar 23 – Falcon 9 – Кеннеди LC-39A – 16.03.2017 06:00 UTC

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Michael Seeley‏ @Mike_Seeley 2 ч. назад

The @EchoStar satellite sitting atop a legless #SpaceX #Falcon9 rocket/Launch window opens @ 1:34am Tues. (Pic by Mike Seeley/WeReportSpace)
 

[tnt22]

На фоне грандиозной стройки...

Spacenews360‏ @SpaceNews360 4 мин. назад
 
Construction at a maddening pace. Turn around and see the crane at SLC40. Progress. Massive crane at 39A. #SpaceX #Falcon9 #EchoStarXXIII
 

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 3 мин. назад
 
FEATURE ARTICLE: SpaceX ready expendable Falcon 9 for launch of EchoStar 23 - https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/03/falcon-9-expendable-echostar-23/ ... - by William Graham
 
 
 
 

SpaceX ready expendable Falcon 9 for launch of EchoStar 23
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/03/falcon-9-expendable-echostar-23/

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Свежий прогноз - авось, пронесёт?! :|

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Скорее всего, если не произойдёт ничего экстраординарного, объекты запуска получат идентификаторы
EchoStar XXIII - 42070 / 2017-014A
R/B 2nd st Falcon 9 - 42071 / 2017-014B

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Космоснимок погоды

SPACE.com‏Подлинная учетная запись @SPACEdotcom 9 мин. назад
 
Satellites Track Huge Snow Storm's Approach to US East Coast (Video) http://dlvr.it/Nckg1t
 

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03/14/2017 02:47
It's been a rainy afternoon at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, with more showers on the way crossing the Florida peninsula as night calls on the Space Coast this evening.

SpaceX and U.S. Air Force meteorologists will be watching the thick cloud rule closely tonight. The rule prevents a launch if clouds are thicker than 4,500 feet and extend into the freezing layer.

Final launch preps this evening will include the evacuation of the launch pad prior to fueling, activation of the Falcon 9's computer and navigation system, and a prelaunch poll by the SpaceX launch conductor at 12:16 a.m. EDT (0416 GMT) to verify all consoles are "go" for the terminal countdown.

Super-chilled RP-1 kerosene fuel will be loaded first into the two-stage booster, beginning around 12:24 a.m. EDT (0424 GMT). Liquid oxygen, chilled and densified near its freezing point, will follow starting at around 12:49 a.m. EDT (0449 GMT).

The computer-controlled countdown will prep the rocket's nine Merlin 1D main engines for ignition, transition the Falcon 9 to internal battery power, and pressurize the booster's propellant tanks in the last 10 minutes of the countdown.

The launch window Tuesday opens at 1:34 a.m. EDT (0534 GMT) and runs until 4:04 a.m. EDT (0804 GMT).

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Ох уж эта погода  :|  

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 2 мин. назад
 
Weather is already playing a role in the Prop Load/T-0 discussions for Falcon 9. Long window, so they are looking for a gap.

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 9 мин. назад

A SpaceX #Falcon9 is counting down to a pre-dawn liftoff from Florida on Tuesday with the EchoStar-23 satellite. http://bit.ly/2mEi719 
 

Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 7 мин. назад

#Falcon9's launch window stretches from 5:34 to 8:04 UTC. Fully expendable mission; weather is currently watched as potential issue.

Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 3 мин. назад
 
Showers & thick clouds currently moving over the Cape, expected clear out in the early morning hours. Best odds toward the end of the window

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Много фото РН на СК
https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/03/13/photos-falcon-9-booster-minus-landing-legs-and-grid-fins-poised-for-launch/

Photos: Falcon 9 booster, minus landing legs and grid fins, poised for launch
 March 13, 2017     Stephen Clark

 A 229-foot-tall (70-meter) SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stood on launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Monday afternoon on the eve of a scheduled blastoff with the EchoStar 23 television broadcast satellite.

The two-stage rocket will fly without the four landing legs and grid fins normally carried on Falcon 9 missions. That's because this rocket's first stage will not attempt a landing at sea, instead plummeting into the Atlantic Ocean in a practice normally used on expendable launchers.

SpaceX has recovered eight first stage boosters in 13 tries since early 2015. The launch of EchoStar 23 requires all of the Falcon 9's lift capacity, leaving insufficient leftover RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants to reignite its Merlin engines and slow down for landing.

The company intends to launch a previously-flown booster for the first time before the end of March on a flight from Florida with the SES 10 communications satellite. SpaceX believes reusing the rocket stage will reduce the cost of launch services.

The EchoStar 23 communications satellite, cocooned inside the Falcon 9's nose cone, is beginning a 15-year mission broadcasting television programming across Brazil.

The EchoStar 23 launch will mark the 31st flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, the third Falcon 9 mission of 2017, and SpaceX's second mission to take off from pad 39A.

Спойлер

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

[свернуть]

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http://spaceflight101.com/falcon-9-echostar-23/echostar-23/

...
EchoStar-23 has a reported launch mass of over 5.5 metric tons and is aiming for an initial operating slot of 44.9 degrees West in Geostationary Orbit it will reach after spending three months at 86.4°W for detailed post-launch checkouts.
...

...
The satellite is equipped with a chemical propulsion system for orbit-raising and stationkeeping using a main apogee engine and a series of attitude control thrusters. Additionally, EchoStar 23 sports an electric propulsion system for stationkeeping maneuvers in Geostationary Orbit, offering a prolonged satellite life given savings in chemical propellants. Four SPT-100 Stationary Plasma Thrusters are installed on the satellite each delivering a nominal thrust of 83 Millinewtons.
...

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03/14/2017 04:42
Countdown preps are continuing at this time, now less than four hours from the opening of tonight's launch window.

Weather will be a big watch item tonight, with steady rain falling across Central Florida and more precipitation streaming onshore from the Gulf Mexico and pushing across the peninsula at this hour.

Tonight's launch window opens at 1:34 a.m. EDT (0534 GMT) and extends for two-and-a-half hours, giving SpaceX some time to wait out the weather if necessary.

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Погода на 02:00 UTC

Spaceflight Now‏ @SpaceflightNow 2 мин. назад
 
Weather is a factor as Falcon 9 countdown enters final hours to launch. Two weather rules observed "no go" right now http://live.spaceflightnow.com/status.html
 

Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 2 мин. назад
 
Closer to propellant loading, SpaceX will decide whether to go for the opening of the window or target a later T-0 to catch a gap in clouds.
 

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03/14/2017 05:16  Radar view around KSC

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Пока улучшение погоды возможно к окончанию окна пуска...  :|  

Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 2 мин. назад
 
Still looking at the best odds late in the window as the system slowly moves out to the east. #Falcon9
 
 

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03/14/2017 06:37

T-minus 1 hour, 55 minutes and counting. Good evening fr om the Kennedy Space Center, wh ere light rain is falling.

There are several changes to the Falcon 9 countdown that were first introduced Jan. 14 on a launch from California, the first SpaceX mission after a rocket exploded on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in September.

Engineers changed the filling sequence to avoid the problem of liquid oxygen becoming trapped in voids between helium pressurant tanks and their composite overwraps, which SpaceX says most likely caused the explosion last year.

When it debuted a more capable Falcon 9 configuration burning super-chilled densified propellants in 2015, SpaceX shortened its launch countdowns to begin pumping fuel and oxidizer into the rocket just 35 minutes before blastoff. SpaceX's previous Falcon 9 countdowns followed a practice employed universally on cryogenically-fueled rockets worldwide, in which propellants are loaded aboard several hours ahead of launch.

The "load and go" countdowns caused headaches at first, leading to several aborts and delays before SpaceX gained experience with the practice early last year. The late fueling plan has also drawn questions from NASA safety advisors, who worry the procedure will endanger astronauts strapped into to SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceships, which the company is developing to ferry people to and from the space station.

The timeline for today's countdown calls for RP-1 kerosene, chilled to around 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 6 degrees Celsius), to begin flowing into the two-stage rocket at T-minus 70 minutes. Liquid oxygen loading will follow at T-minus 45 minutes.

A poll of the SpaceX launch team is expected at T-minus 78 minutes to give a "go" for fueling operations.

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Льёт...
http://original.livestream.com/spaceflightnow

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Дали добро на заправку RP-1

03/14/2017 07:20
The SpaceX launch conductor just gave the go to start propellant loading on-time. The weather continues to be an issue, with cloud conditions currently in violation of the Falcon 9's launch commit criteria. Ground winds are still within limits, but trending a bit higher than expected.

SpaceX is also awaiting balloon data to determine if upper level winds are acceptable tonight.

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03/14/2017 07:22
A poll of the SpaceX launch team has verified all stations are ready to begin propellant loading.

03/14/2017 07:23
T-minus 70 minutes. The launch autosequence has started, kicking off the first steps to begin pumping propellants into the 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 at launch pad 39A.

RP-1 kerosene will be pumped into the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket first, followed by liquid oxygen chilled to near minus 340 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 206 degrees Celsius) at T-minus 45 minutes.

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 4 мин. назад
 
Go for prop loading has been given. Weather still RED for clouds, ground winds gusting to 36kts, upper level winds are sporty, too. #Falcon9