NROL-76 – Falcon 9 – Кеннеди LC-39A – 01.05.2017 11:15 UTC

[che wi]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight · 1 minute ago

SpaceX Falcon 9 (NROL-76) Static Fire is NET Tuesday.

[tnt22]

Почему-то не удивлён...

KSC Visitor Complex‏Подлинная учетная запись @ExploreSpaceKSC 4 мин назад

Rocket Launch Update: No launch viewing opportunities available at #KennedySpaceCenter for #SpaceX #NROL76 NET April 30

[vogel]

tnt22 пишет:
Почему-то не удивлён...

KSC Visitor Complex ‏Подлинная учетная запись @ ExploreSpaceKSC 4 мин назад

Rocket Launch Update: No launch viewing opportunities available at # KennedySpaceCenter for # SpaceX # NROL76 NET April 30
 

Всё проще - KSC работает с 9 до 6 в эти даты, а пуск, как они же ответили, рано утром.

Спойлер

Saskia Lit‏ @Litsas  1h1 hour ago

Replying to @ExploreSpaceKSC

Is this because this launch is on a Sunday and you are closed on Sundays?


KSC Visitor Complex‏
Verified account @ExploreSpaceKSC  15m15 minutes ago


We are open every day. We don't provide viewing if launch is scheduled way outside of operating hours. This one is planned early AM.

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Хотя странновато, подумаешь на два часа раньше открыться.

[Stalky]

Ну, удачи Спейсам, впрочем, не удивлюсь, если они его уронят.

[Зловредный]

Stalky пишет:
не удивлюсь, если они его уронят.

Вам что-то известно?

[tnt22]

На reddit'е

We have a SF window

KSC Employees:
SpaceX will be conducting a Static Fire Test of their Falcon 9 rocket at LC-39A tomorrow, Tuesday, April 25th. The 3.5 second run of the Falcon 9 engines is scheduled to occur within a 6-hour test window, currently scheduled for 1200-1800 EDT. KSC Security will establish roadblocks for the operation at 0930 EST; this will restrict access to the LC-39A area only. Only mission-essential personnel or KSC personnel monitoring the test are permitted beyond the roadblocks.
The KSC Emergency Operations Center will be activated to monitor the test, and in the unlikely event of an anomaly, will assist in the response and communicate any necessary actions to the appropriate personnel; even if there were a catastrophic anomaly at LC39-A, it would pose no danger or threat to KSC Spaceport personnel.

[tnt22]

vogel пишет:
We are open every day. We don't provide viewing if launch is scheduled way outside of operating hours. This one is planned early AM.

Ну Вы же сами и нашли ответ! А смотреть в окрестностях мыса Канаверал можно из разных мест...  (З.Ы. Карту окрестностей не привожу... - кадров со зрителями вне пределов KSC полон Internet)

[Alex_II]

Зловредный пишет:
Вам что-то известно?

Да не, он просто надеется накаркать... Но поскольку он не ворона - вероятность невелика...

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 3 ч. назад

ARTICLE: SpaceX ready for Static Fire tests on spy sat rocket and Falcon Heavy core - https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/04/spacex-static-fire-tests-spy-sat-rocket-falcon-heavy-core/ ...

Спойлер

[свернуть]

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/04/spacex-static-fire-tests-spy-sat-rocket-falcon-heavy-core/

SpaceX ready for Static Fire tests on spy sat rocket and Falcon Heavy core
April 25, 2017 by Chris Bergin

 

SpaceX is preparing for Static Fire tests in two regions of the United States this week, both of which will advance the company's profile in the launch industry. A Falcon 9 booster is expected to conduct a test firing at KSC's 39A ahead of SpaceX's first NROL mission, while the core booster for the first Falcon Heavy is sat on the test stand in McGregor, Texas.
 
 Falcon 9 NROL-76:

Following on from the successful launch of the SES-10 satellite – which was the first time SpaceX had used a "flight proven" booster – the NROL-76 launch will mark the company's entrance into national security missions.

Спойлер

Most NROL missions are launched by SpaceX competitor, United Launch Alliance, with a large amount of success. The most recent mission, with the NROL-79 spacecraft, was launched by an Atlas V from Vandenberg.
 
A successful launch of NROL-76 will effectively open the door for future lucrative national security launch services contracts.

Very little is known about the spacecraft, as is usual per the secretive nature of their mission. SpaceX employees will also be subject to the secrecy, which holds tighter regulations for flow elements such as the processing of the payload during fairing encapsulation.

For the Static Fire test, SpaceX will, as is now the routine since the loss of the AMOS-6 satellite, rollout the Falcon 9 without the payload on top of the rocket.



The booster, designated 1032.1, conducted a test firing on February 14 under the watchful eyes of the "Rocket Cows of McGregor" – named as such after they were seen rampaging during a Grasshopper test, before becoming so used to the testing they rarely shake a hoof during firings.

It was then transported by road to the Kennedy Space Center, allowing it to undergo preparations inside the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF).

Mated to the Transport/Erector/Launcher (TEL), the booster is then erected at the historic 39A pad that has coped admirably in its new role with SpaceX rockets. Very few repairs have been required between launches, which will continue to aid SpaceX's increasing launch cadence.

A long six hour window is allocated for this particular Static Fire test, allowing engineers additional time to troubleshoot any issues during the countdown and complete the requirement of firing up the Merlin 1Ds. The window for the test opens at midday Eastern on Tuesday.



The test involves a full propellant loading sequence, launch countdown operations, engine ignition operations and testing of the pad's high-volume water deluge system. In effect, it provides a full dress rehearsal for the actual launch.

Following the test, the rocket will be detanked and translated back to horizontal for its rollback to the HIF, pending no major issues with the quick look data review into the firing.

While the rocket is integrated with the payload inside the HIF, the SpaceX team will conduct a Launch Readiness Review (LRR), which will ultimately confirm all is go to proceed to launch day.

Currently, the mission is set to launch on April 30, within a two hour launch window that opens at 7 am Eastern.

The booster is targeting a return back to Earth, with LZ-1 its destination. SpaceX's coverage of the mission will focus solely on this return during this part of the launch phase, given NROL missions do not allow for live ascent coverage once the payload fairing has separated from around the spacecraft.

...

(Images: SpaceX, L2 McGregor (Gary Blair), and L2 artist Nathan Koga – The full gallery of Nathan's (SpaceX Dragon to MCT, SLS, Commercial Crew and more) L2 images can be *found here*))

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[Max Andriyahov]

Скажите, а в чем смысл этих Статик файр? Чтобы не было резонанса? Но ведь уже скоро полсотни пусков и никогда первую ступень не возвращали "на доработку" после огневых?

[tnt22]

04/25/2017 16:39
SpaceX rolled out a Falcon 9 rocket to launch pad 39A early Tuesday for a prelaunch hotfire test before this weekend's liftoff with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government spy satellite agency.

Спойлер

The rocket will ignite its nine Merlin 1D main engines for several seconds as hold-down restraints keep the booster firmly on the ground at pad 39A.

The static fire test doubles as a technical validation of the Falcon 9 rocket and ground systems and a countdown rehearsal for SpaceX's launch team.

The test window opens at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) and extends for six hours.

The upcoming launch, the first by SpaceX since a successful mission with a resued first stage booster, will fly with an all-new Falcon 9 rocket. It will be the 33rd launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010, and the fifth SpaceX flight this year.

Once the static fire is completed, engineers will review data from the test to ensure everything worked as advertised, and ground crews will lower tha Falcon 9 rocket back horizontal and return it to the hangar at the southern edge of pad 39A.

Later this week, teams will attach the NRO's top secret satellite to the Falcon 9 inside the hangar, then roll the rocket back to the pad this weekend for liftoff, which is set for Sunday during a two-hour period opening at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT).

This will be SpaceX's first launch for the NRO, which typically puts its payloads on United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets.

But the NRO awarded SpaceX a sole-source launch contract for this mission, and SpaceX will be eligible to compete with ULA for more NRO missions laster this year.

[свернуть]

[Georgea]

Max Andriyahov пишет:
Скажите, а в чем смысл этих Статик файр? Чтобы не было резонанса? Но ведь уже скоро полсотни пусков и никогда первую ступень не возвращали "на доработку" после огневых?

Как я понимаю, это просто генеральная репетиция. Проверка всего в комплексе, а не только движков.
Потому они её и предпочитали проводить с установленной ПН.

[tnt22]

[Зловредный]

А откуда этот скриншот? Можно ссылку на трансляцию?

[Apollo13]

Зловредный пишет:
А откуда этот скриншот? Можно ссылку на трансляцию?

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/04/25/nrol-76-launch-preps/

[tnt22]

Зловредный пишет:
Можно ссылку на трансляцию?

Можно:

Spaceflight Now‏ @SpaceflightNow 12 мин. назад

SpaceX aims to conduct hold-down firing of Falcon 9 rocket at pad 39A today. Test window opens at 12p EDT (1600 GMT) https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/04/25/nro

[tnt22]

04/25/2017 17:31
Filling of the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket with super-chilled, densified kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants should begin around 70 minutes before today's static fire test.

RP-1 kerosene, chilled to just above its freezing temperature, should be pumped aboard the rocket first, followed by the start of liquid oxygen loading at around T-minus 45 minutes.

Both stages consume the same propellant mix.

SpaceX fully fuels the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket during static fire tests to simulate launch day conditions.

[Georgea]

Непривычно видеть ракету на старте совсем без обтекателя.

[tnt22]

04/25/2017 19:16
The static fire test window has opened, but there are not yet any signs that fueling of the Falcon 9 rocket has begun. Oxygen vapors venting from the rocket should be visible in the final hour before ignition.

SpaceX does not publicize prelaunch activities, but today's test window is believed to extend until 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT).

[Зловредный]

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