Zuma – Falcon 9 – CCAFS LC-40 – 08.01.2018 01:00 UTC

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/01/02/falcon-9-zuma-mission-status-center-2/

Updated: 01/03/2018 00:11

Launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster with a secretive U.S. government payload named Zuma is scheduled for Friday night from Cape Canaveral during a two-hour launch window opening at 8 p.m. EST (0100 GMT Saturday), one day later than previously planned after a delay from mid-November to complete technical reviews on the rocket.

Спойлер

Little is known about the Zuma payload, other than Northrop Grumman was tapped by the U.S. government to procure commercial launch services for the mission. Northrop Grumman sel ected SpaceX's Falcon 9 for the job.

The Falcon 9 launch from Florida's Space Coast was pushed back from mid-November to give SpaceX engineers time to resolve concerns with the rocket's payload fairing, which will protect the Zuma spacecraft during the first few minutes of flight through the dense, lower layers of the atmosphere.

SpaceX said its teams identified a problem with a fairing assigned to another mission, and they wanted to ensure the shroud for the Zuma launch was ready for liftoff.

The launch was originally supposed to take off from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, but the delay led to a shuffle in SpaceX's launch schedule. SpaceX's other launch pad in Florida, pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, was restored to service in December with a space station resupply mission that jumped ahead of Zuma in the Falcon 9 queue.

Zuma will now kick off SpaceX's 2018 launch manifest, after a record year in 2017, which counted 18 launches from pads in Florida and California.

Liftoff from pad 40 was targeted for Thursday night, but the U.S. Air Force's 45th Space Wing confirmed Tuesday that the mission was rescheduled for Friday night.

Chilly weather is in the forecast Friday, with partly cloudy skies and a temperature of 46 degrees Fahrenheit at launch time.

There is a 90 percent chance weather conditions will be acceptable for liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket.

"Scattered upper-level clouds are forecast to move through the area during the day (Friday)," the Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron wrote in an official launch forecast issued Tuesday. "The primary weather concern is clouds building below 20,000 feet and remaining into the launch window. Maximum upper-level winds will be from the west at 100 knots near 40,000 feet."

Winds will be fr om the northwest at 15 to 20 mph, and forecasters predict good visibility during the launch window Friday.

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[tnt22]

Х-мм, "Тем временем, в замке у шефа..."

Восточный полигон закрыт. Дата и время открытия - TBD/
 

[tnt22]

NM NAVAREA IV 1209/2017, зоны A и B

[tnt22]

SpaceX‏Подлинная учетная запись @SpaceX 1 ч назад

Team at the Cape performed a propellant loading test of Falcon 9 on Pad 40 this morning – additional static fire test of the rocket was not necessary. Targeting January 5 launch of Zuma.

[tnt22]

Прогноз погоды L-2 на 2018-01-05 (м.в.)

L-2 Forecast 5 Jan Launch.pdf
 
90% GO

[tnt22]

01/03/2018 19:34

SpaceX's launch team loaded RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket at pad 40 this morning during a countdown rehearsal ahead of Friday night's launch from Cape Canaveral.

The Falcon 9 did not ignite its nine first stage engines for a hold-down firing. The same rocket was test-fired at nearby pad 39A in November ahead of the mission's first planned launch attempt.

Спойлер

The rocket will loft a secretive U.S. government payload named Zuma. Friday night's two-hour launch window opens at 8 p.m. EST (0100 GMT Saturday).

There is a 90 percent chance of favorable weather conditions during Friday night's launch window, according to the U.S. Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron.

SpaceX's ground crew will roll back the Falcon 9 booster to its hangar for attachment of the Zuma payload and its nose shroud. The fully-assembled rocket should return to pad 40 ahead of Friday evening's countdown.

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[Чебурашка]

А зачем они заправляют керосин за три дня до старта?

[Apollo13]

Чебурашка пишет:
А зачем они заправляют керосин за три дня до старта?

Для проверки наземки.

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 54 мин. назад

ARTICLE: SpaceX conduct WDR in preparation to launch clandestine Zuma satellite
- https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/01/spacex-falcon-9-launch-clandestine-zuma-satellite/ ...
(A large update of the previous Zuma article by Chris Gebhardt (@ChrisG_NSF) to bring everything up to date (and revise it to the new news site style, etc.)).

SpaceX conduct WDR in preparation to launch clandestine Zuma satellite

written by Chris Gebhardt | January 3, 2018

[tnt22]

Полигон откроется 2018-01-05 (м.в.)
 

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Обновлена (2018-01-03)

Airspace Closure Area
 

[tnt22]

Обновлена (2018-01-03)

Launch Hazard Area
 
Резервная дата пуска - TBD

[tnt22]

, "что-то не ладно в Датском королевстве..."

То открывают, то закрывают - аттракцион качели:
Полигон снова закрыт (хотя и зарезервирован за SpaceX)
 
ПМСМ, пуск 2018-01-06 (UTC) под вопросом  

[tnt22]

Х-м

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 5 ч. назад

Local observations of the Falcon 9 booster for Zuma is still on the SLC-40 pad - without payload - and..... some claims there's venting (another WDR?).

Clearly this one isn't going to be launching on Friday. Will try and find out what is going on.

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 5 ч. назад

A pic of the Zuma booster B1043.1 on SLC-40 yesterday (you mainly see the TEL, but the booster is on it), but that's still the situation this morning, plus the claims there's another prop test taking place. Have asked SpaceX....

19 ч.


NASA Nate @NASA_Nerd
Falcon 9 without Zuma still standing on Space Launch Complex 40.

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 4 ч. назад

In summary, Zuma is going to be NET Saturday (I say "going to be" as it has to be officially noted in public by SpaceX or the Range). Delays likely related to upper level winds predictions. Rocket is fine. Delay allowing for on pad test opportunities.

[tnt22]

Spaceflight Now‏ @SpaceflightNow 4 ч. назад

Additional testing of a Falcon 9 rocket at launch complex 40 today is likely to further delay SpaceX's launch of the mysterious Zuma payload: https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/01/02/falcon-9-zuma-mission-status-center-2/ ...

01/04/2018 16:55

A second countdown rehearsal for the Falcon 9 rocket was underway at launch complex 40 this morning. The SpaceX launch team had performed a similar 'wet dress rehearsal' yesterday.

The vehicle is on the pad and without the fairing containing its mysterious Zuma payload. This will almost certainly preclude a launch Friday evening.

[tnt22]

Н-да-ааа

NASA Nate‏ @NASA_Nerd 39 мин назад

As of 12pm Falcon 9 Booster is still vertical on SLC-40.

[tnt22]

James Dean‏Подлинная учетная запись @flatoday_jdean 7 мин назад

Who's Zuma'n who? Falcon 9/#Zuma launch from LC40 slips another day, now targeted for 8 p.m. EST Sat., Jan. 6. Last posted forecast showed weather 90% "go."

[Брабонт]

1-2 additional days of delay and the USA 276 orbital plane drifts into the launch window.

Marco