Posted on 08/13/2016 8:00:06 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
For the second time this year, SpaceX is preparing to launch a commercial communications satellite for Tokyo-based SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. early Sunday.
A Falcon 9 rocket is set to blast off at 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT) from Cape Canaveral with the JCSAT 16 satellite to relay data and video across Japan and the Asia-Pacific. A first stage landing attempt will follow in the Atlantic Ocean a few minutes later.
The launch window extends for two hours.
On Saturday, ground crews at Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad plan to roll the Falcon 9 rocket out of its hangar for the more than 600-foot (200-meter) journey to its launch position. Mounted on a transporter-erector, the rocket will be lifted vertical and pointed skyward ahead of the start of the countdown.
In the final few hours before liftoff, the SpaceX launch team stationed a few miles to the south of the launch pad just outside the gate to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will oversee the activiation of the two-stage rocket's computer and electronics, checks of its communications, telemetry and beacon systems, and a test of the Falcon 9's destruct mechanism, which would used to end the flight if the vehicle flew off course.
Fueling of the Falcon 9 with super-chilled RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen should begin around 12:56 a.m. EDT (0456 GMT), a few minutes after a final poll of the launch team to verify their readiness.
The terminal countdown sequence will kick off at 1:16 a.m. EDT (0516 GMT). Moments later, small quantities of liquid propellant will begin flowing through the Falcon 9's engine section to chill down the rocket's nine Merlin 1D main engines for ignition.
The Falcon 9 rocket will also be switched to internal battery power, its navigation system will be configured for flight, and its propellant tanks will be pumped up to flight pressure.
The rocket's main computer will send the command to ignite the nine Merlin 1D main engines at about T-minus 3 seconds. Once the engines pass an automated health check -- a quick look at each engine's operating parameters -- clamps at the base of the Falcon 9 will release and the booster will climb into the sky.
It will take about 32 minutes for the Falcon 9 to deploy the JCSAT 16 communications satellite into a "supersynchronous" transfer orbit with a top altitude stretching well above the spacecraft's eventual operating post nearly 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) above the equator.
JCSAT 16's own thruster will reshape its orbit in the coming weeks to circularize its path in geostationary orbit over the equator, where it will begin its 15-year service life as a backup in SKY Perfect JSAT's fleet.
SpaceX already launched one SKY Perfect JSAT spacecraft -- JCSAT 14 -- this year. That mission went up successfully May 6.
The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is about to take off for the eighth time this year. Sunday's early morning flight will mark the 28th Falcon 9 launch overall.
The mission will also be the 11th time SpaceX has tried to recover a Falcon 9 first stage booster intact after a vertical propulsive descent from the edge of space.
Landing of the first stage on SpaceX's recovery ship about 370 miles (600 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral is expected less than nine minutes after liftoff.
Five of the 10 previous landing attempts have worked, including three of eight tries at sea. The other two rocket landings -- both successful -- occurred on land at Cape Canaveral.
We have it in a good orbit!
The first stage has also successfully landed on the drone ship!
Good orbit, good landing.
I like the presenters - Effective, better than the old Cronkite MSM group by far.
Launch a satellite....ho-hum.
Land the 1st stage on an autonomous barge in the ocean.....INCREDIBLE!
Not far from perfectly centered on landing. Worth missing sleep to watch out the front window, good night all.
Got sporkweasel?
The employees are starting to consider the landings and launches routine. But when Falcon Heavy launches there’ll be an attempt to land three first stages. That should bring back some excitement.
That footage got skipped, all I saw was the thing already sitting on the barge. I think the final 100' of descent are the most fascinating.............
A cute blond that is not dumb is pleasant, as well.
Well they are engineers. Educated folks, unlike braindead propagandists like Cronkite.
Yep, got a couple on my homepage, feel free to use them anytime. Maybe one will become the first Sporkweasle in space some day.
Second stage burn was successful.
The JCSAT-16 satellite was successfully released!
100% all around flight.
Thanks for staying up with me to watch. Have a good night.
On one platform, or three?? I am assuming three.
It would be three different locations with at least one on land.
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