Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Starlink 4-17 mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 53 Starlink broadband satellites. Follow us on twitter.
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SpaceX is poised to launch another batch of 53 Starlink internet satellites at 5:42 a.m. EDT (0942 GMT) Friday from the Kennedy Space Center. There’s a greater than 90% chance of good weather for the predawn blastoff.
The first stage booster — tail number B1058 — will attempt a landing on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” positioned roughly due east of Charleston, South Carolina, about eight-and-a-half minutes after launch.
SpaceX teams at Cape Canaveral rolled the Falcon 9 rocket from its hangar to pad 39A and raised it vertical Thursday. Beginning at T-minus 35 minutes, the launch team will oversee loading of kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the Falcon 9 through an automated, computer-controlled sequencer.
Helium pressurant will also flowed into the rocket. In the final seven minutes of the countdown, the Falcon 9’s Merlin main engines will be thermally conditioned for flight through a procedure known as “chilldown.” The Falcon 9’s guidance and range safety systems will also be configured for launch at 5:42 a.m.
The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket will vector its 1.7 million pounds of thrust — produced by nine Merlin engines — to steer northeast over the Atlantic Ocean.
The rocket will surpass the speed of sound in about one minute, then shut down its nine main engines two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. The booster will detach and fire pulses from cold gas control thrusters, then extend titanium grid fins to help steer the vehicle back into the atmosphere.
Two braking burns will slow down the rocket for landing on the drone ship around 400 miles (650 kilometers) downrange.
This booster — tail number B1058 — will launch on its 12th mission, becoming the third stage in SpaceX’s inventory to reach that milestone. The booster debuted in May 2020 with the launch of the first test flight of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to carry astronauts.
The landing will occur just prior to shutdown of the upper stage engine. The rocket will coast halfway around the world before reigniting the Merlin-Vacuum upper stage engine about 45 minutes into the mission, paving the way for separation of the 53 Starlink satellites at T+plus 54 minutes, 30 seconds.
Awọn ọpa idaduro ti o mu awọn satẹlaiti sinu iṣeto-pipade alapin lori rocket yoo jettison, gbigba awọn iru ẹrọ Starlink lati fo kuro ni ipele keji. Wọn yoo ṣii awọn eto oorun ati ṣiṣe nipasẹ awọn igbesẹ imuṣiṣẹ adaṣe, lẹhinna lo awọn ẹrọ ion ti o ni epo krypton lati ṣe ọgbọn sinu orbit iṣẹ wọn.
Falcon 9 yoo ṣe ifọkansi lati ran awọn satẹlaiti lọ si isunmọ-ipin orbit ti o wa ni giga laarin awọn maili 189 ati awọn maili 197 (304 nipasẹ awọn kilomita 317), ni itara orbital ti awọn iwọn 53.2 si equator. Awọn satẹlaiti naa yoo lo itusilẹ lori-ọkọ lati ṣe iyoku iṣẹ naa lati de orbit yipo 335 miles (540 kilometer) loke Earth.
Awọn satẹlaiti Starlink ni iṣẹ apinfunni Ọjọ Jimọ yoo fo ni ọkan ninu awọn “ikarahun” marun orbital ti a lo ninu nẹtiwọọki intanẹẹti agbaye ti SpaceX. Lẹhin ti wọn de orbit iṣẹ wọn, awọn satẹlaiti yoo wọ iṣẹ iṣowo ati bẹrẹ awọn ifihan agbara gbohungbohun si awọn alabara, ti o le ra iṣẹ Starlink ati sopọ si nẹtiwọọki pẹlu ebute ilẹ ti SpaceX ti pese.
After Friday’s mission, SpaceX will have launched 2,494 Starlink satellites to date, including spacecraft that were decommissioned or suffered failures. More than 2,100 of those satellites are in orbit and functioning as of this week, according to a list maintained by Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who closely tracks spaceflight activity.
ka wa mission preview story fun alaye diẹ.
ROKETI: Falcon 9 (B1058.12)
GBIGBE: 53 Starlink satelllites (Starlink 4-17)
AAYE ifilọlẹ: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
ỌJỌ ifilọlẹ: Oṣu Karun ọjọ 6, Ọdun 2022
Àkókò ìpilẹ̀ṣẹ̀: 5:42:00 a.m. EDT (0942:00 GMT)
ÀFOJÚSÙN OJÚ ỌJỌ: 90% chance of acceptable weather; Moderate risk of upper level winds; Low risk of unfavorable conditions for booster recovery
ÌGBÀGBÀ OLÓGÚN: “A Shortfall of Gravitas” drone ship east of Charleston, South Carolina
Ṣe ifilọlẹ AZIMUTH: Ariwa
ORBIT ÀKÚNṢẸ: 189 miles by 197 miles (304 kilometers by 317 kilometers), 53.2 degrees inclination
ASIKO IBILE:
- T + 00:00: Liftoff
- T+01:12: Iwọn aerodynamic ti o pọju (Max-Q)
- T+02:31: First stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
- T + 02:35: Ìpínyà ìpele
- T + 02:41: Keji ipele engine iginisonu
- T + 02:48: Fairing jettison
- T+06:14: Ipele akọkọ ti nwọle ina (ẹnjini mẹta)
- T+06:33: First stage entry burn cutoff
- T+08:04: Ìpele àkọ́kọ́ tí ń sun iná (ẹ́ńjìnì kan)
- T + 08:26: Ipele akọkọ
- T+08:47: Ige engine ipele keji (SECO 1)
- T+45:28: Second stage restart
- T+45:29: Ige engine ipele keji (SECO 2)
- T+54:30: Starlink satellite separation
IPILE ISESE:
- 152nd launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
- Ifilọlẹ 160th ti idile Rocket Falcon lati ọdun 2006
- Ifilọlẹ 12th ti Falcon 9 booster B1058
- 133rd Falcon 9 launch from Florida’s Space Coast
- 142nd launch overall from pad 39A
- 48th SpaceX launch overall from pad 39A
- Ọkọ ofurufu 95th ti igbelaruge Falcon 9 ti a tun lo
- 44th dedicated Falcon 9 launch with Starlink satellites
- 18th Falcon 9 ifilọlẹ ti 2022
- 18th launch by SpaceX in 2022
- 18th orbital launch based out of Cape Canaveral in 2022
imeeli onkọwe.
Tẹle Stephen Clark lori Twitter: @ StephenClark1.
