{"id":11826,"date":"2021-03-03T17:53:18","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T09:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/launch-companies-range-teams-reassessing-cape-canaveral-weather-rules\/"},"modified":"2021-03-03T17:53:18","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T09:53:18","slug":"launch-companies-range-teams-reassessing-cape-canaveral-weather-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/launch-companies-range-teams-reassessing-cape-canaveral-weather-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch companies, range teams reassessing Cape Canaveral weather rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: <\/strong>SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 9 mission mentioned in this story at 3:24 a.m. EST (0824 GMT) on Thursday, March 4.<\/p>\n

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center before launching in May 2020 with the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission. Credit: NASA\/Bill Ingalls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Launch companies and U.S. Space Force range officials at Cape Canaveral are reassessing long-standing weather rules, looking at beefing up rocket defenses against lightning, and considering strategies to prepare for two different launch windows on a given day to guard against weather delays, something SpaceX may demonstrate with a Falcon 9 launch early Thursday.<\/p>\n

The moves could open up more launch opportunities on the Eastern Range, which manages support infrastructure and oversees range safety at the Florida spaceport.<\/p>\n

Brig. Gen. Stephen Purdy, commander of the 45th Space Wing, said Feb. 23 that launch providers requested 297 launch opportunities in the previous 12 months. Range officials approved 225 of those requests, and 55 of those launch opportunities went into countdown operations, resulting in 32 launches, Purdy said last week at the 47th Spaceport Summit.<\/p>\n

Purdy said the Space Force wants to be able to approve all launch opportunity requests on the Eastern Range, providing companies with services more akin to an airport than the way government-run spaceports typically operate. That requires a change in mentality and thinking, he said.<\/p>\n

Officials are looking at all pieces of launch support infrastructure \u2014 from transportation to electricity, communications, security, and propellants and high-pressure gases \u2014 \u201cto figure out how to break through any of the pieces that are limiting us in order to get to that launch-on-demand\u201d goal, Purdy said.<\/p>\n

One area for improvement is reducing the number of weather-related launch delays at Cape Canaveral, where lightning is a major risk for rockets climbing through the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

SpaceX is the most active launch company on the Eastern Range, and many of its Falcon 9 launches have just a one-second launch window. Crew and cargo missions to the International Space Station and launches with Starlink internet satellites have instantaneous windows each day.<\/p>\n

And once SpaceX begins filling the Falcon 9 rocket with kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants 35 minutes before launch time, the launch window often shrinks to one second even if there is a longer period available to meet payload requirements. That\u2019s because the Falcon 9 uses super-chilled, condensed propellants, and holding the countdown would cause the liquids to get too warm.<\/p>\n

If a launch window stretches several hours, there might be enough time for SpaceX to abort a countdown, recycle the clock, recondition propellant, and then load the Falcon 9 again for a second launch attempt the same day.<\/p>\n

The tight one-second launch windows, coupled with SpaceX\u2019s high launch tempo, mean the company\u2019s Falcon 9 rockets are grounded by bad weather more often than other launch vehicles.<\/p>\n

Hans Koenigsmann, a senior advisor and former vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, said a fundamental goal is to \u201cimprove the vehicle\u2019s susceptibility to lightning,\u201d and then adapt the launch weather rules after verifying it is safe to launch with an increased risk of lightning.<\/p>\n

He said the Space Force\u2019s 45th Weather Squadron, which tracks launch weather conditions at Cape Canaveral, is \u201cabsolutely amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of detail that we get is remarkable, how good the forecast is,\u201d Koenigsmann said. \u201cThere are launches where we work the entire time with the weather officer and try to find the right time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big problem, in general, is that in many launches you have to launch in one particular second,\u201d Koenigsmann said. \u201cYou do not have a a lot of flexibility there, and that might be not a good time. Five minutes later might be a great time, but that is not what you needed for that particular orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n

One option SpaceX appears to be trying out this week is developing two different flight plans for a single launch.<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s next Falcon 9 mission is set for early Thursday from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, and the company aims to launch the rocket with 60 Starlink internet satellites at 3:24 a.m. EST (0824 GMT). But if a technical issue or bad weather gets in the way, the company has a backup time available at 5:42 a.m. EST (1042 GMT).<\/p>\n

The plan would allow SpaceX to launch the Falcon 9 rocket without having to wait nearly 24 hours for the next launch window.<\/p>\n

SpaceX would aim to launch the 60 Starlink satellites into one plane, or part, of the Starlink constellation if it takes the first launch opportunity Thursday. The second launch time Thursday would target a different plane in the Starlink network.<\/p>\n

Koenigsmann said last week SpaceX could \u201chave two different flight plans\u201d available for a single launch, and managers could decide to take the option with better weather. That strategy is particularly useful for Starlink missions, since the fleet flies in 72 different orbital planes, affording numerous launch opportunities per day.<\/p>\n

The launch times are set for when Earth\u2019s rotation brings the launch pad under the targeted orbital plane.<\/p>\n

With Thursday\u2019s launch, SpaceX will have launched more than 1,200 Starlink satellites, including prototypes that have since been deorbited. The first-generation fleet of Starlinks will number 1,440 active satellites at an altitude of 341 miles, or 550 kilometers.<\/p>\n

SpaceX lands and reuses its Falcon 9 boosters, allowing the company to cut costs and increase its launch cadence. But it comes with another layer of weather criteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s also the issue of recovery. You have to have weather both on the launch site and also the landing site,\u201d Koenigsmann said. \u201cThis complicates things, too. The weather service from the 45th Space Wing and the Cape help tremendously there.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Crew Dragon missions with astronauts, SpaceX also has to consider weather and sea conditions along a corridor downrange from Cape Canaveral, where the capsule might splash down in the event of an in-flight abort. Human missions also come with additional wind constraints at Cape Canaveral to ensure onshore winds are strong enough to blow the spacecraft back toward land if it has to escape the rocket on the launch pad.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these things are complex weather and vehicle interface questions that we need to work on,\u201d Koenigsmann said.<\/p>\n

He said one factor working against SpaceX\u2019s plans to \u201cweather-harden\u201d its rockets is that those modifications might make the launch vehicle heavier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like there is a whole slew of things that we need to improve on, and not just a single thing, in order to get launch (schedule) reliability up,\u201d Koenigsmann said. \u201cIt\u2019s a combination of how we work together, our infrastructure, our logistics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess is defined for us as moving from a biweekly, or every other week launch, to a weekly launch, and then later on to a daily launch while safely reusing the same hardware,\u201d Koeingsmann said. \u201cThat\u2019s a tall order. We are, I think, halfway along the way here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Purdy said the Eastern Range can accommodate more launches with the introduction of automated flight termination systems, equipment that flies on rockets to autonomously determine if the vehicle is veering off its pre-planned trajectory. If it does fly off course, the automated system is designed to terminate the flight to avoid placing the public and property at risk.<\/p>\n

SpaceX uses the automated safety system on all of its launches, and the Space Force says all range users should transition to the new technology by 2025. Traditional human-in-the-loop flight termination systems require a range safety officer to monitor the rocket\u2019s trajectory from the ground, and then manually issue a command to destroy the rocket if necessary.<\/p>\n

Purdy said the \u201ccommand destruct\u201d system requires a \u201cnot insignificant amount of personnel and equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we don\u2019t have to have those up \u2014 for example, the days that we have SpaceX launching their Falcon 9 \u2014 we have fewer people on the range and more streamlined processes, and more flexibility, which is exactly what we\u2019re trying to get to for the rest of the launch systems,\u201d Purdy said.<\/p>\n

The Defense Department charges commercial launch companies for the range support at Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

The 45th Space Wing is eventually eyeing a switch to automated range scheduling to handle more requests from launch providers. Each range request currently takes \u201cmultiple hours of coordination\u201d with security, safety, weather, and other teams, including the Federal Aviation Administration, which must help clear airspace over the launch site.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the ability to turn the range and dynamically schedule the range are the two things that will make the most immediate impact,\u201d said Scott Henderson, vice president of Blue Origin\u2019s operations in Florida. \u201cGoing to autonomous flight safety allows you to turn the range much faster \u2026 But that dynamic scheduling, the ability to do all the pre-work and then quickly schedule when you\u2019re ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue Origin is developing the New Glenn rocket for launches from Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Along with SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, other companies with plans to fly rockets from Cape Canaveral include Firefly Aerospace and Relativity Space, which are developing smaller orbital-class boosters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are clearly going to be conflicts,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cComplex 36 is just down the coast from Landing Zone 1, so any time a SpaceX booster is landing on Landing Zone 1, we have to clear LC-36. Any time New Glenn launches from Launch Complex 36, SpaceX will have to clear Landing Zone 1. I think those things happen up and down launch row there. As we add more launch providers, that\u2019s going to be more dynamic, but then again that\u2019s why you have to basically be able to efficiently use the slots you have, use the range capability you have, use people you have. It goes all the way back to process, people, and hardware, and we\u2019re going to have to figure out a way to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The weather team at Cape Canaveral is \u201creally active\u201d in work to innovate and update launch weather criteria, Purdy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve had multiple projects that are underway, and some that have completed, to keep nibbling away at the weather question,\u201d Purdy said. \u201cThey\u2019ve had some that get into how can we clear ourselves a little bit more space in the cumulus (cloud rule). They\u2019ve got another one they\u2019re working to try to squeeze the lightning ring from 5 miles to 4 miles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lightning is more common along Florida\u2019s Space Coast than at any other spaceport. But other launch sites have encountered lightning, including a 2019 launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket from from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, which persevered through a lightning strike and still delivered its satellite payload into orbit.<\/p>\n