{"id":12359,"date":"2020-07-12T01:34:38","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T17:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-test-fires-falcon-9-rocket-launch-next-week-with-korean-military-satellite\/"},"modified":"2020-07-12T01:34:38","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T17:34:38","slug":"spacex-test-fires-falcon-9-rocket-launch-next-week-with-korean-military-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-test-fires-falcon-9-rocket-launch-next-week-with-korean-military-satellite\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX test-fires Falcon 9 rocket launch next week with Korean military satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
A Falcon 9 rocket \u2014 without its payload fairing \u2014 fired up on Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 40 launch Saturday for a pre-flight test-firing. Credit: William Harwood\/CBS News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hours after calling off a launch of a different rocket from a nearby launch pad, SpaceX\u2019s launch team loaded a Falcon 9 rocket with propellant Saturday and fired its nine main engines on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, setting the stage for a liftoff with a South Korean military satellite as soon as Tuesday amid a busy stretch of missions for the California-based rocket company.<\/p>\n

SpaceX ground crews raised the Falcon 9 rocket vertical on pad 40 Saturday morning. An automated computer-controlled sequencer commanded super-chilled, densified kerosene and liquid oxygen into the Falcon 9 Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The countdown culminated in ignition of the rocket\u2019s nine Merlin 1D main engines at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT). The engines throttled up to full power, generating 1.7 million pounds of thrust for several seconds while clamps restrained the Falcon 9 on the launch pad.<\/p>\n

Onlookers observed a plume of exhaust coming from the rocket and confirmed the the test-firing occurred. SpaceX was expected to officially release an update on the outcome of the static fire test after a quick-look data review.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 will be lowered and rolled back inside SpaceX\u2019s hangar near pad 40, where technicians will attach a European-made communications satellite named Anasis 2 built for the South Korean military.<\/p>\n

Assuming the final days of launch preparations go according to plan, SpaceX plans to launch the mission Tuesday during a nearly four-hour window opening at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) and extending until 8:55 p.m. EDT (0055 GMT).<\/p>\n

The static fire test Saturday for the Anasis 2 mission occurred the same day SpaceX planned to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center, located a few miles north of pad 40. SpaceX announced Saturday morning that it called off the launch from pad 39A \u201cto allow more time for checkouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX tweeted that teams \u201cworking to identify the next launch opportunity\u201d for the mission from pad 39A, which will loft SpaceX\u2019s next 57 Starlink broadband Internet satellites and a pair of commercial BlackSky Earth-imaging microsatellites.<\/p>\n

The Starlink\/BlackSky launch was supposed to take off June 26, but SpaceX delayed the mission to conduct additional pre-launch checkouts. A launch attempt Wednesday was scrubbed minutes before liftoff by poor weather.<\/p>\n

The company has not disclosed any details about the nature of the problems \u2014 other than weather \u2014 that have delayed the Starlink\/BlackSky mission. As of Saturday evening, it was not clear whether SpaceX might proceed with Tuesday\u2019s planned Anasis 2 launch next, or if there might be another opportunity to launch the Starlink\/BlackSky mission as soon as Monday.<\/p>\n

SpaceX has launched 11 Falcon 9 missions so far this year, most recently on June 30, when a Falcon 9 rocket took off from pad 40 with a U.S. military GPS navigation satellite.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Anasis 2 satellite is prepared for shipment to Cape Canaveral from Airbus\u2019s facility in Toulouse, France. Credit: Airbus Defense and Space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Developed by Airbus Defense and Space, the Anasis 2 satellite is shrouded in secrecy at the wishes of the the spacecraft\u2019s owner \u2014 the South Korean government.<\/p>\n

Anasis 2 is based on the Eurostar E3000 spacecraft platform made by Airbus, but details about its performance have been kept under wraps. The Anasis 2 satellite is expected to launch into an elliptical transfer orbit, then use its on-board propulsion system to reach a circular orbit at geostationary altitude more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.,<\/p>\n

South Korea purchased the satellite \u2014 formerly known as KMilSatCom 1 \u2014 through an arrangement to offset South Korea\u2019s purchase of F-35A fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin ultimately subcontracted the satellite manufacturing deal to Airbus.<\/p>\n

Before Anasis 2, South Korea\u2019s military has relied on international and civilian-owned satellites for communications.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Falcon 9 rocket \u2014 without its payload fairing \u2014 fired up on Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 40 launch Saturday for a pre-flight test-firing. Credit: William Harwood\/CBS News Hours after calling off a launch of a different rocket from a nearby launch pad, SpaceX\u2019s launch team loaded a Falcon 9 rocket with propellant Saturday and fired […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1657,2160,2162,404,1804,2129,252,291],"class_list":["post-12359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-airbus-defense-and-space","tag-anasis","tag-anasis-2","tag-blacksky","tag-blacksky-global-7","tag-blacksky-global-8","tag-broadband","tag-commercial-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}