{"id":13617,"date":"2018-09-05T19:02:21","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T11:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/hotfire-test-keeps-spacex-on-schedule-for-weekend-launch\/"},"modified":"2018-09-05T19:02:21","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T11:02:21","slug":"hotfire-test-keeps-spacex-on-schedule-for-weekend-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/hotfire-test-keeps-spacex-on-schedule-for-weekend-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Hotfire test keeps SpaceX on schedule for weekend launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_34313\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34313\" style=\"width: 678px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-34313\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/f9_t18v_staticfire.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"678\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/f9_t18v_staticfire.jpg 900w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/f9_t18v_staticfire-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/f9_t18v_staticfire-768x428.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/f9_t18v_staticfire-678x378.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34313\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A plume of exhaust erupted from the Falcon 9\u2019s launch pad as the rocket test-fired its engines at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) Wednesday. Credit: William Harwood\/CBS News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A brief test-firing of a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday morning kept SpaceX on track for a launch Saturday night from Cape Canaveral with a communications satellite to be jointly used by Telesat and APT Satellite of Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p>The rocket\u2019s nine Merlin 1D main engines ignited at Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 40 launch pad at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) Wednesday after SpaceX engineers filled the two-stage Falcon 9 with a mixture of super-chilled kerosene and liquid oxygen.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX confirmed the static fire test in a tweet a few minutes later.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOltdLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2ZvbGxvd2VyX2NvdW50X3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19yZWZzcmNfc2Vzc2lvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZm9zbnJfc29mdF9pbnRlcnZlbnRpb25zX2VuYWJsZWQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X21peGVkX21lZGlhXzE1ODk3Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRyZWF0bWVudCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3Nob3dfYmlyZHdhdGNoX3Bpdm90c19lbmFibGVkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19kdXBsaWNhdGVfc2NyaWJlc190b19zZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdXNlX3Byb2ZpbGVfaW1hZ2Vfc2hhcGVfZW5hYmxlZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdmlkZW9faGxzX2R5bmFtaWNfbWFuaWZlc3RzXzE1MDgyIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRydWVfYml0cmF0ZSIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfbGVnYWN5X3RpbWVsaW5lX3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1037345042434646021&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2018%2F09%2F05%2Fhotfire-test-keeps-spacex-on-schedule-for-weekend-launch%2F&amp;sessionId=86b97f4f238d673bd9c8c4d18238fb4c81ebed58&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782699624357362357=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete\u2014targeting September 8 launch of Telstar 18 VANTAGE from Pad 40 in Florida.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 5, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The mock countdown Wednesday morning occurred without the rocket\u2019s satellite payload on-board. The next step in the launch campaign will be the lowering of the Falcon 9 from its launch mount, then the return of the launcher to a nearby hangar at the Florida spaceport.<\/p>\n<p>Technicians in the hangar will mate the mission\u2019s payload \u2014 the Telstar 18 VANTAGE communications satellite \u2014 to the forward end of the Falcon 9\u2019s upper stage in the next few days, conduct a series of electrical and mechanical connectivity verifications, then roll the rocket back to its seaside launch pad Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The four-hour launch window opens at 11:28 p.m. EDT Saturday (0328 GMT Sunday), after several delays that pushed back the flight from last month.<\/p>\n<p>A forecast issued Wednesday by the U.S. Air Force\u2019s 45th Weather Squadron predicts a 60 percent chance of favorable conditions during Saturday night\u2019s launch window.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCloudiness and showers will gradually increase over the spaceport on Friday and Saturday as an upper-level trough moves westerly across Florida,\u201d forecasters wrote. \u201cLow-level winds become more southerly during this time frame, enhancing the convergent band shower threat. The launch weather concerns are cumulus and thick clouds. Maximum upper-level winds will be from the northeast at 20 knots at 40,000 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Isolated rain showers are forecast to be in the area at launch time, with scattered clouds at 2,500 feet, and broken cloud decks at 15,000 feet and 25,000 feet. Good visibility, a temperature of around 78 degrees Fahrenheit, and winds of 12 to 17 mph from the south-southeast are expected.<\/p>\n<p>The rocket assigned to launch the Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite is a newly-built Falcon 9 Block 5 vehicle. SpaceX\u2019s ocean-going landing platform has departed Port Canaveral en route for a position in the Atlantic Ocean to recover the Falcon 9\u2019s first stage following Saturday night\u2019s blastoff.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_34312\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34312\" style=\"width: 679px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-34312\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/telstar_18_vantage_star_background.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"679\" height=\"452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/telstar_18_vantage_star_background.png 896w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/telstar_18_vantage_star_background-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/telstar_18_vantage_star_background-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/telstar_18_vantage_star_background-678x452.png 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 679px) 100vw, 679px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34312\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist\u2019s concept of the Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite. Credit: Telesat\/SSL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Telstar 18 VANTAGE spacecraft, built by SSL in Palo Alto, California, will provide C-band and Ku-band communications services across the Asia-Pacific region from a perch in geostationary orbit nearly 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) over the equator.<\/p>\n<p>The new satellite will launch into an elliptical transfer orbit aboard the Falcon 9, then use its on-board thruster to climb into a circular orbit, where its orbital velocity will match the rate of Earth\u2019s rotation at 138 degrees east longitude.<\/p>\n<p>Once Telstar 18 VANTAGE arrives at its operating post, it will commence a 15-year mission, beaming high-throughput signals to serve direct-to-home broadcast, video distribution, maritime, and other telecom markets. Carrying a combination of broad regional beams and high-bandwidth spot beams, the satellite\u2019s coverage area will span from India and Pakistan in the west, to Hawaii in the east.<\/p>\n<p>APT Satellite \u2014 also known as APSTAR \u2014 of Hong Kong will use 57.5 percent of the satellite\u2019s communications capacity, in exchange for funding 57.5 percent of the mission\u2019s total cost, officials said. The Telesat 18 VANTAGE satellite is also named APSTAR 5C, and it will replace the aging Telstar 18\/APSTAR 5 telecom craft hauled into orbit by a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL booster in 2004.<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, APSTAR agreed to pay $118.8 million for its share of the new Telstar 18 VANTAGE\/APSTAR 5C satellite program, according to the company\u2019s filings with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. That suggests the total cost of the mission is roughly $206 million.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement gives APSTAR use of an equivalent of 36.2 of the satellite\u2019s total complement of 63 transponders, the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>APSTAR operates five geostationary communications satellites, while Telesat, headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, counts 16 geostationary telecom craft in its fleet, in addition to a pathfinder satellite for a planned broadband network in low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTelstar 18 VANTAGE is a high throughput, highly flexible, state-of-the-art satellite that will provide a significant competitive advantage to customers serving the demanding requirements of broadcast, enterprise and government users throughout Asia ,\u201d said Dan Goldberg, Telesat\u2019s President and CEO, in a statement released when the companies announced the new satellite program in 2015. \u201cWe are pleased to be making this important addition to our global satellite fleet and, moreover, pleased to continue our long and successful relationship with APSTAR, a leading Asian operator with whom we have closely cooperated for over a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A plume of exhaust erupted from the Falcon 9\u2019s launch pad as the rocket test-fired its engines at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) Wednesday. Credit: William Harwood\/CBS News A brief test-firing of a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday morning kept SpaceX on track for a launch Saturday night from Cape Canaveral with a communications satellite to [&hellip;]<\/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":[2876,2179,291,1736,479,2877,25,311],"class_list":["post-13617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-apstar-5c","tag-apt-satellite","tag-commercial-space","tag-complex-40","tag-falcon-9","tag-hong-kong","tag-launch","tag-reusability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13617"}],"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=13617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}