{"id":14238,"date":"2017-10-29T18:37:37","date_gmt":"2017-10-29T10:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/korean-communications-craft-installed-on-spacexs-falcon-9-rocket\/"},"modified":"2017-10-29T18:37:37","modified_gmt":"2017-10-29T10:37:37","slug":"korean-communications-craft-installed-on-spacexs-falcon-9-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/korean-communications-craft-installed-on-spacexs-falcon-9-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Korean communications craft installed on SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Koreasat 5A satellite pictured at Thales Alenia Space\u2019s manufacturing facility in Cannes, France. Credit: Thales Alenia Space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A multipurpose communications satellite owned by a South Korean telecom company is set for liftoff Monday from Florida\u2019s Space Coast aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, and forecasters predict near-ideal conditions for a rocket launch.<\/p>\n

The Koreasat 5A spacecraft, manufactured in Cannes, France, by Thales Alenia Space, was being attached this weekend to SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket inside the company\u2019s hangar near launch pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n

Once technicians complete final closeouts, the Falcon 9 will be rolled up the ramp to the historic launch pad via rails aboard a transporter-erector, then raised vertical ahead of Monday\u2019s countdown.<\/p>\n

The launch window Monday opens at 3:34 p.m. EDT (1934 GMT) and extends until 5:58 p.m. EDT (2158 GMT), and the official weather forecast issued by U.S. Air Force meteorologists suggests mostly clear skies and favorable conditions are on tap for Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

There is less than a 10 percent chance that weather will prohibit launch. The only minor concern is with brisk northerly winds expected Monday.<\/p>\n

Tropical Storm Philippe moved northeast off Florida\u2019s East Coast early Sunday before dissipating into a remnant low pressure system, and a cold front has also passed over the launch base, leaving fair weather in its wake.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonday morning will be chilly on the spaceport with temperatures dipping below 50 degrees Fahrenheit and lighter northerly winds,\u201d forecasters from the Air Force\u2019s 45th Weather Squadron wrote in an outlook released Sunday. \u201cThere is a very slight risk for the stronger winds to linger into Monday\u2019s launch window.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conditions are launch time should be mostly sunny with a few clouds possible at 2,500 feet, good visibility, northerly winds of 15 to 20 mph, and a temperature of 69 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s launch team will oversee an automated countdown sequence Monday, beginning with power-up of the rocket and tests of telemetry connections. A poll of the team by SpaceX\u2019s launch conductor is scheduled at 2:21 p.m. EDT (1821 GMT), followed by the start of propellant loading three minutes later.<\/p>\n

Super-chilled RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen will flow into both stages of the Falcon 9, along with high-pressure helium, to power and pressurize the rocket\u2019s Merlin engines. The kerosene and oxygen will be cooled close to their freezing points, increasing the fluid\u2019s density and allowing more propellants to be loaded into the rocket, a performance-raising technique introduced by SpaceX in 2015.<\/p>\n

RP-1 will be pumped into the rocket first, followed by the start of liquid oxygen loading at around 2:59 p.m. EDT (1859 GMT).<\/p>\n

The tanks will be topped off in the final stages of the countdown, and the first stage\u2019s nine Merlin 1D engines will be conditioned for ignition by flowing some of the cryogenic propellant through their plumbing. The computer-controlled countdown sequencer will also command a final steering check of the rocket\u2019s upper stage engine, pressurization of the Falcon 9\u2019s propellant tanks, and the retraction of the strongback support structure into position for engine start.<\/p>\n

The first stage\u2019s Merlin 1D engines will ignite at around T-minus 3 seconds, and hold-down clamps will open when the countdown clock reaches zero, after a last-second readiness check by the Falcon 9\u2019s on-board computer.<\/p>\n

Heading east from the Kennedy Space Center, the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 will surpass the speed of sound in about one minute and climb into the stratosphere atop 1.7 million pounds of thrust.<\/p>\n

The first stage engines will switch off and the booster will fall away approximately two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, then fire nitrogen cold gas thrusters in a flip maneuver to point its engines forward.<\/p>\n

Four aerodynamic grid fins will deploy from the booster, and a subset of the first stage engines are programmed to ignite a few minutes later, combining to steer the rocket toward SpaceX\u2019s drone ship \u2014 \u201cOf Course I Still Love You\u201d \u2014 floating in the Atlantic Ocean a few hundred miles east of Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

The first stage\u2019s center engine will ignite again as the rocket makes its final descent, and hydraulic actuators will extend four landing legs just before touchdown.<\/p>\n

If all goes according to plan, the first stage will land on the recovery barge around eight minutes after liftoff, completing this booster\u2019s first trip into space and back.<\/p>\n

While SpaceX\u2019s rocket landings have captured attention and are key to the company\u2019s strategy to reuse Falcon 9 boosters, the main goal of Monday\u2019s flight \u2014 like all of SpaceX\u2019s missions \u2014 is the deployment of its commercial payload in orbit.<\/p>\n

That will require to firings of the second stage\u2019s single Merlin engine, first to place Koreasat 5A in a parking orbit, then to propel the spacecraft into an egg-shaped transfer orbit arcing more than 30,000 miles above Earth.<\/p>\n

Deployment of the 4.1-ton (3.7-metric ton) spacecraft is scheduled about a half-hour into the mission, and Thales ground controllers in Europe will take control of the satellite once it contacts ground stations.<\/p>\n

Koreasat 5A\u2019s on-board engine will conduct multiple burns to circularize its orbit around 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) over the equator a few weeks after launch. Once the satellite passes post-launch tests, Thales will hand over control of Koreasat 5A to KTsat, a subsidiary of South Korea\u2019s KT Corp. based in Seoul.<\/p>\n

Designed for a 15-year mission, Koreasat 5A is based on Thales\u2019 Spacebus 4000B2 satellite bus and is destined to place Koreasat 5, a communications craft launched in 2006.<\/p>\n

Koreasat 5A will be parked at 113 degrees east longitude, where its orbital velocity will match the rotation of Earth, allowing the satellite to hover over a fixed location, and remain in the place in the sky in view of ground antennas.<\/p>\n

The satellite\u2019s solar panels will generate about 6.5 kilowatts of power for its Ku-band communications transmitters and receivers. Koreasat 5A carries 36 Ku-band transponders, providing Internet access, television broadcast and other multimedia services in Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Guam, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.<\/p>\n

Koreasat 5A will also offer coverage for maritime communications in the Middle East, the Indian Ocean and parts of the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n

Here are some statistics for Monday\u2019s launch:<\/p>\n