{"id":15321,"date":"2016-08-11T18:38:54","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T10:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/falcon-9-rocket-rumbles-through-pre-flight-engine-firing\/"},"modified":"2016-08-11T18:38:54","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T10:38:54","slug":"falcon-9-rocket-rumbles-through-pre-flight-engine-firing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/falcon-9-rocket-rumbles-through-pre-flight-engine-firing\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcon 9 rocket rumbles through pre-flight engine firing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"File
File photo of a static fire test before a previous Falcon 9 launch. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX technicians planned to connect a Japanese communications satellite to the tip of a Falcon 9 rocket as soon as Thursday, eyeing a launch from Cape Canaveral just after midnight Sunday.<\/p>\n

Fixed on top of Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 40 launch pad without its payload, the Falcon 9 completed a customary pre-flight \u201cstatic fire\u201d test Wednesday night. The multi-hour exercise began with the 600-foot (nearly 200-meter) rollout of the two-stage rocket from SpaceX\u2019s hangar, then the launcher rotated vertical to receive its load of liquid propellants.<\/p>\n

In the mock countdown\u2019s final minutes, control computers sent commands to pressurize the Falcon 9\u2019s propellant tanks, then ignited the rocket\u2019s nine Merlin 1D engines for a few seconds while the vehicle stayed grounded.<\/p>\n

SpaceX engineers planned to review data from the static fire test before issuing a \u201cgo\u201d for final launch preps during a launch readiness review.<\/p>\n

Once ground crews attach the JCSAT 16 communications satellite to the Falcon 9 upper stage, the rocket will emerge from SpaceX\u2019s hangar again Saturday for the final countdown.<\/p>\n

Liftoff of the 23-story-tall Falcon 9 is scheduled for 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT) Sunday at the opening of a two-hour launch window. The rocket will deploy the JCSAT 16 telecom payload into a \u201csupersynchronous\u201d transfer orbit, putting the satellite on course to reach a final operating post nearly 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) above the equator.<\/p>\n

At that altitude, JCSAT 16\u2019s motion through space will exactly match the rate of Earth\u2019s rotation, allowing the satellite to remain over the same spot of the planet.<\/p>\n

Made by Space Systems\/Loral of Palo Alto, California, JCSAT 16 will become a spare satellite for SKY Perfect JSAT Corp., a Tokyo-based company which provides broadcast relay capacity over the Asia-Pacific. JCSAT 16 is the second Space Systems\/Loral-built satellite SpaceX will launch for SKY Perfect JSAT this year, coming after the May 6 blastoff of the company\u2019s JCSAT 14 telecom station.<\/p>\n

\"The
The JCSAT 16 satellite inside a test chamber at Space Systems\/Loral in Palo Alto, California. Credit: Space Systems\/Loral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cJCSAT 16 will be our second satellite for SKY Perfect JSAT to launch this year,\u201d said John Celli, president of SSL. \u201cIt has been an honor to work together with our Japanese colleagues to build this satellite that has the flexibility to meet the demand for a variety of missions, and we look forward to collaborating on the launch.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s flight will mark the eighth Falcon 9 launch of the year, and the 28th Falcon 9 mission overall since the rocket debuted in June 2010.<\/p>\n

JCSAT 16 carries Ku-band and Ka-band communications transponders and antennas to provide backup capabilities in video distribution and data transfer markets. The new satellite is tentatively assigned to a slot in geostationary orbit at 162 degrees east longitude, where it will back up the aging Superbird B2 satellite, which launched in 2000 aboard an Ariane 4 rocket.<\/p>\n

But JCSAT 16 can move into another position if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen launched, JCSAT 16 will provide us with the flexibility to reinforce our growing fleet as needed, ensuring the highest level of reliability for our customers,\u201d said Shinji Takada, representative director, president and CEO of SKY Perfect JSAT.<\/p>\n

Forecasters from the U.S. Air Force\u2019s 45th Weather Squadron predict favorable weather for the Falcon 9\u2019s middle-of-the-night launch opportunity. There is an 80 percent chance of acceptable conditions in the Air Force\u2019s official launch weather outlook.<\/p>\n

\u201cMorning coastal showers will become the primary weather threat for the next few days,\u201d forecasters wrote in the official launch weather forecast. \u201cOn Sunday, another upper-level inverted trough is forecast to approach the east coast of Florida, most likely moving through the Space Coast after the launch window. The primary weather concerns are cumulus clouds associated with the coastal showers and thick clouds associated with the upper-level trough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forecasters call for a few clouds at 2,500 feet and scattered clouds at 15,000 feet, south-southeast winds of 10 to 15 mph, and a launch time temperature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

Like all of SpaceX\u2019s recent missions, the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s first stage will aim for a propulsive landing after detaching from the rocket\u2019s second stage about two-and-a-half minutes into the flight. The high-speed trajectory required on Sunday\u2019s launch to put JCSAT 16 into orbit thousands of miles above Earth means the Falcon 9 booster will head for touchdown on SpaceX\u2019s recovery ship in the Atlantic Ocean about nine minutes after blastoff.<\/p>\n

The landing maneuver is part of SpaceX\u2019s initiative to recover and reuse rocket boosters, an achievement the company says will cut the cost of launch services.<\/p>\n

SpaceX has recovered five Falcon 9 boosters on 10 attempts to land the rocket at sea or back at Cape Canaveral. One of the previously-flown rockets is supposed to fly again later this year on another satellite deployment mission.<\/p>\n

Officials have not announced which mission will be the first to fly with a used Falcon 9 first stage.<\/p>\n

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

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

File photo of a static fire test before a previous Falcon 9 launch. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX technicians planned to connect a Japanese communications satellite to the tip of a Falcon 9 rocket as soon as Thursday, eyeing a launch from Cape Canaveral just after midnight Sunday. Fixed on top of Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 40 launch […]<\/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":[1736,1573,479,3635,377,3629,991,311],"class_list":["post-15321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-complex-40","tag-drone-ship","tag-falcon-9","tag-falcon-9-flight-28","tag-japan","tag-jcsat-16","tag-of-course-i-still-love-you","tag-reusability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15321"}],"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=15321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}