{"id":15494,"date":"2016-05-25T18:45:47","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T10:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/timeline-for-falcon-9s-launch-of-the-thaicom-8-satellite\/"},"modified":"2016-05-25T18:45:47","modified_gmt":"2016-05-25T10:45:47","slug":"timeline-for-falcon-9s-launch-of-the-thaicom-8-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/timeline-for-falcon-9s-launch-of-the-thaicom-8-satellite\/","title":{"rendered":"Timeline for Falcon 9\u2019s launch of the Thaicom 8 satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s fifth flight of the year will take off from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, heaving the Thaicom 8 communications satellite into orbit on an easterly trajectory from Florida\u2019s Space Coast.<\/p>\n

It will take about 32 minutes to inject the approximately 6,800-pound (3,100-kilogram) spacecraft into a highly elliptical geostationary transfer orbit on the way to the satellite\u2019s final perch 22,300 miles (35,700 kilometers) at 78.5 degrees east longitude over the equator.<\/p>\n

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket is poised for launch from Complex 40 at 5:40 p.m. EDT (2140 GMT) Thursday at the opening of a 120-minute launch window.<\/p>\n

The Thaicom 8 communications satellite, manufactured by Orbital ATK and based on the company\u2019s GEOStar 2 platform, is kicking off a 15-year mission to ready to broadcast television signals and data services to clients in Thailand, India and Africa.<\/p>\n

The timeline below outlines the launch sequence for the Falcon 9 flight with Thaicom 8. It does not include times for the descent and landing attempt of the first stage booster, a secondary objective.<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s landing platform is positioned about 420 miles (680 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral for the first stage landing attempt, which is expected around 9 minutes after liftoff. Exact times for the recovery maneuvers were not released by SpaceX.<\/p>\n

Data source: SpaceX<\/strong><\/p>\n

T-0:00:00: Liftoff<\/b><\/p>\n

\"After
After the rocket\u2019s nine Merlin engines pass an automated health check, hold-down clamps will release the Falcon 9 booster for liftoff from Complex 40.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:01:10: Mach 1<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Mach 1, the speed of sound.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:01:17: Max Q<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9 rocket reaches Max Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:35: MECO<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s nine Merlin 1D engines shut down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:39: Stage 1 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s first stage separates from the second stage moments after MECO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:02:46: First Ignition of Second Stage<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The second stage Merlin 1D vacuum engine ignites for an approximately 6-minute burn to put the rocket and Thaicom 8 into a preliminary parking orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:03:37: Fairing Jettison<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The 5.2-meter (17.1-foot) diameter payload fairing jettisons once the Falcon 9 rocket ascends through the dense lower atmosphere. The 43-foot-tall fairing is made of two clamshell-like halves composed of carbon fiber with an aluminum honeycomb core.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:08:56: SECO 1<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket shuts down after reaching a preliminary low-altitude orbit. The upper stage and Thaicom 8 begin a coast phase scheduled to last more than 18 minutes before the second stage Merlin vacuum engine reignites.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:27:07: Second Ignition of Second Stage<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Falcon 9\u2019s second stage Merlin engine restarts to propel the Thaicom 8 communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:28:20: SECO 2<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Merlin engine shuts down after a short burn to put the Thaicom satellite in the proper orbit for deployment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+0:31:56: Thaicom 8 Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

\"The
The Thaicom 8 satellite separates from the Falcon 9 rocket in a geostationary transfer orbit. SpaceX and Thaicom have not released the exact orbit targeted on this launch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

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

The Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s fifth flight of the year will take off from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, heaving the Thaicom 8 communications satellite into orbit on an easterly trajectory from Florida\u2019s Space Coast. It will take about 32 minutes to inject the approximately 6,800-pound (3,100-kilogram) spacecraft into a highly elliptical geostationary transfer orbit on the […]<\/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":[1736,1573,479,3693,2469,2899,311,316],"class_list":["post-15494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-complex-40","tag-drone-ship","tag-falcon-9","tag-falcon-9-flight-25","tag-geostar-2","tag-orbital-atk","tag-reusability","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15494"}],"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=15494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}