{"id":16393,"date":"2015-04-17T01:02:30","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T17:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/no-time-wasted-in-spacexs-rapid-fire-launch-campaign\/"},"modified":"2015-04-17T01:02:30","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T17:02:30","slug":"no-time-wasted-in-spacexs-rapid-fire-launch-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/no-time-wasted-in-spacexs-rapid-fire-launch-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"No time wasted in SpaceX\u2019s rapid-fire launch campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated with new launch date.<\/p>\n

\"File
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket inside SpaceX\u2019s hangar at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hours after launching a batch of cargo and provisions to the International Space Station on Tuesday, SpaceX ground teams wheeled another Falcon 9 rocket into the hangar at Cape Canaveral for a commercial satellite launch set for April 27.<\/p>\n

If engineers complete preparations on the rocket in time, SpaceX will eclipse its own record and launch two Falcon 9 rockets 13 days apart. SpaceX achieved a 14-day turnaround at its Cape Canaveral launch pad in September 2014.<\/p>\n

The next rocket\u2019s first and second stages are now inside the hangar at the southern perimeter of SpaceX\u2019s Complex 40 launch pad for final testing, according to sources familiar with the launch preparations. Workers will connect the rocket stages together, then the Falcon 9 will be rolled out of the integration building and rotated vertical for a static fire test of the rocket\u2019s nine Merlin main engines as early as Monday.<\/p>\n

The launcher\u2019s European-built communications payload and nose cone will join the Falcon 9 next week.<\/p>\n

The rocket\u2019s payload is the TurkmenAlem52E communications satellite, a relay station manufactured in France by Thales Alenia Space for the government of Turkmenistan.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft arrived at Cape Canaveral on Feb. 26 after a trans-Atlantic flight from the Thales factory in Cannes, France. Since it touched down in Florida, the satellite has been fueled with propellants for in-space maneuvers, and it completed a final regimen of ground tests.<\/p>\n

The Turkmen satellite was supposed to blast off March 21, but SpaceX stood down from the launch over concerns with flawed high-pressure helium tanks in the company\u2019s factory in Hawthorne, California.<\/p>\n

After resolving the issue, SpaceX shuffled its launch manifest, electing to launch its next space station resupply flight first, then shift attention to the TurkmenAlem52E mission.<\/p>\n

Officials hoped to launch the Turkmen spacecraft April 24, but an official with Thales Alenia Space \u2014 the craft\u2019s manufacturer \u2014 said Thursday the liftoff was rescheduled for April 27.<\/p>\n

\"Artist's
Artist\u2019s concept of the TurkmenAlem52E\/MonacoSat satellite. Credit: Thales Alenia Space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The satellite \u2014 enclosed within the Falcon 9\u2019s 17-foot diameter payload shroud \u2014 will be rolled over from SpaceX\u2019s payload processing facility to the Complex 40 hangar a few days before liftoff.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s second stage will propel the 4,500-kilogram, or 9,920-pound, satellite into geostationary transfer orbit. The spacecraft\u2019s own propulsion system will circularize its orbit at an altitude of 22,300 miles over the equator a few weeks later.<\/p>\n

The high-altitude destination for the hefty communications satellite will take up most of the Falcon 9\u2019s fuel, leaving no reserve for a controlled descent and landing attempt for the first stage booster.<\/p>\n

The craft will be parked at 52 degrees east longitude in the belt of geostationary satellites, hovering over a fixed position to relay communications signals.<\/p>\n

The satellite is also named MonacoSat because Monaco has rights to the 52 degrees east slot to be occupied by the Turkmen satellite. In exchange for permitting the spacecraft to reside there, Monaco\u2019s government secured the use of 12 Ku-band transponders on the satellite.<\/p>\n

Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES signed an agreement with Space Systems International Monaco, an entity licensed by Monaco\u2019s government, to commercialize the 12 Ku-band transponders.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce operational in orbit, TurkmenAlem52E\/MonacoSat will allow Turkmenistan to operate its first national satellite telecommunications system, ensuring enhanced, secure telecommunications for the country,\u201d Thales wrote in a mission summary posted on the company\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

SpaceX has fired off four Falcon 9 rockets since the beginning of the year, sending up two unmanned Dragon capsules to the space station, a NOAA space weather observatory to an operating post a million miles from Earth, and a pair of futuristic communications satellites wholly powered by ion drive engines.<\/p>\n

The rapid-fire launch cadence so far this year matches the flight rate of United Launch Alliance, SpaceX\u2019s main competitor in the U.S. market. SpaceX\u2019s top rival in the global commercial launch business is Arianespace, which has logged two successful launches in 2015.<\/p>\n

ULA and Arianespace have a packed slate of missions in the coming months, and SpaceX expects a two-month gap in Falcon 9 launches after the liftoff April 24.<\/p>\n

SpaceX has more than a dozen launches on its manifest for 2015, including the launches already accomplished.<\/p>\n

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

Updated with new launch date. File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket inside SpaceX\u2019s hangar at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX Hours after launching a batch of cargo and provisions to the International Space Station on Tuesday, SpaceX ground teams wheeled another Falcon 9 rocket into the hangar at Cape Canaveral for a commercial satellite 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":[479,4073,1542,316,874,4074],"class_list":["post-16393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-falcon-9","tag-falcon-9-flight-17","tag-space-launch-complex-40","tag-spacex","tag-thales-alenia-space","tag-turkmenalem52e-monacosat"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16393"}],"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=16393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}