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<\/p>\nAt 9:02 PM EST on January 18 (02:02 UTC on January 19), SpaceX launched another batch of 49 Starlink satellites to orbit aboard a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This launch time was an approximately 2-hour delay from the original target of 7:04 PM EST (00:02 UTC), which was forfeited in favor of the latter launch time prior to beginning the countdown.<\/p>\n
This was the third mission for SpaceX in 2022, as the company had already launched the Starlink Group 4-5 and Transporter-3 missions this month. In addition, this mission marked a quick turnaround for LC-39A, as Starlink Group 4-5 also launched from the same pad on January 6.\n<\/p>\n
This launch also followed a similar trajectory to the last Starlink launch, flying southeast from Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n
Starlink is SpaceX\u2019s broadband internet constellation in low Earth orbit, with an operational altitude of around 550 km. Each satellite features a single solar panel and uses Hall thrusters for propulsion.<\/p>\n
In preparation for the mission, SpaceX\u2019s newest autonomous spaceport drone ship, named \u201cA Shortfall of Gravitas,\u201d departed Port Canaveral on January 13, right as the Transporter-3 mission was lifting off from SLC-40.<\/p>\n
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A Shortfall of Gravitas arrives at Port Canaveral for the first time in July 2021. (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF\/L2)<\/p>\n
The former barge was converted to a drone ship in Port Fourchon, LA, and work was completed in mid-2021. It is also known as MARMAC 302. Both \u201cA Shortfall of Gravitas\u201d and \u201cJust Read The Instructions\u201d are based out of Port Canaveral, while \u201dOf Course I Still Love You\u201d is based in California.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The drone ship \u201cA Shortfall of Gravitas\u201d was last deployed on the Starlink Group 4-5 mission.<\/p>\n
SpaceX launch tickets (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n On January 15, the SpaceX recovery ship named Doug departed Port Canaveral for the recovery zone. The ship is named after Demo-2 Astronaut Doug Hurley and is tasked with recovering the fairings from the ocean.<\/p>\n The Group 4-6 mission was originally targeted for January 17 local time, but was delayed 24 hours in order to take advantage of more favorable weather conditions.<\/p>\n This Starlink mission, like the last, took a southeastern trajectory, likely to aid first stage recovery efforts. This is believed to be an effort to avoid the rough weather in the Atlantic Ocean towards the northeast in the winter months.<\/p>\n Past Starlink missions had their recovery zone off the coast of the Carolinas. For the Group 4-6 mission, the drone ship was stationed near the Abacos Islands in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n The booster supporting this mission is B1060-10, which made its tenth flight and is the fourth booster to reach this milestone. The booster first launched in June 2020 for the GPS III SV03 mission and subsequently flew on Starlink missions, Turksat-5A, and Transporter-2.<\/p>\n This Falcon 9 last launched on December 2, 2021 on the Starlink Group 4-3 mission, making this a turnaround of a little more than a month for this specific booster.<\/p>\n Falcon 9 B1060 launches the Starlink Group 4-3 mission in December 2021. (Credit: Stephen Marr for NSF)<\/p>\n The Falcon 9 was rolled out from the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) to the launch pad at LC-39A on January 16.<\/p>\n Launch<\/p>\n The launch sequence begins when the launch auto sequence is initiated on the Falcon 9 at T-35 minutes prior to launch. At the same time, fuel loading starts on the launch vehicle with RP-1 Kerosene loading on both the first and second stages. Loading of Liquid Oxygen (LOX) is also started on the first stage.<\/p>\n At T-20 minutes, the Transporter Erector (TE) conducts a large vent to purge propellant lines as the loading of RP-1 is completed. Four minutes later, LOX loading on the second stage begins.<\/p>\n At the seven minute mark before liftoff, the nine Merlin 1D engines on the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket begin to be chilled down in preparation for launch. This prevents thermal shock on the nine engines from the Falcon 9\u2019s super-chilled propellants.<\/p>\n Around four minutes and 25 seconds prior to launch, the TE starts to retract from the launch vehicle.<\/p>\n Each of the tanks on both stages on the launch vehicle continue to be topped off with liquid propellants up until the T-two minutes mark. This is followed by the Falcon 9 entering \u201cstartup,\u201d which is when the control of the vehicle is handed off to the rocket\u2019s onboard computers.<\/p>\n Ignition of the nine Merlin 1D engines occurs at the T-3 seconds mark. At T-0, the hold-down clamps on the pad release, and the Falcon 9 is underway. Also, at launch, the TE retracts further, protecting it from the launch.<\/p>\n As it ascends, the Falcon 9 pitches downrange and rolls to the proper launch azimuth to align the vehicle on an inclination of 53.2 degrees. Around one minute and 12 seconds after launch, the rocket experienced Maximum Aerodynamic Pressure, or Max-Q, when the vehicle experienced the maximum aerodynamic loads.<\/p>\n A Falcon 9 rocket ascends towards space during the Starlink Group 4-5 mission. (Credit: Stephen Marr for NSF\/L2)<\/p>\n Around two minutes and 32 seconds into flight, the nine Merlin 1D engines shut down in an event known as Main Engine Cut Off or MECO. This was followed by stage separation.<\/p>\n The single Merlin vacuum engine, or MVac, on the second stage ignited around T+ two minutes and 42 seconds into flight.<\/p>\n Next, the fairings separated, which protect the Starlink satellites from the aerodynamic forces in the dense parts of the atmosphere. At around the same time, the four titanium grid fins on the first stage deployed.<\/p>\n At around T+ six minutes and 47 seconds into flight, the entry burn occurred on the first stage of the Falcon 9. For this burn, three Merlin 1D engines were used. After this burn was completed, the grid fins helped steer the first stage as it descends.<\/p>\n The first stage of Falcon 9 then landed on \u201cA Shortfall of Gravitas\u201d around nine minutes after launch. Simultaneously, the single MVac engine shut down.<\/p>\n After landing, a robot called Octagrabber exits a shelter on the drone ship and secures and safes the successfully landed Falcon 9 booster.<\/p>\n Around 15 minutes after launch, the 49 Starlink satellites separated from the second stage into their initial orbit. Each satellite will then individually maneuver to their operational orbits over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n (Lead image: Falcon 9 streaks southeast from Cape Canaveral. Credit: Brady Kenniston for NSF)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At 9:02 PM EST on January 18 (02:02 UTC on January 19), SpaceX launched another batch of 49 Starlink satellites to orbit aboard a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This launch time was an approximately 2-hour delay from the original target of 7:04 PM EST (00:02 […]<\/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":[7853,479,7766,766,316,440],"class_list":["post-24724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-f9","tag-falcon-9","tag-ksc","tag-lc-39a","tag-spacex","tag-starlink"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24724"}],"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=24724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/prev.jpg\")
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