Mission Overview
With this mission, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will deliver 11 satellites to low-Earth orbit for ORBCOMM, a leading global provider of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. The ORBCOMM launch is targeted for an evening launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. If all goes as planned, the 11 satellites will be deployed approximately 20 minutes after liftoff, completing a 17-satellite, low Earth orbit constellation for ORBCOMM.
This mission also marks SpaceX’s return-to-flight as well as its first attempt to land a first stage on land. The landing of the first stage is a secondary test objective.
SpaceX will try to launch and land the first stage of a rocket LIVE today at 8:29 PM EST.
This marks the first time the Falcon 9 has flown since it's failure in June because of a faulty strut.
Watch Here: SpaceX websiteWatch THE COUNTDOWN Here: my streamReturn to Launch Site AttemptFor the first time, we are expecting SpaceX to make an attempt to land the first stage of Falcon back at land, specifically, Landing Zone 1 (a.k.a. Landing Complex 1, a.k.a. Launch Complex 13) - this is called RTLS (Return To Launch/Landing Site). This will occur following stage separation and 3 burns of the Merlin 1D engines to guide it home, at approximately T+8 to T+11 minutes. This is called an RTLS launch profile, which stands for Return To Launch/Landing Site. This will be streamed live on the webcast!
If in the event that the land landing is called off, we have recieved conflicting reports about the first stage either landing on the ASDS "Of Course I Still Love You", or landing downrange in a propulsive ocean landing (much like CASSIOPE, CRS-3, Orbcomm OG2 Launch 1, & DSCOVR). The latter is now considered more likely.
Saying all of this, there is no guarantee of success here, it's all just an experiment (admittedly, one SpaceX have turned into a pretty fine art recently!), and failure to land the first stage does not constitute a failure of the mission. Remember, this has never been done before.
EVENTS BEFORE LIFTOFF- 00:34 Launch Conductor takes launch readiness poll
- 00:30 RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) and liquid oxygen (LOX) loading underway
- 00:10 Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch
- 00:02 Range Control Officer (USAF) verifies range is go for launch
- 00:01:30 SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch
- 00:01 Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks
- 00:01 Pressurize propellant tanks
- 00:00:03 Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start
- 00:00:00 Falcon 9 liftoff
EVENTS AFTER LIFTOFF00:01 Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
00:02:20 1st stage engine shutdown/main engine cutoff (MECO)
00:02:24 1st and 2nd stages separate
00:02:35 2nd stage engine starts
00:04 1st stage boostback burn
00:08 1st stage re-entry burn
00:10 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO)
00:10 1st stage landing
00:12 Fairing deployment
00:15 ORBCOMM satellites begin deployment
00:20 ORBCOMM satellites end deployment
00:26 1st satellite completes antenna & solar array deployment & starts transmitting
00:31 All satellites complete antenna & solar array deployment & start transmitting
FAQ- Why not parachutes? spacex is dumb for making this so complicated hurr, they could save fuel with parachutes.
SpaceX experimented with using parachutes in the past (mainly for their Falcon 1 vehicles), but parachutes are poorly suited to this application, as extreme speeds and loads cause them to shred. Parachutes large enough to recover the stage are also quite heavy, a weight which could be used for fuel for a propulsive landing and for primary mission assurance. Parachutes are also not steerable.
Essentially, this becomes a problem of people overestimating the amount of fuel required to bring the stage back, underestimating the weight of the parachute system (which would be in the hundreds of kilograms at least), and underestimating the fragility and controllability of a parachute system.
- Will SpaceX reuse the first core to return successfully?
Though no one knows for sure, consensus seems to be that the first core(s) recovered will be disassembled for a thorough brown townysis of stress and wear caused by re-entry. At some point testing of recovered cores will involve relaunching them, and then if all goes well, using them to fly actual paying contracts.
- What is the ASDS and how many are there?
The ASDS, or Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, is an ocean-going, barge-derived, floating landing platform used by SpaceX began as landing platforms for boosters recovery at sea. The original ASDS that has been used for all landing attempts in the first half of 2015 was the Marmac 300, which was named by Elon Musk as Just Read The Instructions. In mid 2015, Marmac 300 was returned to the owners (the barges are only rented), and SpaceX took delivery of Marmac 303 and Marmac 304. Marmac 304 is currently on the East Coast for catching stages launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This barge has been named Of Course I Still Love You. Marmac 303 was bought through the Panama Cbrown town to the West Coast and moored at LA, in order to catch future stages launched from Vandenberg, California. This barge has not yet been named, but speculation is that it may again be named Just Read The Instructions. The names are references to ships from the late Ian M. Banks' Culture novels.
- If they succeed how much could they lower launch costs?
Currently, a Falcon 9 launch is $61.2 million (rocket fuel makes up 0.3% of that at about $200,000). Obviously the true cost of a launch will depend on how many times they can reuse the stage - which is still up for debate. But taking some educated guesses and quoting SpaceX officials, reusing just the first stage, they could possibly get a Falcon 9 launch down to ~$18 million per launch. If reusing both stages, launch could cost ~$5-7 million.
- How does SpaceX plan to recover Falcon boosters?
Early reusability experiments all followed a similar plan. After stage separation, SpaceX will rotate the first stage so that the engines are facing in the direction that the booster is flying. Three engines will relight, burning to slowing the stage down, until its trajectory comes near the landing platform. This burn is known as the boostback burn, since it pushes the booster back uprange towards the launch site. After the boostback burn is complete, the four grid fins deploy; they are used to guide the booster through the hypersonic region of the reentry. Then, immediately before reentry, the three engines reignite so the booster can reenter the atmosphere at a safe speed. This is known as the reentry burn since it happens during reentry. After the reentry burn has completed and the booster is within the atmosphere, the stage will continue to fall under gravity, slowing the whole time due to air resistance, until it is at terminal velocity (the fastest speed it will reach, due to the opposing forces of gravity and aerodynamic drag). A few hundred meters above the surface of the ocean, the single center will reignite again to slow the booster to a stop, aiming to reach zero meters per second at the exact point that the altitude reaches zero. The booster cannot hover; this is because the thrust from even a single Merlin engine, throttled down to its minimum thrust of 70%, is greater than the weight of the booster. SpaceX has published an infographic detailing a representative launch-to-landing profile of the Falcon 9 for drone ship landings.
More FAQ at:
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/wiki/faqExcellent website for all things SpaceX:
http://spacexstats.comVIDEO OF THE LANDING
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