SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch with Arabsat Reset for Tuesday:
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch with the ArabSat 6A satellite aboard has been reset for Tuesday after a test fire was completed Friday, SpaceX has confirmed.
The launch window was previously 6:36 to 8:35 p.m. EDT Sunday, based on airspace closure warnings. A similar time is expected for the new date. Delays or postponements can happen because of weather, technical problems or other issues.
Arabsat 6A is a communications satellite for the Riyahd, Saudi Arabia-based company of the same name. It is to lift off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
[...] On the Falcon Heavy's maiden voyage into space in February 2018, also on a Tuesday, an estimated 100,000 visitors came to watch. That launch had the additional pizzazz of being the biggest rocket since the Saturn era ended in the 1970s. It was carrying Elon Musk's red Tesla Roadster with the crash dummy Starman at the wheel.
Two side boosters will attempt to fly back to twin landing pads at Kennedy Space Center.
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[Update #2] (2019-04-10 7:30pm EDT (23:30 UTC))
This launch has been scrubbed until tomorrow. :
"Standing down from today’s Falcon Heavy launch attempt; next opportunity is tomorrow, April 11."
New launch window is: "Thursday, April 11 at 6:35 p.m. EDT, or 22:35 UTC, and closes at 8:31 p.m. EDT, or 00:31 UTC on Friday, April 12"
[Update #1] (2019-04-10 8:40pm EDT (22:40 UTC)):
It appears the launch has been delayed 85 minutes from 6:35pm EDT (22:35 UTC) until 8:00pm EDT (00:00 UTC on 2019-04-11); see the tweet:
Falcon Heavy and Arabsat-6A are vertical on Launch Complex 39A. Currently targeting liftoff at 8:00 p.m. EDT; monitoring upper-level winds that could push us to the end of the window (8:32 p.m. EDT)
Also noted on SpaceX's webcast page:
SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, April 10 for a Falcon Heavy launch of the Arabsat-6A satellite from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for 8:00 p.m. EDT, or 00:00 UTC on April 11, and the launch window closes at 8:32 p.m. EDT, or 00:32 UTC on April 11. A backup launch window opens on Thursday, April 11 at 6:35 p.m. EDT, or 22:35 UTC, and closes at 8:31 p.m. EDT, or 00:31 UTC on Friday, April 12. The satellite will be deployed approximately 34 minutes after liftoff.
Following booster separation, Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters will attempt to land at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 and LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Falcon Heavy’s center core will attempt to land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
You can watch a webcast of the launch below, which will start about 20 minutes before liftoff, and find out more about the mission in our press kit (pdf).
Original story follows.
For only the second time ever, and the first time with a commercial payload (Arabsat-6A), SpaceX is planning to launch its Falcon Heavy (FH) rocket today. The launch was rescheduled from April 7th and April 9th. The FH is currently the most powerful rocket in the world. According to Wikipedia, the:
Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX. It is derived from the Falcon 9 vehicle and consists of a strengthened Falcon 9 first stage as a central core with two additional first stages as strap-on boosters. Falcon Heavy has the highest payload capacity of any currently operational launch vehicle, and the fourth-highest capacity of any rocket ever built, trailing the American Saturn V and the Soviet Energia and N1.
SpaceX conducted Falcon Heavy's maiden launch on February 6, 2018, at 3:45 p.m. EST (20:45 UTC). The rocket carried a Tesla Roadster belonging to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, as a dummy payload.
From an article at Teslarati, SpaceX to Livestream Falcon Heavy Block 5 Launch Debut Today:
SpaceX is half a day away from the planned launch debut of Falcon Heavy Block 5, a milestone that will also be the rocket's second launch ever and first mission with a commercial payload.
First and foremost, Falcon Heavy's job is to safely place the Saudi Arabian communications satellite Arabsat 6A into a high-energy geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) more than 35,000 km (~22,000 mi) above Earth's surface. Despite the satellite weighing no less than 6000 kg (13,200 lb), Falcon Heavy will still have enough latent performance to attempt the recovery of all three of its new Block 5 boosters. With any luck, this will hopefully return SpaceX's East Coast landing zones (LZ-1 and LZ-2) to successful operations after an anomaly in December 2018 caused Falcon 9 B1051 to landing a mile or so offshore.
[...] This time around, Falcon Heavy will be made entirely out of Block 5 hardware, including three new boosters (likely B1052, B1053, and B1055), a Block 5 upper stage with a Merlin Vacuum engine, and a recovery-optimized "Version 2" payload fairing. Altogether, Falcon Heavy likely weighs upwards of 80,000 kg (175,000 lb) empty and more than 1,420 metric tons (3,125,000 lb) when fully fueled. At liftoff, the Falcon Heavy Block 5 rocket's 27 Merlin 1D engines are expected to produce no less than 5.1 million pounds (~2300 mT/23,000 kN) of thrust at full throttle, but that figure could rise as high as 5.6 million pounds (2550 mT/25,500 kN) of thrust depending on how one interprets rather vague official numbers from CEO Elon Musk.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 08 2019, @03:24AM (2 children)
This launch uses Block 5 boosters and an "octoweb" structure, making it substantially different in some ways.
The first launch was great PR, but we have had talk in recent weeks of shifting work from the Space Launch System to Falcon Heavy. Non-U.S. countries [soylentnews.org] were already talking about using Falcon Heavy for LOP-G, no SLS pretense.
The Arabsat payload should not require Heavy; Falcon 9 should be sufficient. This is a demo for the U.S. government and to a lesser extent other potential customers.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 08 2019, @09:45AM (1 child)
At 6000 kg, Arabsat exceeds the demonstrated ability of Falcon 9 to launch in a recoverable mode. SpaceX would much rather use fully recoverable Falcon Heavy than expendable Falcon 9. This is likely cheaper for the customer as well. The only use for expendable Falcon 9 is for US military missions, who (I think) are still trying to pretend that the Space Shuttle is the only way to do reusable space flights.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 08 2019, @03:32PM
If true, I'd like to see SpaceX update their official pricing [spacex.com].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 08 2019, @09:36AM (1 child)
That allowed not even as much time as it often takes Falcon 9 to get ready. Falcon Heavy, being more complex, higher profile and making only its second flight, was never realistically going to be ready that soon. Not sure why they were even pretending.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 08 2019, @12:32PM
https://spacenews.com/arabsat-falcon-heavy-mission-slated-for-december-january-timeframe/ [spacenews.com]
That was not the first delay.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]