SpaceX counts all the way down to Eutelsat’s late-night launch – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX is ready to launch a Falcon 9 rocket early Thursday from Cape Canaveral aboard Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13G tv broadcast satellite tv for pc. The rise is aimed on the finish of the in a single day launch window at 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT). The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will purpose to land the drone within the Atlantic Ocean.

Floor crews rolled the Falcon 9 to pad 40 on the Cape Canaveral Area Power Station on Wednesday, the day after SpaceX launched the highly effective Falcon Heavy rocket from pad 39A a couple of miles up the coast. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 was lifted vertically on pad 40 Wednesday afternoon forward of the in a single day launch window.

Forecasters on the US Area Power’s forty fifth Climate Squadron are predicting a 90% probability of excellent climate for the flight, with solely a small probability of cumulus clouds that might create a lightning risk.

Constructed by Airbus, the practically 10,000-pound (4.5-meter-ton) Hotbird 13G spacecraft will broadcast a whole lot of tv and radio channels throughout Europe, the Center East and North Africa. Hotbird 13G is the dual satellite tv for pc of Hotbird 13F, which launched on October 15 on the earlier SpaceX Falcon 9 mission. The 2 Hotbirds are the primary satellites constructed on Airbus’ new Eurostar Neo spacecraft design, incorporating upgrades to propulsion, thermal administration and electrical methods.

Throughout Thursday morning’s countdown, the Falcon 9 launch pad will likely be full of 1,000,000 kilos of kerosene and liquid oxygen engines 35 minutes earlier than liftoff.

After the groups confirm that the technical and climate parameters are all “inexperienced” for launch, the primary stage booster’s 9 Merlin 1D foremost engines will likely be fired with the assistance of an ignition fluid referred to as triethylaluminum/triethylborane, or TEA-TEB. Because the engines ramp as much as full throttle, the hydraulic clamps will open to carry the Falcon 9 into area.

The 9 foremost engines will produce 1.7 million kilos of thrust in about two and a half minutes, propelling the Falcon 9 and Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13G communications satellite tv for pc into the higher environment. Then the booster stage, tail quantity B1067 in SpaceX’s fleet, will shut down and separate from the Falcon 9’s higher stage.

The booster will prolong its titanium mesh fins and pulse chilly gasoline thrusters to orient itself for a tail-first entry into the environment earlier than re-igniting its engines for braking and a closing touchdown burn, aiming for a vertical descent to the Simply Learn Directions drone stationed close to Cape Canaveral. 420 miles (about 675 kilometers) to the east.

A profitable touchdown of the rocket on a drone would mark the booster’s seventh flight into area. The booster debuted on June 3, 2021, with the launch of the Dragon cargo mission to the Worldwide Area Station and despatched two crews of astronauts into area on NASA’s Crew-3 and Crew-4 missions. It additionally launched the Turksat 5B communications satellite tv for pc, one other area station refueling mission, and most not too long ago, a batch of Starlink web satellites on September 18.

For the Hotbird 13G mission, the Falcon 9 rocket will hearth its higher stage engine twice to inject the spacecraft into an elliptical geostationary switch orbit with an apogee, or excessive level, greater than 30,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) from Earth.

Hotbird 13G will separate from the Falcon 9 rocket about 36 minutes later.

After being deployed from a Falcon 9 launcher to start its journey into geostationary orbit, Hotbird 13G deploys its photo voltaic panels and makes use of PPS5000 plasma orbital lifters developed by the French firm Safran for multi-month orbital carry maneuvers past round geostationary orbit. to realize. 22,000 miles (about 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.

The fuel-efficient plasma propulsion system depends on xenon gasoline and electrical energy to generate thrust, quite than typical liquid rocket gasoline like hydrazine. That reduces the satellite tv for pc’s weight, permitting engineers to launch with a smaller rocket or add further payloads to offer extra communication capability for purchasers.

Nonetheless, elevating to orbit utilizing electrical propulsion takes longer than maneuvers primarily based on typical rocket engines.

Hotbird 13G, like its predecessor, Hotbird 13F, will orbit in lockstep with the Earth’s rotation at 13 levels east longitude.

By the center of subsequent yr, Hotbird 13G ought to be able to enter industrial service to start a 15-year mission to broadcast tv packages to Eutelsat prospects. Due to enhancements in satellite tv for pc communications expertise, Eutelsat will solely want two new Hotbird satellites to interchange the three growing old Hotbird spacecraft working at 13 levels east.

Eutelsat’s Chief Technical Officer Pascal Homsy stated the Hotbird fleet at 13 levels east is the very best capability satellite tv for pc broadcast system overlaying the Europe, Center East and North Africa area, delivering 1,000 TV channels to greater than 160 million houses. Hotbird 13F and 13G alerts will broadcast on Ku-band frequencies.

“Now we have greater than 600 pay TV channels, 300 free-to-air channels, 450 high-definition TV and 14 ultra-high-definition channels broadcast from this prime place at 13 levels east,” Homsi stated earlier than the launch of Hotbird 13F final month. “We will additionally present 500 radio stations and multimedia providers.”

The launch of Hotbird 13G will mark SpaceX’s 51st mission in 2022, and the second in a sequence of three Falcon 9 flights for Eutelsat. The Eutelsat 10B communications satellite tv for pc, designed to offer in-flight web to airline passengers, was shipped from Europe to Cape Canaveral final week for launch on a Falcon 9 rocket later this month.

HRITIT: Falcon 9 (B1067.7)

LOADING. Hotbird 13G communications satellite tv for pc

LAUNCH SITE. SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Area Power Station, Florida

START DATE: November 2/3, 2022

LAUNCH WINDOW: 11:26 PM – 1:22 AM EDT (0326-0522 GMT)

WEATHER FORECAST: 90% probability of acceptable climate

BOOSTER RECOVERY. “Simply learn the directions” drone ship

LAUNCH AZIMUTH: East

Goal orbit. Geostationary switch orbit

START TIME:

• T+00:00: Rise
• T+01:12. Most aerodynamic stress (Max-Q)
• T+02:32. First Stage Essential Engine Shutdown (MECO)
• T+02:35: Stage break up
• T+02:43. Second stage engine ignition
• T+03:23. Fairing jettison
• T+06:30. First Stage Inlet Combustion Ignition (Three Engines)
• T+06:55. The primary part entry burn is full
• T+08:08. Second Stage Engine Shutdown (SECO 1)
• T+08:22. Touchdown stage burn ignition (single engine)
• T+08:44: First stage touchdown
• T+29:11. Second stage engine restart
• T+30:10. Second Stage Engine Shutdown (SECO 2)
• T+36:11: Hotbird 13G separation

Mission statistics.

• The 184th launch of the Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
• 193rd launch of the Falcon rocket household since 2006
• Launch 7 of Falcon 9 Booster B1067
• Falcon 9’s 157th launch from Florida’s Area Coast
• The 102nd Falcon 9 launch from pad 40
• 157th general launch from platform 40
• The one hundred and twenty fifth flight of the Falcon 9 reusable booster
• SpaceX’s 4th launch for Eutelsat
• Falcon 9’s fiftieth launch in 2022
• 51st launch by SpaceX in 2022
• forty eighth orbital launch try primarily based out of Cape Canaveral in 2022

El the writer.

Comply with Stephen Clarke on Twitter: @StephenClark1:.