GovSat-1 (SES-16) - Falcon 9 - Canaveral SLC-40 - 31.01.2018 21:25 UTC

[tnt22]

01/30/2018 18:26 Stephen Clark

The launch day weather forecast continues to predict gusty northerly winds along Florida's Space Coast will present a challenge for SpaceX's launch team, but there's hope the winds will become more favorable throughout the afternoon and evening.

Спойлер

The Falcon 9 rocket was rolled out to launch pad 40 overnight and raised vertical in readiness for today's flight with GovSat 1, a military-grade telecom satellite funded and developed by a public-private joint venture between SES and the Luxembourg government.

Today's launch window opens at 4:25 p.m. EST (2125 GMT) and extends until 6:46 p.m. EST (2346 GMT).

The only weather concern going into today's mission -- SpaceX's second launch of 2018 -- is with winds that could exceed the rocket's weather constraints.

"Partly cloudy skies with upper-level jet stream cirrus will remain over the Space Coast for most of today," the U.S. Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron wrote in an outlook issued this morning. "Gusty, northerly winds over the spaceport will peak from 1100-1400 EST (11 a.m.-2 p.m. EST). Winds will gradually shift more easterly and subside through the launch window."

The forecast indicates there is a 60 percent chance the windy conditions will exceed launch weather constraints at the opening of the window, diminishing to a 40 percent probability of the winds preventing a launch later in the window.

Maximum upper level winds will be from the west at 110 knots near 40,000 feet.

Mostly clear skies are forecast, with good visibility and a temperature of around 60 degrees Fahrenheit during the launch window.

Better weather is predicted Wednesday, with a 90 percent chance of conditions favorable for liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket.

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[tnt22]

01/30/2018 22:40 Stephen Clark

T-minus 1 hour, 45 minutes and counting. Good afternoon fr om the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a few miles away fr om launch pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, wh ere a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is awaiting liftoff this afternoon with the GovSat 1 communications satellite.

The countdown could be paused at T-minus 90 minutes to allow ground winds to diminish here on Florida's Space Coast. Winds are brisk out of the north at this time and close to the Falcon 9's launch commit criteria lim it.

Forecasters expect wind speeds to diminish throughout the evening, and today's launch window extends until 6:46 p.m. EST (2346 GMT).

At 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT), the wind speeds at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility runway a few miles from pad 40 were clocked gusting to 28 mph.

[tnt22]

James Dean‏Подлинная учетная запись @flatoday_jdean 5 мин. назад

SpaceX's F9/#GovSat1 launch has been pushed back to no earlier than 5:30pm ET while launch team monitors strong ground winds. Window to 6:46pm.

[tnt22]

Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 6 мин. назад

22:30 UTC is the new NET target for today's #Falcon9 launch with #SES16 / #GovSat1. Reason is ground winds.

01/30/2018 22:53 New launch time

As expected, the countdown has been reset to allow ground winds to become more favorable at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This means liftoff will not occur at 4:25 p.m. EST (2125 GMT), the opening of today's launch window.

Countdown clocks at the spaceport are now ticking toward a target launch time of 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT).

[tnt22]

James Dean‏Подлинная учетная запись @flatoday_jdean 51 сек. назад

SCRUB. SpaceX has scrubbed today's launch attempt, plans to try again Wednesday with the same window. #GovSat1.

[tnt22]

SpaceX‏Подлинная учетная запись @SpaceX 2 мин. назад

Standing down for today. Team is going to replace a second stage sensor. Next available launch opportunity is tomorrow, January 31.

[tnt22]

01/30/2018 23:12 Stephen Clark

The launch team is expected to rotate the Falcon 9 rocket horizontal overnight to replace a transducer ahead of a planned launch attempt tomorrow.

[tnt22]

От И.Маска

View this post on Instagram

elonmuskПодтвержденный •

[/li]
• elonmuskFalcon Heavy, launching Tuesday, in foreground and Falcon 9, launching tomorrow, in background
  

Спойлер

https://scontent-arn2-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/5a386d4e3c21b87189350d4b836962bd/5B1E6660/t51.2885-15/e35/26869502_2017524405155582_3944872730607747072_n.jpg


https://scontent-arn2-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/135e2e11c5534b544dbc3cec054cd142/5B1C0C28/t51.2885-15/e35/26865581_126214218191783_4686289063487995904_n.jpg

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[tnt22]

http://spaceflight101.com/spacex-delays-expendable-falcon-9-launch-with-luxembourgs-govsat-1/

SpaceX Delays Expendable Falcon 9 Launch with Luxembourg's GovSat-1
January 30, 2018


Photo: SES

SpaceX delayed the launch of the company's sixth flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday due to a faulty transducer on the launch vehicle, putting in motion a 24-hour recycle to Wednesday's backup launch window of 21:25 to 23:46 UTC. The company's second mission in 2018 is set to carry the SES 16 / GovSat-1 satellite into a high-energy Supersynchronous Transfer Orbit for operator LuxGovSat.

Спойлер

Gusty winds on the ground as well as sporty winds aloft had been a concern for Tuesday's launch opportunity, but SpaceX continued to press toward liftoff by wheeling the Falcon 9 rocket out to Space Launch Complex 40 in the overnight hours and placing it in its vertical launch position by morning. The early countdown portion – dedicated to launch vehicle checks and final hands-on work at the pad – appeared to go as planned.

However, SpaceX launch controllers elected to push the day's T-0 target into the lengthy launch window to wait for winds to subside per the day's launch forecast that predicted a 60% chance of weather rule violations at the opening of the window and improvement to 40% by the window's second half. Shortly after entering the hold, the SpaceX team called for a launch scrub, deferring the launch to Wednesday to replace a faulty transducer on the second stage of the launch vehicle. SpaceX did not provide details on the nature of the sensor problem or the system it affects.


Photo: SpaceX


Photo: Orbital ATK

Falcon 9 will be returned to its horizontal position overnight to allow engineers to complete the part replacement before another countdown will be initiated on Wednesday. Meteorologists are much more optimistic for the backup window, looking at a 90% chance of favorable weather as winds continue dropping off overnight. The only concern for Wednesday's opportunity is a violation of the thick cloud rule as mid-level moisture and easterly winds bring the potential for cloud formation. Upper level winds will also decrease slightly, expected fr om the west at 100 knots, 40,000 feet in altitude.

SES 16 / GovSat has been commissioned as a high-capacity communications satellite for government/defence and institutional use, operating in the military Ka- and X-Band frequency bands and offering a combination of wide-beam anchor beams and fully steerable high-power beams to direct coverage where it is needed within the framework of military activities. A large portion of the satellite's capacity has been reserved by the Government of Luxembourg under its obligations with NATO while the remaining capacity will be made available to government and institutional customers requiring encrypted & jam-proof communications.

GovSat is only the second GEOStar-3 satellite to be delivered to orbit, following the Al Yah 3 satellite that launched atop the Ariane 5 VA241 mission. It will operate for at least 15 years from an orbital location at 21.5°E from wh ere it can deliver an anchor beam across Europe to interconnect government institutions, a global beam covering the entirety of Europe, Africa & the Middle East plus vast stretches of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans for maritime operations support; steerable spot beams for data-intensive applications can be directed anywhere within the satellite's footprint.

>> SES 16 / GovSat-1 Overview

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[tnt22]

Обновлены (2018-01-30 20:56 UTC):

Airspace Closure Area

Launch Hazard Area

[tnt22]

Прогноз погоды на 2018-01-31

L-0 Forecast 31 Jan Launch
 
>90% GO

[tnt22]

01/31/2018 19:13 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is preparing for another launch attempt today, with a window opening at 4:25 p.m. EST (2125 GMT) at Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad.

Favorable weather is predicted this afternoon at Cape Canaveral, with a greater than 90 percent probability of acceptable conditions during the launch window, which extends until 6:46 p.m. EST (2346 GMT).

Спойлер

"After a cool start to the day, temperatures will rebound quickly along the Space Coast with easterly winds bringing in some scattered low-level cloudiness," forecasters from the U.S. Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron wrote in an outlook issued this morning. "There is a very low risk these clouds will thicken to create tops near the 0°C level (~12,000 feet) which is needed for a thick cloud layer concern. Maximum upper-level winds will be from the west at 100 knots near 40,000 feet."

Mostly clear skies are predicted during the launch window, with easterly winds of 12 to 17 mph and a temperature of around 62 degrees Fahrenheit.

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[us2-star]

Трансляций развелось... 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7i1vq8pPg0&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7i1vq8pPg0&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbHBNwdf3J4

[Ну-и-ну]

Летит, однако.

[Димитър]

Уже!?

[Tiamat]

Обыденно. Трансляция красивая.

[Старый]

Почему заставка?

[Старый]

Блин, мы летим или не летим?

[DiZed]

все уже улетело давно. и отделилось
официальная запись официальной трансляции

[us2-star]

Старый пишет:
Блин, мы летим или не летим?

Да всё уже.

02/01/2018 00:58GovSat 1 separation Stephen Clark

The GovSat 1 satellite has deployed fr om the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage, beginning a 15-year mission to relay secure, encrypted data for the government of Luxembourg and its allies in Europe and NATO.
Owned by GovSat, a joint venture between SES and the Luxembourg government, the spacecraft will use its own engine to reshape its orbit in the coming weeks to a circular altitude of nearly 22,300 miles (about 35,800 kilometers) over the equator, wh ere it will begin service at 21.5 degrees east.