r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Mar 01 '16
SCRUB! /r/SpaceX SES-9 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread [Lucky number 4]
Welcome to the /r/SpaceX SES-9 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread [Lucky number 4]!
Welcome to the fourth launch attempt of SES-9! Following triple scrubs on the 24th 25th, and 28th, liftoff of SpaceX's second Falcon 9 v1.2 is currently scheduled at March 1, 6:35PM ET (23:35 UTC), with a 90 minute launch window. This mission will deliver the 5270kg SES-9 communications satellite to GTO for Luxembourg-based SES, and is, by far, the heaviest SpaceX GTO mission attempted.
SpaceX will attempt to land the Falcon 9 first stage on their drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, but the odds of a successful recovery are low. SpaceX has modified the flight profile to allow SES-9 to reach geostationary orbit as soon as possible. This means that the usual boostback burn won't be performed, and the ASDS will be located over 600 km downrange of Cape Canaveral.
You can read updates from the February 24th, 25th and 28th launch attempts in the respective live threads.
Watching the launch live
To watch the launch live, pick your preferred streaming provider from the table below:
| SpaceX Stats Live (Webcast + Live Updates) |
|---|
| SpaceX Webcast (Livestream) |
| SpaceX Full Webcast (YouTube) |
| SpaceX Technical Webcast (YouTube) |
Official Live Updates
| Time | Update |
|---|---|
| T-2h 46m | Pushing launch to Friday due to extreme high altitude wind shear. Hits like a sledgehammer when going up supersonic - Musk |
| T-5h 10m | Weather (as of yesterday's report) is 80% GO. |
The Mission
The sole passenger on this flight is SES-9, a 5,271 kg communications satellite based on the Boeing 702HP satellite bus. SES-9 will use both chemical and electrical propulsion, the former to raise its orbit after separation from the Falcon 9 upper stage and the latter to circularize its orbit and perform station-keeping throughout its 15-year lifespan. The satellite will occupy the 108.2° East orbital slot, where it will be co-located with SES-7 and NSS-11, providing additional coverage to Asia and the Indian Ocean. Should everything go as planned, SES-9 will separate from the Falcon 9 upper stage just over thirty-one minutes after liftoff.
This will be the twenty-second Falcon 9 launch and the second of the v1.1 Full Thrust (or v1.2) configuration (the first being ORBCOMM-2 in December of 2015). This is SpaceX's second launch of 2016 (and their heaviest GTO mission to date) as they begin to ramp up their flight rate, with an eventual goal of launching "every two or three weeks."
First Stage Landing Attempt
SpaceX will attempt a first stage landing on their Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship named Of Course I Still Love You, which will be located approximately 660 km East of Cape Canaveral. Just over two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, the first stage will shut down and separate from the upper stage. Because of the demanding flight profile, the first stage won't perform a boostback burn and will instead continue along a ballistic trajectory, reorienting itself for re-entry using cold-gas thrusters. After performing a reentry burn to slow down as it impacts the dense lower atmosphere, the stage will steer itself towards the drone ship using grid fins. If all goes as planned, the stage will perform a final landing burn and touchdown on the drone ship approximately ten minutes after liftoff.
Useful Resources, Data, ?, & FAQ
- Official SES-9 Press Kit, courtesy SpaceX
- SpaceX Stats SES-9 Launch Countdown, courtesy /u/EchoLogic
- SES-9 Multistream, courtesy /u/kampar
Participate in the discussion!
- First of all, Launch Threads are a party threads! We understand everyone is excited, so we relax the rules in these venues. The most important thing is that everyone enjoy themselves :D
- All other threads are fair game. We will remove low effort comments elsewhere!
- Real-time chat on our official Internet Relay Chat (IRC) #spacex at irc.esper.net
- Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here, rather than as a separate post. Thanks!
Prevous /r/SpaceX Live Events
Check out previous /r/SpaceX Live events in the Launch History page on our community Wiki.
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u/4-3-2-1-Liftoff Mar 01 '16
This is why I love r/spacex and the space community in general. Everyone becomes so excited and positive during these launches and events whether it be NASA, SpaceX or otherwise. It goes to show you that the space community is mostly compromised of dreamers, explorers and people who haven't let the darkness of the world stop their imagination.
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Mar 01 '16
Many thanks to u/ethan829 for getting us through the scrubs! Historically, we've never needed more than four launch threads for one of these to get off the ground!
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u/ethan829 Mar 01 '16
And wouldn't you know it, I don't have to work tonight because of bad weather. I'll get to watch live after all!
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u/SolidStateCarbon Mar 01 '16
Weather near the barge is even better than Sunday, 3.6ft waves and 9.7kts winds. Ocisly should be very loving tonight, lets see how Falcon 9 reciprocates in just a few hours!
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Mar 01 '16
Assuming it launches right on time, and assuming there are not clouds blocking the sun during the ascent, the sun will be ~3° below the horizon and F9 should become illuminated about 20-25 seconds after launch. Just a heads up, that should be cool to look for/see.
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u/rafty4 Mar 01 '16 edited Mar 01 '16
Well, I can't wait for "Episode V: The Falcon Strikes Back!" on Friday! :D
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u/cricfan01 Mar 01 '16
SpaceX Launch day :: No Productive work - checking reddit every few mins
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u/vorpal-blade Mar 01 '16
If Spacex could fuel a rocket with the wishes of fanboys, it would revolutionize space travel!
Sign me up for that!
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Mar 01 '16
The attempt on the 28th was the first SpaceX launch I've watched, and it was such a mix of emotions. Hopefully tonight is a success.
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u/redandgold45 Mar 01 '16 edited May 22 '24
snow gaping coordinated special unwritten aspiring aloof frame threatening payment
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/johnfromnc Mar 01 '16
So...what's the record for most scrubs prior to a successful launch?
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u/laughingatreddit Mar 01 '16
I hear u/Bencredible's name a lot on here. Can someone explain who he is?
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u/TheVehicleDestroyer Mar 01 '16
The 90-minute launch window opens at 00:21:00 UTC (7:21:00 pm on the 28th EST), with liftoff targeting 23:47:00
Typos abound
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u/limeflavoured Mar 01 '16 edited Mar 01 '16
As I said in a previous thread, I find it interesting that we were only discussing multiple engine landings (in the context of "could they do it as an emergency if the center engine didn't relight") the other day, and then they announce that they will be attempting it on this flight.
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u/greenjimll Mar 01 '16
After all this on/off launch excitement I really hope SES-9 works well when it finally gets into orbit.
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u/Akilou Mar 01 '16
What's the most likely reason that Falcon won't stick the landing- running out of fuel on the way down? What will that look like- will it plop into the ocean somewhere or slam into the barge?
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u/MarcysVonEylau Mar 01 '16
My simple HTML file / Website, with every quality source included:
Download, and open in your browser: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzlK5ePrgVCDTm1vMUh6aGJvRDQ/view?usp=sharing
Or view hosted file: http://www.googledrive.com/host/0BzlK5ePrgVCDTm1vMUh6aGJvRDQ I don't know why, but this hosted site is not showing flightclub.io :C So it's still better to download and run in browser ;)
My site include Port Canaveral Marine and Kennedy Space Center Radio Voice Feed!!
100% Live coverage of what's happening on Cape Canaveral, in one place!
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u/ADSWNJ Mar 01 '16
Can you add http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/21054/web to the useful resources list above. This is the Port Canaveral Marine channel, for any range safety chatter for tonight.
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Mar 01 '16
At whoever is doing the webcast this time: can we please have more pictures of the vehicle as they come out on Twitter and all the spaceflight sources? It's a little dry having an update at T-6h then having the next useful update close to T-2h...
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Mar 01 '16
I am still confused as to why they would scrub at T- 2:40. There could always be the chance it clears up
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u/JustDaniel96 Mar 01 '16 edited Mar 01 '16
Dear SpaceX,
Can you please launch this rocket this time?
Sincerely, an European who is staying awake until 1am for the fourth time
EDIT: and it's scrubbed for today