Florida Today reports that as Hurricane Idalia “churns off the southwest coast of Florida, the impacts on Brevard’s local space economy are already being felt.” On Monday, “United Launch Alliance teams at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 41 began the hours-long process of standing down from a launch attempt of an Atlas V rocket originally set for liftoff Tuesday morning.” SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch “set for Thursday from the Cape’s Launch Complex 40 still appeared to be on the Eastern Range’s schedule, though the company hadn’t yet confirmed the Starlink 6-13 mission. … Meanwhile, in space, four members of NASA’s Crew-6 mission, which launched to the space station in March, wait for an opportunity to come home. Initially slated to depart the station five days after the arrival of Crew-7 on Sunday, the quartet will spend at least one extra day in space.”
Full Story (Florida Today)
Tag: Cape Canaveral
SpaceX Successfully Launches More Starlink Satellites
UPI reports that SpaceX successfully “launched a Falcon 9 rocket with a payload of nearly two dozen Starlink satellites into space from Florida’s famed Cape Canaveral late Wednesday.” The rocket “launched at 11:36 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.” The mission “deployed 22 additional Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit where they will join a constellation of thousands that provide high-speed, low latency Internet worldwide.” The first-stage booster “returned to Earth where it landed upon the autonomous barge A Shortfall of Gravitas that had awaited its return in the Atlantic Ocean.” The launch – which “was SpaceX’s 56th of the year and 255th overall – came hours before SpaceX was to launch a second Falcon 9 rocket with a payload of 21 Starlink orbitals from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 1:42 am PT, or 4:42 a.m. EDT.”
Full Story (UPI)
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Starlink Mission, August 16, 2023
(SpaceX; YouTube)
SpaceX Launches 22 More Starlink Satellites into Orbit
UPI reports that SpaceX successfully “launched a Falcon 9 rocket with another payload of Starlink satellites into space from Florida late Sunday.” The rocket “launched at 10:41 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, sending the 22 satellites into low-Earth orbit where they will join Starlink’s constellation of thousands of orbitals that provide high-speed, low-latency Internet worldwide.” SpaceX Senior Quality Systems Engineering Manager Kate Tice said the weather presented only a “10% of violating our launch commit criteria.” The launch “was SpaceX’s 53rd of the year and 252nd to date.” The first-stage booster “returned to Earth where it successfully landed upon the Shortfall of Gravitas droneship that was awaiting its arrival in the Atlantic Ocean.” Both fairing halves “used in the mission were flight tested, with one half flying its eighth mission and the other flying its 10th.”
Full Story (UPI)
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Starlink Mission, August 6, 2023
(SpaceX; YouTube)
SpaceX Launches Galaxy 37 Satellite from Cape Canaveral
Florida Today reports that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket “vaulted away from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station early Thursday to carry a commercial communications satellite to orbit.” The 230-foot rocket “lifted off from Launch Complex 40 at 1 a.m. EDT.” The mission for Luxembourg-based operator Intelsat “carried the Galaxy 37 satellite, built by Maxar, which is the latest in a series to deliver television and communications services to customers around the globe.” The rocket’s first stage, which “flew its sixth mission to date, successfully landed on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida.” Of the 39 launches from the Space Coast this year, SpaceX “has carried out all but two of them.”
Full Story (Florida Today)
Video
Intelsat G-37 Mission
(SpaceX; YouTube)
Terran, Safran to Partner on Satellite Propulsion
Space News reports that satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital “has signed an agreement with French aerospace giant Safran to explore U.S.-based production of satellite propulsion systems, the companies announced June 23.” Under the agreement, Safran Electronics & Defense and Terran Orbital “will investigate opportunities and prerequisites for the production of electric propulsion systems for satellites based on Safran’s PPSX00 plasma thruster.” The PPSX00 “is a hall effect plasma thruster, recently introduced by Safran for the low Earth orbit satellite market.” Safran said, “Plasma propulsion has become the go-to solution for satellite positioning, orbital transfer and stationkeeping, because it offers significant weight savings over conventional chemical propulsion.”
Full Story (Space News)
ULA’s Delta 4 Heavy Launches NRO Satellite
Space News reports that United Launch Alliance “launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite on a Delta 4 Heavy rocket June 22 at 5:18 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.” It was ULA’s second attempt “of this launch that had been previously scheduled for June 21 but was delayed, the company said, ‘due to an issue with a ground systems pneumatic valve.’” About four minutes into flight, “the outer boosters of the three-core Delta 4 Heavy separated.” The second stage “separated about two minutes later.” This mission was “ULA’s first launch of 2023.” The company in May 2019 “received a U.S. Air Force contract to launch NROL-68.” The Delta 4 Heavy configuration “first launched in December 2004.” Each of the Delta 4 Heavy’s common booster cores “is powered by Aerojet [Rocketdyne’s] RS-68A main engines.” The Delta cryogenic second stage “is powered by an RL10C-2-1 engine.”
Full Story (Space News)
SpaceX Launches Upgraded Starlink Satellites
Florida Today reports that SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying more Starlink satellites. The flight was Starlink’s 80th dedicated mission since first launching in 2019. Spaceflight Now reports that the rocket carried 21 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, which have “improved phased array antennas with four times the communications capacity of earlier generations of Starlink satellites.”
Full Story (Florida Today); More Info (Spaceflight Now)
Video
Starlink Mission
On Wednesday, April 19 at 10:31 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 launched 21 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
(SpaceX; YouTube)
SpaceX Launches NASA’s TEMPO from Cape Canaveral
Florida Today reports that SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral early on Friday morning “carrying a communications satellite and hosted NASA payload – a roughly $200 million pollution-detecting mission – to orbit high above Earth.” The payload for Friday’s launch “was Intelsat 40e, a commercial communications satellite owned by Luxembourg operator Intelsat.” Upon activation, the satellite will “deliver high-speed internet to private airplanes, vehicles, and mobile devices.” Before that happens, “the satellite will go through checkouts before becoming operational at its final location in geostationary orbit high above North America where its orbit will match Earth’s rotation, allowing it to continuously service a specific part of the planet.”
Full Story (Florida Today)
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Intelsat IS-40e Mission
On Friday, April 7 at 12:30 a.m. ET, a Falcon 9 launched the Intelsat IS-40e mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
(SpaceX; YouTube)
SpaceX Launches 56 More Starlink Satellites into LEO
UPI reports that SpaceX’s 21st launch this year “sent 56 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday afternoon.” The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellites lifted off at approximately 4 p.m. with the goal of entering the satellites into low-Earth orbit. The Starlink satellites “deployed from the rocket shortly after 5 p.m.” A total of 4,217 Starlink satellites “have been put into orbit since 2018,” with a possible 12,000 more already approved and 30,000 more requested.
Full Story (UPI)
Video
Starlink Mission
On Wednesday, March 29 at 4:01 p.m. ET, a Falcon 9 launched 56 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
(SpaceX; YouTube)
SpaceX’s Starlink Launch Scheduled on Friday
Florida Today reports that SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 mission, “set to fly the latest batch of Starlink internet satellites, will help kick off the weekend when it launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Friday.” There will be a bit more than three hours for the launch window, which opens at 11:33 am EST. There will be two more opportunities in the afternoon, but weather conditions are predicted to be nearly perfect, and there is a 95% chance of a “go” mission in the window, says the company. This mission will be the 76th Starlink constellation launch.
Full Story (Florida Today)
Video
76th Starlink Constellation Launch
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launches 56 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida on Friday, March 24 at 11:33 a.m. ET.
(SpaceX; YouTube)