SpaceX launches Globalstar satellite from Florida – Spaceflight Now

Live countdown coverage and the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida using the Globalstar FM15 voice and data satellite. Follow us Twitter.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 12:27 a.m. EDT (0427 GMT) Sunday with the Globalstar FM15 satellite, a backup spacecraft for the commercial voice and data constellation Globalstar.

A 229-foot Falcon 9 rocket will head northeast of Space Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral to put the 1,543-pound (700 kg) Globalstar satellite into low Earth orbit, according to Federal Aviation Administration airspace warning notices.

The Falcon 9 mission will be longer than usual, with three burns by the rocket’s upper stage engine before deploying the Globalstar FM15 spacecraft about an hour and 53 minutes after liftoff.

The launch concludes a busy weekend for SpaceX, following back-to-back launches on Friday and Saturday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with 53 Starlink internet satellites and the German Army’s SARah 1 radar reconnaissance satellite.

The SpaceX launch team, stationed inside the launch control center a few miles south of the platform, will begin loading ultra-cold, condensed kerosene and liquid oxygen thrusters into the Falcon 9 spacecraft in a 35-minute T-minus,

Helium pressure will also flow into the rocket in the last half hour of the countdown. In the last seven minutes before takeoff, the Falcon 9 Merlin’s main engines will be thermally conditioned for flight through a procedure known as “chilldown”. The Falcon 9’s guidance and range safety systems will also be configured for launch at 12:27:36 AM

After liftoff, the Falcon 9 rocket will direct 1.7 million pounds of thrust — produced by nine Merlin engines — to steer in the northeast Atlantic.

The missile will exceed the speed of sound in about one minute, and then shut down its nine main engines two and a half minutes after takeoff. The booster will be fired from the upper stage of the Falcon 9, then pulsing from cold gas control thrusters and expanding titanium grille fins to help steer the vehicle back into the atmosphere.

Two brake burners will slow the missile down when landing on the drone ship.

The booster stage flying early Sunday – tail number B1061 – will head into space for the ninth time. It first launched with two NASA crew missions to the International Space Station in November 2020 and April 2021, then launched the SiriusXM SXM 8 broadcast satellite last June and cargo missions to a space station last August.

Most recently, the booster phase launched NASA’s IXPE X-ray astronomical satellite in December, the Starlink mission in February, and SpaceX’s Transporter 4 and Transporter 5 missions on April 1 and May 25. 25 days after return from carrier 5.

The Friday mission’s first stage landing will occur around the same time that the Falcon 9’s second stage engine cuts out to complete its first orbital burn. The upper stage will come halfway around the world before re-igniting for approximately four seconds T+ plus 64 minutes, then for eight seconds at T+ plus 107 minutes.

The Globalstar FM15 satellite, built more than a decade ago by Thales Alenia Space, is expected to be deployed at T+ plus 1 hour, 53 minutes, or about 2:20 a.m. EDT (0620 GMT), assuming Launch it on time. to the SpaceX mission timeline.

In an unusual move for an established satellite operator, Globalstar has not released any details about the launch of its additional satellite on Sunday. Globalstar released a statement in its quarterly financial report last month saying it plans to launch a backup spacecraft in the “near future.” At that time, the company did not specify the backup satellite launcher.

Sunday’s launch will be the first for the Globalstar satellite since 2013, and adds capacity to the company’s commercial network that provides voice and data connectivity to satellite phones, asset tracking and IoT applications.

Globalstar operates a fleet of dozens of communications satellites in low Earth orbit. The company did not respond to multiple requests for details about the upcoming launch.

The company launched 60 first-generation satellites, built by Space Systems/Loral, on Delta 2 and Soyuz rockets from 1998 through 2007. Globalstar added 24 second-generation satellites, built by Thales Alenia Space, on four rocket missions Soyuz from 2010 to 2013.

SpaceX did not mention any payloads that could reach orbit with the Globalstar FM15 satellite on Sunday’s mission. The Globalstar satellite’s relatively light weight usually leaves enough propellant reserve on the Falcon 9’s booster for a return to touchdown, but Sunday’s mission will feature a landing on SpaceX’s offshore recovery platform.

Rocket: Falcon 9 (B1061.9)

Payload: Global Star FM15

launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Station, Florida

Lunch date: June 19, 2022

launch time: 12:27:36 AM EDT (0427:36 GMT)

weather forecast: 70% chance of acceptable weather; low risk of upper level winds; Low risk of conditions unfavorable for enhanced recovery

Recovery from reinforcement: Unmanned ship bearing the slogan “Just Read Instructions” east of Charleston, South Carolina

AZIMUTH LAUNCH: the Northeast

target orbit: About 870 miles (1,400 km)

Launch timeline:

• T+00:00:00: Takeoff
• T+00: 01:12: maximum air pressure (Max-Q)
• T+00:02:31: Phase 1 Main Engine Cut Off (MECO)
• T+00:02:35: stage separation
• T+00:02:43: second stage of engine ignition (SES 1)
• T+00:02:54: give up the peak
• T+00:08:10: Ignition of burning entering the first stage (three engines)
• T+00: 08:36: First stage entry combustion cut off
• T+00:09:36: 1st stage combustion ignition (single engine)
• T+00:09:58: second stage engine cut-off (SECO 1)
• T+00: 10:00: First stage landing
• T+01:04:32: Engine Ignition Stage Two (SES 2)
• T+01:04:36: second stage engine cut-off (SECO 2)
• T+01: 47: 12: second stage of engine ignition (SES 3)
• T+01: 47: 20: SECO 3 Phase II Cut-Out
• T+01:53:21: Globalstar FM15 detachment

Job stats:

• 160th Falcon 9 launch since 2010
• The 168th launch of the Falcon family since 2006
• Ninth launch of the Falcon 9 Booster B1061
• Falcon 9’s 139th rocket launched from Florida’s space coast
• Launch of Falcon 9 No. 89 from the 40 . platform
• Launch number 144 from board 40
• Flight 102 of the reused booster Falcon 9
• SpaceX’s first launch of Globalstar
• 82nd Thales Alenia A satellite built into space launched by SpaceX
• Falcon 9 26th launch in 2022
• 26th SpaceX launch in 2022
• Attempted launch of the 26th into orbit from Cape Canaveral in 2022

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