World News – GB – SpaceX launches fourth GPS III launch after month of shutdown – NASASpaceFlightcom

SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 mission with the fourth GPSII satellite at 6:24 p.m. EST (11:24 UTC) Thursday, November 5

The launch followed a clean-up on October 2, when the Falcon 9 interrupted two seconds before take-off.The resulting investigation identified a problem in the gas generators of some first-stage engines and caused several engine swaps in the Falcon 9 fleet and affected several upcoming launches

The mission launched from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida After the initial ascent, the first stage of Falcon 9 landed on Of Course I Still Love You, the one of SpaceX’s autonomous space drones stationed in the Atlantic Ocean

The drone left Port Canaveral on October 31 and was parked 635 kilometers downstream in northeast Florida

Falcon 9 jumps off the pad to put the GPS III into orbit #NoScrubNovember can officially start #SpaceX picTwittercom / 2VEJAXFJoT

One of SpaceX’s fairing salvage ships, GO Ms Chief, departed Port Canaveral on November 3 and is also positioned downstream.With only one ship supporting this launch, at least half of the shroud will be salvaged after the ‘splash, rather than captured The other fairing salvage vessel, GO Ms Shaft, remains in Port Canaveral under maintenance

The Eastern Channel is coordinating both this launch and an Atlas V with the NROL-101 mission NROL-101 cleaned up on Wednesday due to an issue with the liquid oxygen valves in the ground system This launch is now scheduled for Sunday

The first stage of this mission is the B1062, a brand new Falcon 9 core The scene initially successfully completed a static fire test at the SLC-40 on September 25 before the aborted launch attempt on October 2 SpaceX CEO Elon Musk described the cause of the shutdown of the second T-2 as an « unexpected increase in turbomachinery gas generator »

SpaceX’s investigation revealed an issue affecting multiple first-stage engines on several new Falcon 9 boosters.Other boosters affected included the B1061, the first stage supporting the upcoming Crew-1 mission, and the B1063, which has been tasked with launching the Sentinel-6 satellite from Vandenberg, California NASA was heavily involved in the investigation as a launch customer for Crew-1 and Sentinel-6, as well as the upcoming CRS-21 mission

Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of construction and flight reliability for SpaceX, described the problem in more detail during a Crew-1 mission briefing During the shutdown on October 2, an early start took place on two of the Merlin 1D engines on the first stage An automatic shutdown prevented a difficult start, which could have damaged the motors

Both engines were shipped to SpaceX’s facility in McGregor, TX for testing. Investigation revealed a relief valve was blocked by leftover masking material from the engine’s production process Koenigsmann described the substance as « kind of like nail polish » The problem only affects some of the recently produced Merlin engines

As a result of the investigation, the two engines on the B1062 that encountered the problem during the shutdown were replaced for the next launch attempt One engine was also replaced on B1063, as well as two engines on B1061 In-depth post-launch data review of GPS-III-SV04 will feed into flight readiness review for upcoming Crew-1 mission and other missions to follow

The #GPSIII satellite makes the return trip to LC-40 to mate with Falcon 9 ahead of this week’s launch attempt #SpaceX picTwittercom / VKYq1c0Hzy

Previous US Department of Defense missions including GPS-III-SV04 were required to launch new Falcon 9 boosters Now the US Air Force has approved the use of boosters reused on launches GPS-III-SV05 and SV06, the first SpaceX national security launches that will be allowed to use flight-proven stages The Department of Defense was the last major SpaceX customer to need new boosters before this approval, after NASA allowed Crew Dragon missions to launch on reused Falcon 9s This change from the US military could open the door to similar plans for other SpaceX national security missions

When SpaceX launched its first GPS III mission, the launch customer requested that the Falcon 9 fly in an expandable configuration, with no landing legs or grid fins After the successful launch, without any attempt to recover the first stage, SpaceX was allowed to attempt a recovery of the first stage on future GPS launches. Falcon 9 B1060 was successfully recovered on boardJust read the instructions after launching the GPS-III-SV03

The same drone left Port Canaveral on September 26 to support the launch of the SV04 At launch, Just Read the Instructions will be stationed 635 kilometers downstream, northeast of Cape Canaveral

Falcon 9 launches GPS-III-SV03 satellite in June 2020 Gray stripe of paint on second floor is visible – via Nathan Barker for NSF / L2

During the launch of the GPS-III-SV03, the second stage of the Falcon 9 featured a stripe of gray paint.The dark strip, different from the usual completely white scene, improves the thermal conditions inside the thruster tanks during long duration missions, such as GPS launches in medium earth orbit This gray band was also tested during the CRS-18 Cargo Dragon mission The second stage of the GPS-III-SV04 launch, however, did not paint stripe, suggesting SpaceX was testing its effects on previous missions, rather than implementing it on all GPS launches

The Falcon 9 deployed the spacecraft to a transfer orbit of approximately 1,200 by 20,000 kilometers at an inclination of 55 degrees The satellite will then use its own propulsion to move in a circular orbit at an altitude of 20,200 kilometers This is the operational orbit where the GPS III satellites will carry out their missions

The GPS-III-SV04 spacecraft arrived or being prepared for launch at Cape Canaveral aboard a US Air Force C-17 cargo plane on July 14 The satellite was built by Lockheed Martin , based on the A2100M satellite bus Ten of the GPS III satellites have been ordered to date

GPS-III-SV04 satellite during encapsulation – via US Space Force Space and Missiles Systems Center

Each GPS III satellite carries a navigation payload supplied by L3Harris Technologies The Block III series of GPS navigation satellites replace the Block II series, allowing for more precise signals, increased resistance to interference and extended service life of SV04 spacecraft is the fourth GPS III satellite to be launched and the third to be launched on a Falcon 9, excluding a spacecraft launched on the last flight of the Delta IV Medium rocket

The Falcon 9’s flight profile to medium Earth orbit included two burns on the upper floor After the separation of the floors, when the first floor returned to Earth for landing, the second floor performed the first burn in order to reach orbit During this burn, the payload shroud separated and the two halves descended to the SpaceX salvage ships for a potential salvage attempt approximately 45 minutes after launch

After SECO-1, the end of the first upper stage burn, the stage and the GPS satellite rolled for approximately 55 minutes Then the second upper stage burn began, lasting only 45 seconds After a phase coastal distance of 25 minutes, the GPS-III-SV04 satellite was deployed

SpaceX, Falcon 9, United States Space Force, GPS Block III, Rocket