SpaceX missed a rare opportunity earlier today to launch back-to-back missions after the firm scrubbed the launch of its largest operational rocket, the Falcon Heavy. The Heavy was slated to take off from NASA's Kennedy Launch Center in Florida. Still, SpaceX scrubbed the launch just one minute before launch when the rocket's internal systems typically take over control and evaluate it before lighting the engines. The company's previous launch took place from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in California, and the mission was a two-hour-long affair that deployed SES's satellites to medium Earth orbit (MEO).
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Scrubs Launch Minute Before Launch
The SES mission was a standard affair as the Falcon 9 blasted off from the pad in the evening local time. However, this time around, the Falcon 9's second stage had its work cut out since the satellites had to be placed much higher in orbit than the rocket typically does. This mission profile saw the Falcon 9 second stage separate from the rocket a little over two and a half minutes after liftoff, ejecting the stage at an altitude of 69 kilometers and a speed higher than 8.000 kilometers per hour.
From then on, the second stage's Merlin 1D vacuum engine fired for almost six minutes to accelerate the rocket to a speed of a stunning 26,674 kilometers per hour and an altitude of 164 kilometers before shutting down right as the first stage landed. The second stage continued its journey for roughly eleven minutes when its engine fired up once again for the second time. This burn lasted for half a minute, further accelerating the rocket to 30,928 kilometers per hour and raising its altitude to 185 kilometers.
This burn pushed the second stage to almost seven thousand kilometers in altitude before the engine fired for the last time at close to the two hour mark.
After this burn, the satellites started to be deployed, and thes SES mission, due to its length, marked a rare occasion when a second SpaceX live stream started while the first one was in progress.
This stream was from the opposite end of the U.S., with the Falcon Heavy ready for liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The pre-launch process kicked off normally with both the side boosters and the enter core nicely filling up with the propellants. SpaceX explained that the mission would not recover the side boosters due to the extra power requirements, and the rockets would land in the ocean instead.
The launch director gave the go-ahead for the mission, but just as the Falcon Heavy's internal systems took over for the pre-launch countdown, the mission was aborted with 59 seconds remaining until liftoff. A couple of seconds later, SpaceX reset the countdown clock to fifteen minutes as teams deliberated for seven minutes before they decided to back down from the launch attempt and retry tomorrow.
As to the reasons behind the scrub, no clear details were provided. However, in a later tweet, SpaceX shared that the rocket and its pad were healthy. The Falcon Heavy was initially expected to launch yesterday, but rough weather in Florida made SpaceX call off the attempt. The pad was also struck by lightning, which the company confirmed a day later, and explained that it had conducted all the necessary checkouts of the rocket to ensure there was no damage.
Refference- https://wccftech.com
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