An unexpected reading of the ground sensor prompted SpaceX to cancel a planned launch of the Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday with 60 more Starlink broadband satellites.
It was the second last-minute occasion of a rocket launch on Florida’s Space Coast in less than 10 hours, a United Government spy caught Wednesday night before igniting an engine on a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-heavy rocket believed to be a ferry. Satellite in orbit.
Back-to-back abortions thwarted plans to launch two satellite delivery missions from a separate pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center. Since 1966 there would have been a fixed location for short-term double launches between two orbital flights from the Space Coast.
Instead, the ULA and SpaceX missions that had already faced previous launch delays were grounded again.
Wednesday night marks the second abortion of a rocket just 10 seconds before Delta st-Heavy’s steamy countdown lift. After the ignition of one of the rocket’s three RS-68A main engines, the start of the 29 Aug Gust stopped at T-minus 3 seconds.
Here is a final second replay of the Delta 4-Heavy countdown left here.
This is the second fall within T-minus 10 seconds for this mission.
Continuous coverage: https://t.co/gZCB2vhVYZ pic.twitter.com/Gt7Wf4Cgzb
– Now Spaceflight (Spaceflight Now) October October 1, 2020
ULA, a 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, found a pressure regulator on the launch pad of the Delta 4 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 29 August.
The company then delayed the Delta 4-Heavy launch from Saturday, Sept. 26, to investigate concerns of swing weapons on launch pad 37B. A launch attempt was made on Tuesday when teams found a hydraulic leak in the ground system responsible for moving the launch pad’s mobile gantry away from the rocket and bringing it into position for liftoff.
Read our previous story for details about Delta 4-heavy delays.
After a late-night Delta launch abort, the ULA dropped cryogenic propellants from the rocket and began an investigation into what caused the countdown’s automatic sequencer to give a command on hold 7 seconds before the lift. ULA officials have not immediately set a date for the new target launch, but the mission is expected to begin at least several days later.
SpaceX pushed a few miles north of the Delta 4 launch complex, with plans to launch the Falcon 9 rocket at 9:17 a.m. Thursday from Pad 39 at the Kennedy Space Center.
The Falcon 9 was filled with kerosene and liquid oxygen propellant, and the countdown was initiated by pre-launch targets until the clock t-minus 18 seconds. The Falcon 9 mission, with 60 Starlink satellites, has the opportunity for quick launches every day, so the grip automatically means the rocket will not be able to take off on Thursday.
SpaceX tweeted, “Staying down from today’s Starlink mission due to family ground system sensor readings. The company said it will announce a new target launch date once confirmed at the range.
SpaceX has canceled today’s Falcon 9 launch attempt in Florida after an abortion due to unexpected ground sensor readings.
SpaceX has not set a new target launch date for orbiting more Starlink broadband satellites. Http://t.co/I0aLt9X1Jq pic.twitter.com/Zv0Gr0gRS6
– Now Spaceflight (Spaceflight Now) October October 1, 2020
U.S. An advanced official weather forecast released Thursday by the Weather Squadron’s Weather Squadron in the Space Force’s th Square indicated that the Starlink flight would take place any time sooner than Saturday morning: 3: around E. Was scheduled. Liftoff of Falcon 9 rocket.
But SpaceX has not officially confirmed the date of the new target launch, and it is possible that the Starlink mission could be further delayed. SpaceX UP A separate Falcon 9 rocket is being prepared for launch Friday night from Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with the Global Positioning System Navigation Satellite for the Army.
On its launching manifesto, SpaceX prefers national security missions such as GPS missions.
The company has placed two drones in the Atlantic Ocean at different locations a few hundred miles north of Cape Canaveral, where GPS and Starlink launching Falcon 9 booster will attempt landing. SpaceX plans to recover and reuse the rocket for future missions.
The Starlink mission is the 13th launch of the Falcon 9 rocket to launch about 60 Starlink satellites. With the next launch, SpaceX will deploy 775 Starlink satellites, including prototypes.
The launch, which started to go on Thursday morning, was earlier due to poor conditions in the booster’s downstream recovery zone in the Atlantic Ocean, and then again on Monday 17 September due to bad weather at the launch site.
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