SpaceX on Friday (October 2) canceled the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, which has an upgraded Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) for the US Space Force.
The launch controllers called for the launch about two seconds before the company’s Falcon 9 rocket would take off from Space L Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket was to launch the next GPS III SV04 satellite into orbit at 9:43 pm EDT (43 Oct. 0143 GMT).
The next launch opportunity for the mission is Saturday night at 9:39 a.m. EDT (Oct. 4 on 0139 GMT), SpaceX’s principal integration engineer John Inspector said during the launch comment.
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At the time of the abortion, it was not clear whether SpaceX had abandoned the launch due to the issue of rockets or ground support systems, the inspector said. Whether or not SpaceX will attempt to relaunch on Saturday evening will depend on how long it takes the company to identify and address the problem that is leading to abortion.
Once launched, the GPS III SV04 Satellite U.S. The 10 will be the fourth in a series of GPS satellites to be upgraded for the military. SpaceX launched two of these satellites in December 2018 and June this year, while one launched on a Delta IV medium rocket in August 2019.
Friday’s launch was the second in two days for Ab’s SpaceX.
The launch of a separate Falcon 9 rocket failed on Thursday as it attempted to launch 60 new Starlink Internet satellites from Pad 39A of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral near the Air Force Station. SpaceX has not officially announced a new launch date for that mission.
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