SpaceX has announced that its next Starlink launching Falcon 9 payload will mark a new first for reuse, reaching a milestone that reused the 18-month booster in less than a year.
Scheduled to take off on Thursday, September 17, before EDT (18:19 UTC) (Net) 2 (19ET UTC), the Starlink-12 (V1.0L12) mission will be SpaceX’s 11th in 2020 alone and 13th overall. If things go according to plan, it could leave SpaceX’s new star just two or more months away from the start of the first public beta tests of the Starlink Internet service.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 Booster B1058 will attempt its third launch less than four months after its flight debut, following the unprecedented cadence of reuse use for SpaceX. Aside from ensuring that the B1058 boasts of SpaceX’s first and second place record for turnaround (time between launches), the mission also continues an unexpected trend: the near-extinction of the Falcon 9 static fire tests.
SpaceX’s first successful Falcon booster landing took place in December 2015, a few months shy of five years ago. In March 2017, two years later, SpaceX reused the Falcon 9 booster at its first orbital-class launch in history. Nearly 21 months after that historic landmark, SpaceX launched the same Falcon 9 booster for the third time, kicking off a never-ending series of re-fi utilities that continue to this day.
Now, SpaceX says it will launch the same Falcon 9 payload fairing half for the first and significant and unexpected third time for fair reuse. Designed primarily from a carbon fiber-aluminum honeycomb composite material, Falcon Fairings are dramatically more fragile – and reach much higher alt altitude and velocity – than the Boosters, SpaceX has cut its teeth to regenerate and reuse.
Compared to the reuse of the booster, it is quite an achievement. SpaceX managed to launch the same Falcon 9 booster three times in December 2018, 33 months after the re-use of the first booster. Measured using SpaceX’s first ferring reuse, completed in November 2019 as part of the first Starlink V1.0 launch (Starlink-1), the company will be able to overcome the three-flight ferring reuse barrier in less than 11 months – with a full three SpaceX booster reuse programs Fold quickly, to achieve the same goal.
Not a more stable fire?
Meanwhile, the SpaceX Falcon 9 seems to have turned a corner on launch operation. Of all the 93 Falcon 9 launches since the rocket’s entry in June 2010, a few days or weeks prior to each liftoff have been combined wet wet rehearsal (WDR) and static fire tests. Effectively simulating projection 1: 1 until the exact moment before the lift before F, SpaceX has used static fire to test the health of the vehicle and fire minor minor assurance lapses as long as it is launching the rocket.
In a large operational transport almost flying under the radar, SpaceX seems to have killed the practice of universal prelaunch stationary fire starting from Starlink-8 in June 2020. SpaceX has completed the last three in seven launches, including Starlink-8. Months, just three (GPS III SV03, Starlink-9, and Starlink-10) include Falcon 9 static fire tests before lift lift f. One step further, Two The four static fire-free launches were for the main commercial mission – without risking SpaceX’s own Starlink launch, in other words.
To date, the Falcon 9 has completed 65 successful launches since the last catastrophic vehicle failure (Amos-6, September 2016) and 74 consecutive successful launches if the Amos-6 (which will never take off) is excluded. By 2020, the U.S.’s Atlas V has surpassed many months ago, surpassing the currently operating U.S. Is the most reliable vehicle. In short, it is not Really Surprisingly (in anticipation) that SpaceX has begun to ease its position on stationary fire – especially considering that there is no other launch provider on Earth before stationary fire rockets. Each Launch.
More than likely, SpaceX will continue the static Fire Falcon 9 and heavy booster on the launch pad before their flight debut and at the request of the customer. If post-launch or in-flight inspection data give cause for concern, SpaceX may still choose static fire boosters with caution. Additionally, as part of the SpaceX acceptance test, McGregor does not show signs of ending the practice of full-booster static fire in Texas, it still leaves a step ahead of traditional rocket manufacturers, which are simply static fire individual engines.
Regardless, SpaceX’s 13th Starlink launch will be streamed live as usual, with coverage starting 15 minutes before the lift off.
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