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SpaceX is to set launch 48 Starlink web communication satellites to low Earth orbit Wednesday morning from House Launch Complicated 40 on the Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station in Florida. With the launch set for 8:45 AM EST (13:45 UTC) on March 9, the Starlink Group 4-10 mission will mark SpaceX’s tenth launch of 2022 – averaging one launch each 6.8 days.
The forty fifth Climate Squadron, in its launch mission execution forecast for Starlink Group 4-10, predicts an 80% likelihood of favorable climate for launch. The likelihood of favorable launch climate stays at 80% within the backup window, which is slightly below 24 hours later.
Following the launch, the Falcon 9 first stage will land 635 km downrange on SpaceX’s autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) A Shortfall of Gravitas. The ASDS was tugged downrange by SpaceX’s multi-purpose restoration ship Doug, which can be serving as ASDS assist. As soon as Doug has towed ASOG to the touchdown zone, it’ll journey one other ~7 km downrange to get well the fairings.
The Starlink satellites might be positioned right into a 317 x 305 km orbit at 53.22° inclination. The satellites will then spend a number of months elevating their orbits to a 540 km round low Earth orbit utilizing their onboard ion propulsion.
Because the Falcon 9 lifts off, it’ll hug the coast of the Bahamas then flip farther south as soon as away from land. This maneuver, known as a dogleg, permits SpaceX to put satellites into orbits that may in any other case require them to overfly populated areas. Starlink Group 4-10 would be the closing Starlink launch out of Florida to fly on this descending node for this 12 months. The following Starlink mission, Starlink Group 4-12, will launch northeast on the ascending node.
The Falcon 9 booster supporting Starlink Group 4-10 is B1052-4. B1052 first flew because the Minus Y (My) booster on the Arabsat-6A and STP-2 Falcon Heavy missions, which means it was positioned within the unfavourable Y course from the middle core. Following STP-2, the booster was transformed from a Falcon Heavy aspect core to a Falcon 9.
This course of consisted of eradicating the nostril cone, mounting the interstage, and eradicating the ahead and aft pushers. Because the identify implies, B1052-4 has supported three earlier missions; apparently, the booster landed on land on all three earlier flights, making this flight the primary time it’ll land on an ASDS.
Starlink is SpaceX’s low Earth orbit satellite tv for pc web constellation. With the purpose of offering low latency, high-speed web across the complete globe, Starlink presently consists of over 2,000 satellites in orbit:
Shells | Inclination (°) | Orbital Altitude (km) | Planes | Satellites per Airplane | Variety of Satellites | Lively Satellites |
Shell 1 | 53 | 550 | 72 | 22 | 1,584 | 1,534 |
Shell 2 | 70 | 570 | 36 | 20 | 720 | 51 |
Shell 3 | 97.6 | 560 | 6 | 58 | 348 | 3 |
Shell 4 | 53.2 | 540 | 72 | 22 | 1,584 | 403 |
Shell 5 | 97.6 | 560 | 4 | 43 | 172 | 0 |
(Lively satellite tv for pc information from Jonathan McDowell)
This mission will enhance the whole variety of working Starlink satellites to over 2,000, the primary time in historical past {that a} satellite tv for pc constellation has reached this milestone. SpaceX is hoping to utterly fill the fourth shell of Starlink by the top of the 12 months with about 40 Starlink missions in 2022.
Launch Timeline:
At T-38 minutes, the launch director will maintain a technical Go/No-Go ballot for propellant loading. Assuming all programs and groups are “go,” the car will start propellant loading at T-35 minutes.
The Falcon 9 makes use of super-chilled liquid oxygen and sub-cooled RP-1 kerosene. By additional chilling – and subsequently rising the density of – propellants, SpaceX is ready to get extra efficiency out of the Falcon 9.
At T-1 minute the Falcon 9 will enter startup. Because of this the car is in command of the launch countdown: all technical aborts from this level ahead are dealt with by the Falcon 9 itself. Moreover, the strain in all the car’s tanks will increase as they put together for the stresses of launch.
At T-2.7 seconds, Falcon 9 will command the beginning of its engines. The engines will ignite in pairs to scale back startup transients on the car. As soon as the car has verified that each one programs are nominal, the Falcon 9 will command the launch clamps to launch, letting the rocket raise off of the pad.
HR/MIN/SEC | EVENT |
---|---|
00:01:12 | Max Q (second of peak mechanical stress on the rocket) |
00:02:30 | 1st stage important engine cutoff (MECO) |
00:02:34 | 1st and 2nd levels separate |
00:02:41 | 2nd stage engine begins (SES-1) |
00:02:45 | Fairing deployment |
00:06:50 | 1st stage entry burn begin |
00:07:12 | 1st stage entry burn full |
00:08:25 | 1st stage touchdown burn begin |
00:08:45 | 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) |
00:08:51 | 1st stage touchdown |
00:56:50 | 2nd stage engine begins (SES-2) |
00:56:51 | 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2) |
01:05:52 | Starlink satellites deploy |
The primary stage will energy the preliminary ascent, and after separating from the higher stage make a touchdown on A Shortfall of Gravitas. As soon as the second stage reaches orbit and deploys the satellites, the stage will carry out a deorbit burn.
SpaceX has two extra launches scheduled for March: Starlink Group 4-12, launching on B1051-12 in mid-March, and SpaceX’s first personal mission to the Worldwide House Station, Axiom-1, on March 30.
(Lead photograph: Falcon 9 B1052 stands at SLC-40 forward of the CSG-2 mission in January. Credit score: Stephen Marr for NSF)
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