SpaceX tests rocket ahead of space station cargo mission – Spaceflight Now

EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated after the Falcon 9 static fire at 9:00 p.m. EDT (01:00 GMT).

Set to end a two-month drought at SpaceX launch, ground crews on Wednesday lifted a vertical Falcon 9 rocket to its launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for an engine firing test and loading. final cargo before takeoff Saturday on a refueling flight to the International Space Station.

SpaceX brought the Falcon 9 rocket out of its hangar near pad 39A at Kennedy late Tuesday night, then lifted the launcher vertically over the resort complex on Wednesday.

The Falcon 9 rocket and its Cargo Dragon payload, at a height of 65 meters (215 feet), performed a training countdown on Wednesday evening. SpaceX’s launch team loaded densified, super-refrigerated kerosene and liquid oxygen into the two-stage rocket and fired its nine Merlin 1D main engines for 10 seconds at 9:00 p.m. EDT Wednesday (01:00 GMT Thursday) for a test shooting before flight.

Assuming engineers find no concerns during a review of the post-test data, SpaceX is expected to allow the automated cargo mission to launch at 3:37 a.m. EDT (07:37 GMT) on Saturday. This will be the 21st Falcon 9 launch of the year by the company, and the first since June 30, an unusually long gap between SpaceX missions, at least in recent history.

SpaceX has suspended launches of its Starlink Internet satellites to complete the development of new laser link terminals designed to allow the spacecraft to transmit broadband signals to each other in orbit. Starlink missions made up the lion’s share of Falcon 9 launches in the first half of the year.

Starlink launches are expected to resume in September from Vandenberg Space Force base in California.

With an on-time launch on Saturday, the Cargo Dragon capsule is scheduled to dock at the space station on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. EDT (3:00 p.m. GMT) with several tons of supplies and experiments.

Ground crews will load time-sensitive cargoes into the Dragon spacecraft ahead of the attempted launch on Saturday morning.

Along with fresh food and spare parts, the Cargo Dragon is ready to deliver an array of technology demonstrations, materials science, and biomedical experiments to the space station.

They include a small robotic arm from GITAI Japan Inc., a Japanese company, to demonstrate tasks in space that could lead to the development of future robots to aid astronauts in long-duration space missions. The arm will perform its demonstrations, including switching and cable operations and assembly experiments in space, inside the Bishop-owned Nanoracks commercial airlock.

Some of the tasks will be stand-alone, while others will be remotely operated from Nanoracks’ facilities in Houston, according to GITAI.

“This technology demonstration should show the world that the capabilities necessary for automation in space are finally available,” Toyotaka Kozuki, chief technology officer of GITAI Japan, said in a statement. “This provides an inexpensive and safer source of labor in space, opening the door to true commercialization of space. “

The mission is also carrying an experiment hosting package called the Faraday Research Facility. Developed by a Houston company named ProXops, the facility will be inserted by astronauts into one of the space station’s science racks.

On this flight, the facility is carrying an experiment from the Houston Methodist Research Institute to test an implantable, remote-controlled drug delivery system. Scientists say the experiment could offer an alternative to bulky infusion pumps to help treat chronic illnesses in patients on Earth.

NASA said the facility also hosts two educational experiments to be performed on the space station, including one with the participation of a troop of Girl Scouts on the ground.

There are also several CubeSats stowed inside the pressurized compartment of the Cargo Dragon. They will be robotically deployed outside the space station in the weeks and months to come.

The mission slated for launch on Saturday will be SpaceX’s 23rd commercial refueling flight to the space station since 2012, and the third to use a new generation of SpaceX Dragon cargo ships based on the company’s human-capable crew capsules.

NASA has multi-billion dollar contracts with SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Nevada Corp. to transport goods to and from the space station.

A launch weather forecast released Wednesday by the US Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron suggests a possibility of scattered rain showers along Florida’s space coast early Saturday.

There is a 40% chance that weather conditions will prevent the launch on Saturday morning, according to the outlook. The main concerns are cumulus clouds that could create a risk of lightning and precipitation along the flight path of the Falcon 9 and Cargo Dragon.

There is a 30% chance that weather conditions will prevent launching during a Sunday emergency launch opportunity.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.