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Announcement
#1 2013-12-01 16:09:02
SpaceX SES-8 Launch
http://www.space.com/23779-spacex-abort … aunch.html
Topped with a television broadcasting satellite, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket fired its engines and was moments away from liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, but the commercial booster aborted the launch after computers detected the engines were too slow building up thrust.
Engineers raced to understand and resolve the problem, but they could not get comfortable enough to attempt the launch again before Thursday's time-constrained flight opportunity closed.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket performs an automatic abort just before the first of two launch attempts to loft the SES-8 communications satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 28, 2013.iPin It A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket performs an automatic abort just before the first of two launch attempts to loft the SES-8 communications satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 28, 2013.
Credit: SpaceXView full size image
Officials had not announced a new target launch date Thursday evening, but SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk posted on his Twitter account the mission would likely be delayed a few days. [See photos of SpaceX's milestone Falcon 9 rocket mission]SpaceX was targeting liftoff of the 22-story rocket at 5:39 p.m. EST (2239 GMT) Thursday, aiming to achieve the first Thanksgiving Day launch from Florida's Space Coast since 1959. The launch was pushed back to Thursday after multiple technical problems thwarted an initial launch attempt Monday.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands poised to launch the SES-8 communications satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The November 2013 mission will be SpaceX's first launch of an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket from Florida.Pin It A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands poised to launch the SES-8 communications satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The November 2013 mission will be SpaceX's first launch of an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket from Florida.
Credit: SpaceXView full size image
The rocket's mission is to place the SES 8 television broadcasting satellite into orbit more than 50,000 miles above Earth, the highest altitude ever achieved by a SpaceX launch.Musk and industry officials say the flight is critical to SpaceX's future in the commercial launch market, in which it competes against stalwart launch vehicles from Europe and Russia to haul large telecommunications satellites into orbit.
The countdown marched smoothly toward liftoff Thursday, with the rocket clearing key hurdles that hamstrung Monday's launch attempt. The Falcon 9 pressurized its propellant tanks, switched to internal power and ignited its nine Merlin 1D first stage engines a few seconds before the appointed launch time.
But the Falcon 9's computer-controlled countdown sequencer recognized a problem and called off the launch, shutting down the engines after they flashed to life and sent a wave of sound across the Florida rocket base.
SES-8 Telecommunications SatellitePin It The SES-8 telecommunications satellite is an Orbital Sciences GEOStar-2 spacecraft that will provide communications coverage of the South Asia and Asia Pacific regions. This hybrid Ku- and Ka-band spacecraft weighs 6,918 lbs. (3,138 kg.) at launch.
Credit: SpaceXView full size image
Moments later, as SpaceX's webcast went silent, Elon Musk went to Twitter to describe the status of the launch.
The launch was "aborted by autosequence due to slower than expected thrust ramp," Musk posted on Twitter.
The technology mogul, who founded SpaceX in 2002, later posted the launch team was relaxing conservative preset limits on the rocket by increasing the pressure of the engines' helium spin start system.
As engineers continued to study the problem, SpaceX elected to restart the countdown to preserve a chance to launch Thursday.
Ultimately, however, SpaceX said they could not get comfortable with the issue in time and ordered another hold with less than a minute left in the day's second countdown.
"We called manual abort," Musk tweeted. "Better to be paranoid and wrong. Bringing rocket down to borescope (inspect) engines."
With time running out in the launch window, the launch director called off the flight for Thursday.
"We have scrubbed for the day," the launch director announced. "We'll continue through the abort safing and go into detank and site securing.
"Essentially, we just ran out of time to complete [the] data review from the first engine start. So taking the safe path out of here, we decided to abort for the day and do [a] sufficient, complete data review."
According to SpaceX the earliest possible launch attempt will be Monday evening. You can watch it a http://www.spacex.com/webcast/. Who plans to see it?
-Josh
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#2 2013-12-03 09:07:57
- GW Johnson
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Re: SpaceX SES-8 Launch
Spacex website says the abort cause was "oxygen in ground side TEB/TEA". Somehow or another, there was unintended oxygen in the igniter line somewhere, which I suspect is a very serious issue. I don't know exactly how they are doing this, but TEB/TEA has been used a long time. It was the afterburner igniter for the SR-71's engines.
Anyhow, today their site says they have resolved all the issues. There will be a launch attempt today (Tuesday) during a window about dinner time Eastern, with a backup day tomorrow. Cross your fingers.
Their site does say cleaning out all the turbopump machinery took a lot of time. I would suggest they talk to XCOR about piston pump machinery for some future "Merlin 1-E". Reusability is as much about lower labor costs as it is about avoiding production costs.
GW
Last edited by GW Johnson (2013-12-03 09:09:32)
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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#4 2013-12-03 14:17:35
- GW Johnson
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Re: SpaceX SES-8 Launch
Yep, it's always tough, even for a lot acceptance test on a production motor. A lot of rocket guys tend to be a bit superstitious around test time, especially us old solid propellant missile guys. We would often joke about sacrificing a virgin to the test gods, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. None of the gals ever volunteered, though. Even so, most of the live firings went very well.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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#5 2013-12-03 17:32:23
Re: SpaceX SES-8 Launch
In Nepal they're been known to sacrifice a goat to fix airliners. Maybe that's a strategy worth pursuing here 
The launch was beautiful, and everything went off without a hitch. The satellite and rocket stage are in a parking orbit right now, pending further maneuvering by the satellite.
-Josh
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#6 2013-12-04 07:20:12
- Tom Kalbfus
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Re: SpaceX SES-8 Launch
That was a scapegoat! When something goes wrong, you blame the goat and therefore sacrifice him, it doesn't solve the problem, but it makes some people feel better to have a scapegoat.
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#7 2013-12-04 12:37:33
- GW Johnson
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Re: SpaceX SES-8 Launch
I looked around in 2 or 3 places on the internet and confirmed what I heard on the TV news last night. The Spacex site has the latest tweets posted. The rocket worked fine, including the second stage restart. The satellite is in the intended geosynchronous orbit. Congrats to Spacex.
GW
GW Johnson
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"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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