| Issue 7 | Volume 145 | Tuesday, March 8, 2016 | theavion.com |
Trey Henderson/The Avion Newspaper A long exposure view of the sunset Falcon 9 launch on the evening of Fri., March. 4. The mission launched the SES-9 communication satellite into a geosynchronous orbit.
The Falcon Flies
Trey Henderson Senior Reporter It is 6:05 p.m., March 4. The countdown clock reaches T-minus 30 minutes until liftoff of SES-9, a commercial communications satellite aboard SpaceX’s thirty-six Falcon 9 Full Thrust Rocket. SES-9 is designed to provide phone, radio and Internet access to isolated areas of eastern and southern Asia. As the clock continues past T minus 30 minutes, propellant loading of super-cooled, “densified,” liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene is just beginning. The negative 340-degree oxidizer exhibits a very narrow window of opportunity for SpaceX as slight temperature variations mark the threshold between solid oxygen and non-densified propellant, either of which could wreak havoc on the finely tuned Merlin 1D engines. The clock reaches T-10 minutes, and oxidizer valves slam open, flowing densified liquid oxygen up to the Merlin turbo pumps in a process known as engine chill. This engine chill process is critical as systems are prepared for launch. Extreme cold temperature oxidizer flowing through relatively hot piping into the engine could cause
bubbles, pressure issues and pump cavitation on engine start. As the feed lines cool to more than negative 300 degrees and the vehicle fueling process comes to a close, range officers and launch controllers are reviewing final vehicle data. At T minus two minutes, the Air Force Range Safety Officer gives final approval indicating that the launch range is go for launch. The launch readiness poll is conducted by the SpaceX Launch Director, and as all launch systems are verified go for launch, the Launch Director issues the final go for Falcon launch. T minus one minute and counting, the Falcon 9’s flight computer is checking thousands of parameters to ensure that the vehicle is in good health and all conditions are met for liftoff. With all checks indicating green, the clock enters the last ten seconds. At T minus three seconds, the nine Merlin 1D engines begin their startup sequence; gallons of densified liquid oxygen and chilled RP-1 flow into the combustion chamber and the engines roar to life, rapidly throttling to 100% power and each producing more than 150,000 pounds of thrust.
As each engine is confirmed producing 100% power, the final check before liftoff is complete and the massive holddowns are released. The Falcon climbs off the pad under the force of more than 1,000,000 pounds of thrust. At two minutes and thirty six seconds into flight, the nine first stage engines shut down and the second stage is jettisoned from the first stage booster. Eleven seconds later, the second stage’s single, Merlin 1D Vacuum engine ignites to complete the rest of the mission. Burning for an additional six minutes and fourteen seconds, SES-9
and Falcon’s second stage are now at orbital altitude. For 16 minutes the pair coast through space until the Merlin 1D Vacuum is reignited for the final burn of the mission. 48 more seconds places SES-9 in a perfect geostationary transfer orbit. Meanwhile, viewers around the world are waiting with baited breath for the results of Falcon’s first stage landing attempt. Soon, Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and founder, announces that the booster “landed hard,” likely indicating a complete loss of the stage, as expected. The high altitude of the unique, geostationary transfer orbit left little maneuvering propellant
for the first stage’s drone ship landing attempt. While the failed landing marks yet another in SpaceX’s list of unsuccessful attempts, the mission is regarded as a 100% success with SES-9 being placed in a better-than-ideal orbit. The orbit which SES-9 was placed during the mission will reduce the expected transit time required by the satellite from 90 days to only 45. SpaceX’s next planned mission, CRS-8, an ISS commercial resupply mission aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule, is scheduled for a March 29 liftoff at 8:29 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Trey Henderson/The Avion Newspaper The Full-Thrust Falcon 9 launched from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
DAB Airport Drill Jaclyn Wiley News Editor In the early hours of the morning on Wednesday, March 2, emergency response personnel from all around Florida gathered at Daytona Beach International Airport and were greeted by the sight of an aircraft lying in multiple pieces past the end of Runway 34 by Richard Petty Blvd. This was not an air disaster that greeted them, however. It was the airport’s triannual live emergency response drill. Steve Ward, an Airport Operations Agent at DAB, helped to plan the event and acted as an evaluator. He explained, “Every three years, we have to do a real drill. Every year, we have to do at least a table-top drill, but every third year we have to do a live drill. You have to have so many live people or mannequins,” said Ward. The airport carried the cost of the event, having budgeted $30,000 for the live drill. Continued on A6 >>