RE: SES 9 Launch
Falcon 9 clears static fire test before launch this week
Posted on February 22, 2016 by Stephen Clark
The Falcon 9 rocket’s nine Merlin 1D first stage engines fired Monday while the booster was on Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX’s launch team in Cape Canaveral fueled a Falcon 9 rocket with super-chilled liquid propellants and briefly fired the first stage’s nine Merlin engines Monday in a customary preflight test ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled liftoff of a commercial television broadcasting satellite for the Asia-Pacific.
Ground crews rolled the 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket out of its hangar at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad and raised it vertical early Monday, then ran the launcher through a series of tests before pumping super-cold liquid oxygen and RP-1 — a refined grade of kerosene — into the two-stage vehicle.
The rocket entered a computer-controlled terminal countdown sequence, prepared its nine first stage Merlin 1D engines for ignition, switched to internal power, and pressurized its propellant tanks in the final minutes of the countdown test.
The first stage engines lit for several seconds as the countdown clock reached zero, throttling up to full power to collectively generate 1.3 million pounds of thrust. Moments later, computers commanded the engines to shut down and safed the rocket as engineers prepared to drain propellants from the Falcon 9.
SpaceX confirmed the successful completion of the “static fire” test in a tweet Monday afternoon, adding that the rocket is still targeting liftoff Wednesday.
Monday’s static fire test occurred with the SES 9 communications satellite mated to the top of the Falcon 9.
Weighing approximately 11,700 pounds (5,300 kilograms), SES 9 is destined to broadcast television programming over the Asia-Pacific and connect crews and passengers aboard ships traversing the Indian Ocean with coworkers, families and friends.
Built by Boeing and owned by SES of Luxembourg, the spacecraft will be operational in mid-2016.
The launch window Wednesday opens at 6:46:14 p.m. EST (2346:14 GMT) and extends until 8:23 p.m. EST (0123 GMT).