SpaceX has called off its second attempt in as many days to launch the SES-9 satellite into orbit, citing “technical difficulties”.
The countdown had less than two minutes to go when it was put on hold today. The attempt had already been halted yesterday to allow more time to chill the super-cooled liquid oxygen propellant that drives the Falcon 9 rocket. The colder the fuel is, the denser it is and the more power the rocket has.
It’s unclear why today’s launch was also called off. SpaceX said that “teams are reviewing the data and the next available launch date”.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying SES-9 on the launchpad prior to the 6.46pm ET launch window on Friday,... [+]
Falcon 9 product director John Insprucker, who was commentating on the launch, said during the live webcast that preliminary information indicated that there was a problem with the time left to load the liquid oxygen.
The payload for the mission is the SES-9, a Boeing-built satellite owned by Belgian comms satellite owner and operator SES. The firm tweeted that its satellite “remains healthy”.
The sat needs to make it into geostationary transfer orbit, around 26,000 miles above the Earth. After dropping the payload off, SpaceX is hoping to try for another ocean landing of its reusable Falcon 9 rocket.
Four previous attempts to land on the (relatively) tiny floating droneship on the ocean have failed, although they’ve come really close. However, Elon Musk’s rocket firm has already proved the potential of its reusable booster with a successful land setdown at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The Falcon 9 needs to be able to land on both the ground and the sea, because ship landings are necessary for high velocity missions.
Getting the rocket down in one piece is no easy task though. The custom-made landing pad is just 300 by 170 feet and the legspan of the rocket is 70 feet. The Falcon 9 has to hit the spaceport droneship bang on target and slow down enough to settle upright so it can be reused for another launch.
Twice, the booster has managed to stick the actual landing, but then subsequently toppled over. In January, the Falcon 9 made the soft landing, but one of its landing legs failed and it keeled over and exploded. In April last year, the rocket slowed enough to land, but had too much “lateral velocity” to stay upright.
Reusable rockets have the potential to revolutionise space travel, drastically cutting the cost of getting out into the cosmos by making the most expensive bit last for more than one mission.
