Fwd: SpaceX DSCOVR launch delayed, possible launch Monday

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: February 8, 2015 at 7:48:49 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: SpaceX DSCOVR launch delayed, possible launch Monday

 

 

 

Update: SpaceX DSCOVR launch delayed, possible launch Monday

This will be SpaceX's first deep space mission.

By Thor Benson   |   Updated Feb. 8, 2015 at 6:22 PM

 

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- UPDATE 6:17 p.m. EST:

The SpaceX DSCOVR launch set for 6:10 p.m. EST was cancelled two minutes before launch due to problems with a "telemetry item" and an "Air Force range" issue with one of their radars. The next possible launch time is Monday at 6:07 p.m. EST.

SpaceX was scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket at 6:10 p.m. EST on Sunday carrying the Deep Space Climate Observatory. The launch would have been SpaceX's second attempt -- and potentially first successful attempt -- to recover the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket after its initial separation.

Original story follows:

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) will be placed 1.5 million kilometers (just under 1 million miles) from Earth, or about four times as far from Earth as the Moon. It will monitor the Earth and the Sun to look for solar storms and other incidents so scientists on Earth can prepare.

"DSCOVR will serve as our tsunami buoy in deep space," Tom Berger, the director of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, said in a press conference Saturday. Solar storms can affect satellite navigation and power grids.

The second part of the mission will be SpaceX's second attempt to land discarded rocket stages on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean. The first attempt failed, with the rocket crashing into the platform at an angle, but that was largely because the fins that control the angle ran out of hydraulic fluid. Elon Musk has stated the rocket will be carrying plenty of hydraulic fluid this time around.

Reusable rocket stages should dramatically lower the cost of spaceflight.

Rocket reentry will be much tougher this time around due to deep space mission. Almost 2X force and 4X heat. Plenty of hydraulic fluid tho.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2015

 

Painting the name on the droneship ... pic.twitter.com/X8R8O4KjPx

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2015

 

 

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