GPS III Space Vehicle 04 Mission

[Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] lw and weathernet uh liftoff conditions pretty good the fps is ready for launch [Music] ignition liftoff falcon 9 has cleared the tower [Music] ten nine eight side booster ignition six five four three two one [Music] good evening it's thursday november 5th and on your screen is a live view of falcon 9 waiting it's 6 24 pm eastern time launch from cape canaveral air force station in florida my name is jesse anderson and i'm a lead manufacturing engineer here at spacex welcome to our webcast coverage for gps3 space vehicle 4 for the space force the u.s space force satellites provide mission-critical global access persistence and awareness for national security and have become vital to our global community and world economy the global positioning system or gps payload will provide a diverse range of navigation and timing services for both civil and military purposes today's payload will join 31 operational gps satellites already on orbit and will help to serve over 4 billion users worldwide and as you may recall about a month ago we stood down from falcon 9's launch attempt of this mission due to an auto abort during engine ignition caused by early start behavior on two engines this was a good abort by falcon 9. the rocket did exactly as it was programmed to do when when the data indicates something doesn't look as we expected to right before liftoff we sent those two engines to texas for further testing and it turned out that there was a blockage in a vent passage that leads to a relief valve on the gas generator the blockage was caused by a masking lacquer residue that had hardened during the build process but once we removed it the gas generator was restored to normal behavior during subsequent testing this was a really great find it allowed our teams to fix something that is very subtle but can have some negative impact on the engine behavior as well as allowed us to make sure that we can prevent this from happening again in the future the two engines which first exhibited the early start behavior on this booster were replaced with new ones which were tested again during our full duration static fire both engines look great and the rocket is healthy for flight today so let's take a closer look at the vehicle that will launch the gps3 satellite on your screen is a view of space launch complex 40 with falcon 9 our two-stage liquid-fueled launch vehicle getting ready for liftoff falcon 9 stands 229 feet or 70 meters tall which is slightly taller than a 21 story building the bottom two thirds of the vehicle is a brand new first stage its job is to accelerate the vehicle all the way to the edge of space where it will drop off the second stage carrying the payload tonight we will be attempting to recover the first stage on our drone ship of course i still love you and there you can see it on your screen right there in the middle of the atlantic ocean what's really exciting is that this specific booster is planned to support the gps-35 mission next year which will be the first time that the u.s space force has agreed to fly a flight proven booster about two and a half minutes into flight the first and second stage will separate and the second stage will ignite its single merlin vacuum engine to carry the gps satellite to a highly elliptical orbit separation from second stage will occur approximately four thousand kilometers above earth and then the satellite will perform berms to raise its position to enter a circular mio or medium earth orbit and reach an apogee of approximately 20 200 kilometers above earth and apogee is basically just the furthest point from earth or the highest point that the satellite will reach in orbit inside of that structure on your screen this is at the very top of the rocket is where the gps 3 satellite sits and that structure is what we call the payload fairing which is about 17 feet or 5 meters in diameter and about 43 feet or 13 meters tall this payload fairing protects the satellite from aerodynamic heating loads and contamination during ascent but once we get into the vacuum of space we no longer need this protection so we will jettison the fairing halves to save some weight as the second stage continues with the satellite to its targeted drop off orbit the fairing halves we are using today are new but due to upgrades being made to our recovery boats we will be attempting to pick these halves up out of the water using using our recovery vessel mischief today and there is mischief on your screen heading to the the pickup zone the large trusted structure next to falcon 9 is the transporter erector or the te and you can see that on your screens to the left side of falcon 9. the te is used to roll the falcon 9 to the launch pad and raises it to its vertical launch position as well as routes power fluid and communication to both the rocket and the satellite now let's get a status update on the vehicle good evening from the webcast desk here at spacex headquarters in hawthorne california i'm john inspector falcon 9 principal integration engineer it's been a quiet countdown during the day working relatively few minor issues the teams are ready to launch as we approach t minus eight minutes to lift off now we're launching from space launch complex 40 here in the darker cape canaveral this will be our third gps launch and all of them have been from this launch pad now the spacecraft team performed functional checkouts of the gps satellite during the day and the falcon 9 team began their final checks of the launch vehicle at t-minus two hours at t-minus 38 minutes the team concluded their electronic go no-go poll and gave the okay to proceed into propellant load and launch the team then began loading propellant at t-minus 35 minutes we load the propellants as close to launch as possible in order to keep them cold both the first and second stages use the same propellants as the second stage merlin engine is very similar to those on the first stage this allows us to make the second stage like a shorter version of the first stage and this commonality is one of the many reliability features in the falcon design now our fuel is a refined form of kerosene known as rp1 our oxidizer is super chill liquid oxygen called lox i mentioned keeping the propellants cold we chill the liquid oxygen as cold as we can get it allowing us to load more into the booster now currently the second stage is fully loaded with rp1 fuel and the first stage continues loading for another minute liquid oxygen is also loading on both the first and second stages right now we're also loading helium into storage vessels on the first and second stages during flight we'll take this cold helium run it through heat exchangers on the merlin engines that heats the helium up and as it expands we use it to fill the empty volume in the propellant tanks it's created as the engine pumps pull the propellant out of the stages now you just may have heard a moment ago where inside of seven minutes we have begun engine chill in that will cool the turbo pumps and avoid thermal shocks when we start them at t-minus two seconds as part of the ignition sequence of the merlin engines the spacecraft team has transitioned the gps payload to internal battery power occurring just as we came on the air at t-minus 13 minutes that is their last major activity required before launch currently the range is green ready to support the weather the only thing we've really been watching is the ground winds they've been marginal but for the moment everything continues to look good we've got about 17 miles an hour from the east that's within limits now if we do have to call a hold on today's launch we have a backup opportunity tomorrow with liftoff time scheduled a few minutes earlier at 6 20 pm eastern time now all systems continue to be go for a liftoff just past 6 24 pm eastern time as we mentioned earlier today's mission is for the u.s space force launching the gps3 space vehicle 4 payload now we'll hear from the air force's lieutenant colonel margaret sullivan and lockheed martin's tonya ladwig for more information on tonight's payload [Music] we use gps every day today everyone has gps technology in their pocket [Music] 25 years of space-based position navigation and timing supporting the entire world gps touches the lives of everyday people all the time it's changed the way we work it's changed the way we play with over four billion users worldwide we're already preparing for the next generation of gps satellites with our gps gps3 follow-on contract and we're inserting greater technology for greater capability the brand new united states space force owns this premier asset and provides this position navigation and timing service to everyone we're currently less than four minutes from liftoff everything continues to be go for launch what we're watching right now is the strongback has just retracted to the pre-launch position it's about two degrees from the rocket that liftoff hydraulics will move the strong back the rest of the way back about 45 degrees from the rocket now first stage fuel loading did complete at t minus six minutes we're continuing to wait for first stage liquid oxygen load to finish up in about half a minute here followed a minute later by second stage completion now a minute before liftoff you'll hear the announcement falcon 9 isn't startup that means the rockets own internal computers are controlling the launch countdown on the rocket once the engines are confirmed to be at full power the flight computer on the second stage will then command the ground hold downs to release the rocket right at t zero the satellite team continues to monitor status and health of the gps three located inside the fairing that you can see on the screen and right now all systems are go on the satellite the range is green for launch we have uh it sounds like in the background we heard that stage two or stage one locked close out complete so we're on time and the good news is the weather is looking good still ground winds are in limits upper altitude winds are good so as a reminder though if we don't have a launch today we have a backup opportunity tomorrow with liftoff time scheduled four minutes earlier than tonight but right now at two minutes and 20 seconds and counting everything continues to go well waiting now to hear stage two lox load completion stage two locks close up t-minus a minute 51 seconds and we've heard the stage two lock slowed out call we're now since we're finished loading liquid oxygen onto the second stage we have to drain the line back that runs the length of that strong back you can see next to the falcon 9 and as we do that we'll vent off pressure and that will create the large white cloud that you see around the strongback and maybe the rocket depending how the wind's blowing that's nominal that's what you see right there that's just us bringing everything back down the line as we're closing out propellant and pressure loading on the falcon 9. next activity we're waiting for the call out that falcon 9 is in start-up falcon 9 there it is computers have taken over the falcon 9. we're pressurizing first and second stage tanks for launch waiting for final go mission director mission director has given me go for flight everything continues to look good pressurizing the tanks one final time here to get ready for liftoff but right now at t minus 30 seconds and counting all systems are go for the launch of falcon 9 with gps3 space vehicle number four t-minus 15 seconds falcon 9 configured six five four three two one zero ignition this side downrange stage 1 propulsion is nominal 30 seconds into flight propulsion says the merlin 1d engines are nominal we're on trajectory and preparing to throttle down in preparation for maximum dynamic pressure and we're heading into the throttle bucket as we power down the merlin engines and throttling back up now and when the engines back up at full power sonic and we have gone past mach one waiting now for max q call out the vehicle is experiencing maximum aerodynamic pressure guidance engineer reports we're passing through the period of maximum aerodynamic pressure called max q from here on as the speed picks up the atmospheric density decreases and the loads are reduced on the falcon 9 vehicle propulsion power continues to look good the trajectory looks good and back engine chill started the engine chill and call out on the mvac second stage engine indicates we've begun chilling that turbo pump like we did with the first stage engines getting ready for ignition of the upper stage engine now coming up in just over 30 seconds the usual three sequence event that'll happen in rapid succession main engine cutoff will shut down the nine merlin 1d engines you can see glowing there in the night sky stage separation and then we'll get startup of the second stage engine nice view from the ground camera looking up at the nine merlin 1d engines on the business end of the falcon 9 first stage stage separation confirmed [Applause] and back startup so we've had a good separation mvac up on power on the left screen the first stage continuing to coast downrange as it begins to deploy those large titanium grid vents trajectory continues to look right down the middle stages are following nominal trajectories guidance confirms we're on nominal trajectory with both stages acquisition of signal maryland maryland reports they've got signal from the second stage next event coming up is payload fairing separation separation confirmed a nice view from the camera looking forward the gps three satellite with the two payload fairing half separating everything continued to go well on this mission three minutes and 42 seconds into flight first stage continuing to coast to apogee headed downrange second stage engine at full power everything's looking good with the mvac engine right now trajectory heading us to where the bermuda ground station can hear us we've heard the call out acquisition of signal bermuda now getting the telemetry from the falcon 9 second stage so four minutes eight seconds into flight everything going well on the flight of falcon 9 with gps3 both stages continue to follow nominal trajectories and at t plus four minutes and 20 seconds we're currently in the first of two planned mvac burns and we just passed t plus 4 minutes and 23 seconds and that's actually when the first stage reaches apogee of 120 kilometers almost 400 000 feet at stage separation the first stage velocity is about 2 200 meters per second or 5 000 miles per hour so right after stage separation the first stage still moving at such a high velocity continues to raise its altitude as it goes for a couple of minutes basically the first stage almost doubles its altitude from stage separation which occurred at about 69 kilometers or 226 000 feet to when it reaches apogee and then it starts its return back to earth and again apogee is the highest point or the furthest that it is away from earth in the trajectory of the first stage now the next next major milestone that you'll be able to see you'll be able to see on your screen is the first stages entry burn for the entry burn we re-light the center e9 engine and then part way through we re-light the e1 and e5 engine so that we have a total of three m1dl engines helping to slow the vehicle down as it passes back into the earth's atmosphere we're just about 40 seconds away from that entry burn beginning today's entry burn should last about 27 seconds long both stages continue to follow nominal trajectories and you heard that call out that both stages are looking good t plus six minutes we're about 20 seconds away from that entry burn on first stage and it is night time over there on the east coast so hard to see that first stage on the left hand screen but once entry burn begins it should light up that screen we should be able to see first stage pretty well stage whenever you burn start up and there's that entry burn starting up fts is saved stage one you could see the plume started off small and it got a little larger and that is because we started with one single engine added a couple engines for a total of three for this entry burn stage one shutdown and that concludes the entry burn next up we do have a couple major milestones happening back to back the start of the landing burn for first stage followed immediately afterwards by ceco one on second stage siko which stands for second engine cutoff is where we shut down the mvac engine to allow the second stage to coast which preserves the fuel until we need it for the final burn to take us to our targeted orbit for the gps three satellite then about 25 seconds okay stage one expected then about 25 seconds after seco one will hopefully have a nice view of the first stage touching down on of course i still love you and there's that drone ship on your left hand screen stage two has entered terminal guidance stage one transonic just about 20 seconds away from those two events again the landing burn followed by seco second one on second stage just a couple seconds after that landing burn begins stage two fts has saved stage and seco there we've had seco waiting for confirmation of good orbit as first stage returns to earth stage one landing leg deploy nominal parking orbit there's good orbit and at the same time we have touchdown of our falcon 9 of course i still love you [Applause] and again that did that did happen at the same time so we did have seco and good orbit of our second stage and there you could see on your left hand screen first stage landed on of course i still love you this marks the 16th falcon 9 landing just this year and the 64th of all time and we're looking forward to seeing this booster take its second flight on the next gps mission next year now the second stage vehicle has now entered its first coast phase which will last about 54 minutes and we will light that mvac engine for a second time shortly after t plus one hour and three minutes so we're going to take a quick break and as always we leave you with an animation so that you can keep an eye on where that second stage is throughout the coast phase so we'll see you back here at t plus one hour and two minutes [Music] [Music] also signal maryland expected [Music] i was the signal bermuda expected [Music] so [Music] also signal new hampshire expected [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so so [Music] so [Music] so also signal different expected [Music] acquisition of signal goon hilly [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] acquisition a signal okay [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so also signal gun hilly expected [Music] [Music] also signal okay expected 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[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] acquisition of signal tasmania [Music] [Music] [Music] engine chills started foreign [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] welcome back to the webcast of the falcon 9 mission carrying gps 3 space vehicle 4 for the u.s space force to recap what's happened so far this evening we had a smooth on-time liftoff at 6 24 p.m eastern standard time two and a half minutes later we separated the first stage from the second stage the second stage then completed its first burn successfully inserting the gps with the second stage still attached into the planned parking orbit now we're coming up on the second burn of the upper stage engine in about half a minute flight computer is currently commando commanding settling thrusters to turn on and off that's releasing nitrogen gas out of two thrusters in the back of the second stage that lightly pushes the stage and that helps keep the propellant at the bottom of the tank right above the inlet to the engine's turbo pumps as you can see from the ground track we're passing south of the tasmania ground station in australia following the burn will be headed in orbit up towards the hawaii and vandenberg ground stations waiting for ignition in back ignition we've got ignition of the second stage engine we're up on power now the second stage will burn for 45 seconds we're going to be adding over 2000 meters per second to the speed of falcon 9 before we shut it down for the second time you can see from the velocity meter on the screen the speed clicking up we're still at 419 kilometers in the same altitude in the parking orbit uh where we've been for a while but this burn is going to bring us all the way up into the transfer orbit and then shortly after that we'll separate the gps satellite now we're coming up on shutdown number two called seco two and this is the burn that will place gps3 space vehicle into the required orbit and back shut down we've got seco mvac shut down call out we're waiting for the orbit the guidance navigation and control engineer has called out a nominal orbit look at the data it's an excellent looking orbit it's a second stage in a good orbit gps spacecraft is still attached to the falcon 9 at this time now we're going to go through a series of events to get ready for separation a little bit after we have finished a short coast we are going to start a slow spin of the second stage that's going to help stabilize the gps satellite when it's released from the second stage we also have to wait until the orbit takes us into range of the two air force satellite ground stations one in hawaii one in california we've got to make sure that the ground stations can be in contact with the gps satellite before we release it so all of this is going to take 24 minutes to get into the right situation at the right spin rate and that satellite separation is planned to occur at about t plus one hour and 29 minutes so we're going to pause the commentary now during this coast but we will come back just before planned separation in about 23 minutes we'll be back with you at t plus one hour 28 minutes and 30 seconds [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] also signal tasmania expected [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] foreign okay do [Music] do [Music] so [Music] [Applause] wow [Music] bye [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] public [Music] [Music] [Music] acquisition signal hawaii do [Music] acquisition signal sudden peak [Music] acquisition signal cook [Music] [Music] [Music] acquisition of signal south texas [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so welcome back to our launch coverage of the gps3 space vehicle 4 mission for the u.s space force if you're just now joining us we had an on-time launch at 6 24 pm eastern time followed by successful ascent stage separation first stage came back and landed on of course i still love you and two second stage engine burns we have just one more major milestone coming up to complete today's mission which of course is the deployment of the gps three satellite from falcons falcon 9 second stage just about 15 seconds from now currently the second stage is rotating to stabilize the gps-3 satellite and we're currently in view of those two customer ground stations on the western us that john mentioned earlier that are necessary to connect to prior to deployment today we've got a nice live view of that gps3 satellite it will deploy confirmed and there confirms the deployment of the gps-3 satellite as it's drifting away from falcon 9 with a nice sunlit view there this confirms a successful spacecraft separation and that completes our primary mission which will bring today's webcast coverage to a close and it's a great view of the gps satellite drifting slowly away from the falcon 9 second stage and it's a great way to bring a webcast to an end we'd like to thank the u.s space force for entrusting us with today's gps3 space vehicle 4 mission and we look forward to the additional gps missions we will be supporting in the future special thanks this evening to the 45th space wing for range support and to all of our viewers thanks for joining us for today's mission and have a good weekend foreign [Music] [Music] you

Channel: SpaceX

Views: 988,111

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Id: wufXF5YKR1M

Length: 109min 58sec (6598 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 06 2020