Delta 4 Heavy's Sunday Flight Scrubbed Anew

The Delta IV Heavy EELV Demo sits on the pad at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl, awaiting its December inaugural launch. (Boeing photo)

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, Dec. 13/Satnews Daily/ ¾ An outage Sunday of the Environmental Control System forced mission management to again scrub the inaugural launch of Boeing’s new Delta 4 Heavy rocket.

The outage occurred during securing activities following Sunday’s launch attempt. Boeing said engineers have not been able to determine the root cause of the problem. Boeing said delaying the mission will allow the mission management to determine the root cause and execute any required corrective actions.

Delta 4’s primary mission is to deliver a test payload, dubbed DemoSat, into orbit. The mission also includes two smaller research satellites, called Nanosat-2, which are attached directly to the DemoSat payload and are designed to be deployed sequentially 16 minutes after launch following second stage cutoff.

The flight is also meant to demonstrate its Earth-to-orbit launch capabilities for the U.S. Air Force, which plans to use the rocket to loft at least two large satellites. The flight has a two-hour and 56-minute launch window.

The new heavy-lifting rocket was to take its much-anticipated test flight as early as Friday, only to be delayed due to adverse weather conditions. Forecast for strong winds and stormy weather at Cape Canaveral postponed the liftoff by 24 hours on Friday.

On Saturday, a problem with the Terminal Countdown Sequencer Rack (TCSR), a system that automates the final seconds of the countdown and significant upper level winds convinced the launch team to scrub the mission and re-schedule for Sunday, Dec. 12.

Sunday’s flight was set to launch between 2:32-5:28 p.m. EST (1931-2227GMT) from launch pad 37B at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch team has not determined the next available launch date but reports say the Delta 4 Heavy may be able to fly as early as Monday, Dec. 13.

Developed for a period of six years, Delta 4 Heavy rocket is capable of carrying payloads up to 28,124 pounds (12,757 kilograms) into orbit. The DemoSat and two Nanosat-2 satellites together weigh about 13,500 pounds (6,123 kilograms).

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