SpaceX Scrubs Falcon 1 Launch Anew

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Feb. 10, 2006/Satnews Daily/ — SpaceX has again postponed the Friday launch of its Falcon 1 rocket after analyzing the data from the static fire countdown it conducted on Thursday.

Elon Musk, founder and CEO SpaceX, said the vehicle is being lowered for further investigation and once they thoroughly checked out all systems, he will post an update on what was found and when the next countdown attempt will occur. However, he said based on range availability and logistics constraints, a rough guess would be two to four weeks.

Earlier this week, SpaceX said it was targeting Feb. 10, Friday, as the launch date after it conducts a full test of vehicle systems, including initiating the flight countdown autosequence and briefly firing the main engine on the launch stand. The test was to take place Thursday, February 9 (California time).

Space X said if no flight critical anomalies are detected, launch will take place on Friday, February 10 with a 7 hour launch window that begins at 12 p.m. - 7 p.m. (California time).

Designed from the ground up by SpaceX, Falcon 1 is a two stage rocket powered by liquid oxygen and purified, rocket grade kerosene. SpaceX said the flight will be the first privately developed, liquid fueled rocket to reach orbit and the world's first all new orbital rocket in over a decade. It will also be the world's only semi-reusable orbital rocket apart from the Shuttle.

SpaceX said that Falcon 1, priced at $6.7 million, will provide the lowest cost per flight to orbit of any launch vehicle in the world, despite receiving a design reliability rating equivalent to that of the best launch vehicles currently flying in the United States.

The maiden flight was to take place from the Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands and the customer for this mission is DARPA and the Air Force. The payload will be FalconSat-2, part of the Air Force Academy’s satellite program that will measure space plasma phenomena, which can adversely affect space-based communications, including GPS and other civil and military communications. The target orbit is 400 km X 500 km (just above the International Space Station) at an inclination of 39 degrees.

SpaceX is developing a family of launch vehicles intended to reduce the cost and increase the reliability of access to space. With its Falcon 1, Falcon 5 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles, SpaceX is offering light, medium and heavy lift capabilities. SpaceX said it will be able to deliver spacecraft into any inclination and altitude, from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit to planetary missions.

Falcon 1’s maiden flight was supposed to have taken place as early as November 25 of last year, but was later moved to December 20 and then January this year.

On its first launch attempt in December, an auxiliary liquid oxygen (LOX) fill tank had a manual vent valve incorrectly set to vent, causing a significant LOX boiloff and loss of helium, forcing launch controllers to abort the launch. A ground power problem was also detected, which the company said it solved by slightly increasing voltage on the ground umbilical.

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