broadbrained Space, news, venture, robots, technology
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The mission will launch a radar remote sensing satellite for Italy’s COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation constellation.
SFN Live
SpaceX Webcast
SpaceX plans to launch an Italian radar remote sensing satellite Friday at 6:11 p.m. EST (2311 GMT) after dismal weather at Cape Canaveral forced officials to scrub a launch opportunity Thursday. The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster will return to Florida’s Space Coast eight minutes later for landing.
The mission will deploy a COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation, or CSG, radar surveillance satellite into a polar orbit for the Italian Space Agency and the Italian Ministry of Defense. There’s a 60% chance of good weather for launch at Cape Canaveral Friday evening. The primary concerns are with thick clouds and cumulus clouds.
The Falcon 9 rocket will be powered by a first stage booster modified from two previous missions as a side booster on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket. Both halves of the rocket’s payload shroud have flown to space three times on prior Falcon 9 missions.
Our live coverage will be available on this page beginning at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT).
The COSMO-SkyMed satellites provide regular day-and-night radar imaging of locations around the world for the civilian and military users. The Italian government oversees the radar constellation, which consists of four first-generation satellites now beyond their operating lifetimes, and the first in a new generation of COSMO-SkyMed spacecraft that launched in December 2019 on a Russian Soyuz rocket from French Guiana.
The radar imaging constellation gathers data for use by the Italian military, which employs the imagery to track maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea. Civilian applications include disaster response, agriculture monitoring, and climate change research.
This mission will mark the fifth launch from Cape Canaveral this year, following three SpaceX flights and a United Launch Alliance mission earlier this month.
ROCKET: Falcon 9 (B1052.3)
PAYLOAD: COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2
LAUNCH SITE: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
LAUNCH DATE: Jan. 28, 2022
LAUNCH TIME: 6:11 p.m. EST (2311 GMT)
LAUNCH WINDOW: Instantaneous
WEATHER FORECAST: 70% probability of acceptable weather
BOOSTER RECOVERY: Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
LAUNCH AZIMUTH: South-southeast, then south
TARGET ORBIT: Approximately 384 miles (619 kilometers), 97.9 degrees inclination
LAUNCH TIMELINE:
- T+00:00: Liftoff
- T+01:12: Maximum aerodynamic pressure (Max-Q)
- T+02:15: First stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
- T+02:19: Stage separation
- T+02:27: Second stage engine ignition
- T+02:32: Boost-back burn begins (three engines)
- T+03:20: Boost-back burn ends
- T+03:45: Fairing jettison
- T+06:11: First stage entry burn begins (three engines)
- T+06:32: First stage entry burn ends
- T+07:22: First stage landing burn begins
- T+07:26: First stage landing
- T+08:44: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 1)
- T+56:01: Second stage engine restart
- T+56:04: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 2)
- T+1:00:05: COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 separation
MISSION STATS:
- 138th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
- 146th launch of Falcon rocket family since 2006
- 3rd launch of Falcon 9 booster B1052
- 122nd Falcon 9 launch from Florida’s Space Coast
- 79th Falcon 9 launch from pad 40
- 134th launch overall from pad 40
- 82nd flight of a reused Falcon 9 booster
- 80th Thales Alenia Space-built satellite launched by SpaceX
- 1st SpaceX mission for Italian Space Agency
- 4th Falcon 9 launch of 2022
- 4th launch by SpaceX in 2022
- 5th orbital launch based out of Cape Canaveral in 2022
