I may have missed it, but has the FAA cleared Falcon 9 to return to flight after the Crew 9 second stage issue? Both ESA and NASA seem to be acting like it will be cleared soon.
Next weather briefing for launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 with ESA Hera asteroid probe is 5:30 pm today. ESA PAO says they've been told by SpaceX that FAA has cleared SpaceX for launch of Hera. Awaiting confirmation from FAA on that. (Or did did I miss that @jeff_foust? 🙂)
I've heard the same about FAA approval, but nothing official from SpaceX or FAA. They're really trying for a launch Monday, since that may be the last opportunity for a while.
Smile for the team photo! 📸 The #HeraMission dress rehearsal is complete. After months of preparations, ESA's ESOC mission control centre in Germany is ready to fly a spacecraft to rendezvous with a binary asteroid system for the first time.
Mission control GO for Hera launch06/10/2024At ESA’s ESOC mission control centre, in Darmstadt, Germany, every launch is preceded by the pre-launch briefing – and the all-important team photos.The next spacecraft to be flown from ESOC, Hera, is scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this month.Hera is Europe’s first asteroid mission and will be the first spacecraft to rendezvous with and explore a binary asteroid system. The Didymos system is special one: it is home to humankind’s first attempt at a technique that may one day be used to protect Earth from an asteroid on a collision course – asteroid deflection.Two years ago, on 26 September 2022, NASA’s 580-kilogram DART spacecraft slammed into the 151-metre Dimorphos asteroid, changing its orbit around the larger, 780-metre Didymos asteroid. Now, Hera is launching on a mission to perform a detailed post-impact survey of Dimorphos. Using a suite of scientific instruments on the main spacecraft and its two CubeSat passengers, Hera will assess the effectiveness of asteroid deflection and help turn this experiment into a well-understood and repeatable technique for planetary defence.Gathered inside the Press Centre at ESOC, this is the team that will take Hera to Didymos. They will oversee the mission from its crucial first hours in space, through its two-year journey to Didymos, via Mars, and during its exploration of the two target asteroids.Months of preparations and simulations at mission control culminated in Saturday’s launch dress rehearsal and team photos. This final rehearsal brought together the ESA teams and the mission’s partners to test communication links between ESOC, ground stations and the spacecraft, and complete a final, meticulous run through of the sequence of events that will take place on launch day.Preparations, rehearsals, briefings and team photos complete, mission control is GO for launch!Follow @esa, @ESA_Hera and @esaoperations on X for live updates on launch day.Click here for the latest details on how and when to watch the launch live.CREDITESA / J.Mai
Hera project manager Ian Carnelli says SpaceX has informed him FAA has granted a license for a Falcon 9 launch attempt tomorrow. Final vehicle integration ongoing with rollout this evening. Launch readiness review at 5:30pm EDT today.
From the FAA: "The SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle is authorized to return to flight only for the planned Hera mission scheduled to launch on Oct. 7 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The FAA has determined that the absence of a second stage reentry for this mission adequately mitigates the primary risk to the public in the event of a reoccurrence of the mishap experienced with the Crew-9 mission.Safety will drive the timeline for the FAA to complete its review of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mishap investigation report and when the agency will authorize Falcon 9 to return to regular operations."
Is anyone else surprised the launch is still scheduled without SpaceX making any kind of a public statement concerning the cause the deorbit burn anomaly?
Weather forecasts look very bad already for tomorrow's launch window, at only 15% GO (25% for Tuesday and 10% Wednesday). I suspect there will not be even an attempt until after to-be-Hurrican Milton hits Florida.
The Hera Launch Kit says "The spacecraft will leave Earth with an escape velocity of 5.6 km/s." and its launch mass is 1081 kg.A Falcon 9 can launch ~3000 kg at 6 km/s with ASDS recovery or ~2000 kg with RTLS, which seems like plenty of margin for recovery (assuming no calculation errors!).
SpaceX is targeting Monday, October 7 for Falcon 9’s launch of the ESA Hera mission to interplanetary transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for 10:52 a.m. ET. If needed, a backup launch opportunity is available on Tuesday, October 8 at 10:46 a.m. ET.A live webcast of this mission will begin on X @SpaceX about 15 minutes prior to liftoff. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.Due to the additional performance required to deliver the payload to an interplanetary transfer orbit, this mission marks the 23rd and final launch for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4, Transporter-5, Globalstar FM15, ISI EROS C-3, Korea 425, Maxar 1, ASBM, and 10 Starlink missions.Hera is a planetary defense mission that will study the impact NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission spacecraft had on the Dimorphos asteroid, which Falcon 9 launched in November 2021. Hera will provide valuable data for future asteroid deflection missions and science to help humanity’s understanding of asteroid geophysics as well as solar system formation and evolutionary processes.
Targeting Monday, October 7 for Falcon 9’s launch of the @esa Hera mission to orbit from Florida. Teams continue to monitor weather, which is currently 15% favorable → spacex.com/launches/missi…
Oct 6, 2024As the rain fell outside a hotel in Cocoa Beach, Florida, mission leadership with the European Space Agency's Hera mission provided an update on the mission set to launch no earlier than Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. In the days following the briefing, Hurricane Milton is forecast to make landfall in Florida as a major Category 3 hurricane.When it launches, the Hera spacecraft will begin a two-year journey out to the binary asteroid system consisting of Didymos and Dimorphous. ESA's mission will examine the composition of these rocky bodies and more importantly, gather key data on the results of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which slammed into Dimorphous in 2022, changing its orbit.
The countdown to the #HeraMission launch is underway at ESA mission control!Find out how to watch live at: https://esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/Hera_launch_how_to_watch
#HeraMission is on pad, spacecraft on, all telemetry green. Waiting next weather update at T-2h
Weather permitting, SpaceX's Falcon 9 is set to launch the Hera mission to asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos as a follow-up to NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission. Overview by Justin Davenport:
