SpaceX Falcon 9 : NASA IXPE : KSC LC-39A : 9 December 2021 (0600 UTC)

[Rekt1971]

Is it still mandatory for "headless" Falcon 9 rockets to perform static fires? Or can they already have their payloads mounted beforehand?

Personally, I think it has something to do with AMOS 6 as if it's forever burnt in SpaceX's memory.

For customers, they perform static fire without the payload fairing but for internal (or rideshare) missions they usually do them with the fairing attached (E. g. Starlink 4-3).

[Conexion Espacial]

Static Fire completed
https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1467182057654734849

[Ken the Bin]

The 45th Weather Squadron has issued what they are calling an L-3 weather forecast.  I could see L-4 because it is so early on the 9th, but I don't see how they came up with L-3.  Anyway, 70% 'Go' for December 9 and December 10.  Booster Recovery Weather Risk is Low-Moderate both days.  All other Additional Risk Criteria are Low.

[Rondaz]

SpaceX test fires rocket for NASA X-ray telescope mission

[StraumliBlight]

The IXPE science team have been told that they have the same booster as Crew-1 which would make this B1061.5.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1467202583840243712

Static fire test complete – targeting Thursday, December 9 at 1:00 a.m. ET for Falcon 9’s launch of @NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission

IXPE is SpaceX’s fifth launch to-date for @NASA_LSP

This will also be the fifth flight for this Falcon 9’s first stage booster, which previously supported launch of Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, and CRS-23

[Rondaz]

Launch Hazard Areas map for NASA #IXPE mission from KSC LC-39A NET 09 Dec 06:00 UTC, alternatively 10 to 14 Dec based on issued NOTMARs/NOTAM. Booster landing approx. 653km downrange, fairing recovery ~787km downrange. S2 reentry in eastern Pacific.

https://twitter.com/Raul74Cz/status/1467139258666430473

[Rondaz]

Good morning from Port Canaveral!

Standing by for Just Read the Instructions departure for the IXPE mission

https://twitter.com/SpaceOffshore/status/1467130945044107273

[zubenelgenubi]

Re: STP-3 launch December 6:

Updated NGA notice.  December 5 is removed.  December 6 is now the primary launch day with December 7 and 8 as backup days.  No additional backup days were added.

Scheduling "cutout" for IXPE on December 9?

[Ken the Bin]

Re: STP-3 launch December 6:

Updated NGA notice.  December 5 is removed.  December 6 is now the primary launch day with December 7 and 8 as backup days.  No additional backup days were added.

Scheduling "cutout" for IXPE on December 9?

Not necessarily.  It's typical in these postponements that no additional backup days are added if there are some still remaining.

[kdhilliard]

Some images of the Falcon 9 fairing now sitting in the LC-39A pad hangar awaiting the return of the Falcon 9 after its static fire test.

No encapsulation photos?

[soltasto]

Some images of the Falcon 9 fairing now sitting in the LC-39A pad hangar awaiting the return of the Falcon 9 after its static fire test.

No encapsulation photos?

Few posts before: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48510.msg2317251#msg2317251

[kdhilliard]

Some images of the Falcon 9 fairing now sitting in the LC-39A pad hangar awaiting the return of the Falcon 9 after its static fire test.

No encapsulation photos?

Few posts before: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48510.msg2317251#msg2317251

Right.  (That's the post I quoted.)  But they just show the caged fairing, not IXPE.
For that matter, I can't find any cleanroom photos with a nearby human for scale.
All we have are the two photos in this post.
We've had nothing to give a sense of its size.

Edit: I just hope they aren't holding back such photos in response to the confusion over Zurbuchen's misunderstood joke about not receiving a discount for all the unused space in Lucy's fairing.

[wannamoonbase]

Some images of the Falcon 9 fairing now sitting in the LC-39A pad hangar awaiting the return of the Falcon 9 after its static fire test.

No encapsulation photos?

Few posts before: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48510.msg2317251#msg2317251

Right.  (That's the post I quoted.)  But they just show the caged fairing, not IXPE.
For that matter, I can't find any cleanroom photos with a nearby human for scale.
All we have are the two photos in this post.
We've had nothing to give a sense of its size.

I love SpaceX simplified model of 1 fairing size, but in this case, it will be 99% empty or more.

It’s nice to a see a flight that goes almost straight east.

[soltasto]

You are right, I removed it. I was tricked by the KSC account posting it, without thinking they also post LSP stuff

[kaa]

Some images of the Falcon 9 fairing now sitting in the LC-39A pad hangar awaiting the return of the Falcon 9 after its static fire test.

No encapsulation photos?

Few posts before: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48510.msg2317251#msg2317251

Right.  (That's the post I quoted.)  But they just show the caged fairing, not IXPE.
For that matter, I can't find any cleanroom photos with a nearby human for scale.
All we have are the two photos in this post.
We've had nothing to give a sense of its size.

Edit: I just hope they aren't holding back such photos in response to the confusion over Zurbuchen's misunderstood joke about not receiving a discount for all the unused space in Lucy's fairing.

If you go to the Ball Aerospace IXPE page there is a clean room photo with a standard human and also a video of the boom extension test.

[kdhilliard]

If you go to the Ball Aerospace IXPE page there is a clean room photo with a standard human and also a video of the boom extension test.

Thanks.

Ball Aerospace - IXPE: Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer
(Boom deployment test video at bottom of page.)

[Rondaz]

Bob put some pep in their step towards Port Canaveral. It looks like they'll do a fairing dump and run to get back out for IXPE fairing recovery to meet Doug who is progressing towards the Eastern LZ with JRTI. Finn is still a ways out with ASOG and B1060.

https://twitter.com/julia_bergeron/status/1467617114534068231

[igloz]

I wonder why this mission is not RTLS? A lightweight payload to LEO...

[soltasto]

I wonder why this mission is not RTLS? A lightweight payload to LEO...

LouScheffer explains it well way at the beginning of this thread:

NSF member OneSpeed calculated that the "Block 5" Falcon 9 could put 1800 kg into an equatorial orbit by combining the circularization burn with the enormous plane change.  This is many times the mass of IXPE.

Here's a simple way to figure out the capacity of F9 to such an orbit.  First, find circular velocity at 540 km, about 7600 m/s.

Then find a 27.5 degree plane change (usually the first stages can get rid of about 1^o of inclination).   It's about 3612 m/s.  The circularization part of this burn will add very little, since the direction is different.

If applied straight ahead, this delta-V would be beyond escape, and correspond to a C3 of about 11.

Now you can go the LSP performance calculator, and plug in C3=11, and see what payload you can get.   (You actually need to use C3=10, that's as far as F9 goes, and then get plots and extrapolate.  I guess they never planned for payloads this light.)  This gives about 750 kg for RTLS and 2100 kg for ASDS recovery.

[vaporcobra]

I wonder why this mission is not RTLS? A lightweight payload to LEO...

I didn't fully understand this either until recently but I believe it's because the plane change from Florida for a true 0-degree inclination is extremely expensive. For reference, New Glenn - nominally designed to launch >40t to LEO - can only launch ~2t to a 0-deg LEO. I believe the only way to avoid that plane change is to actually launch from the equator, which is how Pegasus XL (~450 kg to LEO) could have launched IXPE.