it is April 18th 2018 just after 6:30 7:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and you
are looking at a live view of the Falcon 9 rocket with NASA's test spacecraft on
top awaiting its 651 p.m. local time launch good afternoon from SpaceX
headquarters here in Hawthorne California my name is Lauren Lyons and
I'm engineer and our flight reliability Department and I'll be your host for
today's webcast today we are launching nasa's transiting exoplanet survey
satellite or test for short after Falcon 9 drops it off in a high
Earth orbit it'll be on its way to go hunt for potentially habitable planets
outside of our solar system and SpaceX is super excited to be playing a role in
such a cool mission today throughout the webcast we're going to tell you more
about tests how Falcon 9 will get it to orbit and bring you video of our attempt
to land the first stage on the East Coast drone ship of course I still love
you now today we're launching out of Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape
Canaveral which is one of SpaceX is to East Coast launch sites on the pad you
can see here that two-stage Falcon 9 vehicle which sent 70 meters tall that's
taller than a 20-story building the first stage which is the bottom
two-thirds of the rocket is our booster stage and that along with the nine
Merlin engines is what does the bulk of the work to get Falcon 9 from the ground
and up into the thinner parts of the Earth's atmosphere to the edge of space
and we're going to attempt to land this stage today on the drone ship after it
separates from the upper stage now that upper stage our stage 2 as we call it
that's right on top of stage 1 and has a single M vac engine on it that's Merlin
vacuum engine that's the engine that ignites after stage 1 separates and
began to stir knee back to earth the second stage it's what's going to carry
tests from the edge of space and accelerated it to orbital speeds of just
over seven and a half kilometers per second now Tess is currently sitting on
the very top of that stack inside of our 17 foot diameter payload fairing that's
that nose cone structure you see on your screen up top the fairing is what
protects the spacecraft from aerothermal heating and loads as we launch it into
space once we reach vacuum we're gonna
separate the two halves of that nose cone of that fairing and have them come
back to earth because we don't need them anymore now the trust structure that you
see on your screen there that is referred to as our transporter erector
this is what we use not only to roll the rocket out of the hangar and to the pad
and then to lift it up and support it in its vertical position but is also what
routes Falcon 9 splits power and telemetry umbilicals from the ground
systems all the way to the vehicle itself and does so until Falcon 9 goes
on internal power and launches and clears the pad at that point the
vehicle's internal flight computer and automation and radio frequency
communication is what's going to take over now following successful deployment
of the test spacecraft this is going to be the 52nd Falcon 9 launch the 24th
Falcon 9 landing if we're successful today and SpaceX is 8th launched this
year
operators began loading propellants on the Falcon nine at t-minus 70 minutes
and father nine is powered by by propellant engines that is they consumed
a fuel which is our p1 and an oxidizer which is liquid oxygen fuel is about 90%
are so loaded on the rocket and stage sorry on stage one and 75% loaded on
stage two oh I'm sorry actually our p1 the fuel is fully loaded on stage one in
two and it's LOX that's about 90% loaded on stage one and 75% loaded on stage two
now liquid oxygen is that super chilled oxidizer that we use inside of our ops
tank and coming up next what we're going to hear on the call-out is engine chill
this is where we flow a small amount of that liquid oxygen through to the
engines in order to cool them down to their operating temperature so that when
we start feeding them their full flow of liquid oxygen and flight that LOX face
nice and cold and doesn't heat up and start to boil off and cause bubbles and
other performance issues on the engines listening in on the weather Nets it's
sounding like we are looking good for an on-time launch today I'm not hearing
about any issues with upper-level clouds our ground level winds are looking
within limits as are those upper-level winds and we're within our lightning
rules spacecraft is currently healthy it's on internal power and the range is
currently go for an on-time launch today
so today's mission is really really cool we're launching NASA's transiting
exoplanet survey satellite or Tess this is a mission that's operated by MIT
managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and it's the second launch the
SpaceX has conducted for NASA's launch services program and adjust 365
kilograms and just under five feet tall the test may be small but it is doing
big things this planet hunter is an orbital Observatory that will discover
thousands of planets by monitoring over 200 thousand stars in nearby planet
systems or star systems its science instrument is comprised of four
high-tech wide field-of-view cameras designed and manufactured by mi t--'s
Lincoln Laboratory these cameras will allow tests to detect exoplanets which
are planets that are outside of our solar system
it does this by looking for a phenomenon known as a transit this is where a
planet passes in front of the coast star causing a periodic dip in that star's
brightness this allows scientists to assess the size mass atmospheric
composition and structure of those planets and this is particularly
exciting to astrophysicist and astrobiologists because some of those
planets may fall into what is referred to as the habitable zone that means it
might have the right conditions to sustain liquid water and potentially
support life falcon 9 will be ingesting test injecting tests into an elliptical
high Earth orbit that at its highest point reaches 270 3,000 kilometers
that's over two-thirds of the way to our moon after test separates from Falcon 9
over the next 60 days the spacecraft will use its onboard thrusters to
perform a series of maneuvers which includes a flyby of the moon in order to
slingshot it into its final high earth science orbit this orbit is what's going
to give test an unobstructed view of the night sky allowing the spacecraft to
absorb and observe and catalog thousands of exoplanets for future studies by the
James Webb Space Telescope the Hubble Space Telescope and large ground-based
observatories
internal sequences have started
all right we are about four minutes and 45 seconds away from liftoff so let's
check in on the rocket one more time before stepping into the terminal count
fuel is fully loaded on both stages and liquid oxygen is being topped off right
now as we speak the rocket is also now pressurizing
itself with helium gas we use that gas in order to maintain the structural
strength of the rocket while on the ground and in flight and very soon what
you're going to see is those cradle arms that are holding their rocket they're
going to open up and the transporter erector is going to lean back slightly
it's going to retract you also might see some venting coming from the side of the
TV from the te that's totally normal it's just liquid oxygen that's boiling
off eating up and being released from the tanks at t-minus one minute the
Rockets internal fly computers are going to take over which are here on the
countdown net as Falcon 9 is in start-up the range is currently looking good for
an on-time launch today the payload is healthy on internal power and its go and
weather is go we are looking awesome for a 651 p.m. t0 now our launch window
today is only 30 seconds long but that's pretty much an instantaneous window if
for some reason we can't get off today we'll come back again tomorrow at 7 o 9
p.m. Eastern Time to give it another go so with that let's listen in to the last
three and a half minutes of terminal count does every triangle eighty eight
point three degrees
I'll go bleep verification stage mode locks like an bleep
stage tune-up manifold secured
Stage two luck so complete
Falcon 9 is on internal power
maybe it goes in self-aligned ground guys close outs is starting
a FPS is ready for launch
Falcon nines and startup grand gasps close as it's complete
Stage two pressing for flight al do you go for launch
stage ones that start at pressures DUI is 15 seconds how conniving is configure
to the light and nine eight seven six five four three two one
launching flight operations
stop
as you just saw Falcon 9 has successfully cleared the pad and is now
on its ascent with the test spacecraft and it's bearing
now coming up in about 15 minutes you're gonna hear the call-out that Falcon 9
would have had max Q that James for maximum aerodynamic pressure that's the
point at which the rocket is seeing its highest stresses on its ascent
vehicle has passed maximum aerodynamic pressure to tell by the cheers what you
heard of my call-out we have gotten through max Q coming up next you're
gonna hear the call for impact potential has begun okay that was it that is where
we chill in that Merlin vacuum engine down to operating temperature
now coming up here shortly you're going to hear three big events happening in
rapid succession the first is Miko that stands for main engine cutoff but is
where all nine of the first agencies are going to shut down that's in preparation
for the next step which is stage set for stage separation later switch stage one
will separate from stage to stage one will make its way back down to the drone
ship stage two will continue on with tests to its orbit and then you're going
to hear second engine start that is the ignition of the second stage engine
let's check it out here
we go
recognition
and as you just saw we had a successful stage separation and in successful
ignition of that second stage engine the fairing should be deploying at any
moment there we go and you can see that tiny but strong test spacecraft inside
of that on top of stage two no stage one is making its way back down
to earth well we're gonna see coming up pretty shortly is a boost back burn grit
fins have deployed both stages following nominal trajectories
acquisition of signal Bermuda right now stage two is gonna continue to burn
until t plus eight minutes and 20 seconds while stage 1 makes its way back
down to earth now there are two more burns coming up for stage 1 the next
one's going to be the entry burn that's where we're going to reignite three of
the stage 1 engines and that burn is intended to slow down stage ones descent
as it makes its way through that thick upper atmosphere we'll be seeing that at
6 minutes and 29 seconds or so so in about 2 minutes
we're hearing that stage choose burn is still performing nominally
okay stage 2 is going to continue to burn for about another three minutes and
one minute until we see that reentry burn
now after that reentry burn stage one is going to continue on making its way down
to the drone ship and coming up thereafter will be the landing burn
that'll be the third of the three burns and at that point we're going to
reignite that center engine a nine and that'll bring us down to zero velocity
hopefully standing up tall on the drone ship continuing to hear that in fact Dee
is looking good turbo core performance is good
everything is before me nominally on stage two which is great news
today's stage do continue to follow it with burn has begun that entry burn this
Murray's gonna go for about another ten seconds or so before it shuts down and
the introverted
Stage two continues to burn we are getting the tests into a nice circular
orbit where a test will then will stage two with tests on top well
Coast for about 35 minutes
as you heard stage one is transonic we're about ten seconds away from that
landing landing burn note that the drone ship is situated approximately 300
kilometers off the coast of Florida and you can see that anywhere started let's
see if we can catch it
on your screen the first stage has successfully landed on a
I still love you this marks the 24th successful landing of a falcon 9 first
stage
and meanwhile we've reached seco which is second engine cutoff stage two has
shut down its first burn now station should be in a parking orbit of about
250 by 250 kilometers stage 2 is now going to coast for 35 minutes or so so
why don't you come back here at t-plus 39 minutes where we're gonna bring you
back to the webcast where we're going to resume it and we will be relighting the
second stage engine for a second time in order to raise the apogee of our orbit
to two hundred and seventy three thousand kilometers that gets us into
test is highly elliptical orbit where we will then deployed a spacecraft so we're
gonna get to you showing you some live views of space and of tests and of stage
two and we'll bring back to commentate the webcast in t plus at t plus 42
minutes
I'll signal Cape Canaveral as expected
vaso signal Malindi has expected acquisition of signal process
that cancer cell has started
welcome back everybody we are coming up on the end of our 35 minute coast and
the second engine is about to reignite just heard on the Nets that impact
chillin has begun and pretty soon the second stage will be reigniting the take
tests - its deployment orbit
it's in about 30 seconds we're gonna see that engine reignite from there the bird
is going to last for about one minute before the engine shuts down again and a
few minutes after that this test spacecraft will deploy
Mattress other we have reignited the second stage and this burns going to
last for about them in it
this is raising the apogee of our orbit so that we can drop tests off at a place
where it can then properly begin to perform its own or berate orbit raising
manoeuvres to get it to that point where it can perform its lunar flyby
we are beginning to throttle everything down hearing that everything is looking
totally normal and this on this burn which is really good news
and the internet shut down at that cutoff
so for about five minutes the stage is going to coast with tests on top in
which point the payload is going to deploy now the way that that works is
there is what is referred to as a payload adapter that is sitting on the
top of our second stage and tests is attached to that it's attached via a
clamp band which is basically like a bandit spring will send a separation
signal to Falcon 9 which will then open up that clamp band and there will be
four Springs inside of that payload adapter for compression springs that
will give test a little gentle push to push it away from stage two and after a
while a few minutes after that test is going to turn on its transmitters on its
receivers deploy its solar arrays and begin its mission so let's watch these
live views for the next four minutes or so and we'll come back for a live view
of pelota boy
also signal emerges as expected
welcome back everybody we are now gearing up for spacecraft deploy that
will happen in about a minute this is where we're gonna separate the test
spacecraft from Falcon 9 and Tesla gonna it's going to go in about its own
journey or it's gonna be using its own onboard propulsion systems to raise its
altitude and get it into its mission orbit will be getting acquisition of
signal as we pass over a ground station here shortly and ideally we watch on the
screen and there we go
and just under a minute here we'll be seeing the spacecraft separate from
Falcon 9
that beautiful image of the earth behind us there it's one of the planets test is
going to look at in its lifetime and as you can see there we have had successful
separation of the test spacecraft and it's going on on its beautiful mission
to look at thousands of planets outside of our solar system and with that that
brings us to an end of our webcast this Falcon 9 and pal canines job is done for
today so whoo this was a pretty successful
mission Rio he had a successful stage one ascent and landing stage 2 has
properly deployed to test spacecraft into its intended orbit and test is now
on its way and hopefully we'll hear soon about the health of the payload I want
to give a big thank you to the NASA launch services program for their faith
in us to goddard space flight center to MIT and to the 45th Space Wing for their
range support for today's mission you can follow SpaceX on social media via
our Twitter feed as well as our Instagram you can also check us out on
SpaceX comm and if you wanna learn more about the test mission visit nasa.gov
thank you all so much for joining today and we'll catch you at the next launch
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