The first SES-9 mission has failed due to horrible weather. The second time around, there were more problems. As for the third time, the launch was canceled due to a boat and an issue with the fuel.
Unlike the first two of three attempts, this time around the launch of SES-9 was put on hold by a frigging boat which was passing through the “keep out zone” of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Between the 40 minutes of waiting for the vessel to get out of there and the restart, a not-so-curious thing happened to the Falcon 9 rocket’s propellant.
More specifically, deep cryogenic liquid oxygen or LOX. This type of fuel is denser than other propellants, though the drawback is that it has to be chilled at -340 Fahrenheit. Until the second restart was ready, the deep cryo propellant had warmed, prompting the internal computer of the rocket to abort the Falcon 9 rocket’s launch seconds before liftoff.
If it weren’t for that damn boat near Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 40, the Falcon 9 rocket would’ve sent an SES-9 satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. But warm deep cryo liquid oxygen doesn’t provide the same thrust as the colder stuff, so that’s that. Leading satellite operator SES describes the SES-9 as “the largest satellite dedicated to serving the Asia-Pacific region for SES.”
It’s such a shame things haven’t worked out for SpaceX this time around, but this isn’t a failure in my book. Elon Musk and his aerospace business have just made sure that their next launch will be a successful one. There’s no information at the time of writing on when SpaceX will try to send SES-9 into orbit again, the fourth time it will attempt to do so.
@SpaceX AF has placed launch on hold due to a boat entering the edge of the keep out zone. Scrambling helo to get them to move.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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