NASA's Europa Clipper leaves for Jupiter's moon atop Falcon Heavy
- Reference: 1728926049
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/10/14/spacexs_falcon_heavy_launches_nasas/
- Source link:
[1]
Falcon Heavy ready to launch Europa Clipper (click to enlarge) – Pic: NASA
It was the sixth and final flight for the first stage side boosters, which have been used in US Space Force missions and the launch of the NASA Psyche mission a year ago. This time around, the mission called for the rocket's maximum performance, meaning that no recovery attempt was made.
During a [2]pre-launch media briefing , Julianna Scheiman, SpaceX director of NASA's Science Missions, said: "The mission requires the maximum performance, so we won't be recovering the boosters."
She added: "I don't know about you guys, but I can't think of a better mission to sacrifice boosters for, when we might have an opportunity to discover life in our own solar system. How cool is that?"
The plan had been to launch the mission on October 10, but the approach of Hurricane Milton put paid to that. A subsequent date was set for October 13, but SpaceX opted to push it back in what Scheiman called a "paranoia scrub." Tim Dunn, launch director for NASA's Launch Services Program, added that SpaceX notified NASA of a potential quality control issue on Thursday, and the agency agreed it was worth looking into.
[3]The Europa Clipper stretches its wings as launch nears
[4]SpaceX grounded after fumbling Falcon 9 landing for first time in years
[5]NASA pushes back missions to the ISS to buy time for Starliner analysis
[6]NASA gives Falcon 9 thumbs-up to launch Crew-9
"We're in very good shape, and we do appreciate SpaceX's paranoia," he said.
As it turned out, the Falcon Heavy left the launchpad without incident, other than a temperature anomaly that was resolved before liftoff, and the Europa Clipper was deployed just over an hour into the flight. A gravity-assist swing-by of Mars will take place on March 1, 2025, followed by another of Earth in December 2026. The mission will then go into a quiet cruise period until the Europa Clipper arrives at the Jupiter system on April 11, 2030.
[7]
Upcoming missions for the Falcon 9 launcher include three commercial launches and NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
[8]
While not a factor in the launch of the Falcon Heavy, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also cleared SpaceX to resume regular Falcon 9 operations last week. The regulator said in a statement: "The FAA notified SpaceX on October 11 that the Falcon 9 vehicle is authorized to return to regular flight operations. The FAA reviewed and accepted the SpaceX-led investigation findings and corrective actions for the mishap that occurred with the Crew-9 mission (September 28).
[9]
Clipper at spacecraft [10]separation screenshot - click to enlarge
"Also on October 11, FAA closed the SpaceX-led investigations for the Falcon 9 mishaps that occurred with the Starlink 9-3 (July 11) and Starlink 8-6 (August 28) missions." ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/10/14/europa_clipper.jpg
[2] https://www.youtube.com/live/oEU4WEpVSlU?si=7_mQOEHJJv_1Bc7e
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/13/the_europa_clipper_stretches_its/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/spacex_falcon_9_failure/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/07/nasa_pushes_back_iss_missions/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/29/nasa_approves_crew_9_launch/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zw2UhO8-7pcEO11KTVXjhgAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zw2UhO8-7pcEO11KTVXjhgAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/10/14/clippe_separation.jpg
[10] https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/europa-clipper-launch/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I'm sure the booster fully understands the importance of the mission.
Um, NASA has previous...
"Have I been a good booster? Can I come home now? Guys?"
"It's pretty incredible that we're living in an age where they defend sacrificing a rocket booster to complete a mission."
It's costly in performance to recover rocket stages so for a mission that must have all of the umph the system can give, it's appropriate to splash a booster or three. All of the missions that SpaceX flies where they do land the booster for reuse means the F9 is more rocket than needed to do the job. Maybe it would be cheaper to have an "F6" or a Falcon/Raptor, or ..... Starship is bigger as there isn't the volume capacity in the Falcon series to launch Starlink satellites 60 at a go that would be far more economical. With the later versions of the satellites, 20 at a time is about all the can get except for some extreme trajectories.
I wonder if SpaceX has considered using 4 boosters instead of 2? Call it Falcon Super-Heavy. They'd need to build two more landing pads, but then they'd never have to sacrifice a booster for Δ-v again.
FAA grounding
The chipmunks say that Falcon 9 upper stage kept running for 1/2 a second after being commanded to shut down, resulting in an overshoot of the recovery area.
Apparently a valve failed, so a backup valve was used after the computer noticed the thrust wasn't tailing off.
People are all "oh it's the used engines breaking" and I have remind them the upper stages are expendable and it's a new engine each flight.
Gravity assist
I find it amazing that after getting all the way to Mars, 12% of the distance to Jupiter, it is worth coming back to Earth for a Mario Kart jump boost. The ESA Juice mission is going all the way in to Venus on the way to Jupiter. These space boffins are incredible. It must be much more difficult to calculate the trip when the goal is to drop into orbit when you get there, rather than snapping pictures on the way past. Travel times to Jupiter:
Voyager 1 fly past: 546 days
Voyager 2 fly past: 688 days
New Horizons fly past: 405 days
Juno into orbit: 1,796 days
Europa Clipper into orbit: ~2000 days
I wonder if the launch delay means they have to redo all of their calculations. I would say that's annoying but I expect they love their jobs.
Re: Gravity assist
"coming back to Earth for a Mario Kart jump boost."
Nice analogy :-)
I wonder when we'll see a mission that, for whatever reasons, they'd like to get there a bit quicker and it can pause in orbit, re-fill the tanks from a handy orbiting tanker, and blast off in the right direction? All these slingshots a very clever, but it can be very, very slow. Can a Falcon heavy reach orbit with the main core still in place? Or is that asking too much of the launch system?
Re: Gravity assist
"redo all of their calculations"
Your comment made me think of the movie [1]Hidden Figures . I saw it for the first time about a month ago. Brilliant film, I'd recommend anyone that hasn't seen it yet (i.e. me a month ago), and has an interest in the early space program watch it.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/
Re: Gravity assist
It's just coming back to check it's not left the oven on...
It's pretty incredible that we're living in an age where they defend sacrificing a rocket booster to complete a mission.