SpaceX FH - USSF-52 (OTV-7) - LC39A

[Grendal]

Launch Date: December 28
Launch Window: 7PM EST (4PM PST, 00:00 UTC on the 29th)
Launch site: LC-39A, Cape Canaveral, Florida
Side Booster Recovery: RTLS - LZ-1 and LZ-2
Core Booster Recovery: Expended
Boosters: Side Boosters: B1064.4 and B1065.4 Center Core: B1084.1
Mass: 6350 kg ?
Orbit: GTO highly elliptical
Yearly Launch Number: 95 orbital + 2 suborbital losses

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch a classified payload from a contract awarded in June 2018 for US$130 million, increased to $149.2 million in August 2021, due to "a change in the contract requirements" and expected to be completed by 14 April 2022. Draft solicitation said the launch was 6,350 kg (14,000 lb) to GTO. The Air Force recently announced that the mission will fly an X-37B spaceplane. This mission will send the OTV into a highly elliptical orbit that is speculated to reach beyond GEO. An X-37B was once launched on a Block 4 Falcon 9 for USAF 277 (OTV-5) on September 7, 2017. The Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters will return to Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for recovery. The center core will be expended.

This is the 9th Falcon Heavy launch.

Boeing X-37 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[MacGreiner]

Dec 10 or 11? I've heard this may push back to 11 again.

 

[Grendal]

Dec 10 or 11? I've heard this may push back to 11 again.

Yeah. It's flipping from one to the other based on whoever gets some information.

 

[Grendal]

Weather is not great:

 

[scaesare]

Is the stream loading for anyone?

 

[Nikxice]

Same issue here, but I see they're aiming for the end of the launch window of 8:24pm EST.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Standing down from a launch today due to a ground side issue.

 

[scaesare]

Hopefully third time is a charm....

 

[scaesare]

Looks like 3rd time may be on Wednesday:

SpaceX is targeting no earlier than Wednesday, December 13 at 8:13 p.m. ET for Falcon Heavy’s launch of the USSF-52 mission to orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A backup launch opportunity is available on Thursday, December 14 at the same time.

 

[Grendal]

Date is now unknown.

 

[scaesare]

I wonder

Date is now unknown.

In order to "perform additional system checkouts"... I wonder what systems those are.... the afore-mentioned GSE perhaps?

 

[Electroman]

Date is now unknown.

That video says "Live in 7 hours" ?

 

[Grendal]

That video says "Live in 7 hours" ?

And now it is set for the 17th. SpaceX may still readjust. The delays will ruin the chance for SpaceX to hit 100 launches for the year though.

 

[scaesare]

From Effects of Falcon Heavy launch delay could ripple to downstream missions

SpaceX called off a launch attempt Monday night at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to resolve a problem with a ground system. A senior Space Force official told Ars on Wednesday that additional issues will cause an additional delay in the launch.

“We’re working through a couple of technical glitches with our SpaceX team that just are going to take a little bit more time to work through," said Col. James Horne, deputy director of the Space Force's Assured Access to Space directorate. "We haven’t nailed down a specific launch date yet, but we’re going to have to roll back into the HIF (Horizontal Integration Facility) and work through some things on the rocket.”

Horne, a senior leader on the Space Force team overseeing military launches like this one, said the ground equipment problem that prevented liftoff Monday night could be fixed as soon as Wednesday. But it will take longer to resolve other issues he declined to specify. "We found some things that we need to run some analysis on, so that’s what’s driving the delay," he said.

 

[MyJoule]

SpaceX now saying maybe the 28th... Must have been a more serious problem

 

[JB47394]

Odd that SpaceX launches on each coast are delayed to the same date. I can understand them not trying to launch right around Christmas Day, when people would want to be with family, but that's still 9 days off.

 

[ecarfan]

I wonder if an GSE issue has been identified that is common to both launch sites and is going to take multiple days to fix. But that seems unlikely given how reliable and frequent SpaceX launches have been for years now.

Really, I have no idea what is causing the lengthy delay.

 

[ecarfan]

Ars article published Dec 11 with some info on the mission; possible orbit, speculation as to what the vehicle could be carrying.

 

[scaesare]

I wonder if this is really a FH or GSE issue, or an X37B issue and the military is being deliberately oblique, and SpaceX is obligated to play along?

 

[JB47394]

I wonder if this is really a FH or GSE issue, or an X37B issue and the military is being deliberately oblique, and SpaceX is obligated to play along?

It was observed that the Chinese space plane launched just before the X-37B was supposed to go up. I wonder if it occupied an orbit that caused the X37B guys to reconsider if they wanted to fly right away.