For the fourth time, SpaceX scrubbed the launched of a Falcon 9 rocket slated for Tuesday evening.
The launch targeted for 6:35 pm on Tuesday, Mar. 1, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was aborted due to extreme high altitude wind shear. Elon Musk’s space exploration firm scheduled the next attempt for Friday, although it has not announced the exact time yet.
“Pushing launch to Friday due to extreme high altitude wind shear,” tweeted chief executive Elon Musk on the same day. “Hits like a sledgehammer when going up supersonic.”
In a statement, SpaceX mourned that upper-level winds at the station continued to “exceed acceptable limits,” which was also anticipated to worsen closer to the launch window.
Unlike the first three attempts, the fourth one was intended to have an earlier launch window that starts at 6:35 and closes at 8:05 PM, which SpaceX said will help them better avoid upper-level winds.
The team was particularly on the lookout for considerable layers of clouds like cumulus ones. The launch did not push through, however, despite the 45th Weather Squadron’s launch forecast of an 80 percent chance of good weather at Launch Complex 40.
SpaceX also originally eyed Thursday as re-launch day as part of its backup plan.
The Falcon 9 rocket is tasked to deliver the SES-9 communications satellite, which will provide direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting and other communications services across a mass of Earth from Africa and the Middle East to Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and the Philippines.
With an expected 15-year service life, the satellite will settle into an operating post in a Geostationary Transfer Orbit.
The first three thwarted launch attempts of SpaceX had their distinct results. The first landing was hard and at an angle, while the second toppled over due to residual post-landing motion.
The third launch attempt, although considered half-successful given the Jason-3 satellite blast off, also had the misfortune of toppling over after the landing gear failed at touchdown.
It remains to be seen if the fifth attempt currently scheduled for Friday will finally happen and deliver the SES-9 satellite as high above the planet as over 24,000 miles.
The whole process is a spectacle in itself, with the rocket projected to land on an unmanned barge 400 miles off the Florida coast for its return sea landing.
Photos: SpaceX Photos | Flickr
