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This morning’s attempted launch of Falcon 9 was halted moments before launch. According to a statement from SpaceX “Standing down to take a closer look at an engine actuator on the second stage. 9:38am ET tomorrow is our next earliest launch opportunity.”
Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member... More by Keith Cowing
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Elon Musk @elonmusk
If this is the only issue, flight would be fine, but need to make sure that it isn’t symptomatic of a more significant upstream root cause
Elon Musk @elonmusk
Btw, 99% likely to be fine (closed loop TVC wd overcome error), but that 1% chance isn’t worth rolling the dice. Better to wait a day.
What does “closed loop TVC wd” mean?
At a guess, “closed loop thrust vector control would”. That would be gimbals or any other mechanisms to control the direction of thrust from an engine, operated with automatic feedback to keep thrust in the commanded direction. At least, that’s how I would read it, since that interpretation makes sense in context. But I could be wrong.
Apparently they gimble the second stage nozzle just before lunch and it did not hit the profile exactly. I don’t know if this is helium activated since
AIUI the TVC actuators are powered by high pressure fuel.
Good launch!
Good first stage landing! Nominal second stage so far. GREAT FLIGHT!
Booster landed OK as well. KSC is now a multiuser spaceport…well, technically it has still only one user… but hey, that’s OK. Soon we will see a fully commercial satellite launch from Kennedy Space Center property. That will be another first.