Tag: Jason 3
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Photos: Jason 3 oceanography satellite encapsulated
The Jason 3 oceanography satellite, a joint project between U.S. and European weather agencies, is closed up inside the nose cone of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket awaiting launch from California’s Central Coast on Sunday. Technicians from SpaceX and Thales Alenia Space, the French manufacturer of the Jason 3 spacecraft, oversaw the encapsulation procedure Jan.…
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Hold-down firing completed ahead of Sunday’s Falcon 9 launch
Nine Merlin engines on the Falcon 9’s first stage fired up Monday for a static fire test at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s launch team ran through a traditional preflight test Monday, putting a Falcon 9 rocket through a mock countdown, loading it with a supply of liquid propellant and briefly…
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Hold-down firing completed ahead of Sunday’s Falcon 9 launch
Nine Merlin engines on the Falcon 9’s first stage fired up Monday for a static fire test at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s launch team ran through a traditional preflight test Monday, putting a Falcon 9 rocket through a mock countdown, loading it with a supply of liquid propellant and briefly…
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Offshore barge landing targeted after next Falcon 9 launch
The first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is pictured after landing at Cape Canaveral following a Dec. 21 launch with 11 satellites. Credit: SpaceX Nearly a month after nailing a landing a rocket landing at Cape Canaveral, SpaceX plans to steer the next flight of a Falcon 9 booster toward a recovery vessel in…
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Offshore barge landing targeted after next Falcon 9 launch
The first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is pictured after landing at Cape Canaveral following a Dec. 21 launch with 11 satellites. Credit: SpaceX Nearly a month after nailing a landing a rocket landing at Cape Canaveral, SpaceX plans to steer the next flight of a Falcon 9 booster toward a recovery vessel in…
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Falcon 9’s near-term manifest coming into focus
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: Justin Ray/Spaceflight Now SpaceX’s launch of a cluster of communications satellites for Orbcomm, set for as soon as next weekend, holds the headlines, but the company’s Falcon 9 rocket could fly at least four times in the next two months, assuming smooth launch campaigns and no glitches.…
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Orbcomm first in Falcon 9’s return-to-flight launch queue
File photo of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket before launching six Orbcomm satellites in 2014. Credit: SpaceX Going with a philosophy that favors incremental testing of an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 booster, SpaceX officials said Friday that eleven mini-satellites for Orbcomm’s data relay business will fly on the company’s first mission since a launch…
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Falcon 9 rocket to be grounded longer than expected
File photo of a Falcon 9 launch in February 2015. Credit: NASA/KSC The beginning of November will be the earliest SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket can resume launching after a June 28 failure blamed on a deficient structural support brace inside the the vehicle’s second stage, a SpaceX executive said Monday. The next launch will be…
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Satellite owners among bystanders in Falcon 9 accident
Updated June 30 with SpaceX comment. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral on Sunday. The rocket broke apart at about T+plus 2 minutes, 19 seconds, and SpaceX is focusing its investigation on the second stage. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Scriptunas Images The long queue of satellites waiting on launches aboard SpaceX’s…
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Jason 3 satellite shipped to Vandenberg for SpaceX launch
Artist’s concept of the Jason 3 satellite in orbit. Credit: Thales Alenia Space-D. Ducros An international oceanography satellite arrived at its California launch base from a factory in France on Thursday for fueling, testing and other final preps before its scheduled Aug. 8 blastoff on a Falcon 9 rocket. Packed inside a specialized shipping container,…