The early months of 2009 saw steady progress being made by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) as the company works toward the first launch of the its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral later this year. SpaceX conducted the first full mission-duration of the 9-engine Falcon powerplant in 2008 and, in January, lifted the first Falcon 9 vehicle on its Florida launch pad.
Horizontal integration of the 17 foot diameter Falcon 9 was completed on December 30, 2008. The rocket was mated to the SpaceX-built transporter erector system which carried the 180 foot long rocket to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 40. The first Falcon 9 was raised to vertical shortly after noon on January 10. "Any engineered system has requirements that can only be recognized through actual assembly of real hardware," stated Brian Mosdell, Director of Florida Launch Operations for SpaceX. "This rapid integration and stand-up provided our engineers and technicians with invaluable insights that will greatly streamline our effort towards the first Falcon 9 launch in 2009." "This entire process has helped us validate key interfaces and operations prior to executing our launch campaign with the vehicle in its final flight configuration," said Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX. "We encountered no show-stoppers or significant delays," Delivered from the SpaceX facilities in California in sections, Separated into sections for travel, the major parts of rocket included nine Merlin 1C engines mounted on a massive engine mount structure; a thrust skirt that transfers the force of the engines into the first stage propellant tank; a carbon composite interstage; a new Merlin Vacuum upper stage engine fitted to the second stage propellant tank; and the two halves of a 17 foot diameter payload fairing. The integration of Falcon 9 hardware at Cape Canaveral is the latest milestone to be reached by the upstart launch services provider as the company marches toward the first Falcon 9 launch later this year. The first full mission-duration firing of the rocket’s engines was conducted on November 22, 2008 at the SpaceX McGregor Test Facility in Texas. For the static test firing, the first stage remained firmly secured to the massive vertical test stand, the powerplant consumed 500,000 pounds of propellant during its 178 second firing, the time the first stage will burn during an actual launch. "The full mission-length test firing clears the highest hurdle for the Falcon 9 first stage before launch," Musk said after the test. "In the next few months, we will have the first Falcon 9 flight vehicle on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, preparing for lift-off in 2009." The test facility, originally built by Beal Aerospace in the 1990’s for testing the company’s rocket engines then under development, required major upgrades to handle the tremendous thrust, heat and blast of Falcon 9. "In the past month, we performed significant upgrades to the test stand and flame trench in preparation for this test," said Tom Mueller, Vice President of Propulsion for SpaceX. "We added the flight base heat shields around the engines to protect the bottom of the rocket from the prolonged blast of heat and vibration." The thrust profile during the test mirrored that of a real launch. All nine engines fired for 160 seconds, then two engines were shut down to limit acceleration and the remaining seven engines continued firing for 18 more seconds. At full power, the rocket generates 855,000 pounds of thrust at sea level which increases to approximately one million pounds in a vacuum. The test firing validated the design of the Falcon 9 first stage powerplant, which uses nine Merlin 1C engines clustered together. This gives the rocket the ability to shut down multiple engines without adversely affecting the functioning of the remaining engines. Falcon 9 will be the first launch vehicle since the Saturn V to have the ability to lose any engine in flight and still complete its mission successfully, although the space shuttle can lose one or, later in flight, two main engines during launch and still reach orbit safely (as happened during the launch of STS-51F in 1985). In Florida SpaceX has spent the past year refurbishing the former Titan IV launch complex, SLC-40, into a state-of-the-art launch facility, capable of supporting both Falcon 9 and Falcon 9 Heavy as well as manned and unmanned launches of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. "2008 has been a year of rapid progress for SpaceX," said Musk. "The delivery of the Falcon 9 to the Cape is a major milestone in designing and deploying the most reliable, cost-efficient fleet of launch vehicles in the world." SpaceX’s manifest includes for Falcon 9 flights from Cape Canaveral in 2009, including two demonstration flights of Dragon under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation (COTS) competition. SpaceX’s contract calls for a total of three demonstration flights for hauling cargo to the International Space Station with an option of extending the contract to include demonstrating Dragon’s crew transport capability. But first, SpaceX has to get its new rocket off the ground and sometime in the latter half of 2009, the rumble of a new bird will be heard across the Cape as SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 launch vehicle takes flight. (The Spacearium / Space Media Corporation)
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