The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES-R series constellation is expected to be completed in space soon, pending a successful launch of its GOES-U satellite in late June.
The mission will be historic for many reasons, including the fact that it will be the first time a NOAA satellite has been transported there room using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
NOAA chose the United Launch Alliance (ULA) for the mission’s three previous satellite launches Atlas V 541 rocket to transport the modules to their places in orbit. The Atlas program has a 100% success rate for more than 600 launches, including most recently taking astronauts to International Space Station on Boeing‘S Starliner capsule.
So, why this change in the last mission launch for the GOES-R series? It turns out that SpaceX beat ULA in the contract competition.
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“The various rocket companies come on board and sign the contract, and give us ‘not to exceed’ (NTE) prizes. When we try to purchase a rocket for a particular mission, we do a mini-contest where we give them an opportunity to win those prizes to reduce, waive the ‘do not exceed’ and meet mission specific requirements. Falcon heavy won that,” Rex Engelhardt, GOES-U Mission Manager NASA’s Launch Services Programtold Space.com.
Falcon Heavy is considered one of the “world’s most powerful operational rockets” and has three reusable ones Falcon 9 engine cores with 27 Merlin engines capable of propelling more than 5 million pounds (2.3 million kilograms) at takeoff. Engelhardt said the Falcon Heavy not only won on cost, but also checked all the boxes needed for the mission.
“We worked for the best price, including their ability to meet us technically with performance and sufficient space in the cockpit,” Engelhardt said. “We looked at the loads and availability to meet the contamination requirements that we have, as GOES is a very high-level product. Contamination-prone spacecraft.”
Each satellite Built, while similar in nature, it is unique in its own way, and so is every launch. Changing the rocket and launch provider also brought challenges. Several adjustments had to be made by the launch teams to get GOES-U to the launch pad.
“Between Rex’s team on the Launch Services project, Jagdeep Shergill’s Lockheed Martin team and our team here at Goddard, we did our very best to minimize the differences to keep the apple cart moving with our GOES-U- satellite,” John Deily, the GOES-R flight project manager at NASA‘S Goddard Space Flight Centersaid in a virtual media briefing last month.
The biggest adjustment for the teams was the difference in processing: on the previous three GOES-U satellites, which went up with the Atlas V rocket, the rocket booster sat vertically on the launch pad and the payload was placed on top. On the Falcon Heavy rocket, integration takes place in a hanger with the rocket booster on its side.
“It turned out that this spacecraft had some features built into it that they didn’t expect to get a horizontal line into the fuel system, which means that the fuel system had a period of time when it is on its side]. We came up with one plan and had to change it, so it was actually a big deal,” Engelhardt said. You have to turn the satellite on its side, and the fuel system wasn’t designed for that, so that was it. something we had to learn to deal with. We have come up with solutions for this; we have all the plans ready.”
Also don’t forget that a Falcon Heavy has a little extra bonus added to the launch. Having the return boosters makes it more exciting to experience and extends the time of the event for those attending or watching from home.
“Falcon Heavy is always fun to watch – it’s a big rocket and especially when you get the boosters back,” Engelhardt said. “These boosters are coming back to the launch site. They’re landing a little less than 10 minutes after launch, so that’s nice to see.”