Watch live: SpaceX counting down to sunset launch from Cape Canaveral

Live protection of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will introduce the SES 18 and SES 19 geostationary interactions satellites. Follow us on Twitter. SFN Live A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is poised for launch from Cape Canaveral simply after sundown Friday on objective to carry 2 SES tv broadcasting satellites into orbit, continuing a multibillion-dollar program to clear C-band spectrum for terrestrial broadband. The television satellites are stacked one on top of the other inside the payload fairing of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff throughout a 38-minute launch window opening at 7:38 p.m. EDT (2338 GMT). There is an 80% possibility of great weather condition for launch from Cape Canaveral Friday night. The only weather condition issue is a small opportunity of gusty winds surpassing the Falcon 9’s security requirements. The objective is set to liftoff a couple of minutes after sundown, and presuming clear skies, regional citizens and travelers ought to have an incredible view of the Falcon 9 as it climbs up into sunshine, tracking a broadening plume of exhaust from its kerosene-fueled engines. The launch from Cape Canaveral with the SES 18 and SES 19 interactions satellites is arranged a couple of hours after the effective launch of another SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Falcon 9 flight from California released with 52 of SpaceX’s own Starlink web satellites at 12:26:40 p.m. PDT (3:26:40 p.m. EDT; 1926:40 GMT), 4 hours and 12 minutes prior to the opening of the launch window for the Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral. See our Mission Status Center for our play-by-play updates of the Falcon 9 flight from Vandenberg. If the launch from Florida takes off as arranged, it would set a brand-new record for the fastest turn-around time in between SpaceX Falcon 9 launches. The existing record is 7 hours and 10 minutes, was set last October with launches from Florida and California. The back-to-back objectives will be SpaceX’s 18th and 19th flights of the year, and 211th and 212th flights general by a Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket stands vertical on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, waiting for liftoff with the SES 18 and SES 19 interactions satellites. Credit: SpaceX The Northrop Grumman-built SES 18 and 19 interactions waiting for liftoff Friday night from Cape Canaveral are set to begin 15-year objectives passing on C-band video and tv shows for media networks and cable television suppliers throughout North America. SpaceX landing crew rolled the Falcon 9 rocket and its business satellite payload to pad 40 and raised it vertical in the launch install at pad 40 for last checkouts early Friday. Throughout Saturday’s countdown, the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) launcher will be filled with a million pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants in the last 35 minutes of the countdown. After groups validate technical and weather condition criteria are all “green” for launch, the 9 Merlin 1D primary engines on the very first phase booster will flash to life with the aid of an ignition fluid called triethylaluminum/triethylborane, or TEA-TEB. When the engines increase to complete throttle, hydraulic clamps will open to launch the Falcon 9 for its climb into area. The 9 primary engines will produce 1.7 million pounds of thrust for about two-and-a-half minutes, moving the Falcon 9 and the SES 18 and 19 interactions satellites into the upper environment. The booster phase– tail number B1069 in SpaceX’s fleet– will shut down and separate from the Falcon 9’s upper phase. The booster will extend titanium grid fins and pulse cold gas thrusters to orient itself for a tail-first entry back into the environment, prior to reigniting its engines for a braking burn and a last landing burn, targeting a vertical descent to the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” parked about 420 miles (about 670 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral. The objective Friday night will be the 6th flight to area for the multiple-use very first phase B1069. This map shows the ground track of the Falcon 9 rocket, heading east from Cape Canaveral to position the SES 18 and SES 19 interactions satellite into a sub-synchronous transfer orbit. The place of the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” is identified here. Credit: Spaceflight Now The Falcon 9 will intend to launch the SES 18 and 19 satellites into an elliptical “sub-synchronous” transfer orbit with an apogee, or peak, except the satellites’ last 22,000-mile-high operating elevation in geostationary orbit. The lower-than-usual release orbit for a geostationary objective will enable the Falcon 9 rocket to raise both satellites on one objective, and provide the Falcon 9’s recyclable very first phase booster enough reserve propellant to go back to landing on the drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. In launch setup, the 2 almost similar satellites weigh 15,995 pounds (7,255 kgs), according to a Northrop Grumman representative. The lower satellite in the dual-payload stack, SES 19, weighs about 100 pounds more than the upper satellite due to the fact that it brings structural elements to straight link the spacecraft together throughout the flight into orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket’s upper phase will spark its Merlin Vacuum engine 2 times, initially to put the SES satellites into a low-altitude parking orbit, then to raise the apogee of the orbit to a range countless miles above Earth. SES 18 will separate from the launcher about 32 minutes after liftoff by shooting a pyrotechnical gadget to launch a clamp band linking it with SES 19, which is riding in the lower position of the dual-satellite stack. SES 19 will separate from the Falcon 9’s upper phase about 5 minutes later on, 37 minutes into the objective. SES 18 and 19 will unfurl their photovoltaic panels and finish a series of post-launch checkouts, then utilize a hydrazine-fueled primary engine to improve its orbit from the elliptical, or oval-shaped, transfer orbit the Falcon 9 will put them in after Friday’s launch. The satellites will navigate into circular geostationary orbits some 22,000 miles (almost 36,000 kilometers) over the equator, where their speed will match the rate of Earth’s rotation, keeping them over the very same place in the world and offering a repaired protection zone for their C-band broadcast antennas. SES 18 and 19 will be the 4th and 5th brand-new C-band interactions satellites to sign up with SES’s fleet in the last 9 months. The flurry of brand-new C-band satellite launches originate from a 2020 order for 6 brand-new spacecraft, consisting of an extra, as part of a Federal Communications Commission choice to clear 300 megahertz of C-band spectrum for the roll-out of 5G mobile connection networks. The SES 18 and 19 interactions satellites going through launch preparations inside a SpaceX payload processing center at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX The brand-new C-band satellites will run in a narrower swath of spectrum, making it possible for the broadcast of digital television services to almost 120 million houses in the United States, while clearing the 300 megahertz of spectrum now designated for usage by 5G operators. The FCC auctioned U.S. C-band spectrum– formerly utilized for satellite-based video broadcast services to countless consumers– to 5G operators, which are paying satellite operators like SES through multibillion-dollar payment contracts. Intelsat, another big tv broadcast satellite operator, purchased 7 brand-new C-band satellites as part of the C-band cleaning effort. SES released the very first brand-new C-band satellite, SES 22, on a Falcon 9 rocket last June. 2 more C-band satellites, SES 20 and 21, introduced in tandem on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in October. SES bought an extra satellite, SES 23, that the business does not prepare to introduce, pending an effective release of SES 18 and 19 on the next SpaceX objective, an SES representative stated. The multi-satellite procurement by SES, together with launch services and reconfiguration of ground systems, represents a $1.6 billion financial investment by the business. The SES 18 and 19 satellites, based upon Northrop Grumman’s GEOStar satellite style, must be prepared to start industrial service in June to supply television, radio, and information relay services throughout the United States. SES 18 will head for a position at 103 degrees west longitude, where it will change the C-band payload on the SES 3 satellite introduced in 2011. SES 19 will get in service at 135 degrees west longitude, co-located with the SES 22 satellite introduced in 2015. ROCKET: Falcon 9 (B1069.6) PAYLOAD: SES 18 and 19 interactions satellites LAUNCH SITE: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida LAUNCH DATE: March 17, 2023 LAUNCH WINDOW: 7:38 -8:16 p.m. EDT (2338-0016 GMT) WEATHER FORECAST: 80% possibility of appropriate weather condition BOOSTER RECOVERY: ” Just Read the Instructions” drone ship LAUNCH AZIMUTH: East TARGET ORBIT: Sub-synchronous transfer orbit LAUNCH TIMELINE: T +00:00: Liftoff T +01:12: Maximum aerodynamic pressure (Max-Q) T +02:32: First phase primary engine cutoff (MECO) T +02:36: Stage separation T +02:44: Second phase engine ignition T +03:21: Fairing jettison T +06:36: First phase entry burn ignition (3 engines) T +07:00: First phase entry burn ends T +08:17: Second phase engine cutoff (SECO 1) T +08:24: First phase landing burn ignition (one engine) T +08:45: First phase landing T +26:17: Second phase engine reboot T +27:04: Second phase engine cutoff (SECO 2) T +32:15: SES 18 separation T +37:25: SES 19 separation MISSION STATS: 212th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket given that 2010 222nd launch of Falcon rocket household because 2006 6th launch of Falcon 9 booster B1069 181st Falcon 9 launch from Florida’s Space Coast 117th Falcon 9 launch from pad 40 172nd launch in general from pad 40 152nd flight of a recycled Falcon 9 booster 9th SpaceX launch for SES 18th Falcon 9 launch of 2023 19th launch by SpaceX in 2023 14th orbital launch effort based out of Cape Canaveral in 2023