SpaceX Sets Wednesday Spacex Falcon Heavy Launch for ViaSat-3 F3
SpaceX will make a second spacex falcon heavy launch attempt Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center after Monday’s weather scrub forced the rocket back on the pad. The Falcon Heavy is set to carry ViaSat-3 F3, the third and final satellite in the ViaSat-3 series, on a mission that could expand airborne WiFi service for airline customers.
Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A is scheduled for 10:13 a.m. EDT, at the opening of an 85-minute window. SpaceX plans to send the six metric ton spacecraft to geosynchronous transfer orbit, with deployment expected nearly five hours after liftoff.
Launch Complex 39A
The 45th Weather Squadron put the chance of favorable weather during the window at 90 percent. SpaceX scrubbed Monday’s attempt at the last minute because of poor weather, leaving Wednesday’s attempt as the immediate reset for the mission.
The rocket will generate about 5.1 million pounds of thrust and will fly the Falcon Heavy’s 12th mission. Two of its missions have carried ViaSat-3 satellites, and this flight will do so again with ViaSat-3 F3.
ViaSat-3 F3 Orbit
Dave Abrahamian, Viasat’s vice president of Satellite Systems, said the spacecraft could support more airline customers offering free use of airborne WiFi. He said, “As the spacecraft enters service, I think what you’re going to see is more and more of our airline customers providing free use of airborne WiFi. And with recent updates to the networks and everything, a number of those have enabled free streaming.”
Abrahamian also said, “You can stream Netflix at 4K in the sky. When we started many, many years ago with ViaSat-1, you couldn’t do that. Just being able to get basic SMS or email service in the air was a big deal, but now we’re up to streaming in 4K. So I think [the public will] appreciate the results of the program without necessarily understanding how we got there, what enables it.”
He said Falcon Heavy can place the satellite in a more favorable transfer orbit for electric propulsion. “So, they’re going to drop us off in an orbit, hopefully, that is just below [geostationary Earth orbit] apogee-wise, about 23,000 kilometers perigee-wise, and only about three degrees of inclination. So, it’s a very [electric propulsion]-friendly orbit,” he said.
Viasat Commissioning
Abrahamian said orbit raising to the operating position at 158.55 degrees East along the equator will take about two months. He said it will then take at least a couple of months more for deployment stages and checkouts before Boeing hands the satellite over to Viasat for operational use.
The side boosters on the mission carry tail numbers 1072 and 1075. Booster 1072 will fly for a second time, while booster 1075 will fly for a 22nd time. One side booster is set to land at Landing Zone 2 and the other at Landing Zone 40, while SpaceX will discard the brand new core stage, B1098, in the Atlantic Ocean.
ViaSat-3 F3 is expected to follow the same long route to service that has kept ViaSat-3 F2 in checkout. Abrahamian said the new satellite should shorten that process, giving Viasat a faster path to operational use once the spacecraft reaches its final orbit.
