New Delhi:
The Koreasat 5A, a multipurpose communications satellite owned by a South Korean telecom company is all set to launch from Florida’s Space Coast aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster on Monday.
It is manufactured in Cannes, France, by Thales Alenia Space, was being attached this weekend to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket inside the company’s hangar near launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The launch window Monday opens at 3:34 p.m. EDT (1934 GMT) and extends until 5:58 p.m. EDT (2158 GMT), and the official weather forecast issued by U.S. Air Force meteorologists suggests mostly clear skies and favorable conditions are on tap for Monday afternoon.
The forecasters have predicted the clear sky and favorable conditions for the launch of the spacecraft. only a 10 percent chances that weather will prohibit.
“Monday morning will be chilly on the spaceport with temperatures dipping below 50 degrees Fahrenheit and lighter northerly winds,” forecasters from the Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron wrote in an outlook released Sunday. “There is a very slight risk for the stronger winds to linger into Monday’s launch window.”
At the time of a launch, conditions will be mostly sunny, few clouds possible at a height of 2,500 feet.
To provide power and pressurize the rocket’s Merlin engines, RP-1 Kerosene and liquid oxygen will give in both stages of the Falcon 9. The kerosene and oxygen will be cooled close to their freezing points, increasing the fluid’s density and allowing more propellants to be loaded into the rocket, a performance-raising technique introduced by SpaceX in 2015.
RP-1 will be pumped into the rocket first, followed by the start of liquid oxygen loading at around 2:59 p.m. EDT (1859 GMT).
Koreasat 5A will be significant, offer coverage for maritime communications in the Middle East, the Indian Ocean and parts of the Asia-Pacific region.
