SpaceX is ready to launch the moon for the first time [webcast]

Not before (NET) 19:08 EDT (23:08 UTC), August 4, the airline’s proven Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from the LC-40 platform at SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as part of the fourth launch. Thirtieth of the company in 2022.

Carrying the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) spacecraft, the mission will be SpaceX’s first direct launch to the Moon and could make South Korea one of the few countries to successfully enter orbit around a planetary body other than Earth.

SpaceX previously named the Falcon Heavy B1052 booster for its first launch to the Moon. After debuting in April 2019 and supporting another Falcon Heavy launch in June, the former ‘side booster’ lay idle for nearly 1,000 days as each payload contracted to launch the most powerful operational rocket took months or even years of delay. Eventually, SpaceX abandoned the wait and changed the vehicle to a Falcon 9 booster, and the Falcon 9B1052 debuted on January 31, 2022. KPLO will be its sixth and fourth launch as the Falcon 9.

Technically, KPLO won’t be the first payload that SpaceX helped launch to the moon. This distinction was maintained by Israel’s Beresheet Moon probe, which launched an engagement payload aboard a Falcon 9 geostationary communications spacecraft in 2019. The spacecraft’s landing was unsuccessful, but it did enter a stable orbit around the Moon before to make matters worse. bad.

Instead of launching the satellite as a transfer payload into Earth orbit, KPLO (also known as Danuri) will be the only spacecraft aboard the Falcon 9, and a SpaceX rocket will send the orbiter directly into a type of Translunar Injection (TLI) path known as a lunar ballistic transfer. The BLT is significantly slower than some of the alternative TLI trajectories, but it trades speed for exceptional efficiency, making launch easier for the Falcon 9 and ultimately giving the orbiter more useful time around the Moon, requiring less fuel to enter orbit.

If all goes as planned, KPLO — which weighs about 678 kilograms (about 1,500 pounds) at takeoff — will complete several course correction burns and eventually enter lunar orbit in mid-December. The spacecraft is equipped with many cameras, network experiments and some scientific instruments, and the main purpose of the spacecraft is to explore a debris-free area of ​​a future Korean lunar module.

The unnamed follow-up mission will be domestic, as South Korea intends to launch it with its own Nouri missile. After failing during his first launch attempt in October 2021, Nuri successfully reached orbit during his second launch attempt in June 2022.

KPLO is one of the Up to six versions Around the world are planned for August 4, including two Chinese missions, the ULA launch off the east coast of the United States, the Rocket Lab mission from New Zealand, and the latest subtropical tourist launch from Blue Origin. Barring delays, KPLO will be the last release for the day. SpaceX’s official webcast will likely begin around 6:55 PM EDT (22:50 UTC).

SpaceX is ready to launch the moon for the first time [webcast]