The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-R series constellation is expected to be completed in space soon, pending the successful launch of its companion GOES-U in late June.
The mission will be historic for many reasons, including the fact that it will mark the first time a NOAA satellite will be transported to space with the help of SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
For the mission’s previous three satellite launches, NOAA chose United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 541 missile to transport the modules to their places in orbit. The Atlas program has had a 100% success rate for its more than 600 launches, which include, most recently, taking astronauts to International Space Station On Boeing‘c Starliner capsule.
So why the change to the latest mission launch for the GOES-R series? As it turned out, SpaceX beat out ULA in the contract competition.
Connected: Powerful new NOAA weather satellite to launch in June on SpaceX Falcon Heavy
“The various missile companies join and sign the contract and give us ‘not to exceed’ (NTE) prices. When we’re trying to buy a missile for a particular mission, we do a mini-competition where we give them the opportunity to lower those prices, lower the “no-go” and bid according to the mission-specific requirements. In this case, Falcon Heavy won this,” Rex Engelhardt, GOES-U mission manager for NASA’s launch programsaid Space.com.
Considered one of the “world’s most powerful operational rockets,” the Falcon Heavy has three reusable ones Falcon 9 propulsion cores with 27 Merlin engines that can thrust more than 5 million pounds (2.3 million kilograms) at takeoff. Engelhardt said the Falcon Heavy not only won on price, but also checked all the boxes needed for the mission.
“We worked for the best value, which would include their ability to meet us technically with performance and sufficient fairing space,” Engelhardt said. “We looked at the payloads and the availability to meet the pollution requirements that we have because GOES is a highly pollution-sensitive spacecraft.”
Everyone satellite built, though similar in nature, is unique in its own way, as is every launch. Changing the supplier of the rocket and launch also came with challenges. Several adjustments had to be made by the launch teams to place GOES-U on the launch pad.
“Between the Rex team at Launch Services, Jagdeep Shergill’s Lockheed Martin team, and our team here at Goddard, we’ve done everything we can to make the differences as small as possible so we don’t upset the apple cart with our GOES-U satellite ,” John Deeley, GOES-R flight project manager at NASA‘c Goddard Space Flight Centersaid in a virtual media briefing last month.
The biggest adjustment for the teams was the difference in handling — for the previous three GOES-U satellites that lifted off on the Atlas V rocket, the rocket booster sat on the launch pad vertically and the payload was placed on top. In the Falcon Heavy rocket, integration takes place in a hanger with a rocket booster on the side.
“It turns out that this spacecraft had some features built into it that they didn’t foresee horizontally in the fuel system, which means that the fuel system has a period of time when lying on one side]. We went in with a plan and we had to change it, so it was actually a big deal,” Engelhardt said. “You have to put the satellite on one side, and the fuel system wasn’t designed to do that, so that was something that had to be done. learn to adapt. We have come up with solutions for all of these; we have all the plans in place.”
Don’t forget with the Falcon Heavy too, there’s a little extra bonus added to the launch. Having repeater amplifiers will make it more exciting to experience and extend 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 have to bring the boosters back,” Engelhardt said. “These boosters will return to the launch site. A little less than 10 minutes after launch they land, so it’s fun to watch.”
