A private
launch firm has scrubbed its third attempt to make the inaugural launch of its Falcon
1 rocket after problems cropped up during a planned engine test, the
company said late Thursday.
The El
Segundo, California-based firm Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) hoped to
debut its first Falcon 1 rocket in a Feb. 10 space shot from its equatorial
launch site at Kwajalein Atoll on the Pacific Ocean. But after a day of system
and vehicle tests, the firm stood down.
"It
looks like we are scrubbed for two weeks," SpaceX founder Elon
Musk told SPACE.com late Thursday in an e-mail message. "However, we
are going to try and static fire tomorrow, since we still have that day
available from the range."
SpaceX
officials planned to test fire their rocket's Merlin 1 engine
and test other systems associated with launch Thursday, but those checks were
apparently not satisfactory for a Friday launch. Over the next few weeks,
SpaceX engineers will lower the Falcon 1 rocket from its launch stand give it a
thorough systems check, Musk said in an update posted to the SpaceX website.
Thursday's announcement
marked the third launch scrub for SpaceX's Falcon 1 debut.
Flight
controllers scrubbed two previous launch attempts in late 2005 due first to computer
and vent valve issues, then later to a pressurization
valve glitch that allowed a portion of the rocket's first stage to buckle. This
week, the launch date was pushed
back two days to allow additional time for checks and the engine firing
test, SpaceX officials said.
Musk said such
hiccups were to be expected with the debut of any new launch system.
"I don't
think the research and development really stops until you've had a few launches
or at least a few countdowns so you can refine the process," he said in an
earlier telephone interview, adding that each launch attempt brings valuable
experience to the SpaceX flight team. "There is a lot of development and improvement
that goes on with the process of the launch operation itself."
The Falcon
1 rocket is the first of a family of launch vehicles planned by SpaceX
officials to deliver satellites and other payloads into Earth orbit. Standing 68
feet (21 meters) in height, the booster is designed to generate 77,000 pounds
of thrust and launch payloads of up to 1,256 pounds (570 kilograms) into
low-Earth orbit. The rocket's first stage is designed to parachute back to
Earth to be recovered and reused in future launch. SpaceX officials said each
flight carries a cost of about $6.7 million.
The
rocket's payload is the $800,000 FalconSat-2, a cube-shaped satellite that
measures about 12.5 inches (32 centimeters) per side. Built by U.S. Air Force
Academy cadets, the 43-pound (19.5-kilogram) spacecraft is designed to measure
space plasma and is part of a program sponsored by the USAF and the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The
inaugural Falcon 1 launch is expected to be the first of up to three planned
SpaceX missions this year, Musk said. A second Falcon 1 rocket is slated to
launch from the firm's Vandenberg Air Force Base launch site in California, while a third is scheduled to launch from the firm's Omelek Island pad on the Kwajalein Atoll, he added.
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