The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES-R series constellation is expected to be completed in space soon as it awaits the successful launch of its GOES-U satellite at the end of June.
The mission will be historic for many reasons, including the fact that it will be the first transport of a NOAA satellite space by SpaceX The Falcon Heavy rocket.
For the mission’s previous three satellite launches, NOAA chose United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 541 rocket deliver the modules to their places in orbit. The Atlas program has had a 100% success rate in its more than 600 launches, which recently included transporting astronauts to International Space Station on Boeing‘with Starliner capsule.
So why the change in launching the last mission for the GOES-R series? As it turned out, SpaceX beat out ULA in the contract competition.
Related: NOAA’s powerful new weather satellite set for June launch atop SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy
“Various rocket companies come in and sign a contract and give us ‘not to exceed’ (NTE) prices. When we’re trying to procure a rocket for a particular mission, we hold a mini-competition where we give them the opportunity to lower those prices, come down from ‘not to exceed’ and bid at in this case specific mission requirements, Falcon Heavy won it,” Rex Engelhardt, GOES-U mission manager for Launch Services Program NASAhe told Space.com.
Billed as one of the “world’s most powerful operational rockets,” the Falcon Heavy has three reusable ones Falcon 9 engine cores with 27 Merlin engines capable of developing more than 5 million pounds (2.3 million kilograms) of thrust at takeoff. Engelhardt said the Falcon Heavy not only won the prize, but also ticked all the boxes needed for the mission.
“We worked for the best value, which will include their ability to meet us technically with performance and enough fairing space,” Engelhardt said. “We looked at payload and availability to meet the contamination requirements that we have because GOES is a highly contamination-sensitive spacecraft.”
Each satellite built, while similar in nature, is unique in its own way, as is every launch. Changing providers of rockets and launches also brought challenges. To get GOES-U onto the launch pad, the launch teams had to make several adjustments.
“Between the Rex team at Launch Services, the Lockheed Martin Jagdeep Shergill team, and our team here at Goddard, we’ve done our best to keep the differences as small as possible so we don’t upset the apple cart with our GOES-U satellite,” John Deily, Flight Project Manager GOES-R in society NASA‘with Goddard Space Flight Centerhe said virtual media briefing last month.
The biggest adjustment for the teams was the difference in processing — for the previous three GOES-U satellites that went up with the Atlas V rocket, the rocket booster was placed vertically on the launch pad and the payload was placed on top. For the Falcon Heavy rocket, the integration takes place in a sling with a rocket booster on the side.
“It turned out that this spacecraft had some elements built into it that did not assume a horizontal position in the fuel system, which means that the fuel system has a period time when lying on side]. We went into it with one plan and we had to change it, so that was actually a big problem,” Engelhardt said. “You have to put the satellite on its side, and the fuel system wasn’t designed for that, so that was something we had to learn how to comply. We have come up with a solution to all this; we have all the plans ready.”
Don’t forget with the Falcon Heavy too, there’s a little extra bonus added to the launch. Back-up amplifiers will make the experience even more exciting and extend the duration 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 can bring back the boosters,” Engelhardt said. “These boosters go back to the launch site. They land a little less than 10 minutes after launch, so it’s fun to watch.”