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The H-2A rocket set to launch with the Himawari 9 weather satellite rolled out to its launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center on Tuesday. Credit: MHI
A sophisticated new Japanese weather satellite will ride an H-2A rocket into orbit Wednesday to start a 15-year mission tracking cyclones and helping meteorologists predict storm movements across the Asia-Pacific and Australia.
The Himawari 9 weather observatory is set to begin its trek to geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) above Earth on Wednesday from the Tanegashima Space Center, a spaceport nestled on the southern flank of Tanegashima Island in southern Japan.
Himawari 9 is the second of two identical weather satellites owned by the Japan Meteorological Agency to offer more detailed and more timely imagery of storms, clouds and other weather systems to forecasters in Japan and across the Western Pacific.
Liftoff of the 174-foot-tall (53-meter) H-2A rocket, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, is set for 0620 GMT (2:20 a.m. EDT) Wednesday at the opening of a launch window that extends until 0918 GMT (5:18 a.m. EDT).
Launch is set for 3:20 p.m. Japan Standard Time, and it will take nearly a half-hour for the H-2A rocket to place Himawari 9 into an initial geostationary transfer orbit, an egg-shaped loop around Earth with a high point of 22,354 miles (35,976 kilometers), a low point of 155 miles (250 kilometers) and a tilt of 22.4 degrees to the equator.
Japanese officials delayed the launch 24 hours due to a poor weather forecast that could have prevented rollout of the H-2A rocket from its integration hangar Monday.
The weather improved Tuesday, and ground crews at Tanegashima rolled out the H-2A rocket on its mobile launch table around 1630 GMT (12:30 p.m. EDT). The 1,600-foot (500-meter) journey from the vertical assembly building to the launch pad took about 40 minutes to complete, and technicians planned to plug the launch platform into ground electrical and propellant supplies before fueling begins in the final hours of the countdown.
Once the launch team checks out the rocket’s systems and loads it with cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, an automated countdown sequencer will take over the final steps before liftoff.
The H-2A rocket will light its core LE-7A main engine, then ignite two strap-on solid rocket boosters to climb away from the launch pad atop nearly 1.4 million pounds of thrust.
The rocket’s flight computer will command the engine and booster nozzles to pivot moments after liftoff, directing the launcher on an easterly trajectory over the Pacific Ocean.
The H-2A will exceed the speed of sound in less than a minute, then the two solid rocket boosters will consume all their pre-packed propellant at T+plus 1 minute, 38 seconds. Ten seconds later, the boosters will fall away from the H-2A’s foam-covered core stage.
The two halves of the rocket’s clamshell-like nose cone will peel away at an altitude of 88 miles (142 kilometers) at T+plus 4 minutes, 5 seconds, revealing the Himawari 9 satellite to the space environment.
The LE-7A main engine, producing nearly 250,000 pounds of thrust, will shut down at T+plus 6 minutes, 36 seconds, after reaching a velocity of nearly 11,000 mph (4.9 kilometers per second).
Eight seconds later, the first stage and second stage will separate, followed by ignition of the upper stage’s hydrogen-fueled LE-5B engine at T+plus 6 minutes, 50 seconds. The powerplant will burn until T+plus 12 minutes, 12 seconds, to reach a preliminary low-altitude parking orbit, and then start up again at T+plus 23 minutes, 50 seconds, to climb to higher altitude.
The second LE-5B engine burn should end at T+plus 27 minutes, 7 seconds, after injecting the 7,700-pound (3,500 kilogram) Himawari 9 satellite into its intended orbit.
Deployment of Himawari 9 should occur at T+plus 27 minutes, 57 seconds, around 163 miles (263 kilometers) over the Pacific Ocean southeast of Hawaii.
Artist’s concept of the Himawari 8 and 9 satellites in orbit. Credit: MELCO
Built by Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Himawari 9 will maneuver into a circular orbit nearly 22,300 miles (35,700 kilometers) over the equator a few weeks after launch.
At that altitude, the spacecraft’s orbital velocity will match the rate of Earth’s rotation, allowing it to hover over Asia and the Pacific Ocean to collect real-time views of clouds and storms over the Eastern Hemisphere.
Himawari 9 will be parked at 140 degrees east longitude for a mission expected to last up to 15 years. It is Japan’s ninth geostationary weather observatory since the first satellite in the Himawari, or sunflower, series launched in 1977.
Japan launched the identical Himawari 8 weather satellite in October 2014, and a successful launch of Himawari 9 will allow Japan’s weather agency to retire the last pair of meteorological satellites — dubbed MTSAT 1R and MTSAT 2 — that have been in space in 2005 and 2006.
Forecasters from India to Australia have been relying on Himawari 8’s imagery since it entered service in 2015.
Himawari 8 and 9 carry advanced U.S.-built imaging cameras supplied by Harris Corp. The imagers can observe Earth in 16 visible and near-infrared color bands, while the previous generation of Japanese weather satellites were sensitive to five bands.
The new satellites can take a full picture of East Asia and the Western Pacific every 10 minutes, an improvement over the half-hour update times available with Japan’s MTSAT weather satellites.
The spacecraft’s imager can take pictures of certain areas, such as all of Japan, at even faster refresh rates — every 2.5 minutes.
There are also improvements in resolution with the Himawari 8 and 9 satellites, allowing meteorologists to see finer details at the centers of typhoons and better resolve volcanic ash and smoke plumes, fog and low-lying clouds.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with the JCSAT 16 communications satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below
03:13
Officials say the first radio signals from the newly-launched JCSAT 16 communications satellite have been acquired by a ground station. The spacecraft is reported healthy.
03:08
With tonight's successful launch, SpaceX has logged 27 successes in 28 launches of the Falcon 9 rocket. The booster has also achieved nine successful flights in a row since December.
02:59 JCSAT 16 Separation
JCSAT 16 separation! The JCSAT 16 spacecraft has deployed from the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage, beginning a 15-year mission to provide telecommunications, video relay and data transmission services over Japan and the Asia-Pacific.
02:56
SpaceX confirms a nominal insertion of the JCSAT 16 satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Separation of the spacecraft from the upper stage is planned at T+plus 32 minutes, 13 seconds.
02:53
The Falcon 9's Merlin vacuum engine has ignited for a 62-second burn to inject the JCSAT 16 satellite into its intended egg-shaped orbit, accelerating the spacecraft on a trajectory tens of thousands of miles above Earth.
02:51
The Falcon 9 rocket is flying over Africa, and communications from the second stage have been acquired via a ground station in Gabon.
02:50
T+plus 24 minutes. Restart of the Merlin vacuum engine is about two-and-a-half minutes away.
The burn is expected to last about a minute -- approximately 62 seconds -- to propel the JCSAT 16 satellite into a high-altitude elliptical transfer orbit.
02:46
T+plus 20 minutes. The Falcon 9 rocket and SES 9 are currently flying over the Atlantic Ocean, passing over the Canary Islands.
02:39
T+plus 13 minutes. The first phase of tonight's launch appears to have gone according to plan. SpaceX reports the upper stage and JCSAT 16 are on the right trajectory following liftoff, as the rocket continues coasting toward the point where the Merlin vacuum engine will reignite for its second burn.
02:39
The 15-story Falcon 9 first stage has landed on the drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean east of Cape Canaveral. The touchdown marks the fourth successful recovery of a SpaceX rocket at sea, and gives the company a 4-for-9 record since the experiments with ocean landings began in 2015.
Overall, SpaceX has recovered six Falcon 9 rocket boosters in 11 tries, including two touchdowns on land.
02:38
The Falcon 9's second stage engine has shut down after injecting the JCSAT 14 satellite into a preliminary parking orbit. The Merlin vacuum engine is due to restart at T+plus 26 minutes, 30 seconds, to put the JCSAT 16 spacecraft into a geostationary transfer orbit.
02:37
Falcon 9 has landed on the barge in the Atlantic!
02:34
The kerosene-fueled Merlin 1D upper stage engine generates about 210,000 pounds of thrust in vacuum.
02:34
The upper stage is traveling 5,700 meters per second at an altitude of 168 kilometers.
02:32
The first stage has completed its re-entry burn to aim for a landing on a recovery ship positioned about 370 miles east of Cape Canaveral.
02:32
Second stage power and telemetry systems reported healthy.
02:31
SpaceX reports the second stage propulsion system is performing nominally.
02:31
T+plus 5 minutes. Everything reported to be going well with this second stage engine firing. The Merlin vacuum engine uses an ultra-thin niobium nozzle extension for greater efficiency in the upper atmosphere.
02:30
T+plus 4 minutes. The Falcon 9's payload fairing has been jettisoned.
02:29
T+plus 3 minutes. The Falcon 9 first stage engines have cut off, the stages have separated, and the rocket's second stage Merlin vacuum engine has ignited for its approximately six-minute firing to reach orbital velocity.
Cold gas nitrogen thrusters are now firing to re-orient the 156-foot-tall first stage booster in the correct attitude for its engine burns to target a landing on SpaceX's drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
02:28
T+plus 2 minutes. Now soaring at an altitude of more than 20 miles, the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage will shut down and jettison in about 40 seconds.
And chilldown of the second stage's vacuum-rated Merlin 1D engine has started in preparation for its ignition.
02:27
LIFTOFF of the Falcon 9, launching a U.S.-built, Japanese-owned multi-mission communications satellite for Tokyo-based SKY Perfect JSAT Corp.
02:25
T-minus 60 seconds. In the final minute of the countdown, the flight computer will command checks of the first stage Merlin engine steering system and the Falcon 9 propellant tanks will be pressurized for flight. Thousands of gallons of water from water nozzles on the ground facility's Niagara system will also be dumped onto the launch pad deck to suppress the sound and acoustics of liftoff.
The command to start the ignition sequence for the first stage will be issued at T-minus 3 seconds, triggering the Merlin engines' ignitor moments before the powerplants actually ramp up to full power.
02:25
T-minus 90 seconds and counting. The SpaceX launch director and the Air Force Eastern Range have given their final approvals for liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket at 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT).
02:24
T-minus 2 minutes and counting. The rocket's Merlin 1D engines have been chilled down for ignition. The Falcon 9 rocket is confirmed on internal power.
02:24
T-minus 3 minutes and counting. The rocket's destruct system is on internal power and being armed, and liquid oxygen topping is being terminated. A steering check on the upper stage engine is also complete.
02:21
T-minus 5 minutes and counting. The Falcon 9 rocket's navigation system is aligning for flight.
02:21
T-minus 6 minutes and counting. The Falcon 9 rocket should now be operating on internal power.
The strongback umbilical tower will soon be lowered a few degrees to clear the rocket for launch. The procedure begins with opening of cradles gripping the rocket at attach points, then hydraulics lower the tower into launch position.
02:20
T-minus 6 minutes, 30 seconds. The Falcon 9's heaters are being deactivated, and the rocket will be transitioned to internal power momentarily.
02:19
T-minus 7 minutes and counting. Within the next minute, the Falcon 9's flight computer will be commanded to its alignment state. The Merlin engine pumps are continuing to chill down.
02:17
T-minus 8 minutes and counting. Good chilldown continues on the first stage engines, and closeouts of the upper stage's gaseous nitrogen attitude control system and Merlin vacuum engine hydraulics are underway. The first stage's helium pressurant is also now in topping mode.
02:17
T-minus 9 minutes, 30 seconds. Prevalves leading to the Falcon 9's Merlin 1D first stage engines are opening, permitting super-cold liquid oxygen to flow into the engines to condition the turbopumps for ignition.
02:16
T-minus 10 minutes and counting. The terminal countdown autosequence has started. Any hold after this point will result in an automatic abort and recycle.
02:15
The countdown is proceeding as planned past the T-minus 10 minute, 30 second hold point. No issues reported.
02:14
Again, reload this page if you're not seeing live video here.
02:13
There is a pause point available in the countdown at T-minus 10 minutes, 30 seconds. But the SpaceX team so far has reported no problems in the countdown.
02:12
The JCSAT 16 satellite is reported on internal power.
02:12
T-minus 15 minutes and counting. The Falcon 9 rocket stands 229 feet tall and measures 12 feet in diameter. At liftoff, its nine Merlin 1D first stage engines will generate about 1.5 million pounds of thrust.
Fully fueled for launch, the Falcon 9 contains more than a million pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants, for a total launch weight of about 1.2 million pounds.
02:07
If you're not seeing SpaceX's live video, please hit reload
02:01
T-minus 25 minutes and counting. Here are some statistics on today's flight:
28th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
33rd launch of Falcon rocket family since 2006
26th Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral
8th launch of the upgraded Falcon 9
2nd SpaceX launch for SKY Perfect JSAT Corp.
4th Space Systems/Loral satellite launched by Falcon 9
13th Falcon 9 night launch
8th Falcon 9 launch of 2016
11th Falcon 9 first stage landing attempt
01:56
T-minus 30 minutes and counting. Today's launch is timed for 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT) at the opening of a 120-minute launch window. SpaceX's webcast is due to begin around 1:06 a.m. EDT (0506 GMT), and you can watch it here.
The JCSAT 16 satellite team has been instructed to switch the spacecraft to internal battery power.
01:50
The Falcon 9's automatic countdown sequencer has begun as engineers will soon oversee the fueling of the rocket with thousands of gallons of super-chilled propellants
01:49
The SpaceX launch team has given the go to begin loading RP-1 and liquid oxygen propellants into the Falcon 9 rocket.
01:41 Flight timeline
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral early Sunday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the JCSAT 16 communications satellite into orbit 32 minutes later.
The 229-foot-tall rocket is poised for launch from Complex 40 at 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT) Sunday at the opening of a 120-minute launch window.
Check out this timeline of key events during tonight's flight.
01:36 T-minus 50 minutes
T-minus 50 minutes.
Coming up on several major milestones in the countdown, beginning with a poll of the launch team at T-minus 38 minutes and the start of propellant loading at T-minus 35 minutes.
01:33
The Falcon 9 countdown is significantly changed with the upgraded version of the rocket.
While radio checks and flight termination system tests complete, fueling of the rocket with its propellant mixture of RP-1 rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen will not begin until about a half-hour before the launch, instead of at about T-minus 3 hours on earlier Falcon 9s.
The upgraded Falcon 9 consumes a chilled propellant mix that allows engineers to load additional fuel into the rocket. The cryogenic liquid oxygen is chilled closer to its freezing point, from minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit to minus 340 degrees, while the RP-1 fuel is cooled from a more standard room temperature of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit to 20 degrees, according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
The change essentially permits the volume of the Falcon 9 fuel tanks, which are also slightly enlarged on this launch, to hold more mass of propellant, giving the rocket more performance.
The Merlin engines on the first and second stages will also produce more thrust. At liftoff, the nine-engine first stage will generate 1.5 million pounds of thrust, up from 1.3 million force-pounds on the Falcon 9's previous version.
The second stage engine is also modified with a bigger nozzle, and the stage separation system includes a new pusher device to help guide the first stage as it is jettisoned, ensuring no recontact.
Taken together, the modifications allow the Falcon 9 carry heavier satellites into orbit and still attempt booster landings on the coast or on an ocean-going barge. Tonight's launch will target a landing on a barge 370 miles (600 kilometers) offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.
01:30
SpaceX has recovered five Falcon 9 rocket boosters in 10 attempts before tonight. The company is 3-for-8 in landing attempts on the company's drone ships.
01:30
SpaceX will attempt to land the 156-foot-tall first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket downrange aboard a recovery vessel, extending the company's experiments with rocket re-entry and reusability.
The drone ship, christened "Of Course I Still Love You," is positioned about 370 miles (600 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral in the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX says a successful landing is unlikely on this mission because of the higher speed the rocket needs to reach with the JCSAT 16 communications satellite, which is heading toward a geosynchronous transfer orbit with a high point thousands of miles above Earth.
"Given this mission’sGTOdestination, the first-stage will be subject toextreme velocities and re-entry heating, making a successful landing challenging," SpaceX said in a press kit released for tonight's mission.
01:03
Hold-fire checks between the Falcon 9 rocket and the U.S. Air Force's Eastern Range have been completed.
00:49
The SpaceX launch team reports they have completed checks of the Falcon 9 rocket's flight termination system, which would be used to destroy the rocket if it flew off course.
00:26
A check of all SpaceX launch team stations at T-minus 2 hours indicates all is ready to proceed with tonight's flight.
Checks of the rocket's propulsion system are complete, and there are no open issues being tracked at this point in the countdown. The launch pad has also been cleared for tonight's liftoff.
00:19
SpaceX's launch crew is evacuating the pad at Cape Canaveral as the countdown ticks toward liftoff at 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT).
The launch window extends for two hours.
The launch team is on console at the launch control center this evening to run the Falcon 9 through prelaunch tests at the Complex 40 launch pad, then begin fueling the two-stage booster with super-chilled kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants about 30 minutes before liftoff.
Forecasters predict favorable weather during this evening's launch window, with a better than 80 percent chance conditions will be acceptable for liftoff.
Mostly clear skies are in the forecast. Winds will be from the southeast at 12 to 17 mph, and the temperature at launch time is forecast to be 78 degrees Fahrenheit.
07:46 Falcon 9 set for launch tonight
For the second time this year, SpaceX is preparing to launch a commercial communications satellite for Tokyo-based SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. early Sunday.
A Falcon 9 rocket is set to blast off at 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT) from Cape Canaveral with the JCSAT 16 satellite to relay data and video across Japan and the Asia-Pacific. A first stage landing attempt will follow in the Atlantic Ocean a few minutes later.
The launch window extends for two hours.
On Saturday, ground crews at Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad plan to roll the Falcon 9 rocket out of its hangar for the more than 600-foot (200-meter) journey to its launch position. Mounted on a transporter-erector, the rocket will be lifted vertical and pointed skyward ahead of the start of the countdown.
In the final few hours before liftoff, the SpaceX launch team stationed a few miles to the south of the launch pad just outside the gate to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will oversee the activiation of the two-stage rocket's computer and electronics, checks of its communications, telemetry and beacon systems, and a test of the Falcon 9's destruct mechanism, which would used to end the flight if the vehicle flew off course.
Fueling of the Falcon 9 with super-chilled RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen should begin around 12:56 a.m. EDT (0456 GMT), a few minutes after a final poll of the launch team to verify their readiness.
The terminal countdown sequence will kick off at 1:16 a.m. EDT (0516 GMT). Moments later, small quantities of liquid propellant will begin flowing through the Falcon 9's engine section to chill down the rocket's nine Merlin 1D main engines for ignition.
The Falcon 9 rocket will also be switched to internal battery power, its navigation system will be configured for flight, and its propellant tanks will be pumped up to flight pressure.
The rocket's main computer will send the command to ignite the nine Merlin 1D main engines at about T-minus 3 seconds. Once the engines pass an automated health check -- a quick look at each engine's operating parameters -- clamps at the base of the Falcon 9 will release and the booster will climb into the sky.
It will take about 32 minutes for the Falcon 9 to deploy the JCSAT 16 communications satellite into a "supersynchronous" transfer orbit with a top altitude stretching well above the spacecraft's eventual operating post nearly 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) above the equator.
JCSAT 16's own thruster will reshape its orbit in the coming weeks to circularize its path in geostationary orbit over the equator, where it will begin its 15-year service life as a backup in SKY Perfect JSAT's fleet.
SpaceX already launched one SKY Perfect JSAT spacecraft -- JCSAT 14 -- this year. That mission went up successfully May 6.
The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is about to take off for the eighth time this year. Sunday's early morning flight will mark the 28th Falcon 9 launch overall.
The mission will also be the 11th time SpaceX has tried to recover a Falcon 9 first stage booster intact after a vertical propulsive descent from the edge of space.
Landing of the first stage on SpaceX's recovery ship about 370 miles (600 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral is expected less than nine minutes after liftoff.
Five of the 10 previous landing attempts have worked, including three of eight tries at sea. The other two rocket landings -- both successful -- occurred on land at Cape Canaveral.
