The Falcon 9 rocket with its Thaicom payload on the launch pad in Florida. (credit: SpaceX)
Fresh off two straight launches and unprecedented water landings of its Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX will try for a third sea-based landing this evening after it launches a 3,000kg Thaicom communications satellite to a supersynchronous transfer orbit. The two-hour launch window opens at 5:40pm ET (10:40pm BST). Weather is 90 percent "go" for a launch today.
Like a similar launch three weeks ago, the Thaicom mission will require the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket to reach a high velocity relative to the Earth's surface before separating from its payload. "As with other missions going to geostationary orbits, the first-stage will be subject to extreme velocities and re-entry heating, making a successful landing challenging," the company stated in its mission overview.
SpaceX has now shown it can land in relatively benign reentry conditions, as it did in April after delivering a payload to the International Space Station and in "hot and fast" conditions as it did earlier this month. A successful landing tonight would prove that the company has taken a big step toward making sea-based rocket landings—if not routine—at least something that can be attempted with a reasonable expectation of success.
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