SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 20 March 2007

SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 20 March 2007 - Launch scheduled for
4 PM California Time (Tues)

Good day,
SpaceX launch of Falcon 1 rescheduled for today at 4 PM.

Maybe we will have a live video again at:
http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php

Larry

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http://www.spacex.com/updates.php
DEMOFLIGHT 2 UPDATE
*Posted March 20, 2007*

The abort that occurred a few minutes before T-0 was triggered by our
ground control software. It commanded a switchover of range telemetry
from landline to radio, which took place correctly, however, because of
the hardware involved, this transition takes a few hundred milliseconds.
Before it had time to complete, our system verification software
examined state and aborted.

Our simulations done beforehand all passed, because the simulator did
not account for a hardware driven delay in the transition. We considered
putting the vehicle into a safe state yesterday and updating the ground
control software to make the very minor fix needed, but the safer course
of action was to stand down.

Yesterday afternoon and evening (Kwaj time), our launch team updated the
software to address the timing issue and verified that there were no
similar problems elsewhere. We ran the software through several
simulated countdowns and then once again with the rocket and range in
the loop.

All systems are now go for launch with T-0 at 4pm California time today
(Tues).

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Some info from before. - LRK -
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Some info on Kwajalein where they are to launch.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/575/1
Snip
*Bjelde:* If you take the distance from El Segundo, California to Hawaii
and you double it, you are about 9 degrees off the equator, 8,500
kilometers. From here to California, you have all these atolls in the
South Pacific, such as Micronesia and Marshall Islands. Kwajalein is the
atoll of interest to us. Kwajalein Island is the main island in the
Kwajalein atoll. We�ll land there, set up shop there, have our office
there, and our command center. Everything is on Kwaj. Kwaj has a little
network, a little ring. We took advantage of existing facilities on
Kwajalein and built our own facilities on Omelek, which is a
40-kilometer offshoot from Kwajalein. This is a little island that
barely peaks out above the water, barely a third of a meter at low tide.
Snip

http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/kwa/
Kwajalein Atoll is located in the western Pacific Ocean, about 2,100
miles southwest of Hawai'i and 1,400 miles east of Guam. The island is
home to USAKA(United States Army Kwajalein Atoll), the Ronald Reagan
Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, and about 2,000 support personnel
and family members on Kwajalein and Roi-Namur islands.
Snip

http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/
Kwajalein Atoll and Rockets
[A number of pictures of the Falcon 1 during countdown. - LRK-]


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-- SpaceX Falcon 1 Demoflight 2 Update 16 March 2007
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23640

*18 March Update: The flight readiness review conducted tonight shows
all systems are go for a launch attempt at 4pm California time (11pm
GMT) tomorrow (Monday). The webcast can be seen at
spacex.com/webcast.php <http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php> and will
start at T-60 minutes. Please check back for updates, as the launch will
be postponed if we have even the tiniest concern.*

Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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