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Following two Falcon 9 launches from each California and Florida, SpaceX is planning to shut out the primary weekend of December with a Falcon Heavy static fire test. The ignition of the 27 Merlin engines comes per week ahead of the planned launch of a national security mission that has been on the books for half a decade.
The U.S. Space Systems Command said the U.S.-52 mission is targeting liftoff no sooner than Sunday, Dec. 10. The launch window has not been announced publicly. It can be the primary time the Falcon Heavy has conducted a launch for the U.S. military’s secretive X-37B spaceplane project. It can be the eighth Falcon Heavy launch to this point and the seventh mission for the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.
Spaceflight Now’s live coverage of the static fire will begin roughly 45 minutes ahead of the test.
U.S. Space Systems Command noted that this shall be the fifth mission in 2023 for the Assured Access to Space (AATS) Directorate:
- USSF-67 – Jan. 15 (Falcon Heavy, SpaceX)
- GPS III-6 – Jan. 18 (Falcon 9, SpaceX)
- NROL-68 – June 21 (Delta 4 Heavy, ULA)
- NROL-107 – Sept. 10 (Atlas 5, ULA)
- USSF-52 – NET Dec. 10 (Falcon Heavy, SpaceX)
“Our national security space launches transport our most vital capabilities into orbit,” said Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, Program Executive Officer for AATS and Commander, Space Launch Delta 45, in an announcement. “We partner closely with our launch service providers, and your entire team is targeted on executing a successful mission.”
The launch contract was awarded to SpaceX as a part of the Phase 1A National Security Space Launch (NSSL) procurement. The mission is valued at about $155 million in response to SSC and can feature side boosters which are flying for his or her fifth time.
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“We profit greatly from our partnerships with other government agencies and from commercially derived developments,” said Dr. Walt Lauderdale, Mission Director and lead for Falcon Systems and Operations at SSC, in an announcement. “Once we have a look at the upswing within the launch tempo, adapting to vary is our standard operating procedure that offers us the capability and throughput we’ll must support future national security space requirements.”
After the boosters are recovered, SpaceX and NASA officials said they shall be used for a sixth and final time to launch NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to the moon of Jupiter in October 2024.
Following the Falcon Heavy launch mid-month, the pad at LC-39A shall be converted back to a Falcon 9 configuration in preparation for the launch of a Nova-C lunar lander as a part of the Intuitive Machines and NASA mission, IM-1 heading to the Moon’s South Pole.