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  • It is 9:55 a.m. Eastern on the February 17th and you are looking at a live view of the Falcon nine as it awaits its targeted 10:05 a.m. Eastern time launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

  • Happy Monday from Space X headquarters in Hawthorne, California My name is Lauren Lions, and I'm an engineer on the Starling team here at Space X and welcome to our live webcast of our fifth styling mission.

  • Today's mission will be the fourth flight of the booster that you see on your screen.

  • Most recently, it flew back on December 16th which represents our quickest booster turnaround to date.

  • And if this launch goes as planned, it will mark space exes, 80th successful launch and 50th successful landing.

  • On top of that, we will again be attempting to catch both varying halfs with our recovery vessels mystery and this chief.

  • Now we've got a shorter mission duration today, so we won't see those views alive on the Webcast, but we'll push out an update one way or another.

  • After the fairing has made its way back to Earth, we are continuing to countdown to liftoff But if for some reason we have to call a hold on today's launch, we do have a backup opportunity tomorrow.

  • Tuesday, February 18th at 9:42 a.m. Eastern.

  • But at this time, all systems are go for an on time liftoff.

  • My name is Jesse Anderson, and I'm a lead manufacturing engineer here at Space six.

  • As Lauren mention, today's mission will be shorter than previous Starling missions, and that's because we're executing a direct inject of the Starling satellites into an elliptical or oval shaped orbit.

  • In prior starling missions, we deployed the satellites into a 290 kilometre circular orbit, which required to burns of the Merlin vacuum engine on the second stage.

  • Keep in mind, the stack of 60 Starling satellites combined is one of the heaviest payloads we fly.

  • So putting them directly into this orbit requires more vehicle performance and makes recovery more challenging.

  • Going forward And starting with today, we will deploy the satellite shortly after the first burn of the second stage, putting the starling satellites into an elliptical orbit.

  • Once checkouts are complete, the satellites will then use their onboard ion thrusters to move into their intended orbits.

  • and operational altitude of 550 kilometers.

  • With this change, our Webcast run time will be a little bit shorter.

  • Will rack up, wrap up just a just after deployments AT T plus 15 minutes or so The Falcon nine that you see on the pad.

  • There has been loading propellants since t minus 35 minutes, and as a reminder, we use a rocket grade kerosene or RP one and super chilled liquid oxygen or locks to power.

  • The Falcon nine Currently R R P one is nearly fully loaded on the first stage, which is the bottom 2/3 of the vehicle that you see there on your screen.

  • And that top 1/3 is our second stage.

  • And at this time, the second stage is fully fueled with RP one locks.

  • Loading is underway on both stages, and we'll continue to be topped off right until after, uh, right until the last minute of the countdown.

  • The stack of 60 satellites is safely enclosed inside of the 17 foot diameter payload fairing, and there you can see on your screen is the flat stacked satellites.

  • Um, there is thief faring at the top of the vehicle that pointed enclosure there.

  • And once we reach the vacuum of space, we will deploy the faring as the second states continues on its way to its final orbit.

  • As for whether we had some rough weather over the weekend, but so far today weather is looking good for an on time launch.

  • We will continue to monitor this monitor this all the way down to T minus zero, Therefore, in Strange is prepared to support today's mission.

  • So with that, the vehicles, satellites, weather and range are all looking good for an on time lift off just a few minutes from now, as I mentioned at the top of the way Cat Webcast, today's launch will be the fourth flight of this particular Falcon nine booster.

  • This booster previously flew on a Dragon Resupply Mission Sierra 17 which foods of the space station in May of 2019 followed by CRS, 18 in July 2019 and most recently, a commercial satellite launch on December 17th 2019.

  • It's been just under eight weeks since that booster returned, which makes this our fastest turnaround to date.

  • Long term, we hope to continue to drive that turnaround time down even further, with rocket launches looking more similar to commercial air travel.

  • Where the planes get basic checkouts, they get refueled and then they head right back out.

  • Space X successfully landed its first booster back in December 2 2015 after a long series of attempts with various endings, some more spectacular than others.

  • And if we land two days booster, it will mark our 50th successful landing.

  • It's really crazy to think just how much has changed in only five years.

  • Our drone ship, of course I still love you, is currently stationed 350 miles off the coast of Florida, waiting for what will be the fourth landing of this booster.

  • Just as we had to work through a lot of trial and error with booster recovery, we're now engaging in that same process for faring recovery.

  • To date, we have caught three faring halfs with our recovery vessels and fished a number of others out of the water and will continue pushing forward with this effort with the goal of hopefully making this as routine as our rocket landings.

  • We're currently just over four minutes from liftoff.

  • Falcon nine is now moving into the final stages of the countdown AT T minus seven minutes, engine show began.

  • This is where we allow a small amount of these super chilled liquid oxygen to flow into the Merlin engine.

  • Turbo pumps prior to the full flow of liquid oxygen into the vehicle that's avoid any shocks to the system.

  • Liquid oxygen is also what's creating those white clouds around Falcon nine.

  • As you can see on your screen, we continue to load super chilled liquid oxygen or locks into the stage until just before liftoff.

  • And when that super till locks comes in contact with the ambient air around it, it creates those clouds surrounding the vehicle that you can see right there at T minus 3.5 minutes.

  • Um, the transporter rector has already moved away from the rocket slightly, and this allows some clearance for pocket nine to lift off of our launch pad.

  • The first and second stages are both nearly fully loaded with £1 million of kerosene fuel and liquid oxygen.

  • First stage should finish prop loading at T minus three minutes and second stage at T minus two minutes at T minus 60 seconds.

  • Be sure to listen in for the call out that Falcon nine isn't startup.

  • This means that the Rockets autonomous internal flight computers have taken over the launch countdown.

  • The Starling payload continues to be healthy.

  • The Falcon nine team is tracking no issues on the rocket.

  • Weather is looking good and the range is green for launch.

  • So let's listen into the last few minutes of countdown Knocking Night started Healthy is go for launch.

  • Chemo 30 seconds.

  • Nine four two Yeah, our T plus 47 seconds.

  • And we have just had lift off of our Falcon nine vehicle, taking our starling payload to its targeted orbit.

  • In about 15 seconds or so, we will be passing through Max Q.

  • Max Q.

  • Is the maximum aerodynamic pressure that the vehicle will see throughout.

  • You should hear that call out in about five seconds or so.

  • Falcon nine is experiencing maximum aerodynamic pressure, and there's that call up from Mexico.

  • You coming up next in about a minute, will be three events happening in rapid succession, the first of which will be Meeko, or main engine cutoff, followed immediately by stage separation.

  • And this is where the first AIDS separates from the second stage and then followed by S E s.

  • One or second engine start.

  • One beckoned until you could see on your screen.

  • This is a nice live you looking after on the vehicle so you can see those Merlin engines burning real bright right now with earth in the background.

  • And we're just about 30 seconds away.

  • If you're just now joining us, the next three events coming up will be Mico remain Engine cut off stage separation.

  • An SCS one second engine start one.

  • And as we mentioned today, we will only be having one burn of the second stage.

  • Miko stage separation confirmed.

  • And there we've just had Mico main engine cutoff and stayed separation of and second engines start one on your right screen.

  • That engine is starting up and should be turning bright red shortly.

  • Here, there it is now, coming up in about five seconds.

  • We will have faring.

  • Deploy should also be able to see this on your screen.

  • Derek separation confirmed, and there is faring deploy.

  • Now both faring halves are making their way back to Earth.

  • Let's hope that we can catch both of them today on mystery Miss Chief.

  • Okay, Stage two continues to burn nominally with those 60 StarLink satellites up on top while Stage one begins.

  • It's the sent down to the drone ship, so coming up very soon, we're gonna have a few events on Stage one.

  • The first is the entry burn that's coming at up about T plus six minutes and 48 seconds or so.

  • That's where three of the M one D engines are going to re ignite, and what they do is they slow the first stage down as it re enters the upper part of the earth's atmosphere.

  • That burns gonna go for about 20 seconds until you hear the call out stage one entry burn and about a minute and 1/2 after the conclusion of that entry burn will be the landing burn.

  • Now that's where we re ignite the center E nine engine on the bottom of Falcon nine on the first stage, and what that does is then slows the vehicle down to zero velocity as those landing legs were deploying and hopefully placing this stage on the drone ship for the fourth time and hopefully marking the 50th successful landing of a Falcon nine boost Stage two trajectory continues to be nominal.

  • We're hearing that em back power is good, and everything is looking really awesome.

  • Stage two is burning with more than £210,000 of thrust and the 60 satellites that are on top of that second stage, you're going to join the previous batches of starling satellites already in orbit.

  • Further feeling in our constellation, which gets us another step closer to providing high speed, low, latent see Internet access to people on that beautiful blue planet right there.

  • Targeting places where broadband connectivity options like fiber are too expensive, are unreliable or even, sometimes completely unavailable.

  • We're about 15 seconds away from that entry burn.

  • Hopefully, we'll see that plume on the left side of the screen.

  • There stayed one F T s is saved stage.

  • Well, if you buried it started.

  • And as you can see, that entry burn has begun.

  • Varying levels at a O.

  • S.

  • We lost the downlink therapist for a second, but hopefully we'll get it right back soon on stage.

  • Well, thank you.

  • Very shut down.

  • All right, as you just heard, that entry burn has concluded.

  • And I'm also hearing that it was a pretty good one.

  • So coming out, expected coming up next for stage one in just under a minute.

  • It's going to be the start of the landing burn.

  • This will be, if successful, the 50th successful landing of a booster of a Falcon booster.

  • Not necessarily a Falcon Nine.

  • We've landed boosters for Falcon heavy as well, and this counts as one of those.

  • Okay, we're a little over 10 seconds away from that landing.

  • Burns Start.

  • Meanwhile, stage.

  • Do you consider Stage one?

  • Leading birders started.

  • All right, let's see what we can see here on the left side of the screen.

  • It's a beautiful day out there, Lenny.

  • Legs out, deployed.

  • Infection down.

  • Okay, were expected way.

  • We're expecting the call out for landing, and we obviously didn't see it there on the drone ship.

  • So let's look back at stage two.

  • You knew from one to us, and we clearly did not make the landing this time.

  • However, Stage two, we have confirmed Seiko, which is second engine cut off.

  • Let's listen for the call out of the orbit.

  • Capable was expected, and we have a little assertion.

  • Stage two.

  • All right, now, Stage two is going to coast in this orbit for a few minutes, and during this time it'll start to spin along that central access, which gives the StarLink satellites to the momentum that they need to space themselves out over time after they deploy.

  • We're gonna take a really quick break here and then return at T plus 13 minutes and 45 seconds.

  • Hello, Is perimeter expected?

  • Welcome back to the Webcast.

  • For those of you who follow Starling missions, you know, our satellites are flat packed, so there's no dispenser.

  • So what you'll see at deployment is the satellites all clustered together.

  • Once separated from the second stage, they will slowly disperse from one another.

  • And in the days and weeks that come, deploy their solar ray, use their onboard ion propulsion system to raise and circular eyes their orbit and start beaming down broadband Internet to StarLink engineers to test performance.

  • Once the satellites have been deployed, the second stage will conduct a passive ation maneuver and be safely de orbited Within months, we should be coming up on that deployment of the starling satellites in just a few moments here.

  • In about 15 seconds or so, we should be able to see that live.

  • What you're looking at is those flat packed satellites right there on your screen.

  • Lost that, live you.

  • But it should be coming back here shortly.

  • Starling, Tension rods.

  • Separation confirmed.

  • And as you heard the tension rod, separation has been confirmed.

  • So our payload should be deploying shortly here and there it goes.

  • Another round of satellites out in space.

  • So with that, that brings our Webcast to a close.

  • We had an on time lift off this morning.

  • A good stage separation.

  • First stage, uh, made its way back to Earth.

  • Unfortunately, we did not land the first stage on our drone ship, but it did make a soft landing on the water right next to the drone ship.

  • So it does look like it might be in one piece again.

  • That is our secondary mission.

  • So we will try again next time Our primary mission is now complete.

  • Our ah starling satellites are in their targeted orbit and will be making their way to their final orbit using their onboard thrusters.

  • So thank you to the 45th Space Wing for range safety and the FAA for licensing today's launch as well as the FCC.

  • I would also like to thank you guys, all of our viewers, for tuning in.

  • You can follow our Web site and social media platform for updates on Stage one.

  • You can also fall over updates on the fairing catches and our next missions and milestones.

  • Have a great day and we'll see you next time.

It is 9:55 a.m. Eastern on the February 17th and you are looking at a live view of the Falcon nine as it awaits its targeted 10:05 a.m. Eastern time launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

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