Launch News Epsilon launch with SPRINT-A, September 14, 2013

[Cosmic Penguin]

Any maiden flights of a completely newly designed space launch vehicle, no matter how big or small, is the accumulation of years of hard work by people around the world. 2013 happens to be the start of a long list of new generation vehicles waiting for their first flights, and after Antares we are now seeing another highly anticipated one in just a few hours from now. Oh yes, today's Tuesday!

Nope, it's not the Falcon 9 v1.1, which still needs to wait for a while for its turn. h:

Behold the Epsilon, the newest member in a long string of Japanese all solid launchers!

The maiden launch is planned at 04:45 UTC today from the Uchinoura Space Center in the southern parts of Japan, where all previous Japanese solid launchers have been launched from. Today's flight will carry a 400 kg satellite named SPRINT-A that will perform extreme ultraviolet observations of the planets in our solar system (more on that later....)

[highlight][eventTimer]2013-09-14 04:45:00?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] maiden flight of Epsilon LV with SPRINT-A [/highlight]​

Live coverage is here (starts at T-20 minutes):

Well I have written an introduction to this launcher, with the payload capacity mid-way between the Taurus and the Vega rockets (1.2 tonnes to LEO, 450 kg to SSO), during a time when I tried to develop an add-on for this rocket in Orbiter (now in other members' hands for finishing it since I don't have the time and skills to do so), so the next few posts will be mainly about its special features, today's launch itself and the satellite on board (which is special in itself too).

Good luck! :tiphat:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Today's flight time line is as follows:

[TABLE="head"]Event|Time rel lift-off|Time UTC|Downrange dist. (km)|Altitude (km)|Velocity (km/s)|Comment
Liftoff|00:00:00|04:45:00|0|0|0|
1st Stage Burn Out|00:01:52|04:46:52|70|88|2.6|
Payload Fairing Separation|00:02:30|04:47:30|131|147|2.4|
1st/2nd Stage Separation|00:02:41|04:47:41|148|162|2.4|
2nd Stage Ignition|00:02:45|04:47:45|154|167|2.4|
2nd Stage Burn Out|00:04:27|04:49:27|415|323|5.1|
2nd/3rd Stage Separation|00:10:24|04:55:24|1658|822|4.2|
3rd Stage Ignition|00:10:28|04:55:28|1671|823|4.2|
3rd Stage Burn Out|00:11:57|04:56:57|2061|840|7.5|
3rd/Post-Boost Stage Separation|00:16:48|05:01:48|3846|864|7.4|
Post-Boost Stage Burn 1 Ignition|00:19:08|05:04:08|5943|896|7.4|
Post-Boost Stage Burn 1 Shutdown|00:29:58|05:14:58|7447|921|7.4|
Post-Boost Stage Burn 1 Ignition|00:53:50|05:38:50|17431|1143|7.2|
Post-Boost Stage Burn 1 Shutdown|01:00:30|05:45:30|19020|1154|7.2|
Spacecraft Separation|01:01:40|05:46:40|19722|1151|7.2|
[/TABLE]

And a good overview article to read before the launch: NASASpaceflight.com: Japan’s Epsilon set to launch SPRINT-A

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Try this UStream link since the Youtube link seems to be down: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jaxa-live

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Both are blocked here for me anyway. I'll have to watch a replay of it when I get home.

 

[Pipcard]

Or try JAXA's stream

I feel bad for the people at YouTube, because I can't notify them at the moment about the link above (or USTREAM) due to site maintenance.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Today's payload is a 350 kg satellite named SPRINT-A, making use of a new satellite bus with state-of-the-art electronics and solar panels. The satellite carries an extreme-ultraviolet telescope and spectrometer, which is specially designed to observe solar system targets, in particular Jupiter, Venus (both for their aurora and interactions of their magnetic field and magnetosphere) and Mars (for its loss of atmosphere).

 

[tl8]

Anticlimatic...

 

[Pipcard]

Technical difficulties

 

[Alfastar]

Anticlimatic...

And then....please wait for a moment....

Nooooo, I become insane!

EDIT: Is there a problem or a scrub? I still see the Epsilon on the launchpad.

 

[Pipcard]

"The countdown operations was halted. More details will be reported as further information becomes available."

 

[Alfastar]

"The countdown operations was halted. More details will be reported as further information becomes available."

Looks that it not going to be launched then today.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Apparently scrubbed for the day. Hmm..... must be years since a Japanese launch aborted so close to liftoff...

 

[Alfastar]

Apparently scrubbed for the day. Hmm..... must be years since a Japanese launch aborted so close to liftoff...

Indeed, it was very close to lift-off. I don't hope its something bad with the first stage. Is there already a guess what would be the cause of this scrub?

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Indeed, it was very close to lift-off. I don't hope its something bad with the first stage. Is there already a guess what would be the cause of this scrub?

One source reported an "attitude problem", while another reported over-limit battery reading. In any case the halt was at T-19 seconds.

Gotta got back to work with one Delta IV Heavy launch tomorrow & Ariane 5 launch on Thursday! :leaving:

 

[Alfastar]

One source reported an "attitude problem", while another reported over-limit battery reading. In any case the halt was at T-19 seconds.

Gotta got back to work with one Delta IV Heavy launch tomorrow & Ariane 5 launch on Thursday! :leaving:

You going to have a busy week I see :lol:

 

[IronRain]

Epsilon Countdown Abort under Investigation

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency has found the root cause of the last minute abort of the Countdown to the maiden flight of the Epsilon launcher. Epsilon's launch countdown was aborted just seconds before liftoff on Tuesday when a problem with the launch vehicle was detected.

According to officials, an attitude bias late in the countdown caused the flight computer to abort the automatic sequence. Epsilon is outfitted with Responsive Operation Support Equipment (ROSE) which monitors the condition of the vehicle and is capable of triggering an automatic abort when any systems parameters exceed pre-set limits. When the computer detected attitude data that did not match the data provided by Ground Systems, ROSE immediately initiated an abort at the T-19 second mark.

After the cutoff, data acquired during the countdown was carefully analyzed and showed that the problem was a misalignment between data from the launcher and data provided by ground systems. Initial indications were that the onboard hardware was performing nominally placing the problem on the ground or software side. Engineers will take several days to troubleshoot the problem and implement a solution.

Epsilon is expected to make its next launch attempt after coordination with the range and a rehearsal of the countdown and launch to verify that all systems are working properly. Also, an impending tropical storm will likely cause an additional delay as Epsilon will be waiting for favorable weather conditions protected by its servicing structure.

A new launch date will be announced by JAXA in the coming days.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

After days of trouble-shooting the syncing problem (ultimately traced to a 0.07 second gap in the time between the rocket guidance system and the ground control computer), the rocket is now cleared to launch as early as September 14 - the same day as the Falcon 9.

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2013/09/20130909_epsilon_e.html

 

[Urwumpe]

0.07 seconds gap?????

How did they produce a delay like in a 10,000 km long copper wire? Did they route the spacecraft telemetry over Internet via USA to the control center?

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

0.07 seconds gap?????

How did they produce a delay like in a 10,000 km long copper wire? Did they route the spacecraft telemetry over Internet via USA to the control center?

Let's say that it's actually not the communication lines that causes the gap, but rather that there's a time syncing problem between the on board computer and the ground launch system, so when at T-20 seconds the OCS checks for the attitude of the rocket, it senses that there is a deviation in roll that actually does not exist.

And don't forget to join the party tomorrow! :tiphat: