Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) successfully launched NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission Feb. 11, but decided against attempting to ‘hard’ land its Falcon 9 first stage booster due to rough seas.
The company said Feb. 11 in a statement the autonomous drone ship it uses as a landing pad for “hard” rocket landings is designed to operate in all but the most extreme weather. SpaceX said that is exactly what it encountered in the Atlantic Ocean with waves reaching up to three stories in height crashing onto the landing pad. Successfully landing a Falcon 9 first stage on land is part of the company’s goal of reducing the cost of launch.
SpaceX also said only three of the drone ship’s four engines are functioning, making station-keeping in the face of such wave action extremely difficult. The company will still attempt a soft landing in the water, where the first stage descends into the ocean via parachute (producing valuable landing data), but SpaceX said survival is highly unlikely.
After multiple delays in previous days due to weather and a tracking radar failure, launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., took place at roughly 6:04 p.m. EDT. The Feb. 11 launch weather forecast by the 45th Space Wing at the Cape predicted winds of 10 to 15 knots with zero percent chance of precipitation nor lightning and no severe weather.
DSCOVR will observe earth and provide measurements of the radiation reflected and emitted by the planet in addition to images of the sunlit side of earth for science applications.