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Can you delay the launch window 90 minutes until the next ISS orbit? Maybe you then run into the next on the long list of reasons.
by dmurray 6y ago
Can you delay the launch window 90 minutes until the next ISS orbit? Maybe you then run into the next on the long list of reasons.
- NikolaeVarius 6y agoThe orbit moves because the earth is moving, so it will not be in the same trajectory as planned. This requires a change in fuel requirements as well as programming
- skykooler 6y agoNo, because in 90 minutes the cryogenic liquid oxygen would have warmed up too much. The Falcon doesn't have an onboard refrigeration unit; it relies on loading the propellant shortly before launch. However, "shortly" is also relative, and 90 minutes is not long enough to purge all the fuel from the rocket and refuel it with cold oxygen (it took close to an hour today to de-fuel the rocket), so it can't be cycled in that window.
- jamesmontalvo3 6y agoIn 90 minutes the space station is back at the same point in its orbit, but Kennedy Space Center has rotated ~1500 miles east.