Did Symphony of the Seas just cause a rocket launch scrub?

[asalligo]

Looked like an RC ship to me.

[SeaHunt]

33 seconds to go and "Hold Hold Hold"/launch scrubbed! Due to a "cruiseliner" in recovery zone. Someone's got some 'splaining to do! 🤪

[reallyitsmema]

Symphony is not near there.  Harmony left Port Canaveral at 5 oclock.

[Coralc]

Article says it was Harmony: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/space/os-bz-spacex-launch-falcon-9-canaveral-cosmo-skymed-20220127-6ftn7qys2ne2phxbmuwumaefle-story.html

[sharktums]

I know that the cruise ship wasn't supposed to go into that area, but at the same time, they leave every Sunday at the same time and this was SpaceX's like fourth try trying to get that rocket up! Maybe they just bet on it scrubbing again? 😃

[Billy Baltic]

What does this mean to people who don’t speak ‘boat’?

[asalligo]

Harmony. Thanks!

[asalligo]

Just now, Billy Baltic said:

What does this mean to people who don’t speak ‘boat’?

Probably a big fine is my guess. 

[eyecantwait]

In case you get the paywall...

 

 

While weather dealt SpaceX three days of delays for its attempt to send a Falcon 9 rocket up from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, it was a cruise ship down range that caused a Sunday scrub. The company will try again on Monday.

Sunday’s weather was looking great, but as the live stream began ahead of a 6:11 p.m. target liftoff, SpaceX commentator Jesse Anderson said a cruise ship was approaching a no-go zone, and the U.S. Coast Guard was in contact with the ship. Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas was at sea off the coast of Brevard County ahead of the launch after having departed Port Canaveral Sunday afternoon, according to cruisemapper.com.

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Mission managers scrubbed the launch with less than a minute before the planned liftoff. The company will now attempt a 6:11 p.m. liftoff on Monday.

The U.S. Space Force has attempted to get the word out about the multiple southerly trajectory rocket launches from the Space Coast this month, which means a larger hazard areas for both watercraft such as the cruise ship as well as aircraft.

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“The chance of a launch scrubbing due to a range violation is increased if the public is not aware of the expanded safety measures,” reads a press release from Space Launch Delta 45, the Space Force group that oversees both Cape Canaveral and Patrick Space Force Base. “Boaters and aircraft operators are directed to consult the advisories for each launch that contain detailed maps, coordinates, timing, and status of the area restrictions and closures. Last year, a polar launch attempt scrubbed due to a range violation when a private aircraft strayed into the restricted airspace prior to launch.”

With Sunday’s scrub, SpaceX will likely also push a planned Monday launch of a second Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center to Tuesday.

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The Canaveral launch payload is the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 satellite run by the Italian Space Agency. It’s the second of four new satellites to replace an original four launched from 2007-2010 that provide defense, environmental and other observations for Italy and surrounding nations in the Mediterranean region.

The booster recovery attempt will be on land at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. This marks the third flight of the booster while both fairing halves have flown on three previous missions each.

Monday’s weather looks good with 90% favorable conditions, according to the Space Launch Delta 45′s Weather Squadron forecast.

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The second Falcon 9 rocket originally on tap for this weekend was set to launch Saturday. A Tuesday launch attempt would see an 80% for good weather. This one carrying another batch of Starlink satellites will take off from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A, with a target liftoff between 2-6 p.m.

With the addition of last week’s United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch of a pair of U.S. Space Force satellites, the early months of 2022 are among the busiest on record for the Space Coast. A new rocket company for the Space Coast, Astra Space, is also up for a potential launch soon with its Rocket 3.3 on an operational flight to put four small satellites in orbit for NASA. The company is awaiting the OK from the Federal Aviation Administration having already successfully performed a test fire at Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 46.

SpaceX, though, has been the busiest to date. Monday’s launch attempt would be the second launch from Canaveral for SpaceX this year with the other two launches of Falcon 9s coming from neighboring KSC. 

With five potential launches from Florida through Feb. 1 and its first California launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base slated for Wednesday this week, SpaceX is on target to achieve what one NASA committee panel member stated was an ambitious goal of 52 launches in 2022. 

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel member Sandra Magnus said in a meeting last week that SpaceX launch plans would eclipse 2021′s record of 31 launches, according to a report on CNBC. 2022′s plans include several launches for NASA including two more crew rotations, resupply missions and the first civilian trip to the International Space Station from the U.S.

[Popular on OrlandoSentinel.com] NASA names 12 rocket companies allowed to compete for $300 million in future launches »

“Both NASA and SpaceX will have to ensure the appropriate attention and priority are focused on NASA missions, and the right resources are brought to bear to maintain that pace at a safe measure,” Magnus said.

 

 

 

 

[flamingos]

Bizarre. That seems like it would have been an easy enough phone call to make - someone at launch calls the port to ask if any ships are leaving within the window.  I'd like to hear more of the story.

[eyecantwait]

Yes, we were on the beach Friday night for the launch at same time as today and ships managed to stay out of the no go zone. 

[SeaHunt]

https://www.spacex.com/launches/

 

If you want to watch the aborted launch click on the "watch" and go to about time mark 19:23 to hear the hold command. I bet Elon is exasperated and is telling his son "Well, little X Æ A-12, that didn't go as planned". 🙃

[suegee0]

Anyone know if it was Captain Johnny on Harmony?

[Coralc]

5 hours ago, SeaHunt said:

https://www.spacex.com/launches/

 

If you want to watch the aborted launch click on the "watch" and go to about time mark 19:23 to hear the hold command. I bet Elon is exasperated and is telling his son "Well, little X Æ A-12, that didn't go as planned". 🙃

Nope. They already have the countdown set up for Monday. Thanks for the link though, I will try to remember to watch.  

[drjohn4]

Per the published Marine Safety Information Bulletin:

The Captain of the Port Jacksonville, FL, will activate the security zone located near Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for the launch of the FALCON 9 ROCKET in accordance with Title 33, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 165.701.

 

The security zone will be activated two hours prior to the FALCON 9 ROCKET being launched and shall remain active until the rocket is launched or the zone has been deactivated by the Captain of the Port or their designated representative.  The Captain of the Port will inform the public 12 hours prior to the activation of the security zone by Broadcast Notice to Mariners on VHF-FM channel 16.  No person or vessel may enter, pass through or remain in the security zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port.  Failure to comply is punishable by a civil penalty of not more than $103,050.  Willful violation is punishable by a fine of not more than $250,000 or imprisonment for not more than six years, or both, under the authority of 33 CFR 160.111 and Title 46, United States Code (USC), Parts 70002 and 70036.  Each day of a continuing violation constitutes a separate violation.

[molly361]

According to the news here in Central Florida it was an MSC ship not the Harmony

[Rayhorn]

It was definitely harmony. I just looked at the launch hazard area in the notice to mariners. The MSC ship was in the harbor channel at the time of the abort. The harbor was not in the launch hazard area. However, harmony just crossed over the border of the hazard area at the time of the scrub. Harmony could have been fine if she had traveled more south until the maritime exclusion zone expired (after rocket landed) but it seemed to not alter course from its normal, direct course. 
 

The purple box is the maritime exclusion zone. I used marine traffic to show the position of the two vessels at abort time. 
 

[SRF]

On 1/30/2022 at 6:44 PM, flamingos said:

Bizarre. That seems like it would have been an easy enough phone call to make - someone at launch calls the port to ask if any ships are leaving within the window.  I'd like to hear more of the story.

 

On the aviation side, there are NOTAMs (now Notices to Air Missions) that each pilot is required by regulation to check before and during flight.

If they violate air space that is restricted, they may be fined or have the pilot certificate suspended.

 

I would think that the maritime side would be similar.  It would be up to the SHIP to check if things are clear.

 

And it is not like this is the first launch from the space center.

[chengkp75]

12 minutes ago, SRF said:

I would think that the maritime side would be similar.  It would be up to the SHIP to check if things are clear.

Notice to Mariners (NOTMAR) are received by cruise ships electronically, well in advance of these things, and then the navigation officer can enter the coordinates of the zone into the ECDIS (electronic chart display and information system), which shows the electronic chart and overlays radar contacts and ship positions by GPS.  Also, this would have been broadcast over VHF 16 (international distress and information channel) every 5 minutes or so, starting 2 hours prior to the zone going active, as a "securite, securite" safety broadcast.  Every ship afloat has to monitor 16 at all times, you can't miss the USCG broadcasts.  And, because this was sent out in advance, it should have been part of the "bridge resource team" meeting of the Captain and deck officers, prior to departure to discuss how the ship is planning on handling the zone, and it should be part of the written "passage plan" required for every passage of every ship, between each and every port.  There is a potential fine of $100+k for a violation, up to $250k for a willful violation.  It is not the space port's responsibility to determine whether a ship is leaving or not, the satellite launch has a fixed window to launch to get the satellite into the proper orbit.

 

A poster on the other thread was apparently in the space port control center, and has said that the USCG was actively trying to get Harmony to stay out of the zone, but they wandered in right at the abort time.

[flamingos]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Notice to Mariners (NOTMAR) are received by cruise ships electronically, well in advance of these things, and then the navigation officer can enter the coordinates of the zone into the ECDIS (electronic chart display and information system), which shows the electronic chart and overlays radar contacts and ship positions by GPS.  Also, this would have been broadcast over VHF 16 (international distress and information channel) every 5 minutes or so, starting 2 hours prior to the zone going active, as a "securite, securite" safety broadcast.  Every ship afloat has to monitor 16 at all times, you can't miss the USCG broadcasts.  And, because this was sent out in advance, it should have been part of the "bridge resource team" meeting of the Captain and deck officers, prior to departure to discuss how the ship is planning on handling the zone, and it should be part of the written "passage plan" required for every passage of every ship, between each and every port.  There is a potential fine of $100+k for a violation, up to $250k for a willful violation.  It is not the space port's responsibility to determine whether a ship is leaving or not, the satellite launch has a fixed window to launch to get the satellite into the proper orbit.

 

A poster on the other thread was apparently in the space port control center, and has said that the USCG was actively trying to get Harmony to stay out of the zone, but they wandered in right at the abort time.

That's the part I don't understand.  How did this happen - if the USCG was talking to them, how were they still there? It makes no sense.

[maxcat910]

I see numerous reports of:

U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson David Micallef said: "We can confirm the cruise ship was Harmony of the Seas. The Coast Guard is actively investigating Sunday’s cruise ship incursion and postponement of the SpaceX launch."

[SRF]

23 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Notice to Mariners (NOTMAR) are received by cruise ships electronically, well in advance of these things, and then the navigation officer can enter the coordinates of the zone into the ECDIS (electronic chart display and information system), which shows the electronic chart and overlays radar contacts and ship positions by GPS.  Also, this would have been broadcast over VHF 16 (international distress and information channel) every 5 minutes or so, starting 2 hours prior to the zone going active, as a "securite, securite" safety broadcast.  Every ship afloat has to monitor 16 at all times, you can't miss the USCG broadcasts.  And, because this was sent out in advance, it should have been part of the "bridge resource team" meeting of the Captain and deck officers, prior to departure to discuss how the ship is planning on handling the zone, and it should be part of the written "passage plan" required for every passage of every ship, between each and every port.  There is a potential fine of $100+k for a violation, up to $250k for a willful violation.  It is not the space port's responsibility to determine whether a ship is leaving or not, the satellite launch has a fixed window to launch to get the satellite into the proper orbit.

 

A poster on the other thread was apparently in the space port control center, and has said that the USCG was actively trying to get Harmony to stay out of the zone, but they wandered in right at the abort time.

 

Interesting.  Thank you.  I always learn from you.

 

In aviation, restricted areas are considered hot unless you call and get confirmation that it is not.

 

But, for things like a launch, in additional they will create a TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) area.  And that shows up on electronic flight bag applications.  And also shows up on many in aircraft GPS systems.

 

If an airline captain did this, they would likely be looking for a new job.

Edited February 2, 2022 by SRF