SpaceX will (hopefully) launch the DSCOVR mission this evening at 6:03 PM EST. This will be the third launch window, the first two attempts being scrubbed for technical and then weather reasons.This mission represents another milestone for SpaceX: it's first deep space mission. The mission will attempt to place the DSCOVR satellite into the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrangian point - a point where the gravitational forces of the Sun and Earth are equalized, allowing a satellite to maintain its position with minimal effort. Why this is a big deal for SpaceX is that the Sun-Earth L1 is 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth. That's four times farther than the Moon, and over 40 times farther than any previous SpaceX mission. While the satellite will be deployed 35 minutes after launch, it will take 110 days for it to arrive at its destination.
I haven't found any information about plans to recover the Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX stated that they would be working towards a soft landing of the first stage on each mission, but the past SpaceX mission to geostationary orbit required so much fuel that an attempt wasn'
t possible, and it seems that would also be the situation with this launch.
Links:
The official SpaceX press kit
Watch live on Livestream starting at 5:45 PM EST.
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