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SpaceX's upcoming Fram2 launch on Monday will be the first time that a Crew Dragon flies a mission over the Earth's poles. The mission will fly a crew of four, led by a cryptocurrency tycoon, over the North and South poles to conduct medical experiments and photography. During a social media event earlier today, SpaceX's vice president of Falcon vehicles and launch, Jon Edwards, explained that his firm had to make software changes for a mission that will see the Falcon 9 fly south after launch.
SpaceX Makes Changes To Dragon Software For Historic Polar Launch On Monday
SpacX's typical Falcon launches from Florida for crewed and cargo missions fly east and at an inclination close to the equator. An inclination is the degree of a rocket's flight path relative to the equator, and closer to the equator allows the launch vehicle to exert less force upon launch. As the polar regions are perpendicular to the equator, for the Fram2 mission, the Falcon 9 will have to change its flight trajectory.
According to Edwards, the mission "is not a cookie cutter" as most of SpaceX's missions go to the ISS after flying out of Florida and head Northeast to 51.6 degrees inclination. Since the poles are at 90 degrees, SpaceX has had to fine-tune its Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 to accommodate for safety in case of aborts.
The inclination for Fram2 means SpaceX will fly out of 39A and go "pretty much straight south," explained Edwards. The mission's flight path will go over Florida, Cuba, Panama, and to the West of Peru and Ecuador. According to the SpaceX executive, the first constraint resulting from the path is launch availability, as the perfect slot must ensure correct wind conditions.
The wind constraints mean that if the winds are blowing towards shore, SpaceX has to be careful to ensure that the crew splashes down in the water in case of an emergency abort.
In order to accommodate the wind constraints, SpaceX had to upgrade the Crew Dragon's software. These changes allow the ship properly orients itself and fires its thrusters to ensure that it splashes down in the water. Unlike Boeing's Starliner, the Crew Dragon is designed to land only in the water as it lacks airbags or other equipment at the bottom to soften its landing.
Along with the Dragon, a south launch also means that SpaceX had to change the Falcon 9's return profile. The Falcon 9 booster fires its Merlin engines for a boost-back burn to reduce speed for a landing. For Fram2, the booster will do a small boost-back burn to land in international waters.
This is a "short boost-back burn" before landing on the drone ship, according to Edwards. While SpaceX's Crew Dragon missions for NASA splash down on the East Coast, for Fram2, the Crew Dragon will splash down on the West Coast. According to Edwards, this will be the first time a crew splashes on the West Coast.
The reason behind a West Coast splash down is to ensure that the Dragon's trunk, which houses radiators, solar panels and other equipment, does not create a safety threat upon landing. To achieve this, the Crew Dragon will conduct its deorbit burn with the Dragon's trunk attached.
Other challenges specific to Fram2 due to a West Coast landing include the marine layer. However, since the layer is high altitude, it won't create a problem for recovering the ship but will be problematic for helicopters, according to Edwards.
SpaceX will also place a Starink terminal in the Crew Dragon's trunk to provide internet coverage from polar orbit to provide 1 gigabits per second of internet connectivity.
