Falcon Heavy Payload Launch Delayed till 2022
- Space Vehicles
- Article
- Technology/Brand: Falcon Heavy, SpaceX
- Title: Payload issue delays SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy launch to early 2022
- Website: Spaceflight Now
- Link: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/10/04/payload-issue-delays-spacexs-next-falcon-heavy-launch-to-early-2022/
- Summary
- The US military contracted with SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to send up some satellites into geosynchronous orbit, but while the launch was supposed to happen Oct. 9th, the launch date has been postponed to early 2022 due to payload issues.
- The mission will be one of the most demanding for SpaceX with coasting lasting more than 5 hrs between burns. Because there will be no leftover propellant from the initial launch, the core stage of the Facon Heavy will not be able to be recovered, only the side boosters.
- The Falcon Heavy will be in greater use in the coming years for a variety of missions.
- Threats
- Nation State: Because of the combination between government and commercial organizations in these Falcon Heavy launches, there is a broader threat surface for threat actors to attack. A nation state may well be interested in attacking the space vehicle itself or the ground station for political or technological gain or for access to the payload.
- Insiders: As mentioned above, because of the mix of government and commercial organizations involved, there are more people involved which means there is a greater risk that insider threats could be an issue. These attackers may try to infiltrate the ground station or compromise the integrity of the space vehicle itself.
- Ideological Actors: Hacktivists may also be a threat actor because they oppose military presence in space or for some other ideological drive. These threat actors would likely attack the ground station.
- Impacts
- Attacks by threat actors would likely compromise the critical systems or critical networks of the space vehicle.