It’s not Rocket Science! Well actually it is…

There are a thousand things that can happen when you go light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good.

Tom Mueller - SpaceX

With the recent Emirates Mars Mission “Hope Probe” mission initially scheduled to launch from Japan on July 15th postponed twice (as of this writing) due to unfavorable weather conditions, I thought it would be good to shed some light to those who are not as familiar with the commonality of this situation as many of us in the space industry are. The amount of things that need to go right from a technical standpoint, as well as hurdles as it relates to forces of nature which need to be accounted for to maximize success for a launch, are immense. Also, more notably in this case, there is a need to take into account the parameters set by orbital dynamics that force missions destined for Mars to only have a limited time window typically a matter of weeks, every two years, in which the planets are at their closest alignment, in order to optimize things from a time, cost, and fuel perspective (as that influences weight and even design all of which impact the mission objectives). 

Lets walk through some of the different things that need to be considered in somewhat an order of when the rocket is conceived, up until its "end of life" (or in what's recently more often becoming the case, an additional worthy complication of landing the booster). Here's a fun video to watch.

Quick disclaimer: As a non-engineer I'm sure I will miss stuff so feel free to add in the comments!

• A rocket typically has thousands of individual parts, designed, analyzed and manufactured individually but assembled into a single piece of complex machinery. Any small mishap or oversight in the process of putting it together can risk failure of the entire system and thus the thing mounted on top of it like a spacecraft or satellite.
• There are many different types of fuel a rocket may use, all with one thing in common - so much that can go wrong when it produces ignition, as this combustion can lead to unfavorable circumstances if it’s not controlled in the right way. This is very much a controlled explosion that has to be manipulated to provide enough thrust to lift something very heavy to go very fast and adjust its orientation very specifically to reach orbit.
• Once the rocket is successfully off the ground, stability becomes very important as there are so many forces of nature and physics this machine is trying to defy. Including the laws of gravity, which are just weak enough to allow a slight opening with physics to make leaving this planet possible. If gravity was just a little bit stronger, space exploration would not be possible.

• Here’s where weather comes in as a huge factor to be considered. And it’s not typical weather and surface impact we need to worry about, but also upper winds as any unfavorable forces particularly when the rocket enters “Max Q Phase” which is where the launch vehicle is going through maximum acceleration, coupled with maximum dynamic pressure and structural load that it needs to endure. This takes place a few minutes into launch and any anomaly could induce failure. This is arguably one of the most critical parts of the launch phase.
• Lastly, the rocket needs to separate and lose its used stages that are empty of fuel to get rid of weight and ignite other stage engines before getting to an orbit to then open up the fairing which protects the spacecraft at the top. each of these actions are additional areas of risk, followed by then deploying the payload within specific accuracy in its target orbit. It is only at this stage, that the launch phase is over and the spacecraft can take over with its own propulsion system for another million things that need to go right in continuation of the mission.

So in conclusion, to say there needs to be perfection and a million things go right to execute a successful launch and mission would be an understatement and underestimation. Space is hard. But its just simple enough thanks to human ingenuity and our ability to manipulate machinery, to not be impossible.

WATCH THE LAUNCH WITH US:

The launch is currently scheduled at 5:58pm EDT and there will be a live launch watch party beginning at 5:00pm EDT hosted by HE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba at the UAE Embassy in Washington DC.

I will have the privilege of supporting the broadcast as a moderator, and we have an incredible line up of guests who we will speak to during the event. Looking forward to a great gathering; the next best thing to actually being at the launch physically.