SpaceX has announced a pad abort test for the Dragon crew capsule on May 5th. They have a 4 hour launch window for the test.
There is no destination, so why would there be a launch window in this case?
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2 Answers
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There are many different constraints that putting a time window around a launch attempt (even a pad abort) can help manage. Orbital constraints, facilities availability and many more.
In the case of a Pad Abort, consider the flight path. Ignite the Super Dracos, get high enough for the parachutes to be effective, and land in the ocean just off the coast.
That means a Notice to Mariners that they need to stay out of an exclusion area. Thus a launch window puts boundaries on the maritime exclusion zone.
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There are all kinds of time constraints on a range. The obvious ones involve rendezvousing with another vehicle on orbit, but there are other, more mundane ones. For example, work shifts and sunlight hours.
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$\begingroup$ Question is about Pad Abort, not any orbital insertion... $\endgroup$ Dec 23, 2019 at 15:38