Third time's a charm: SpaceX successfully launches new probe after two failed attempts

A new probe that will observe and examine space storms has been successfully launched after two previous failed attempts.

The launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) by SpaceX was first postponed on Sunday (Monday morning Australian time) after the operating team discovered faults with the Falcon9 rocket’s radar-tracking technology.

A second try was aborted after bad weather set in at the launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Monday evening.

Lift-off finally occured earlier today when the rocket carrying its valuable satellite payload blasted off around 6pm Florida time (10am AEDT), an event that was live-streamed around the world on the NASA website.

Approximately an hour later, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tweeted that the satellite was in orbit and had communicated with the ground crew.

“#DSCOVR: Solar arrays deployed, communicating with ground. It’s in good health & it’s on its way to beginning its mission,” the tweet read.

However bad weather cancelled plans to test land the ambitious carrier vessel, the Falcon9 rocket, on a Florida barge.

Billionaire SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who is determined to make rockets “reusable”, tweeted the news prior to the launch.

“Mega storm preventing droneship from remaining on station, so rocket will try to land on water. Survival probability <1%”, the post said.

“We are experiencing just such weather in the Atlantic with waves reaching up to three stories in height crashing over the decks,” the company announced in a statement.

“Only three of the drone ship’s four engines are functioning, making station-keeping in the face of such wave action extremely difficult.”

The rocket “soft-landed” in the ocean just over two hours after its launch. The company said the spacecraft would not survive but the landing would provide valuable data.

“Rocket soft landed in the ocean within 10 metres of target and nicely vertical! High probability of good droneship landing in non-stormy weather,” the famously optimistic entrepreneur Mr Musk tweeted.

A fleet of SpaceX football field sized “rocket landing ships” are under construction to eventually accommodate spacecraft returning to Earth after delivering payloads to orbit or the International Space Station.

The company first attempted to land a Falcon9 booster on a barge (also known as a droneship) on January 10, however a loss of hydraulic fluid on descent meant the rocket crash-landed, causing a fiery explosion caught on camera.

The next Falcon9 launch is scheduled for early March, when the rocket will deliver a communications satellite into orbit.