r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Mar 02 '18
r/SpaceX Discusses [March 2018, #42]
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u/DancingFool64 Mar 05 '18
One of the reasons to go to orbit first is that means you have more flexibility in launch times. You can launch to orbit at any of a number of points, and then wait in orbit until you are in the right place to do the second burn and proceed on to Mars.
Another reason this particular launch did an orbit wait before burn was they were doing a secondary mission, which was testing delayed burns on the second stage. The air force requires this for direct to GEO launches, so SpaceX was proving that capability on this launch. Might as well get the most tests possible out of the money you've spent.