SpaceX is off to a flying begin within the new 12 months.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched into an excellent blue sky this morning (Jan. 3) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying 114 satellites to orbit — the second-most spacecraft ever lofted on a single mission.
Right this moment’s flight, known as Transporter-6, is notable for an additional motive as properly: It marked the fifteenth mission for this explicit Falcon 9‘s first stage, tying a reusability file that SpaceX set just last month. It was additionally SpaceX’s two hundredth flight and the corporate’s 161st profitable rocket touchdown.
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The Falcon 9 lifted off right now at 9:56 a.m. EST (1456 GMT), kicking off Transporter-6, SpaceX’s sixth devoted small-satellite rideshare mission. The 114 payloads on the flight embrace “cubesats, microsats, picosats and orbital switch autos carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time,” SpaceX wrote in a mission description (opens in new tab).
Three dozen of these cubesats are “SuperDoves (opens in new tab),” Earth-observing satellites the scale of a loaf of bread constructed and operated by the San Francisco-based firm Planet.
Among the many many satellites flying on Transporter-6 are six craft that will probably be operated by Virginia-based space analytics firm Spire World, as well as EOS SAT-1, the primary spacecraft in a seven-satellite, agriculture-focused constellation deliberate by EOS Information Analytics (EOSDA).
The EOSDA community — which will probably be totally up and working by 2025, if all goes in line with plan — will research farmlands and forests world wide. Its knowledge will assist clients monitor crop development and well being and implement sustainable practices, amongst different purposes, firm representatives mentioned.
“This launch brings new game-changing potentialities of satellite applied sciences to the agricultural trade,” EOSDA CEO Artiom Anisimov mentioned in an announcement. “EOSDA will now work with proprietary datasets to supply even deeper and extra correct insights for its clients and companions.”
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About 2.5 minutes after liftoff this morning, the Falcon 9’s two phases separated, and the primary stage began coming again right down to Earth. That homeward journey ended six minutes later, when the booster touched down efficiently at Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX has used the Falcon 9 first stage on this mission for quite a lot of totally different flights. It launched 10 totally different Starlink internet satellite missions, as properly the corporate’s Transporter-2 rideshare mission and there different industrial satellite flights.
The Falcon 9’s higher stage, in the meantime, continued hauling its many payloads skyward. If all goes in line with plan, the primary of the 114 satellites will probably be deployed about 58.5 minutes after launch. The ultimate one, EOS SAT-1, will separate from the rocket about 33 minutes later, simply over 91 minutes after liftoff.
Packed although Transporter-6’s manifest could also be, the mission nonetheless fell properly in need of the most-satellites-launched file. That mark is held by SpaceX’s Transporter-1, which despatched 143 satellites to orbit in January 2021.
Huge rockets just like the Falcon 9 and India’s PSLV (which launched 104 spacecraft on a single mission in 2017) aren’t the one possibility for small-satellite operators. They’ll additionally select to get devoted rides to orbit on small autos, comparable to Rocket Lab’s Electron or Virgin Orbit’s air-launched LauncherOne.
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a e book in regards to the seek for alien life. Comply with him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
