SpaceX will launch a strong NASA water-monitoring satellite early Friday morning (Dec. 16), and you’ll watch the motion reside.
The Floor Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite is scheduled to raise off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Vandenberg Area Pressure Base on Friday at 6:46 a.m. EST (1146 GMT; 3:46 a.m. native California time).
You may watch the launch reside right here at Area.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the agency (opens in new tab). Protection is predicted to start at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT).
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The Falcon 9 that may launch SWOT is a veteran; its first stage has flown 5 earlier orbital missions, SpaceX wrote in a mission description (opens in new tab). If all goes in response to plan, the booster will come again to Earth for a sixth time on Friday, touchdown at Vandenberg about 7.5 minutes after liftoff.
The Falcon 9’s higher stage will proceed carrying SWOT to orbit, ultimately deploying the satellite 52.5 minutes after launch.
SWOT is a joint effort of NASA and the French space company CNES, with contributions from the Canadian and United Kingdom space companies. The mission will research Earth’s water ranges in unprecedented element, serving to scientists get a greater deal with on climate change and its results.
“As soon as in orbit, SWOT will measure the peak of water in freshwater our bodies and the ocean on greater than 90% of Earth’s floor,” NASA officers said in a statement (opens in new tab).
“This info will present insights into how the ocean influences local weather change; how a warming world impacts lakes, rivers and reservoirs; and the way communities can higher put together for disasters, akin to floods,” they added.
SWOT’s liftoff is a part of a busy week for SpaceX. On Sunday (Dec. 11), a Falcon 9 lofted Hakuto-R, a moon lander constructed by Tokyo-based firm ispace that is additionally carrying a small rover for the United Arab Emirates.
And Elon Musk‘s firm is seemingly concentrating on two different missions on Friday as effectively. Falcon 9s are anticipated to launch a satellite for Luxembourgish-French telecom firm SES and a batch of SpaceX’s personal Starlink web satellites from Florida’s Area Coast lower than 40 minutes aside.
SWOT was initially presupposed to launch on Thursday morning (Dec. 15), however SpaceX took an extra day to research moisture detected in two of the Falcon 9’s 9 first-stage Merlin engines.
Mike Wall is the creator of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a guide in regards to the seek for alien life. Observe him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
