Watch : Falcon 9 rockets Planet Labs SpaceX launch today
SpaceX's Transporter-3 mission, which carried 105 tiny satellites into orbit, was launched successfully. Approximately an hour after launch, the satellites will begin to be deployed, which should take about 30 minutes.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX is preparing another one of its Falcon 9 rockets to launch 105 small satellites into space this morning (Jan. 13), and you can watch the action live online.
The launch, a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket flight called Transporter-3, is scheduled to take off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is expected to take place during a 29-minute-long window that opens at 10:25 a.m. EST (1525 GMT).
You can watch the launch live right here at the Blog , or you can watch directly at SpaceX's YouTube page here.
Numbers of tiny satellites from various clients are perched atop the 230-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket as part of the company's third dedicated rideshare mission. The passenger satellites hidden inside the rocket's nose cone will be put into orbit, acting as a cosmic taxi service.
Onlookers are in for a treat, as this is the first mission since June to have a return to launch site (RTLS) landing, which means the rocket will land in Florida, right here at the Cape. As the rocket returns to Earth, sonic booms are predicted to reverberate over it.
The bulk of SpaceX's rockets are typically launched from the deck of one of its giant drone ships. This is because returning to land requires more fuel reserves than landing on the deck of a drone ship.
Today's mission is SpaceX's second of the year and the company's first land landing at the Cape since last summer. The Falcon 9 will take an unusual flight route out of Cape Town, with a southerly launch trajectory that is uncommon for missions out of the Cape. As a result, the Falcon 9 could be seen from the ground.
In 2018, SpaceX launched 60 tiny satellites for a mission termed SSO-A, the first step in their rideshare initiative. This trip, which took out from California, allowed SpaceX to transport a tiny armada of satellites into low-Earth orbit, each one launched as part of a meticulously orchestrated orbital ballet, timed just perfectly to avoid satellite collisions.
Following the completion of that mission, the business decided to make their Transporter ridesharing service available, charging $1 million for a trip on a Falcon. Each payload must weigh no more than 440 pounds (200 kilogrammes) and transit to a sun-synchronous orbit. The launch slots are available for booking on the company's website and are provided three to four times every year.
Transporter-1, the first of these cosmic carpools, launched in January 2021 with 143 satellites nestled within the rocket's payload fairing, breaking the previous record for the number of satellites carried by a single rocket. In June, SpaceX launched the Transporter-2 mission, which launched 88 tiny satellites.
A unusual RTLS landing was featured in each of the three flights. If all goes according to plan on Thursday, Transporter-3 will be the Cape's 21st successful first-stage booster touchdown. It will be SpaceX's 102nd landing, with the majority of them taking place at sea.
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