SpaceX launched 131 payloads Tuesday onboard the corporate’s twelfth smallsat rideshare mission thus far.
The Transporter-12 mission flew onboard a Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from pad 4E at Vandenberg Area Drive Base at 11:09 a.m. PST (2:09 p.m. EST, 1909 UTC).
The Falcon 9 booster used on Tuesday’s flight, tail quantity B1088 within the SpaceX fleet, was launching for a second time. It beforehand launched the NROL-126 mission, which was a mixture of 20 Starlink V2 Mini satellites and an undisclosed variety of Starshield satellites for the Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace.
About 7.5 minutes after liftoff, B1088 touched down at Touchdown Zone 4, situated close to the launch pad. It marked the twenty third booster touchdown at LZ-4 and the 397th booster touchdown thus far.
The handfuls of payloads flying had been from a myriad of shoppers from around the globe, from analysis institutes and aerospace firms to different governments’ house businesses, just like the United Arab Emirates’ Mohammad Bin Rashid Area Centre.
The MBRSC’s MBZ-SAT, an Earth-observation satellite tv for pc, is called after the nation’s president, H.H. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The company stated the satellite tv for pc is designed to course of and transmit pictures inside two hours to “present insights for functions equivalent to environmental monitoring, catastrophe aid, and infrastructure administration, enabling decision-makers to behave swiftly and successfully.”
Different Earth-observing satellites embody Planet Labs PBC’s high-resolution Pelican-2 satellite tv for pc together with 36 of its SuperDoves.
“This Pelican satellite tv for pc is designed to offer as much as 40 cm class resolution imagery across 6 multispectral bands optimized for cross-sensor evaluation,” Planet wrote in a pre-launch assertion. “Moreover, Planet has collaborated with NVIDIA to equip Pelican-2 with the NVIDIA Jetson platform to energy on-orbit computing—with the purpose of vastly lowering the time between knowledge seize and worth for purchasers.”
Additionally hitching a journey to house are Spire World’s two Low Earth Multi-Use Receiver (LEMUR) 3 satellites together with 4 different satellites. The LEMUR 3 CubeSats are designed to assist enhance climate forecasting, maritime monitoring and increase Web-of-Issues connectivity, in keeping with the corporate.
“Two LEMUR 3 satellites, developed in collaboration with Myriota, will develop world IoT protection with cutting-edge direct-to-orbit communications, enabling Myriota’s IoT options to function seamlessly and extra successfully,” Spire stated in a pre-launch assertion. “This community will improve connectivity for essential sectors equivalent to agriculture, protection, and logistics throughout areas just like the US, Europe, and Latin America, selling sustainability and environment friendly useful resource administration.”
Spire’s satellites are among the many 35 satellites being flown by satellite tv for pc deployment and internet hosting firm, Exolaunch.
“Transporter-11 was a landmark mission for us, and as we sit up for Transporter-12, we’re excited to maintain the momentum going,” stated Robert Sproles, Exolaunch CEO, in a pre-launch assertion. “We deeply admire the belief our clients place in us and prolong our because of SpaceX for his or her excellent assist.
“Our long-standing partnership with SpaceX has been a cornerstone of Exolaunch’s progress, and it’s an honor to be a part of each Transporter mission.”
Satellite tv for pc deployment started about 54 minutes after liftoff with the deployment of the GESat and GEN1 satellites by Exolaunch and concluded greater than two hours and 22 minutes after liftoff with the deployment of Firefly-2 by Pixxel, additionally through Exolaunch.
The countdown is on!
We’re excited to launch & deploy a number of satellites on the upcoming @SpaceX Transporter-12 mission – together with this one pictured, “TROLL,” for our buyer @TRLspace. 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/fwC5jEnotB
— Exolaunch (@Exolaunch) January 6, 2025
