On Saturday, less than 24 hours after launching 53 Starlink satellites from Florida, SpaceX used the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to launch a German radar reconnaissance satellite. Following just 14 hours, a third Falcon 9 launch was able to take place in Florida as a result of a successful flight.
If everything goes according to plan for Sunday’s launch of a Globalstar communications satellite, it will set a record for the fastest three-flight cadence for an orbit-class rocket in the modern history of space travel. This will be accomplished by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which will complete its 158th, 159th, and 160th flights in just 36 hours and 18 minutes. It is anticipated that there will be more than fifty launches before the end of the year.
As a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a German spy satellite ascended into orbit, a camera affixed to the side of the booster captured images of the coastline of California receding below. It was the second of three Falcon 9 missions that were scheduled to take place in under 36 hours. The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket took place at 10:17 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, which corresponds to 7:17 a.m. in the local time zone, on Saturday.
The launch took place at the Vandenberg Space Force Base, which is located north of Los Angeles. A German radar reconnaissance satellite known as SARah 1 was perched atop the thin rocket. This satellite was the first of three that the Bundeswehr military ministry intended to launch in order to replace an old system with diminished capabilities.
The satellite was sent into orbit around the poles of the Earth, where it will be able to monitor any location on the surface with cloud-penetrating radar at any time of the day or night as the globe spins underneath it. However, in accordance with the standard protocol used when launching payloads associated with national security, SpaceX did not provide any information on the orbit or the performance of the Falcon 9’s second stage. Despite this, the German military was able to verify that the satellite was successfully deployed from the Falcon 9.
Source: CBS News