Update as of September 2, 9:45 am ET: SpaceX is no longer ahead of schedule Today, Sept, the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 13 military satellites on the second Tranche 0 mission for the US Space Force’s Space Development Agency. Liftoff is set 10:25 a.m. EDT (1425 GMT) Now after a delay of two days.
SpaceX will launch a suite of military satellites today (Sept. 2) after a two-day delay, and you can watch the action live.
The Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off Saturday from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the first of 13 spacecraft for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA). 10:26 a.m. EDT (1426 GMT; 7:26 a.m. local California time).
Watch it live on Space.com when the time comes, courtesy of SpaceX or Directly through the company. Coverage is expected to begin 15 minutes before departure. SpaceX initially attempted to launch the Tranche 0 mission on August 31, but postponed it for an undisclosed reason. A second attempt on September 1 was aborted for no apparent reason, 12 minutes before takeoff.
“Standing down from today’s launch attempt, next opportunity is Saturday, September 2”, SpaceX wrote in an update on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Related: What is the US Space Force and what does it do?
In support of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), SpaceX’s second launch will “support a new layer of low-Earth orbit satellites and components that provide global military communications and missile warning, indication and surveillance capabilities,” SpaceX wrote. A Description of the work.
The first PWSA mission took place in early April, when a Falcon 9 loaded 10 satellites from Vandenberg.
These first two missions were dedicated to the creation of a demonstration cluster called “Tranche 0” consisting of 28 satellites. According to Space News. Most of them are communication craft, but some are designed to detect missiles.
As its name suggests, Tranche 0 is the beginning for PWSA.
“Under the plan, the Space Force will have hundreds of small satellites, with new ones launched every few years to increase orbital resiliency and capabilities.” By Air and Space Force Magazine At the end of March.
If all goes as planned, Falcon 9’s first stage will return for touchdown at Vandenberg 7.5 minutes after launch today. According to the SpaceX mission description, this will be the 14th launch and landing for this particular booster.
It is unclear when the satellites will be deployed; SpaceX has not provided any information about that milestone. No wonder; Details are often limited in national security missions.
