CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX they launched a U.S. covert spy satellite into space for the Office of National Observation (NRO) on Saturday (Dec. 19), marking the 26th rocket of the year.
The secret payload, known as NROL-108, lifted from Pad 39A here at NASA’s Canadian Space Station at 9 a.m. (1400 GMT), during a three-hour launch window.
Two levels used Hawk Rocket 9 carrying the spy aloft satellite, as part of a government mission called NROL-108, marks the 26th event of SpaceX launched in 2020, a new record for the company. About nine minutes after build-up, the first upgrade stage boosted sonic booms as it made its way back to terra firma, sinking down at SpaceX’s Landing Zone-1 (LZ-1) at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Video: Watch the epic SpaceX NROL-108 Falcon 9 rocket land
Related: See the evolution of SpaceX rockets in pictures
Today’s flight was the fifth launch for this special first phase of Falcon 9. The elevator, named B1059, previously delivered two commercial cargo missions to the International Space Station for NASA, which batch of Spacelink Starlink satellites into orbit earlier this year, and more recently they launched a Earth-observing satellite for Argentina.
Falcon 9 went out into clear blue skies Saturday morning, a major change from Thursday’s launch attempt. The thick clouds of the rocket vanished that day and eventually issue with the second stage of the rocket it forced SpaceX to cancel the launch.
Several minutes after Falcon 9 jumped off the block, the first stage of the rocket appeared in the skies, with the iconic sonic boots that you expect to crack above them as the ascent came to the landing site. .
B1059 is the second lift to land on the Cape (compared to a drone boat at sea) this year. (A third landed at Vandenberg Air Force land in California the launch of a ground-observing Sentinel-6 satellite for NASA in November.) In fact, it is now the third trip to LZ-1 for this upgrade, as the first level Falcon 9 returned to land after delivering the CRS-20 mission to orbit earlier this year.
Related: Visit a trip into space (and back) on Falcon 9 in this awesome video
Responsibility for paying confidentiality
At the launch of Falcon 9 today there was a registered payload in orbit for the National Monitoring Office (NRO), the government agency that monitors the country’s fleet of spy satellites. Little is known about the satellite other than that the NRO obtained a trip for the main secret cargo through unconventional means.
The reconnaissance agency typically makes sure they travel to space through the U.S. National Space Force Security Launch Program, but this trip went about on their own, according to a report from Spaceflight Now.
“In some cases, the NRO uses alternative means of obtaining launch services following a detrimental assessment of satellite risk tolerance, required start dates, launch capabilities, and cost – all with the purpose of ensuring that satellites are safely delivered into orbit. in good time, ” the spokesman told Spaceflight Now.
Another interesting twist is that SpaceX did not conduct a static fire test of its rocket before it flew. The company usually holds the rocket down on the block and fires their nine first-stage engines to make sure their systems are working as expected before they were built. SpaceX rarely jumps into this standard test but it is not uncommon.
The mission marks the sixth launch of the year for the NRO, and this is the second time it will take aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9. The first the NROL-76 mission was back in May 2017.
Fly Falcon
The NROL-108 mission is the 50th remake of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 since the company recovered their first upgrade in 2015. It also marks the 70th time Falcon 9 has arrived. landed, the ascent separated from his platform and performed a series of orbital ballet moves, repositioning himself for landing. He then made a series of three engine shots to slow him down to gently rub his designated landing pad, marking the 21st successful landing for SpaceX.
To make reuse easier, the company usually relies on their two drone vessels, called “Of Course I Still Love You” and “Just Read the Instructions,” which are usually the floating platforms located in the Atlantic Ocean and have enabled SpaceX to launch and subsequently launch more rockets.
“Of course I Still Love You” is sidelined for this mission, as the promotion returns to land, while “Just Read the Instructions” is currently taking a turn back from the release the company’s latest on Dce. 13. For that purpose, the Falcon 9 rocket launched for the seventh time, carrying a large satellite into space for SIrius XM. That rise is one of two that flew these seven missions and should be sailing back to port around the same time as today ‘s launch.
As soon as they return to Port Canaveral in Florida, the onshore boosters will be returned to SpaceX facilities, where they will be carefully inspected and recycled to fly again.
The current version of the Falcon 9 was finalized in 2018. It is called Block 5, it features 1.7 million pounds of effort plus some other updates that make it reusable quickly. SpaceX says each of these boosters can fly as many as 10 times with small refills in between, and possibly as many as 100 times before retiring.
So far, SpaceX has launched the same upgrade seven times at most. According to the company’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk, each Falcon 9 lift has the ability to fly at least 10 times with very few upgrades between flights. We haven’t seen a single fly that many times, but we’ll see it next year.
Accessing a rocket
Prior to its launch today, SpaceX released one of their twin receivers, GO Ms. Tree, to get the pacification pieces after their launch today. GO Miss Chief, the company ‘s other fair recovery vessel, remained in port for the second mission in a row. Both of these boats act as large portable catching gloves, snatching payloads – the protective nose cones that surround satellites at launch – into their attached nets as they fall back down to Earth. .
To that end, SpaceX has installed parachutes and special software in their payment fairs, in which two pieces are linked. The festivals are designed to direct themselves to the recovery area where Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief can. wait to be uprooted as they fall back to Earth. If the boats lose or the weather is too bad to try to catch, the two have equipment on board to take the pacification pieces out of the water and bring them back to port for redecoration.
The company has been using the payloads successfully, and its last mission – the launch of the Sirius XM-7 satellite – was the first flight that featured a revamped payload. non-SpaceX payment. The company has typically used fairs on their own Starlink missions. One of the fair pieces that affected Sirius XM-7’s payload as he traveled through the atmosphere before flying on an Anasis-II mission earlier in the summer, was his launched a communications satellite for the South Korean military.
Today’s mission marks the end of a busy launch year for the Cape. A total of 31 missions have been launched from the area this year, 26 of which are on SpaceX rockets. Next year, SpaceX is expected to continue filling its fleet of Starlink satellites, launching two more astronaut missions, and one of its heavy builders, the Falcon trom.
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