The mission, named USSF-67, comes on the heels of USSF-44, which flew to geostationary Earth orbit on Nov. 1
WASHINGTON — SpaceX is aiming to launch Falcon Heavy’s second nationwide safety mission for the U.S. House Pressure on Jan. 12 from Kennedy House Middle, Florida.
The U.S. House Programs Command mentioned it plans to launch particulars of the launch window 72 hours earlier than scheduled liftoff. The mission, named USSF-67, comes on the heels of USSF-44, which flew to geostationary Earth orbit on Nov. 1 and marked Falcon Heavy’s first national security launch.
An image posted by SpaceX on Jan. 7 — displaying Falcon Heavy’s three Falcon 9 cores — confirms the corporate is readying for an upcoming launch. “Falcon Heavy within the hangar at Launch Complicated 39A,” the corporate mentioned on Twitter.
SpaceX acquired a $316 million contract in August 2020 to launch USSF-67
Falcon Heavy’s two aspect boosters that had been recovered after USSF-44 shall be reused for USSF-67. SpaceX will try to land each boosters at Cape Canaveral’s Touchdown Zones 1 and a couple of. The middle core is not going to be recovered.
The mission will carry two payloads: the Steady Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM (CBAS)-2 and a Lengthy Length Propulsive ESPA ring, a spacecraft that may carry as much as six small satellites.
The House Programs Command describes CBAS-2 as a army communications satellite tv for pc that gives “communications relay capabilities to help our senior leaders and combatant commanders by augmenting current army satellite tv for pc communications capabilities.” Particular capabilities and options are categorized.
CBAS-1, made by Boeing, was launched to geostationary orbit in 2018 on the AFSPC-11 mission aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.
The opposite payload, LDPE-3A, would be the third launch of this model of the ESPA ring designed by Northrop Grumman. The primary one launched in December 2021 on a House Check Program STP-3 mission aboard an Atlas 5. The second launch was on USSF-44.
The House Programs Command mentioned LDPE-3A was constructed with an ESPAStar, which has similarities to an ESPA ring however with added propulsion, energy and avionics so it might function as a totally functioning satellite tv for pc. “LDPE gives an reasonably priced path to house for each hosted and separable payloads.”
Lt. Col. Michael Rupp, head of the LDPE program at House Programs Command, said Dec. 6 that the command was on monitor to “launch two satellites inside 70 days of each other, which is unbelievable from a program perspective.”
