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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off with two German military radar reconnaissance satellites on Sunday morning (December 24).
A Falcon 9 rocket launched the SARah-2 mission into low Earth orbit (LEO) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 8:11 a.m. EDT (1311 GMT; 5:11 a.m. local California time). The flight was originally scheduled to be on Saturday (December 23) but it was not It was returned on the day To allow additional preliminary examinations.
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The SARah-2 mission sent two synthetic aperture radar reconnaissance satellites (“SAR” in “SARah-2”) for the German Army.
“The satellites will continue the process of replacing the aging SAR-Lupe constellation,” EverydayAstronaut.com wrote in an article. Task description.
“SArah 2 and SArah 3 are reflector antenna satellites, which means they will fly in formation with SArah 1 to increase the resolution of the constellation,” the outlet added.
SARah-2 was the eighth liftoff of the Falcon 9 first stage, according to SpaceX. The booster returned for its eighth landing as well, touching down at Vandenberg about eight minutes after launch.
Meanwhile, SARah 2 and SARah 3 are set to deploy to low Earth orbit from the Falcon 9 upper stage about 20 minutes and 25 minutes after liftoff, respectively.
Sunday's launch continued an extremely busy 2023 for SpaceX. The company has launched 94 orbital missions so far this year, in addition to two test flights of its giant Starship rocket that did not reach orbit.
And there will be more SpaceX action before the calendar ends. For example, the company's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket is scheduled to launch the US Space Force's X-37B spaceplane into orbit on December 28.
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