CAPA CANAVERAL, Florida – SpaceX launched an American clandestine space spy operation for the National Reconnaissance Bureau (NRO) on Saturday (December 19th), marking the 26th missile of the year.
The mysterious payload, called NROL-108, took off from Pad 39A here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 9:00 (1400 GMT), during a three-hour planned launch window.
Used in two stages Falcon 9 missile carried the spy satellite up as part of a government mission called NROL-108, marking the 26th launch of SpaceX in 2020, a new record for the company. About nine minutes after takeoff, the first stage of the amplifier produced some dramatic sound booms as it returned firm ground, landing in the SpaceX-1 (LZ-1) landing area at the nearby Cape Canaveral space station.
Video: Watch SpaceX’s NROL-108 Falcon 9 epic rocket land
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Today’s flight was the fifth launch for this special stage Falcon 9. The booster, designated B1059, previously carried two commercial cargo missions to the International Space Station for NASA, delivered a Lot of SpaceX Starlink satellites in orbit earlier this year and most recently launched an Earth observation satellite for Argentina.
The Falcon 9 exploded in a clear blue sky on Saturday morning, a strong change from Thursday’s launch attempt. Thick clouds enveloped the rocket in sight that day and finally a problem with the second stage of the rocket, SpaceX forced to postpone the launch.
Minutes after the Falcon 9 jumped off the buffer, the first stage of the rocket reappeared in the sky, with the iconic sound arms waiting for you to crack above your head as the amplifier descended to the landing site.
The B1059 is just the second booster to land on the ground at the Cape (unlike a drone ship at sea) this year. (A third landed at California’s Vandenberg Air Force base launch of the Earth observation satellite Sentinel-6 for NASA in November.) In fact, it’s now the third trip to LZ-1 for this booster, as the Falcon 9 veteran also returned ashore after the CRS-20 mission was launched into orbit earlier this year.
Related: Take a walk into space (and back) on a Falcon 9 in this wonderful video
A mysterious payload
Today’s launch of Falcon 9 carried an orbiting payload for the National Reconnaissance Bureau (NRO), the government agency that oversees the country’s spy satellite fleet. Not much is known about the satellite, except that the NGO provided the trip for the secret cargo by non-traditional means.
Usually, the reconnaissance agency will secure its spacewalk through the US Space Force’s National Security Space Launch Program, but this time on its own, according to a report by Spaceflight Now.
“In some cases, the NGO uses alternative methods to procure launch services after conducting a cumulative assessment of satellite risk tolerance, required launch data, available launch capabilities and costs – all in order to ensure satellites to be delivered safely into orbit in a timely manner ” said Spaceflight Now spokesman.
Another interesting twist is that SpaceX did not perform a static fire test of its rocket before flight. Typically, the company holds the rocket on the buffer and briefly pulls the nine engines from the first stage to ensure that their systems work as expected before takeoff. It is rare for SpaceX to drop this routine test, but it is unheard of.
The mission marks the sixth launch of the year for the NRO and will be the second general to fly aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. The first was the NROL-76 mission in May 2017.
Falcon’s flight
The NROL-108 mission is the 50th overhaul of a Falcon 9 from SpaceX since the company recovered its first booster in 2015. It also marks the 70th landing of a Falcon 9. To stick the landing, its booster separated from the upper step and performed a series of orbital ballet movements, reorienting for landing. He then performed a series of three engine burns to slow down enough to easily reach the designated landing platform, marking the 21st successful landing for SpaceX.
To facilitate reuse, the company normally relies on the two massive drone ships, called “Of course, I still love you” and “Just read the instructions”, the floating platforms are usually stationed in the Atlantic Ocean and allowed SpaceX to launch and to later land several missiles.
“Of course, I still love you” is excluded for this mission, as the booster returns to land, while “Just read the instructions” currently brings a booster from the company’s latest launch on Dce. 13. For that mission, a Falcon 9 rocket was launched for the seventh time, carrying a massive satellite into space for SIrius XM. That booster is one of two that flew those seven missions and should sail back to port at the same time as today’s launch.
Once back in Port Canaveral, Florida, the landed amplifiers are transported back to SpaceX facilities, where they are carefully inspected and rebuilt to fly again.
The current version of Falcon 9 was completed in 2018. Known as Block 5, has 1.7 million pounds, as well as other improvements that make it capable of quick reuse. SpaceX says each of these boosters can fly up to 10 times with minor renovations between them and potentially up to 100 times before retirement.
So far, SpaceX has launched and landed the same booster a maximum of seven times. According to the company’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk, every Falcon 9 booster is capable of flying at least 10 times with minimal in-flight renovations. We haven’t seen it fly so many times, but we could see it next year.
Missile fairing recovery
Prior to today’s launch, SpaceX deployed one of its dual capture devices, GO Ms. Tree, to take over the parts of the fairing after today’s launch. GO Miss Chief, the company’s other fairing recovery ship, remained in port for the second mission in a row. These two boats act like huge gloves, capturing the useful hulls – the protective cones that surround the satellites during launch – in their attached nets as they fall back to Earth.
To this end, SpaceX has installed parachutes and special software in its payload fairings, which consist of two joined parts. The hulls are designed to guide you to the recovery area, where Mrs. Tree and Mrs. Chief can wait to catch them as they fall back to Earth. If the boats miss or the weather is too bad to try to catch, the duo has on board equipment to remove the parts of the fairing from the water and transport them back to port for renovation.
The company successfully reused the fairings for the payload, and the last mission – which launched the Sirius XM-7 satellite – was the first flight to feature a refurbished fairing on a non-SpaceX payload. The company has usually reused fairings in its own Starlink missions. One of the parts of the fairing that covered the payload of the Sirius XM-7 while traveling through the atmosphere previously flew in the Anasis-II mission earlier this summer, which launched a communications satellite for the South Korean army.
Today’s mission will mark the end of a busy launch year for the Cape. A total of 31 missions were launched from the area this year, and 26 of them were on SpaceX missiles. Next year, SpaceX is expected to complete its Starlink fleet of satellites, launch two more astronaut missions and one of the largest Falcon Heavy.
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