A small country in Western Europe has a new Earth-observation satellite now in orbit following a successful launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Tuesday.
The SpaceX rocket blasted off at 11:53 a.m. from Space Launch Complex-4 on South Base.
About eight minutes later the rocket’s first-stage booster returned to land at Vandenberg, completing its 27th mission.
The rocket’s primary payload involved the National Advanced Optical System, or NAOS, for Luxembourg, which shares borders with Belgium, Germany and France.
Built by OHB Italia for Luxembourg Defense, NAOS is a very-high resolution optical satellite.
“The satellite will provide high-definition images allowing the Luxembourg government to capture key data for public administration, land monitoring and more,” said Amanda Yares, a SpaceX ground systems engineer and launch commentator.
Other uses for NAOS include military operations, monitoring disarmament treaties, observing troop movements, studying climate change, natural disaster management, humanitarian aid and climate change.
Images will be provided to various organizations including the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and more.
NAOS, which is designed to operate for seven years, will circle Earth once every 94 minutes or 15 times a day, and provide approximately 100 images daily.
A SpaceX rocket carrying an Earth-observation satellite for Luxembourg plus other payloads for different customers climbs away from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Tuesday. Credit: SpaceX photo
But NAOS wasn’t the only payload aboard the mission, sharing the ride with seven other payloads.
They included Dhruva Space’s LEAP-1; Planet Lab’s Pelican-3 and Pelican-4; and four payloads manifested by Exolaunch: Capella’s Acadia-6 and Pixxel’s FFLY-1, FFLY-2, and FFLY-3.
San Francisco-based Planet said the firm had already made contact with Pelican-3 and Pelican-4 high-resolution, Earth-observation satellites to begin prepping them for operation.
“After making contact with these satellites, we’re celebrating another big milestone for Pelican,” Planet representatives said on social media.
“Our Pelicans combine high-resolution, rapid tasking, and onboard AI capabilities (via @nvidia‘s Jetson platform) to meet customer needs in a rapidly changing world.”
Planet plans to expand the Pelican fleet later this year.
Meanwhile, SpaceX plans to launch another batch of Starlink satellites from Vandenberg as soon as Friday with the launch expected between 7:05 and 11:05 p.m.