: SpaceX to launch 40 satellites rideshare mission from Florida today #IndiaNEWS #Space SpaceX has hoisted a Falcon 9 rocket vertical on pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in preparation

SpaceX to launch 40 satellites rideshare mission from Florida today #IndiaNEWS #Space
SpaceX has hoisted a Falcon 9 rocket vertical on pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in preparation for a launch with 40 satellites on Friday at 12:24 p. m. EDT (1624 GMT) to begin Earth-observing, communications, and technological demonstration missions.

According to the 45th Weather Squadron of the United States Space Force, there is only a 30% probability that weather conditions would be good for a launch on Friday. At the time of Fridays instantaneous launch chance, a stalled cold front is expected to be over Central Florida.

The Falcon 9 rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral and will travel southeast before heading south along Floridas east coast to deliver the missions 40 payloads into polar orbit.

The first stage of the rocket is scheduled to crash into the drone ship Just Read the Instructions, which is moored in the Atlantic Ocean between Cuba and the Bahamas, some 330 miles (530 kilometers) south of Cape Canaveral. Since its debut mission with NASAs Crew-1 astronauts in November 2020, the booster has made seven trips to space.

The missions main cargo, Germanys EnMAP environmental monitoring probe, will be launched to an altitude of around 404 miles in the second stage (650 kilometers). At that altitude, two smaller payloads will be deployed, followed by two more second-stage burns to reduce the orbit to around 310 miles (500 kilometers), allowing the remaining satellites to be separated.

Targeting Friday, April 1 for launch of our fourth dedicated smallsat rideshare mission; teams are keeping an eye on weather as the latest forecast shows a 30% chance of favorable liftoff conditions t. co/3NjRWNw8Dh pic. twitter. com/hGQumIG0qX— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 31, 2022

The hyperspectral Earth-imaging sensor onboard the 2,160-pound (980-kilogram) EnMAP spacecraft will survey crops, woods, and other surfaces, delivering comprehensive information about the state of vegetation and plant health.

SpaceXs Transporter 4 mission is the companys fourth dedicated small satellite rideshare launch since January 2021, and the second of four Transporter rides planned this year.

On January 24, 2021, SpaceX launched the first Transporter mission, carrying a record 143 satellites on a single rocket. On June 30, 2021, Transporter 2 launched 88 payloads into orbit, while Transporter 3 launched on January 13 with 105 spacecraft.

The Transporter 4 manifest has been reduced to 40 spacecraft, however, this is mostly due to EnMAPs participation in the mission. The satellite is heavier than any of the prior SpaceX Transporter missions satellites, and the Falcon 9 will transport EnMAP to a higher orbit than previous rideshare flights.