SpaceX to launch advanced weather satellite for US Space Force today (Image Credit: Space.com)
SpaceX will launch its second national security mission of the year today (April 11), if all goes according to plan.
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base today during a roughly 10-minute window that opens at 10:25 a.m. EDT (7:25 a.m. local California time; 1425 GMT), on a mission for the U.S. Space Force called USSF-62.
SpaceX will livestream the action via its account on X, beginning about 15 minutes before liftoff.
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USSF-62 will send the Weather System Follow-on — Microwave (WSF-M) satellite to low Earth orbit. WSF-M is a next-generation spacecraft that “will provide critical and actionable weather intelligence to military operations in all warfighting domains,” according to BAE Systems, which developed and built the satellite.
WSF-M’s primary instrument is a microwave imager, which will measure sea surface winds, the strength of tropical cyclones and gather other environmental data. Also flying on the satellite is a space weather sensor provided by the U.S. government, according to BAE Systems.
“We’re absolutely thrilled be out here on the Central Coast, with a superb team primed and ready to launch the USSF-62 satellite,” Col. Jim Horne, senior materiel leader for Space Systems Command’s Launch Execution Delta, said in an emailed statement. “With each national security launch, we add to America’s capabilities and improve its deterrence in the face of growing threats.”
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth safely, touching down at Vandenberg’s Landing Zone 4 just under eight minutes after liftoff. It will be the third launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The rocket’s payload fairing — the “nose cone” that protects satellites during launch — is also a spaceflight veteran, marking a first for a national security launch, Horne said in his statement.
USSF-62 will be SpaceX’s 37th launch of 2024 and its second of the year for the Space Force. A Falcon 9 launched the six-satellite USSF-124 mission from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Feb. 14.
