SpaceX will launch Ireland’s first satellite and a South Korean reconnaissance satellite Thursday (Nov. 29), and you can watch the broadcast live.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will fly to orbit at 1:19 p.m. EST (1819 GMT or 10:10 a.m. PST) from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the California coast. Space.com will carry the broadcast here live, via X (formerly Twitter), courtesy of SpaceX. The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket is expected to land at Vandenberg shortly after launch, according to media reports.
On board will be two satellites. One is the Educational Irish Research Satellite-1 (EIRSAT-1) built by students from University College Dublin following a 2017 proposal. Also on board will be the first South Korean spy satellite in a set of five that SpaceX promised to complete launching by 2025.
The South Korean satellite, called 425 Project EO/IR, the initial satellite will be 1,700 pounds (800 kg) in mass and include abilities in infrared (heat-seeking wavelengths) as well as electro-optical capabilities, SpaceNews reported in 2022. The South Korean satellite is set to launch into space just days after North Korea claimed to have deployed its own spy satellite in space from a Nov. 24 launch.
EIRSAT-1’s payloads were supported by the European Space Agency Academy’s Fly Your Satellite program. Its payloads include a gamma ray detector, an evaluation of protective coatings, and a rare kind of attitude control system that orients itself with the Earth‘s magnetic field, according to satellite’s website.
The mission will be the 88th launch for SpaceX in 2023 and the 84th launch this year with the Falcon 9. (The others used the company’s much larger Falcon Heavy or Starship rockets.)
