Update 5:46 pm EDT: SpaceX confirms successful deployment of all payloads.
SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, sending dozens of spacecraft into orbit on its latest rideshare mission from California. The rocket's first booster module touched down near the launch site after the stages separated, generating a sonic boom for those nearby.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) occurred at 11:56 a.m. PDT (2:56 p.m. EDT, 1856 UTC). The satellites will be deployed over a period of more than two hours.
The first-stage Falcon 9 rocket supporting the mission, which has tail number B1075 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for the 12th time. It previously supported the launches of SDA-0A, SARah-2 and nine Starlink missions.
Approximately seven and a half minutes after liftoff, B1075 landed at Landing Zone 4. It was the 20th landing at LZ-4 and the 340th landing of a Falcon rocket.
Earth imaging, methane tracking, water management and more
The mission is the last chance for several dozen payloads to head into orbit without encountering individual launch vehicles. Transporter-11 includes spacecraft from countries around the world, including Japan, Chile, the United Kingdom and Australia.
The Australian Space Agency said it has three spacecraft on board: Kanyini, Waratah Seed-1 and Cuava-2. Waratah Seed-1 is itself a rideshare mission, which will host the Perovskites in Orbit Readiness Test (PORT-2), Submillimeter Particle Detection System (SPaDeS) and Spiral Blue Space Edge-1 (SE-1) payloads aboard a 6U CubeSat.
Chilean company Lemu is launching its Lemu Nge satellite, which it calls “the first one designed exclusively to observe the Earth’s biodiversity.”
“Lemu Nge will characterize Chile's wetlands within the framework of the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of these ecosystems,” the company wrote on social media. “There are 16 Ramsar sites in the country (363,925 ha) and observations will be made from the highlands to Tierra del Fuego.”
🛰️ Our Lemu Nge satellite launches TODAY, Friday, August 16, 2024! 🛰️
SpaceX has publicly announced that the Transporter-11 mission is ready to launch 🚀
Join us today at 12:30pm (Chilean time) on Lemu's YouTube channel for our launch event. 🗓️
See you there! 3️⃣ 2️⃣ 1️⃣ 🚀 💫 image.twitter.com/NaILrwe1iv
— Lemu 🌍 (@LemuEarth) August 16, 2024
California-based Planet Labs PBC will launch 36 more SuperDove satellites to image Earth, along with the Tanager-1 hyperspectral satellite. This methane-detecting satellite is a collaboration between Planet, the Carbon Mapper Coalition and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“Tanager-1 is optimized for point source mapping, meaning it has the ability to identify methane and CO2 emissions down to the scale of individual facilities and equipment, such as leaking gas pipelines, vented coal mines, or a leak in a landfill gas capture system,” the Carbon Mapper Coalition wrote.
“Carbon Mapper will use Tanager-1 observations to provide transparent emissions data on its data portal, greatly expanding the tens of thousands of plumes already available on this public platform.”
Additionally, NASA is flying two CubeSats from its Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator (PTD) series. The PTD-4 mission “will demonstrate a very high-power, low-volume deployable solar array with an integrated antenna called the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna, or LISA-T, developed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.”
Meanwhile, the PTD-R satellite, dubbed “Deep Purple,” “will demonstrate simultaneous ultraviolet (UV) and shortwave infrared optical detection from space for the first time through two 85 mm aperture monolithic telescopes mounted side-by-side, utilizing a new, compact custom electronics module and a novel, lightweight carbon composite optical housing and radiator.”
The mission also marks a milestone for satellite deployment company Exolaunch. The Transporter-11 mission marks its 30th launch/integration to date. It is responsible for the integration of 42 of the 116 satellites on this mission, representing more than two dozen companies.
“We are immensely grateful to our customers for their unwavering confidence in Exolaunch. Their support is the cornerstone of our success and innovation,” said Robert Sproles, CEO of Exolaunch, in a statement. “We also extend our deepest gratitude to SpaceX for their thorough preparations for launch. The swift return of Falcon 9 to the launch pad demonstrates their resilience and steadfast commitment to excellence.”
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