A Falcon 9 rocket glides next to the moon in the sky over the central coast of California, orbiting Germany’s SARah 1 military imaging satellite. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now
A four-tonne radar observation satellite penetrating clouds for the German Army was launched into orbit from California on Saturday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, beginning a 10-year mission to collect recognition images of all time.
The Falcon 9 rocket came to life and moved away from its launch pad at the Vandenberg space force base at 7:19:52 am PDT (10:19:52 am EDT; 14:19:52 GMT) ), resonating through a layer of fog at low altitude. before entering a clear sky for the rest of the ascent into space with the SARah 1 radar imaging satellite from Germany.
The mission on Saturday continued with a full-space launch plan for SpaceX, which launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Friday with 53 Starlink Internet satellites. Another Falcon 9 will leave Cap Canaveral shortly after midnight on Sunday with a Globalstar communications satellite.
Ten Merlin engines burned a million pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants on Saturday’s mission. Heading south, the nine engines of the first stage fired nearly two and a half minutes, then the propeller separated from the upper stage to begin maneuvers to return to Vandenberg, a military spaceport on the central coast of California. between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The first stage propeller rotated with the help of cold gas thrusters to fly in a first tail orientation, then started three of its engines for a “boost-back” burn to reverse the course and return to Vandenberg. The propellant reached a maximum altitude, or peak, of about 426,000 feet (130 kilometers) before falling back into the atmosphere.
The rocket flew through the thicker air with the help of hypersonic grating fins, touching the concrete landing pad in landing zone 4 at Vandenberg about eight minutes after takeoff. The landing marked the 125th recovery of a Falcon propeller and the sixth Falcon rocket landing at Vandenberg. It was the third flight of this engine, tail number B1071.
Landing confirmed. Reinforcement of the first stage of Falcon 9 has successfully returned to Landing Zone 4 at the base of the Vandenberg Space Force, California.
This marks Falcon’s sixth landing at Vandenberg and the 125th recovery of a Falcon engine in general. pic.twitter.com/5L89hvi4m2
– Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) June 18, 2022
SpaceX’s live video broadcast followed the return of the Falcon 9 engine to Earth and ended with coverage of upper-stage activities at the request of the German military. The upper stage fired its only Merlin engine to enter a preliminary orbit, and the mission went into a cover shutdown until the German army confirmed it almost an hour and 20 minutes after the launch of the satellite. SARah 1 was successfully deployed from the Falcon 9 rocket.
Airbus ground controllers, which built the SARah 1 satellite, were expected to make contact with the spacecraft later Saturday.
SARah 1 is embarking on a 10-year mission to provide reconnaissance footage to the Bundeswehr, the German military.
Falcon 9 aimed at a polar orbit a few hundred miles above Earth, but the exact altitude and tilt reached on Saturday’s mission were not immediately available.
SARah 1 is the first of three radar imaging satellites commissioned by the German government in 2013. Bremen-based OHB is the main contractor for the SARah program and is building the second and third satellites. Of the series. Airbus teams in southern Germany made SARah 1, the first and largest satellite in the program.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 reinforcement returns through the fog to the Vandenberg space force base after sending the German Army’s SARah 1 radar reconnaissance satellite into space. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now
When the development contracts were signed in 2013, the launch of SARah satellites was planned for 2018 and 2019. But the technical problems related to the satellites, the efforts to improve the encryption of the spacecraft and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the former back. Launch of the SARah spacecraft until 2022.
Once the engineers completed the tests on the SARah 1 spacecraft, they traveled from Germany to the United States by boat, arriving in Baltimore before a road trip across the country to reach the California launch base. .
The SARah 1 satellite weighs about four tons, according to Airbus. The contractor said in a statement that SARah 1 satellite carries the “latest and highest resolution radar technology” to collect images of all weather, day and night from places around the world for the German army.
The German Defense Recruitment Agency manages the development of SARah satellites. The Airbus-built vessel launched on Saturday carries an active-phase matrix radar antenna, based on technology developed for the TerraSAR, TanDEM-X and Paz civilian radar observation satellites.
“This technology offers the advantages of a very fast aiming and a very flexible way of the antenna beam to deliver images in record time,” Airbus said in a press release.
Artistic concept of SARah 1 radar satellite in orbit. Credit: Airbus
Two smaller OHah ships built by OHB will fly with passive synthetic aperture radar reflectors. The German military said earlier this month that the second and third SARah satellites will share a trip on a Falcon 9 rocket later this year.
Radar imaging satellites have the advantage of resolving the Earth’s surface through darkness and cloud cover, which prevents optical spy satellites from ever seeing the earth.
The three SARah satellites replace the constellation of five SAR-Lupe spacecraft of the German army, which was launched between 2006 and 2008.
“Today, without satellites, reconnaissance, communication and navigation are almost impossible,” the German military said in a press release earlier this month.
“The new SARah satellites ensure that the Bundeswehr has the ability to recognize images around the world regardless of the time of day or the weather,” the German military said. “At the same time, they support early detection and crisis management.”
Artistic illustration of SARah 1 radar satellite (center) with SARah 2 and 3 radar satellites scheduled for launch later this year. Credit: OHB
The launch of SARah 1 marked SpaceX’s 25th mission of the year and the company’s fifth flight from Vandenberg to 2022. SpaceX’s next launch from California is scheduled to be no earlier than July 8. with a batch of Starlink Internet satellites.
SpaceX is about to launch more than 50 times this year, surpassing the record 31 missions the company set last year. Saturday’s launch was the third of six Falcon 9 missions on SpaceX’s calendar for June.
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