SpaceX plans to use the Falcon 9 Block 5 carrier rocket to perform a special Transferer-3 ride-sharing launch mission at the SLC-40 launch platform at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida at 23:25 Beijing time. The Transporter mission is a regularly scheduled, specialized satellite launch mission for small satellite operators by SpaceX, and the Transporter-3 mission is a satellite launch mission dedicated to sun-synchronous orbit that will launch about 100 to 120 small satellites.
The Falcon 9 Block 5 launch vehicle is launched
Transporter-3 mission payload:
Planet has 44 SuperDove Earth observation satellites with satellite designations ranging from Flock-4x-1 to Flock-4x-44. The satellite, a constellation of Earth observation satellites built and operated by Planet Labs, is a 3U CubeSat weighing about 5 kilograms. The satellite has no propulsion devices and has a lifespan of 2 to 3 years in sunsynch orbit. Planet is able to provide a resolution of 72 centimeters, and after their satellite upgrade, the constellation will provide a resolution of less than 50 centimeters.
Flock-4x satellite
Capella Space's two Capella satellites, Capella-7 and Capella-8, are synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites. Each satellite weighs approximately 112 kilograms and is equipped with a new mesh reflector antenna deployed with a 3.5-meter aperture that provides high-resolution radar imagery below 0.5 meters.
Capella synthetic aperture radar satellite
R2 Space's synthetic aperture radar satellite, XR-2, is the second satellite in the company's planned satellite constellation of eight XR satellites to meet the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance needs of the U.S. government. The satellite is a replica of the Finnish ICEYE satellite made in the United States. The XR satellite weighs about 90 kilograms and the power supply system consists of a set of solar panels that produce 300W of peak power and a lithium polymer battery pack with a capacity of 1.4 KWh and a nominal voltage of 30V. XR satellites are equipped with a low-thrust propulsion system, where during normal propulsion operations, solid metals are heated and become an ion source; then the ions are accelerated by an electric field to create thrust.
XR-2 synthetic aperture radar satellite
The Sich 2-1 satellite of the Ukrainian company NKAU, weighing about 170 kg, carries an imager with a ground resolution of 7.8 m and a width of 46.6 km, which can obtain images of the Earth's surface in visible light and near-infrared range. In addition, the satellite also conducts Swiss laser communication experiments.
Sich 2-1 satellite
The Mars Outpost Demo, with a payload of about 110 kilograms, demonstrated the feasibility of metal cutting and exploration in space reusing discarded spacecraft. Throughout the mission and de-orbit, the experiment was always connected to the second stage of the Falcon rocket, starting the experiment after the second stage of the rocket deployed the satellite payload. The experiment lasts about 45 minutes, and after the mission is completed, the second stage of the rocket will be out of orbit. The camera will record a high-speed cut-off wheel cutting CRES 316 stainless steel specimen. This experiment will demonstrate the cutting characteristics under vacuum.
Mars outpost demonstration
The Italian D-Orbit ION-SCV-004 payload is a free-flying CubeSat deployer and technology demonstrator. The deployer carries satellites such as Guardian, STORK-1, STORK-2, LabSat, SW1FT and VZLUSAT 2.
STORK satellite
The rocket will also carry other satellite deployers, including the Albapod deployer of Alba Orbital and the EXOport deployer of the Exolaunch multi-satellite adapter, which will carry multiple small cubesats.