CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla., April 1, 2022 — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 40 payloads as part of the company’s Transporter-4 dedicated smallsat rideshare mission.
The rocket launched into a sun-synchronous orbit at 12:24 p.m. EDT. The mission manifest included the first satellite orbited by Pixxel of India, Kleos Space’s Patrol Mission, and 12 Spacebee communications satellites. A list of payloads is below.
German Aerospace Centre / German Research Centre for Geosciences
Earth observation
High quality hyperspectral imaging
GNOMES-3
PlanetIQ
Radio occultation
Data to improve weather forecasting
Hawk 4A, 4B, 4C
HawkEye 360
Radio frequency intelligence
Lynk Tower 1 (Lynk-05)
Lynk Global
Communications
Experimental satellite testing delivery of cellular coverage to unmodified cellular devices
MP42/Tiger-3
NanoAvionics/OQ Technology
Internet of Things
ÑuSat
Satellogic
Earth observation
5 satellites
AlfaCrux
University of Brasília
Communications
ARCSAT
Norwegian Defence Research Establishment
Technology demonstration
Ultra High Frequency tactical communications for the Arctic region
BRO-7
UnseenLabs
Electromagnetic signal intelligence
Maritime and aerial traffic surveillance
CZE-BDSat
Central European Institute of Technology
Amateur radio
Omnispace Spark-1 (LEO-1)
Omnispace
Internet of Things
Patrol Mission (KSF2)
Kleos Space
Radio frequency intelligence
4 satellites
Pixxel TD-2 Shakuntala
Pixxel
Earth observation
Hyperspectral imaging to monitor health of Earth. First satellite launched by Pixxel.
PlantSat
University of Chile & University of Santiago de Chile
Biosatellite
Study of plant growth in Mars-like conditions
SpaceBEE
Swarm Technologies
Communications
12 satellites
SUCHAI 2, SUCHAI 3
University of Chile & University of Santiago de Chile
Ionospheric research
UPbox
Upmosphere
Wooden box with mementos
Stays attached to ION SCV-005 satellite deployer
Source: Wikipedia and Parabolic Arc research
Today’s flight was SpaceX’s 150th successful launch. It was the company’s 12th launch of 2022 and the first of six planned missions in April. Elon Musk’s company is planning to launch more than 50 times this year.
It was also the seventh launch and landing of this particular Falcon 9 first stage booster. The stage landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
A Falcon 9 rocket is 70 meters in length and 3.65 meters in diameter. The rocket can carry up to 22,800 kg payload and weighs 549 tons. This particular Falcon 9 is from a group SpaceX calls, “Block 5,” which means it is the fifth thrust variant for that model of rocket.
SpaceX launched its first Transporter rideshare mission in January 2021. Transporter-5 is planned for launch in June 2022 and Transporter-6 to launch in October 2022.
