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Updated April 1st, 2022 at 20:14 IST

SpaceX, Rocket Lab to conduct satellite launches on April 1 & 2; here's how to watch live

SpaceX’s fourth dedicated smallsat rideshare mission will take off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 9:54 pm (IST).

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
SpaceX
Image: SpaceX | Image:self
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To fulfil Elon Musk’s goal of 60 Falcon 9 launches this year, SpaceX is preparing for another mission on April 1. Named Transporter-4, the upcoming launch is SpaceX’s fourth dedicated smallsat rideshare mission which will take off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 9:54 pm (IST). In a recent update on Twitter, the company revealed that the latest forecast shows the liftoff conditions to be 30% favourable, and the mission team is keeping an eye on the weather in case it turns villain.

In a mission description, SpaceX revealed that the Falcon 9 lifting off for Transporter-4 would have 40 spacecraft that would be launched to a sun-synchronous orbit. These spacecraft include CubeSats, microsats, picosats, non-deploying hosted payloads, and an orbital transfer vehicle carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time. The targeted time for liftoff is 9:54 pm and the launch webcast will begin 15 minutes before. Interested viewers can tune in to SpaceX's official Twitter handle or YouTube channel to watch the liftoff live. 

According to SpaceX, this Falcon 9 booster is heading towards its sixth liftoff as it has previously been launched for five missions-  Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23 and NASA's IXPE. If the launch is successful, the Falcon 9 first stage booster would launch on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This mission will be followed by Rocket Lab's "Without Mission a Beat" on April 2.

Rocket Lab's "Without Mission a Beat"

The California-based spacecraft manufacturing firm Rocket Lab is aiming to nail its 25th Electron rocket launch which is scheduled for April 2 at 5:40 pm (IST). Under the mission "Without Mission a Beat", the company will transport two Earth-observing satellites for US-based company Black Sky from its launch site in New Zealand. If everything goes according to plan, the total number of satellites launched by Rocket Lab will reach 112. 

Image: SpaceX

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Published April 1st, 2022 at 20:14 IST

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