Not only does SpaceX help the Ukrainian army in their fight against the Russians, the American army also knows where to find Musk’s space company. A mysterious cargo will soon leave for space. A large payload, where the enormous capacity of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy comes in handy.
More than two years delay for secretive mission
The parties involved do not reveal much about this, only that it would be a mission named USSF-44 which pertains to national security. The mission should have left more than two years earlier, but there were the necessary technical problems. As a result, the launch was delayed.
The total mass of all parts of this mission, 3700 kg, is a fraction of what this rocket can handle, 64 tons for a payload to Low Earth Orbit and a generous 27 tons for geostationary orbit. Presumably it is therefore a rather large object in terms of volume, but not very heavy, or group of objects.
TETRA 1
One part is known exactly what it is. A microsatellite called TETRA 1, built by Boeing’s Millennium Space Systems division. This will be a test platform for various military prototypes and will be taken to a so-called geostationary orbit.
That is an altitude, about 39,000 km, where the base speed is equal to the rotational speed of the earth. That means that if this satellite is above the equator, it will always remain in the same place above the Earth’s surface.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy continues to be popular
This isn’t the first time the SpaceX Falcon Heavy has been carrying cargo for the Pentagon. For example, in 2019 there was the mission STP-2. And it won’t be the last time. Several missions are also planned for NASA. They should launch future space probes to the metal asteroid Psyche in 2023, Europa Clipper in 2024 and the dark matter-hunting Roman Space Telescope around 2026.
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