SpaceX has just succeeded in launching its third mission using the heavy-duty Falcon Heavy rocket.
Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it's also the company's most complicated mission to date with a few satellites on board.
Images courtesy: SpaceX
SpaceX first launched the Falcon Heavy successfully last year, which is when it sent the Tesla Roadster into space. It's first mission with the rocket after that took an Arab telecommunications satellite into orbit.?
The STP-2 mission, which launched at about 12 pm (IST) today, was the first time the company has carried critical payloads for major customers. These included about a dozen satellites for the US Air Force, the Department of Defense, and NASA among others. It will still take a few more hours to complete, given that the rocket has to deploy payloads into three different orbits. SpaceX has already however managed to re-land the boosters used for the launch, allowing them to be reused later.
1) A deep space atomic clock for NASA: This is not just the most accurate clock in the world, but the most accurate device in general. It can be used to exactly measure the time duration of light moving between two points in space, thereby allowing us to measure the exact distance. Basically, this clock will be to space what GPS satellites are to Earth.
2) Green satellite fuel: AF-M315E is a new type of satellite fuel to be tested out in orbit, as an alternative to the current hydrazine. If it proves effective, it could allow us to make satellites more efficient, shorten their deployment time from weeks to mere days, and make them much safer for astronauts going up into space alongside them.?
3) New weather satellites: This new set of six satellites will test out using our existing GPS system to better analyze and predict global weather conditions, and even long-term climate change.
4) Ashes: Spaceflight memorial company Celestis is sending the ashes of over 120 people into space on the rocket, in individual canisters. While many of them are revered former NASA astronauts, others also include major personalities from other companies. You can find a whole list here.
5) Arguably the star of the show though is one payload in particular onboard the Falcon Heavy. This is the LightSail 2, a solar sail prototype developed by The Planetary Society headed by Bill Nye.
A solar sail is a type of space propulsion method scientists have been theorizing. Like the sail on a ship, instead of regular wind it uses pressure from solar winds to move a spacecraft. If this prototype proves successful, it could revolutionize space travel, allowing us to go further, faster than ever before.
We'll know more in a bit about whether the payloads actually reach orbit.