SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch US Space Force’s USSF-44

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SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch US Space Force’s USSF-44—First Use of Rocket in 3 Years

The Falcon Heavy is gracing the skies again, and it is for Space Force's needs.

www.techtimes.com

SpaceX will soon fly the USSF 44 mission that will deliver the payload to orbit, helping the United States Space Force to bring two satellites outside the planet. The Falcon Heavy is the vessel of choice here, and it is the famous large-capacity rocket from SpaceX which has not flown for three years, with the spacecraft only being used three times since its 2018's release.

The world may be focusing on Starship for the massive power and thrust capabilities for long-haul missions, but the Falcon Heavy can bring massive loads as well.

The United States Military's Space Force already has a placeholder for its future launch of the USSF 44 mission, employing SpaceX and its Falcon Heavy to bring their payload to orbit. The information it released on its live stream placeholder claims that there would be two satellites coming, an unnamed massive one, and a micro-satellite called the TETRA-1.

The rocket would launch from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, taking place later this month by October 28.

The exact time for the launch is not yet confirmed for now, but Space Force said that it will reveal the time for the public to tune in to for its launch. The livestream video placeholder is found below this article for your viewing needs.

Space Force Employs the Resting Rocket​

According to CNET, the Falcon Heavy has not flown since 2019, and the resting rocket has different postponements and was kept in SpaceX's hangar for a long time. Now, it is preparing for its next mission and dusting off the cobwebs for its October launch, delivering the US Space Force's cargo to orbit, being its chosen vessel for its requirements.

SpaceX and its Rockets​

SpaceX is famous for its reusable rockets that are available for many missions and launches toward orbit, delivering different payloads that will go on their way to space. One of its recent projects of SpaceX is the NASA DART mission which made a significant help to the venture, particularly by bringing the device to orbit via the Falcon 9.

The Falcon 9 rocket also made the recent Crew 5 astronauts reach their destination on the International Space Station, together with the Dragon vessel from the company.

On the other hand, its massive capacity spacecraft, the Falcon Heavy, saw many postponements for its use, but it is still seeing contracts and bookings from many that need it. The rocket is also reusable, particularly as it is a combination of three Falcon 9s strapped together to produce significant power to launch its missions.

SpaceX has a massive array of spacecraft available from their development and innovation, most of which are centered on the Falcon series. The Falcon Heavy may be resting and awaiting its mission, but it is still a capable rocket that can carry massive loads to space, and deliver it with ease for those that need to send their tech to the great beyond.

 

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Please..please..please be the MOIRE satellite

DARPA's new spy satellite could provide real-time video from anywhere on Earth

“It sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake” could be the theme song for a new spy satellite being developed by DARPA. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s latest proof-of-concept project is called the Membrane Optical Imager for Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE), and...

phys.org

DARPA's new spy satellite could provide real-time video from anywhere on Earth​

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s latest proof-of-concept project is called the Membrane Optical Imager for Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE), and would provide real-time images and video of any place on Earth at any time — a capability that, so far, only exists in the realm of movies and science fiction. The details of this huge eye-in-the-sky look like something right out of science fiction, as well, and it would be interesting to determine if it could have applications for astronomy as well.

MOIRE would be a geosynchronous orbital system that uses a huge but lightweight membrane optic. A 20-meter-wide membrane “eye” would be etched with a diffractive pattern, according to DARPA, which would focus light on a sensor. Reportedly it will cost $500 million USD for each space-based telescope, and it would be able to image an area greater than 100 x 100 km with a video update rate of at least one frame a second.

DARPA says the program aims to demonstrate the ability to manufacture large membranes and large structures to hold the optics flat, and also demonstrate the secondary optical elements needed to turn a diffraction-based optic into a wide bandwidth imaging device.
The MOIRE program began in March 2010 is now in the first phase of development, where DARPA is testing the concept’s viability. Phase 2 would entail system design, with Ball Aerospace doing the design and building to test a 16-foot (5 m) telescope, and an option for a Phase 3 which would include a demonstration of the system, launching a 32-foot (10 m) telescope for flight tests in orbit.

The 20 meter (66 ft) design is quite a bit larger than NASA’s next-generation James Webb Space Telescope that has an aperture of 21 feet (6.5 m).

Public Intelligence reports that such a telescope should be able to spot missile launcher vehicles moving at speeds of up to 60 mph on the ground, according to a DARPA contract. That would also require the image resolution to see objects less than 10 feet (3 m) long within a single image pixel.

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