SpaceX to launch 13 satellites for Space Development Agency mega-constellation

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 13 Tranche 0 demonstration satellites for the U.S. military’s Space Development Agency (SDA). Liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California is scheduled for 7:26 a.m. PDT (10:26 a.m. EDT / 1426 UTC).

The launch is the second Falcon 9 missions to carry SDA demonstration spacecraft for a future constellation of military missile tracking and data relay satellites. Ten satellites for the constellation were launched Apr. 2 on a Falcon 9. A further four satellites are scheduled for launch on a later mission hosted by the Missile Defence Agency, according to an SDA fact sheet.

Aboard the Falcon 9 are 11 communications satellites, part of what SDA calls the ‘Transport Layer’ and two satellites for the so-called ‘Tracking Layer’.

The Falcon 9’s first stage booster, which is making its 13th flight will return to Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg about seven and a half minutes after launch.