SpaceX Makes Final Launch of US Spy Satellite; Watch the Launch Here!

SpaceX launched a Falcon space rocket with a National Reconnaissance Office-classified surveillance spacecraft. It departed from Cape Canaveral in Central Florida in the United States and this would be its last mission for the year.

Due to technical issues, the project known as NROL-108, was canceled last Thursday. But on 19 December, it successfully carried out the launch at 9:00 EDT (14:00 GMT) from platform 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center. They streamed the launching from a YouTube page.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk's firm suggested that "all systems and the climate were fine" for today's launch.

There is a strict classification for the role and the capacities of this type of satellite. The device's target, orbit, size and other characteristics have not been officially documented.

Although the launch was temporarily postponed last Thursday because of environmental issues, SpaceX said that the Falcon 9 rocket and the NROL-108 project were both "healthy" in spite of the delay.

Mystery Payload

The payload of Falcon 9 is a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the government department that manages the country's fleet of surveillance satellites. Except for the fact that the NRO acquired the ride for the top-secret cargo by non-traditional methods, not much is known about the satellite.

The reconnaissance agency would usually protect its trips to space through the U.S. Global Security Satellite Launch Program of the Space Army, but this time it goes on its own, according to a report from Spaceflight Now.

The spokesperson told Spaceflight Now that after making a cumulative evaluation of satellite risk tolerance, required launch dates, usable launch capability, and expense, NRO uses alternate methods to procure launch services. These are also directed at ensuring the satellites are transported to orbit safely and efficiently on time.

Another curious twist is that SpaceX did not run a pre-flight static fire evaluation on the rocket. The corporation normally keeps the rocket down on the pad and fires its nine first-stage engines momentarily to ensure that their systems are operating as planned before liftoff. It is unusual for SpaceX to miss this routine exam, but it is not unheard of.

The flight marks the NRO's sixth annual launch, which will be the second overall mission to operate onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. Back in May 2017 was its first NROL-76 mission.

Rocket Fairing Recovery

To that end, SpaceX has mounted parachutes and special software in its fairings. The fairings are built to lead themselves to the rescue zone where, when they plunge down to Earth, Ms. Tree and Ms. Leader will wait to snag them. If the vessels are absent or the weather is too bad to try a catch, the pair has machinery on board to scoop the fairing bits out of the water to send them back to the port for refurbishment.

SpaceX has been effectively reusing payload fairings, and the last flight was the first trip to include a refurbished fairing on a non-SpaceX payload, which launched the Sirius XM-7 satellite.

The organization has regularlu re-used fairings for its own Starlink missions. Earlier this summer, one of the fairing bits shrouded the Sirius XM-7 payload as it passed into the region where ANASIS-II flight, which launched a South Korean military communications satellite, flew.

The mission today will mark the conclusion of Cape Carneval's busy year. This year, a total of 31 missions were launched from the region, and 26 of those were SpaceX rockets.

SpaceX is scheduled to begin building out its Starlink satellite fleet next year, sending two more astronaut flights including one of its large-lifters, the Falcon Heavy.

Check out more news and information on SpaceX on Science Times.