SpaceX has just added a project to its already busy launch manifest.
Elon Musk’s company won the contract to release the JPSS-4 satellite from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). If all goes according to plan, JPSS-4 will lift off atop a Falcon nine rocket from the Vandenberg Space Station in California in 2027.
The company’s fixed-price contract is worth $112. 7 million, “which includes release and other mission-related costs,” NASA officials wrote in an update Monday.
The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program is a cooperative effort of NOAA and NASA (which awarded the JPSS-4 release contract on behalf of NOAA). The constellation collects data about the Earth’s land, sea, and air.
“This knowledge is NOAA’s Earth’s Continuous Environmental Observation Mission to sense and expect weather, climate, ocean, and coastal adjustments to the nation’s economy and protect lives and property,” wrote NOAA officials. NASA in the same update. “NASA is employing the tools on board JPSS satellites to continue decades of Earth science studies to gain benefits for humanity. “
Three JPSS satellites have been introduced to date, and all are still operational today: Suomi NPP in October 2011, JPSS-1 (renamed NOAA-20 after reaching its final orbit) in November 2017, and JPSS-2 (NOAA-21) in November. 2022. All three took off on United Launch Alliance rockets: a Delta II for Suomi NPP and JPSS-1 and an Atlas V for JPSS-2.
The JPSS fleet will eventually be composed of five satellites; JPSS-3 is expected to lift off in 2032, completing the constellation.
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The Falcon 9 has already been launched 69 times in 2024, but is recently grounded after suffering a breakdown on its last flight, which took place on July 11.
The upper level of the rocket spilled liquid oxygen during this project and was unable to fully ignite the engine in orbit as planned. Therefore, the Falcon 9 deployed its payloads (20 of SpaceX’s Starlink web satellites) too low. The 20 spacecraft are presumed doomed, destined to be dragged to a fiery death in Earth’s atmosphere.
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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Editor at Space. com and joined the team in 2010. It basically covers exoplanets, spaceflight, and military space, but it is known to go into the realm of space art. His book about the search for extraterrestrial life, “Out There,” was published on November 13, 2018. Prior to becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He holds a Ph. D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a B. A. from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in clinical writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his most recent assignment is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.
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