SpaceX sent an old rocket into space for the 500th time: a powerful satellite was launched into orbit
This first stage has turned back for the third time since launch. The Sentinel-6B satellite, which will monitor the level of our planet's oceans, went into space on board the Falcon 9 rocket, writes Space. In Focus. Technologies has its own Telegram channel. Subscribe so you don't miss the latest and most exciting news from the world of science! SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, owned by Elon Musk, is partially reusable. This means that only its first stage can return to the launch pad after another launch.
SpaceX now mostly uses this rocket to launch Starlink satellites into orbit. But NASA and other space agencies, as well as private companies, use the services of SpaceX to launch their spacecraft into orbit. The second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket launched the new Sentinel-6B satellite into orbit 57 minutes after launch at an altitude of approximately 1,322 km above the Earth's surface.
The satellite weighing 1,440 kilograms) will now undergo a series of checks and then begin its scientific mission. The Sentinel-6B satellite is part of the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation program. The new satellite will measure the level of the world's oceans with high accuracy. According to scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA), monitoring the rise in the level of the Earth's oceans is high on the global agenda.
Over the past 25 years, the average level of the world ocean has risen by almost 10 cm, and this is a consequence of climate change. The Sentinel-6B satellite will monitor the oceans using a radar altimeter developed by ESA. The satellite is also equipped with a microwave radiometer provided by NASA, which will determine the moisture content in the atmosphere, which will allow more accurate interpretation of the altimeter results.
At the same time, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket successfully returned to the Vandenberg Air Force Base approximately 9 minutes after launch. This was the third flight of this first stage. On the previous two occasions, he participated in missions to launch Starlink satellites into orbit. We remind you that SpaceX has created a fully reusable Starship rocket. Today it is the largest and most powerful rocket ever created. The company SpaceX created it to help humanity reach the moon and Mars.
There have already been 11 Starship launches, the most recent of which was the most successful. Both Starship stages will be able to return back to Earth to be reused. As Focus already wrote, scientists determined the path of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS and discovered something incomprehensible. Astronomers have received more information about the trajectory of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS through the Solar System.