SpaceX Falcon Heavy is launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on January 15th, 2023 with the USSF-67 classified mission (photo courtesy Dan Cooper).
SpaceX Falcon Heavy is launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on January 15th, 2023 with the USSF-67 classified mission (photo courtesy Dan Cooper).SpaceX Falcon Heavy is launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on January 15th, 2023 with the USSF-67 classified mission (photo courtesy Dan Cooper).
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy is launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on January 15th 2023 with a classified mission for the U.S. Space Force. The primary satellite on USSF-67 is Continuous Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM 2 (CBAS-2), which is headed to geostationary orbit, about 22,200 miles (35,700 kilometers) above Earth.
CBAS-2 will provide communications relay capabilities in support of Military senior leaders and combatant commanders. The mission of CBAS-2 is to augment existing military satellite communication capabilities and continuously broadcast military data through space-based satellite relay links.
The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, one of the eight U.S. uniformed services and the world’s only independent space force. Along with its sister branch, the U.S. Air Force, the Space Force is part of the Department of the Air Force, one of the three civilian-led military departments within the Department of Defense (DoD). The Space Force, through the Department of the Air Force, is overseen by the secretary of the Air Force, a civilian political appointee who reports to the secretary of defense and is appointed by the president with Senate confirmation.
The USSF is the smallest U.S. armed service, consisting of 8,400 military personnel, operating 77 spacecraft in total across various programs such as GPS, Space Fence, military satellite communications constellations, X-37B spaceplanes, U.S. missile warning system, U.S. space surveillance network and the Satellite Control Network. The Space Force has locations in Colorado, Florida and California, USA.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy
When the SpaceX Falcon Heavy lifted off in late 2016, it was the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit over 54 metric tons (119,000 lbs), a mass equivalent to a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel. Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost.
Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9. Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payloads to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars.