Official SpaceX Photos

Exolaunch launches 21 satellites into space with SpaceX Transporter-7

This Space News was published on Sun, 16.04.2023 – 14:21 CEST, covering Exolaunch

On April 15, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched four days late from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Transporter 7 mission launched 51 payloads into space. Exolaunch was responsible for the launch of 21 satellites on this mission.

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SpaceX Transporter-7 was a special mission in several ways. It was the first rideshare mission to launch from Vandenberg, California, USA. It was also the first Transporter mission to launch at night. In previous missions, the first stage (booster B1063) has carried the Michael Freilich Sentinel satellite into orbit, as well as NASA's DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft on its way to the double asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos. The second stage used a new nozzle variant of the Merlin vacuum engine for missions that do not require the full power of the Falcon 9.

International customers, versatile satellites

With this latest launch, Exolaunch has now successfully completed 19 missions. In total, the company with headquarters in Berlin (Germany), Nice (France) and Denver (USA) has launched approximately 290 satellites. Of these, 227 were CubeSats ranging in size from 0.25 to 16U and 62 were satellites with a mass of up to 200 kg. Now 16 CubeSats and 5 microsatellites with a total mass of 550 kg have been added. All satellites were placed in a Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at an altitude of approximately 500 km. Three Exolaunch products, CarboNIX, EXOpod Nova and Exoport, were used to separate the various satellites from the second stage.

Artist's rendering of payloads on the second stage of the SpaceX Transporter-7, © Exolaunch
© Exolaunch

The customers of this rideshare mission are from Asia, the Americas and Europe. Their satellites will be used for Earth observation, maritime surveillance, ADS-B tracking, Internet of Things (IoT) and technology demonstration.

#SatelliteSizeOrigin
1FACSAT-26UColombia
2TAIFA-13UKenya
3NORSAT-TDMicroNorway
4PLEIADES-YEARLING1UUSA
5SAPLING GIGANTEUM1UUSA
6SSS-2B3UTürkiye
7ROSEYCUBESAT-11UNetherlands
8INSPIRE-SAT 72UNetherlands
92B5GSAT6U XLSpain
10FINDUSADLER-26UUSA
11GNSS-46UUSA
12KAUST6USaudi-Arabia
13DEWASAT-26UVAE
14LS2f3UVAE
15BRO-96UFrance
16CONNECTA-T2.16UTürkiye
17ORBASTRO-AF-16UUK
18NEWSAT-36MicroArgentina
19NEWSAT-37MicroArgentina
20NEWSAT-38MicroArgentina
21NEWSAT-39MicroArgentina
Excerpt from the Mission Manifesto of Exolaunch

The next Rideshare Transporter-8 mission is currently scheduled for June 2023. An exact date has not yet been determined.

Header Image Credit: Official SpaceX Photos
Written by M. Weissflog

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