SpaceX launched EROS C3, a private Israeli satellite. About informs space news.
The Falcon 9 rocket took off from Vandenberg Space Center in California at 2:38 am local time. Making its 11th flight, the first stage of the rocket landed on the launch pad eight minutes after takeoff.
The payload left the upper stage 15 minutes after launch. The satellite was launched at an altitude of about 500 kilometers in an unusual moderately inclined retrograde orbit, instead of the sun-synchronous orbit commonly used by spacecraft for photography.
The EROS C3 satellite was built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for ImageSat International, a private imaging company. The 400-kilogram device based on the IAI OPTSAT-3000 bus is designed to obtain images of the earth’s surface with a resolution of 30 centimeters. The project cost the company $186 million, including the space satellite, launch and insurance.
SpaceX broke its own record among private companies with a total of 61 launches per year. Of these, 60 were used on the Falcon 9 rocket and one on the Falcon Heavy. All went well. About half of these launches are related to the Starlink satellite internet project, which requires thousands of satellites.