SpaceX launches 21 satellites for the US military on a Falcon 9 rocket. These are part of the ‘Tranche 1’ project, which will provide a secure communication network to the troops.
World News: AAmerican space company SpaceX has successfully launched 21 new satellites for the US Army’s Space Development Agency (SDA). These satellites will become part of the army’s defense satellite network. They were launched via Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. These satellites are part of the ‘Tranche 1 Transport Layer’ (T1TL) project. The main objective of this project is to provide secure, encrypted and fast communication to American soldiers deployed in any corner of the world. These satellites will work in low Earth orbit and will connect with each other to form a network, through which data can be transferred rapidly.
The Tranche 1 transport layer project consists of a total of 126 satellites. With the launch of these 21 new satellites, 63 satellites have reached orbit so far. Earlier, the first phase satellites were launched through two Falcon 9 missions in September and October last year. These satellites have been made by companies like York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
This mission is a part of SDA’s ‘Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture’ (PWSA). The goal of this big project is to create a global military communication network by connecting hundreds of small satellites through optical links. SDA plans to further improve the technology of this network by launching new ‘tranches’ every two years.
Another major success of this Falcon 9 mission was the successful landing of its first stage booster. About eight and a half minutes after launch, the booster named B1103 landed safely on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ drone ship in the Pacific Ocean. This was the fourth mission of this booster. Earlier it has been used in NROL-179 mission and two Starlink launches. A few hours after this launch of Falcon 9, the 13th test of SpaceX’s huge Starship rocket was also scheduled. Because of this, the company was preparing to carry out two big space missions in a single day, on which the eyes of the whole world were fixed.