Updated Dec. 28, 8 p.m. EST (0100 UTC): SpaceX has announced further delays. No new launch date set.
Updated Dec 27, 8:56 pm EST (0156 UTC): SpaceX canceled the launch on Sunday, Saturday, December 28 due to ground problems.
SpaceX delayed its final planned Falcon 9 flight of the year for the second night in a row due to launch pad problems at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
“Today’s launch of the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation mission has been postponed to allow more time to perform ground system checkout,” SpaceX said in a social media post. “A new target launch date will be shared once confirmed.”
FAA flight restrictions indicate the launch was pushed back to at least Tuesday evening. The originally planned Saturday night liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4E was canceled due to a hydraulic problem with the launch pad’s hold-down clamp.
The Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation Flight Model 3 (CSG-FM3) satellite, located in the rocket’s payload fairing, is an Earth observation satellite that serves dual purposes for the civil and military sectors of the Italian government.
Spaceflight Now’s live coverage will begin approximately 30 minutes before liftoff.
SpaceX will launch the mission on Falcon 9 booster tail number, 1081. This will be its 21st flight for NASA after launching missions including Crew-7, Pace and Tracer.
About 8.5 minutes after takeoff, B1081 will aim for a touchdown at Landing Zone 4. If successful, it would be the 31st landing at that site overall and the 554th Falcon booster landing ever.
The CSG-FM3 satellite will be deployed approximately 17 minutes after liftoff from the launch pad.
CSG-FM3 is the third in this series of Earth observation satellites managed by both the Italian Space Agency and the Ministry of Defense.
The first of these satellites was launched in January 2021 on a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana and the second was launched a year later on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
A total of four satellites, built by Thales Alenia Space, are planned for the constellation.
Designed to meet the needs of both commercial and institutional customers, the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation dual-use system is a crown jewel @thales_alenia_s fleet of #radar Observation satellite. Check out this amazing 📹 for more details. @ASI_spazio @MinisteroDefesa pic.twitter.com/rZ9zAymSBl
– Thales Alenia Space (@Thales_Alenia_S) 15 December 2020
The spacecraft are equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that operates in the X-band, which can penetrate clouds and capture imagery in darkness. They operate in a sun-synchronous polar orbit inclined 97.87 degrees to the equator. The satellite’s data is made publicly available through the Third Party Mission Program of the European Space Agency (ESA).
“Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation aims to monitor the Earth for emergency prevention, strategy, scientific and commercial purposes, providing data at a global scale to support a variety of applications, including risk management, cartography, forest and environmental protection, natural resources exploration, land management, defense and security, marine monitoring, food and agricultural management,” ESA said in a statement.
