SpaceX plans record-breaking launch with 143 satellites
By (0)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, similar to the one shown that was launched in 2020, is packed with dozens of satellites for the Transporter-1 rideshare launch Saturday. File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo
A Lemur-2 satellite built by California-based Spire Global, like the one shown in processing by the European Space Agency during a recent mission, is on board the SpaceX Transporter-1 mission planned for launch Saturday. Photo courtesy of European Space Agency
A very small, nano-satellite like the one shown made by California-based Tyvak is on board SpaceX s planned Transporter-1 mission to launch from Florida on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Tyvak
Launch sends UGA’s first research satellite into space
October 2, 2020
The Antares rocket, which is carrying UGA’s first research satellite, launched at the Wallops Facility in Virginia. (Courtesy of NASA)
A student-led effort to get the University of Georgia’s first research satellite into space is finally a success. It took a few delays, but the small satellite SPOC, short for Spectral Ocean Color, had liftoff aboard an Antares rocket from the Wallops Facility in Virginia on Friday night, Oct. 2.
It docked with the International Space Station on Monday morning and will deploy in a few weeks.
“This is everything,” said Hollis Neel, a UGA graduate and co-founder of UGA’s Small Satellite Research Lab, who watched the launch virtually. “This was the goal that a bunch of us had years ago, which was to send something into space.”