SpaceX to launch an unrecognized satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral – SpaceFlight now
SpaceX is preparing to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with a mysterious payload for a customer avoiding advertising before launch.
The mission, called SpaceX as “commercial GTO-1”, should be launched at the start of a window from 3.5 hours to 1 h 04 HAE (0504 UTC) on Sunday, July 13.
SpaceFlight will now have a live blanket starting about an hour before takeoff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMH75RW8PIM
SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 Booster with the first step tail number B1083, which will fly for a 13th time. His previous missions included the NASA-8 crew, Polaris Dawn and the CRS-31.
About 8.5 minutes after takeoff, B1083 will target an landing on SpaceX droneship, “just read the instructions”. In case of success, it will be the 128th affected for this ship and the 474th Booster Landing to date.
Mystery Payload, Mystery Customer
The mission is hidden by a veil of secrecy not often applied by spacex commercial customers. Marine and air warnings accessible to the public confirm that this satellite is heading for a geostationary transfer orbit.
According to an article from Walla! Communications Ltd.a subsidiary of The Jerusalem post Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and certain publications based in the United States, the satellite is Dror 1, a satellite developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
The company announced the development of the satellite in January 2020 and said it had been designed to operate for 15 years. IAI said that the satellite would be developed by its systems, missiles and space group.
“We are delighted to move forward with Dror 1, the most advanced communication satellite ever built in Israel,” said Boaz Levy, executive vice-president and managing director of the SMS group. “It will include many advanced technologies created here in Israel and will contain very advanced digital capacities.
The DROR 1 satellite is designed to operate in geostationary land orbit, around 36,000 km at altitude. IAI said that its press release in January 2020 according to which the satellite was part of an Israeli strategy 2018 to establish an orbit communication system designed for its national interests.
“This government decision stems from understanding that the capacity for independence of communication is of critical national importance, as well as to allow the preservation of knowledge and expertise that has been accumulated by Israel in recent years,” wrote IAI.
According to an editorial staff of 2020 on the satellite in the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), a press agency focused on subjects concerning Israel and other Jews from around the world, the four -ton satellite offers a certain number of components of Israel and is designed to be in modular capacity, as a smartphone.
“This is an entirely digital satellite that can download applications. It can disseminate data from one antenna and receive another,” said Shlomi Sudri, director general of the IAI spatial division in JNS.
The satellite seems to be part of the IAIA Communications Satellite series. These are multi-band satellite buses that are in the class of 3 to 6 tonnes.
The last AMOS payload built by IAI to place at the top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Amos 6, was destroyed when an explosion occurred in the upper rocket stadium on September 1, 2016 before a planned static test fire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bgjexqkjn
Although rare, the commercial mission of GTO-1 is not the first time that SpaceX has requested by a customer to avoid disclosing details publicly. The launches for the National Recognition Office and the American Space Force are often held under Wraps, for reasons of national security.
In November 2024, SpaceX launched a mission simply called TD7. Regulatory deposits have called the “Optus-X” payload, which was connected to a company called Optus, a company connected to Singtel Australia Investment Ltd.
