NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

SkySat 8 to 13 & Flock-3m 1 to 4

Launch Time
Tue Oct 31, 2017 21:37 UTC

Rocket

Minotaur C (Taurus)
Image Credit: Northrop Grumman
Northrop
Status: Active
Price: $45.0 million
Liftoff Thrust: 1,607 kN
Payload to LEO: 1,458 kg
Stages: 4
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 27.9 m
Fairing Diameter: 2.34 m

Mission Details

SkySat 8 to 13

SkySat-3 to 21 (SkySat C1 to C19) are commercial Earth observation satellites by Skybox Imaging, licensed to collect high resolution panchromatic and multispectral images of the earth. The satellites operate in a polar inclined, circular orbit at approximately 450 km above the earth.

Skybox becomes only the fifth organization licensed to provide high resolution space-based imagery of Earth.

Payloads: 6
Total Mass: 720.0 kg
Sun-Synchronous Orbit

Flock-3m 1 to 4

The Flock earth observing constellation built and operated by Planet Labs (formerly Cosmogia Inc.) consists of numerous triple CubeSats. The Flock-1 and Flock-1b constellations consist of each 28 satellites in medium inclination orbits. The Flock-1c constellation features 11 satellites in longer lived polar orbits.

The majority of the satellites featured a standard RGB imaging system, but five satellites were fitted with experimental systems working in different optical spectral bands.

Payloads: 4
Total Mass: 20.0 kg
Sun-Synchronous Orbit

Location

SLC-576E, Vandenberg SFB, California, USA

Stats

2017

72nd orbital launch attempt

Minotaur C (Taurus)

10th mission
1st mission of 2017
7th successful mission
1st consecutive successful mission