spacetoday.net: SpaceX launches Transporter-10 rideshare mission

Posted: Sun, Mar 10, 2024, 9:15 AM ET (1315 GMT)
SpaceX launched its tenth Transporter rideshare mission Monday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 5:05 pm EST (2205 GMT) and deployed 53 satellites over the next two and a half hours. The Transpoter-10 mission included a mix of returning customers, such as Iceye, Satellogic and Spire, as well as companies like Atomos Space, Quantum Space and True Anomaly that were launching their first satellites. The Transporter missions remain popular because of their low prices, although at a conference last week space situational awareness companies say such missions pose challenges because of the large number of satellites from different operators all launched at once. It can take weeks to identify all of the satellites launched on each mission, making it difficult for operators to identify their own satellites and creating space safety hazards.