SpaceX Falcon 9 Rideshare Cargo to Lift Off With 51 Starlink Satellites and Spaceflight Sherpa-LTC Space Tug

SpaceX Falcon 9 expects to launch additional Starlink internet satellites and the Spaceflight Sherpa-LTC space tug on Sunday. The planned launch time is set for 10:09 p.m. EDT. The U.S. Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron said there was an 80% chance of favorable weather for the launch opportunity.

Spaceflight Sherpa-LTC Space Tug Launch

According to a mission description from SpaceX, Sherpa-LTC will launch from the Falcon 9's upper stage 49.5 minutes after liftoff, and the Starlinks will follow suit around 23 minutes later. To accommodate rideshare cargo, the rocket will launch 51 flat-packed Starlink spacecraft, fewer than the usual number carried on a Starlink launch from Florida.

The Sherpa-LTC orbital transfer vehicle is chemically powered and it is the secondary passenger. It is mounted on the Starlink payload stack inside the payload fairing of the Falcon 9. The Sherpa-LTC is intended to transport small satellites and host experiments to various altitudes and inclinations following an initial launch from a powerful rocket.

The tug would convey a payload for Boeing's Varuna Technology Demonstration Mission (Varuna-TDM), according to SpaceNews. With this mission, 147 non-geostationary broadband satellites will be tested for V-band communications. A fuel leak forced SpaceX to postpone the launch of the first Sherpa-LTC orbital transfer vehicle in January 2022.

According to Boeing, the Varuna-TDM mission will give potential customers for the broadband satellite constellation the chance to assess the effectiveness of V-band communications lines and determine whether or not they are suitable for a certain application.

In conjunction with the Varuna tech demo mission, the Falcon 9 rocket will place the Sherpa-LTC transfer vehicle into a nearly circular orbit at an average altitude of about 192 miles (310 kilometers) above Earth. It has an inclination of 53.2 degrees to the equator.

According to Spaceflight Now, the Varuna tech demo mission will launch into a circular orbit around 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) above Earth using Spaceflight's solar-powered orbital transfer vehicle after performing a series of burns to get there. Astro Digital, which also provided the command and control system for the Sherpa-LTC orbital transfer vehicle, designed and constructed the Varuna tech demo payload.

Benchmark Space Systems created a bipropellant, green or non-toxic propulsion system for the Sherpa-LTC vehicle.