The first SpaceX launch of the new year is set for Vandenberg Air Force base one week after the company blasted into the national spotlight with the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy—the most powerful actively used rocket on the market—from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 6.
While the launch will only feature the diminutive by comparison Falcon 9—the standard rocket for SpaceX launches at Vandenberg—the event will mark the company’s first West Coast launch of 2018.
“Each launch marks the culmination of hard work and dedication of Team V,” 30th Space Wing Vice Commander Col. Greg Wood said in a statement. “We are excited to support this mission as we continue to provide safe, secure access to polar orbit.”
The Falcon 9 rocket is currently scheduled for a 6:17 a.m. launch time on Saturday, Feb. 17. It will carry a PAZ satellite for Hisdesat Strategic Services of Madrid, Spain. The satellite features “a radar imaging payload to collect views of Earth for government and commercial customers, along with ship tracking and weather services,” base officials said in a statement, adding that “multiple smaller secondary loads will also launch on the Falcon 9 rocket.”
According to the Hisdesat’s website, the company was “born in 2001 as an operator of satellite government services to act fundamentally in the areas of defense, security, intelligence, and foreign affairs.” Since 2005 the company has “produced secure satellite communications services to government agencies in different countries” and worked toward “developing new constellations of Earth observation satellites and maritime satellite traffic information,” according to the company.
Representatives from Space X’s press office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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This article appears in Feb 15-22, 2018.