Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will inaugurate its West Coast launch pad with the first flight of an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Canadian Space Agency satellite.
The Hawthorne, Calif.-based company is preparing to launch its first Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base with the Cascade, SmallSat and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE) satellite.
The launch is targeted for September, although an exact date has yet to be set.
The Falcon 9 v1.1. features upgraded Merlin 1D engines and an innovative flyback first stage, which will see its first test on this flight, Space News [URL=http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/36960spacex-to-test-reusable-booster-technology-during-launch-of-canadian]reported[/URL], citing a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) commercial license for the launch.
"After stage separation, an experimental burn with three Falcon 9 first stage engines may be made to reduce the Stage 1 entry velocity just prior to entry, followed by a second experimental burn with one engine to impact the water with minimal velocity," the license reads.
The so-called "soft water landing" is a precursor to SpaceX's plans for a reusable Falcon 9 first stage capable of touching down vertically on land. The company has been testing the engines needed for such a system with its
Grasshopper vertical takeoff and landing vehicle.
The Canadian Space Agency's hybrid small satellite [URL=http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/satellites/cassiope.asp]CASSIOPE[/URL] will observe the ionosphere, collecting data about the effects of solar storms, and offer a "proof of concept" for a digital broadband courier service for commercial use.
The Falcon 9 will also carry five secondary payloads, including the Colorado Space Grant Consortium's Drag and Atmospheric Neutral Density Explorer (DANDE), Cornell University's CUSat nanosatellites and three Polar Orbiting Passive Atmospheric Calibration Sphere (POPACS) cubesats.