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SpaceX is poised to launch a multitude of satellites into orbit from California today (Jan. 14).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 131 diverse payloads is anticipated to take off on the company’s Transporter 12 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base today, during a 27-minute window commencing at 1:49 p.m. EST (1849 GMT; 10:49 a.m. local California time).
That is a significant quantity, though it does not establish a record for the most payloads launched in a single ascent. The record stands at 143, a milestone achieved by SpaceX in January 2021 during the Transporter 1 mission.
The company will broadcast today’s launch live via X, starting approximately 10 minutes before the rocket’s liftoff.
Related: SpaceX launches 116 satellites on remarkable Transporter 11 rideshare mission, successfully lands rocket (video)
As indicated by its name, Transporter 12 marks the 12th operation in SpaceX’s Transporter series, which delivers satellites from various clients into orbit on a single rocket.
Out of the 131 payloads launching today, thirty-seven belong to the San Francisco-based firm Planet, which oversees three constellations of Earth-monitoring satellites. Of the 37 Planet satellites, 36 are “SuperDove” cubesats, compact devices that capture images with a resolution of approximately 10 feet (3 meters) per pixel. The remaining one is Pelican-2, which has a resolution roughly 7.5 times more detailed than that.
“Additionally, Planet has partnered with NVIDIA to equip Pelican-2 with the NVIDIA Jetson platform for edge AI and robotics to enhance on-orbit computing — aiming to significantly decrease the time between data acquisition and its availability for clients,” Planet stated in a December 2024 press release.
“Pelican-2 is engineered to swiftly transform precise spatial information into near-real-time insights using AI-powered techniques for applications including object detection, classification of vegetation and crop types, and disaster management,” the company elaborated.
The payloads for Transporter 12 will be deployed into low Earth orbit from the Falcon 9’s upper stage over an approximate 90-minute timeframe starting around 54 minutes after the launch. The rocket’s first stage is expected to return to land at Vandenberg about 7.5 minutes following liftoff.
This will mark the second launch for this specific booster, which also supported the NROL-126 mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office on November 30 of last year, as noted in the Transporter 12 mission briefing.
SpaceX has conducted a total of 13 rideshare missions to date — comprising 11 Transporter missions and two under a separate initiative known as Bandwagon. Collectively, these operations have deployed around 1,100 payloads for over 130 distinct customers, in accordance with the Transporter 12 overview.
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