How to watch SpaceX launch a German radar satellite this morning

By Georgina Torbet June 18, 2022

This morning, SpaceX will be launching a German radar satellite using one of its Falcon 9 rockets. The company will be livestreaming the launch, so you can watch along at home, and we’ve got all the details on how to watch below.

Contents

What to expect from the launch
How to watch the launch

SARah-1 Mission

What to expect from the launch

SpaceX

The launch is scheduled for 10:19 a.m. ET (7:19 a.m. PT) on Saturday, June 18, to take place from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The weather is looking clear for the region this morning, so the likelihood is high that the launch will go ahead. But if there are weather issues, there is another opportunity for launch on Monday, June 20.

The Falcon 9 rocket will carry a satellite called SARah-1 into orbit. The satellite was built by German company Airbus for the German military as part of the SARah system. The system, a replacement for the current SAR-Lupe system, will consist of three radar satellites and a ground segment, with the other satellites to launch later. The radar satellites are for observing the Earth from space and generating satellite imagery.

“The radar instrument developed and built by Airbus features a sophisticated active phased array antenna and represents a further development of the Airbus-built TerraSAR, TanDEM-X and PAZ Earth observation satellites already successfully operating in orbit,” Airbus writes. “This technology offers the advantages of very fast pointing and very flexible shaping of the antenna beam to deliver imagery in record time.”

How to watch the launch

The launch will be livestreamed, as is typical for SpaceX launches. The livestream will include final preparations before liftoff, liftoff itself, the separation of the first and second stages, and the landing of the first stage booster. This particular booster has been used before on two missions, the NROL-87 and NROL-85 missions.

Coverage will begin around 10 minutes before liftoff, at just after 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT). You can watch either by heading to SpaceX’s YouTube channel or by using the video embedded at the top of this page.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Georgina Torbet

Space Writer

Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…

Space

SpaceX Falcon 9 booster equals flight record, but does not land this time

A Falcon 9 booster launches for a record-equalling 20th time.

A Falcon 9 booster launches for a record-equaling 20th time. SpaceX

SpaceX flew a first-stage Falcon 9 booster for the 20th time on Saturday, equaling a record set by another Falcon 9 booster earlier this month.

Space

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket just completed a milestone mission

A Falcon 9 achieves SpaceX's 300th booster landing.

SpaceX has been launching and landing rockets since 2015, though some of those early touchdowns didn't go as planned and ended in a ball of flames.

These days, the landing process has been pretty much perfected, and on Tuesday evening, the spaceflight company achieved its 300th successful first-stage touchdown. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk congratulated his team for achieving the feat.

Space

SpaceX slow-motion video shows powerful Raptor rocket engine shutting down

SpaceX testing a Raptor engine.

SpaceX has shared dramatic slow-motion footage showing a Raptor engine powering down at the end of a recent test fire.

“Shutdown of a Raptor vacuum engine in slow motion,” SpaceX said in a message accompanying the video (below). It added that the engine’s nozzle "is sized for use by Starship in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and outer space, so operation at sea level and low chamber pressures results in flow separation creating visible rings in the exhaust."