A flash of bright light over Palm Springs had social media buzzing Friday evening, but don't fret, it's not an alien attack.
All
indications are that the light is coming from the launch of the SpaceX
Falcon 9 rocket that took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Santa
Barbara.
Many in the desert took to Facebook and
Twitter to show images of the bright white light that illuminated the
clouds over the San Jacinto Mountains.
SpaceX
began tweeting around 5 p.m. about the launch, which was aired lived on
their website. Falcon 9 launched around 5:30 p.m., according to tweets
from the SpaceX Twitter account.
Around 5:45 p.m., the engine was cutoff and the stage separation was confirmed and the second stage engine burn was underway.
Less than 10 minutes after that, the second stage engines cutoff and the satellites are now in coast phase.
SpaceX’s
Falcon 9 rocket will deliver 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit for
Iridium, a company focused on data satellite communications, according
to a SpaceX press release.
This launch is the
fourth set of 10 satellites out of 75 total satelites that will form
Iridium’s “next generation global satellite constellation,” called
Iridium NEXT.
The satellites will be deployed from the rocket about an hour after the initial launch.
SpaceX will not attempt to recover Falcon 9’s first stage of the rocket after launch.
SpaceX
confirmed via their Twitter account that the launch was successful. Eva
Behrend, SpaceX spokeswoman, said the company would not be issuing any
other statements about the launch aside from what was posted on Twitter.
Iridium
NEXT plans to replace the world’s largest commercial satellite network
of low-Earth orbit satellites for a “tech upgrade.”
Iridium
is a communications company that hopes to deliver “fast speeds and
higher throughputs for…aviation, maritime, Internet of Things,
terrestrial and government organizations,” according to the press
release.
The
company hopes to improve aircraft tracking and surveillance systems.
When the full satellite system is completed, Iridium hopes that air
traffic control companies and aircraft operators will purchase the
service which will provide real-time, global visibility of aircrafts
that are equipped with automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast
technologies.
The webcast can be found at www.spacex.com/webcast.
According to the SpaceX Twitter account, the webcast will be back
around 6:15 p.m. for the second stage engine restart and deployment of
10 satellites.
Desert Sun reporter Nicole
Hayden covers the cities of La Quinta, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage and
Palm Desert. She can be reached at Nicole.Hayden@desertsun.com or (760)
778-4623. http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2017/12/22/mysterious-bright-light-over-palm-springs-spacex-rocket-launch/978466001/
1 comment:
If you live in So Cal and have a clue, they shoot these rockets off at least once a year. Pretty obvious stuff... I walked outside and knew right away what that was. Then I turned on the radio and they were acting like it was some alien craft. BS reporting fake news 101.
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