The launch is to happen from Firefly’s launch website (SLC-2) at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The goal of the mission, named Alpha Flight 2, is to ship satellites into low-Earth orbit. These embody payloads which are re-creations of the payloads which had been misplaced within the first launch try in September final yr.

The payloads included within the mission embody a three-unit CubeSat known as Serenity from the group Teachers in Space, which carries a collection of sensors and a digital camera pointed at Earth and is designed for academic functions. The NASA TechEdSat-15 is one other three-unit CubeSat which is a take a look at of an exo-brake gadget designed to make use of the drag of Earth’s environment to sluggish and direct satellites. And the PicoBus is a deployer that may ship eight tiny satellites, known as picosatellites, to check an open supply strategy to telecommunications constellations.

The intention is to deploy the payloads round one hour after liftoff. The Alpha rocket carrying the payloads is sort of 100 ft tall and is 71 inches in diameter, and is produced from a light-weight carbon fiber composite.