SpaceX Set to Launch Transporter-16 Rideshare from Vandenberg with 119 Payloads
The mission spotlights a rideshare model that cuts launch costs to speed up new in‑space services.
Overview
- SpaceX plans to send the Transporter-16 rideshare to a Sun‑synchronous orbit from Vandenberg on Monday, carrying 119 commercial, academic, and government payloads.
- Falcon 9 will fly with booster B1093 on its 12th mission and target a landing on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific.
- The upper stage is slated for four burns with satellite deployments staged from about 55 minutes after liftoff through roughly two and a half hours.
- NASA-backed tests include new heat-shield tiles on Varda’s W‑6 reentry capsule, plus a TechEdSat23 CubeSat that will try an exo‑brake for rapid deorbit, a radiation sensor, and a mini NOAA data link radio.
- Momentus’ Vigoride‑7 orbital service vehicle will host 10 demos, including rendezvous and proximity operations and in‑space manufacturing, as aggregators Exolaunch and Seops coordinate dozens of international payloads in a program that has flown more than 1,600 satellites since 2020.