Of the more than 100 satellites launched on SpaceX's Transporter-9 mission, three were unsuccessfully released, and their current whereabouts are unknown.
Space transport company Momentus recently announced that three of the five satellites they launched on Nov. 11 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket may not have been released from the rocket's upper stage. Momentus delivered 5 payloads to 4 different customers and confirmed the release of 2 satellites, Hello Test 1 and 2, which were supplied to the Turkish company Hello Space. The other three satellites were most likely unsuccessful. The three missing satellites were AMAN-1 (Poland's SatRev Earth observation satellite), JinjuSat-1 (South Korea's Contecv Earth observation satellite) and Picacho (Tucson's communications prototype satellite Lunasonde).
After Lunasonde received initial telemetry data from Picacho, they thought their satellite had successfully entered orbit and things seemed to be going well.
"Although the telemetry signals are relatively weak, given their characteristics and without knowing whether there were anomalies during the release, Lunasonde believes that the signals came from Picacho," the company wrote in an emailed statement. Lunasonde speculates that the only way these signals are sent is through the deployment of the antenna. "Now, the company is working to find and communicate with the lost satellite.
In a statement, Lunasonde's chief executive Jeremiah Pate said: "To the best of our knowledge, a situation like this, with no clear indication of what is happening, is unprecedented. Therefore, we believe that the right thing to do is to assume that the satellite is in orbit and it is our responsibility to try to find it. ”
The prototype satellite was originally intended to launch a group of tiny satellites that use low-frequency radar to map information such as mineral resources below the Earth's surface.
For the latest Transporter mission, Momentus used a satellite releaser from an undisclosed third party instead of their own Vigoride tugboat, as these satellites do not require additional maneuverability. The company is conducting an ongoing investigation into the release of small satellites.
Transporter-9 carries 113 payloads, 90 of which are released directly from the Falcon 9 rocket, and the rest of the satellites are released from orbital transfers.