The SAOCOM constellation consists of the SAOCOM 1A and SAOCOM 1B L-band radar satellites.
SAOCOM 1A and SAOCOM 1B provide day-and-night observation capabilities in all weather conditions.
SAOCOM 1A was launched in 2018 and SAOCOM 1B was launched in 2020 from the United States on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that injected them into orbit.
Falcon 9’s first stage booster on the NROL-108 mission previously supported the SAOCOM 1B mission.
SpaceX launched the SAOCOM 1B radar imaging satellite for Argentina from Cape Canaveral in August, demonstrating feasibility of some polar launches from Florida.
The 2020-08-30 launch used a SpaceX Falcon 9 flying south just off the Florida coast to place SAOCOM 1B, an Argentine radar imaging satellite, into polar orbit.
The 2020-08-30 Falcon 9 launch to place SAOCOM 1B into polar orbit was completed without changing existing safety criteria.
Capella Space previously planned to launch Sequoia as a secondary payload on the Falcon 9 launch of Argentina’s SAOCOM 1B in March 2020.
SpaceX waited to launch Saocom-1B until after ULA’s Delta IV Heavy NROL-44 launch window but launched first when the ULA mission was delayed.
SpaceX’s usual fairing recovery ships were deployed to different locations for a scrubbed Starlink Falcon 9 mission, prompting sea recovery of the Saocom-1B fairings.
SpaceX completed a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral on 2020-08-30 that delivered Argentina’s Saocom-1B radar satellite and two smallsats into low Earth orbit.
SpaceX originally intended to launch Saocom-1B from Vandenberg Air Force Base but requested to launch it on a polar trajectory from Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX deployed the Saocom-1B synthetic aperture radar satellite approximately 14 minutes after liftoff on 2020-08-30.
SpaceX chose to launch SAOCOM 1B from Cape Canaveral because the payload processing for SAOCOM 1B was performed at the Cape.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch Argentina’s SAOCOM 1B satellite on 2020-08-28.
SAOCOM 1B is an Earth observation satellite designed to provide radar imagery.
SpaceX will launch SAOCOM 1B to a polar orbit using a southerly trajectory from Cape Canaveral.
A SpaceX launch of Argentina’s commercially procured SAOCOM 1B satellite was postponed in spring 2020 because of international travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Falcon 9 launch of Argentina’s SAOCOM 1B radar imaging satellite that had been scheduled for 2020-03-30 has been put on hold.
SpaceX’s next launch, the Argentine radar satellite SAOCOM 1B that had been scheduled for 2020-03-30, was postponed because of international travel restrictions for the customer linked to the coronavirus pandemic.