Another secret classified mission!

Scheduled for (UTC) 2024-02-14, 17:30
Scheduled for (local) 2024-02-14, 17:30 (EST)
Mission Nova C (IM-1)
Launch site SLC-40, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA.
Booster B1078-7
Landing LZ-2
Payloads USSF-124 & SDA Tranche 0 Tracking Layer satellites
Customer United States Space Force
Mission success criteria Successful launch and delivery of payloads to desired orbit

Webcasts

Stream Link
Space Affairs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylSyq2N8k1s
NASASpaceflight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdpbgyWwVsY
Spaceflight Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua8IMYhon1I
The Launch Pad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOOyxkF6BY0
SpaceX https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1757890317888663999#m
The Space Devs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY3XVBLa7Uk

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:

☑️ 6th launch from SLC-40 this year

☑️ 6 days, 15:56:24 turnaround for this pad

☑️ 10th landing on LZ-2

☑️ 13th Falcon 9 launch this year, 299th Falcon 9 launch overall

☑️ 226th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (excluding Amos-6) (if successful)

☑️ 272st Falcon booster landing, 283st Falcon recovery attempt

☑️ 313th SpaceX mission overall (excluding Starship hops)

☑️ 324rd SpaceX launch overall (including Starship hops)


Mission info

USSF-124 is a classified mission for the United States Space Force. It consists of 2 satellites, one by L3Harris and the other by Northrop Grumman, to be launched as the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) mission for the US Missile Defense Agency. These satellites have improved sensitivity to detect and track hypersonic missiles with fainter signatures.

Four SDA Tranche 0 Tracking Layer missile warning satellites by L3Harris will be launched on USSF-124. These were scheduled to launch on SDA Tranche 0B but were taken off the manifest due to production delays.