SpaceX is targeting a Monday morning launch of its Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with a one-hour window opening at 6:30 a.m. ET.
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Space Launch Complex 40. Because the launch is planned near dawn, it could create the so-called jellyfish effect: an expanding rocket exhaust plume that can appear as a glowing, jellyfish-shaped cloud. A similar effect was seen during the CRS SpX-35 mission on a recent Tuesday morning, according to Spectrum News 13.
The mission is coordinated by German launch-services company Exolaunch and is set to carry 23 small satellites for multiple companies. Among them are ICEYE synthetic aperture radar satellites, designed to capture high-resolution images of Earth’s surface through clouds, fog and smoke, and Planet iQ’s GNOMES-11 satellites for weather forecasting, space weather and other client applications.
The Falcon 9 first-stage booster, B1085, is expected to make its 19th flight. Its prior missions include two crewed flights, a lunar mission and 10 Starlink launches. SpaceX expects the booster to land on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
Exolaunch said coordinating a rideshare mission requires managing separate spacecraft interfaces, testing requirements, logistics and regulatory considerations, as well as making sure every satellite is released in the planned system and sequence.
