24 3.7-ton satellites 'crammed' inside SpaceX missiles

The engineers completed the arrangement of 24 satellites for the challenging third launch of the Falcon Heavy missiles.

SpaceX is preparing for the launch of the largest cargo volume of Falcon Heavy missiles , scheduled to take place at Kennedy Space Center, Florida State, USA, on June 24. The missile will send 24 satellites to the US Air Force Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) into orbit.

Center of Air Force Missile and Space System, the agency in charge of STP-2 program, posted 24 satellite images in the cargo compartment of Falcon Heavy."The 3.700kg heavy load block for STP-2 has been arranged. Observe before the Falcon Heavy launch missile for the first time to the Ministry of Defense," the center said.

The satellites are placed inside Falcon Heavy missiles.(Photo: Space).

This will be the third time SpaceX launcher Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful rocket, but is the first to carry multiple satellites at the same time. The first launch was an experiment that took place in February/2018 to bring the Tesla electric car and the Starman mannequin into space. In April this year, Falcon Heavy continued to put Arabsat-6A, a large satellite weighing 6.460kg on orbit. The first two missile launchers will be reused for the upcoming STP-2 mission.

The STP-2 satellite series is made by NASA, the Army, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, student groups from many universities. Among them is a satellite atomic model of NASA and satellites to test new fuel for spacecraft.

"This will be one of SpaceX's most challenging launch times with the burning of four separate upstairs engines, three separate deployment trajectories and a total of six hours of mission time ," SpaceX said. The ability to simultaneously transport multiple satellites and use old rocket launchers is an important milestone in this mission.

SpaceX regularly re-uses the first-floor launchers of Falcon 9 and Dragon missiles, cargo ships used to deliver NASA goods to the International Space Station (ISS). The company continues to develop technology to reuse rockets to reduce the cost of space travel.

Previously, SpaceX used to launch a lot of satellites simultaneously with Falcon missiles. The rocket used to send 64 small satellites in December 2018 and 60 Internet satellites to orbit this May.