SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches CAS500-2 and 45 Rideshare Payloads

Key facts

• SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on May 3.
• The primary payload was CAS500-2, a 500-kilogram imaging satellite developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).
• Indian startup GalaxEye launched Mission Drishti, which is the world's first "OptoSAR" satellite combining an optical imager and a synthetic aperture radar.
• The mission carried seven Hawk for Earth Observation (HEO) satellites built by Argotec for the IRIDE constellation, which has received over 1 billion euros in investment from the Italian government.
• Other secondary payloads included three Pelican satellites by Planet, six imaging satellites by EarthDaily, two SAR satellites by Iceye, one BRO-21 satellite by Unseenlabs, two satellites by Lynk Global, and one Jackal spacecraft by True Anomaly.