Scheduled for (UTC) 2026-01-03, 02:09:16
Scheduled for (local) 2026-01-02, 18:09:16 (PST)
Launch site SLC-4E Vandenberg SFB, California, USA
Booster B1081-21
Landing LZ-4
Payload CSG-3
Customer Italian Space Agency (ASI)
Mission success criteria Successful delivery of payload to SSO

Webcasts

Stream Link
Space Affairs https://youtube.com/watch?v=Jl2UBK2Q7hc
Spaceflight Now https://youtube.com/watch?v=6_0BDH2QK7M
NASASpaceflight
The Launch Pad https://youtube.com/watch?v=v42tZKmJE_Q (scrub)
SpaceX
The Space Devs

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:

☑️ 1st launch from SLC-4E this year

☑️ 16 days, 10:41:26 turnaround for this pad

☑️ 31 days, 20:40:56 turnaround for B1081

☑️ 31st landing on LZ-4

☑️ 560th Falcon Family Booster landing, 571st Falcon recovery attempt

☑️ 1st Falcon 9 mission this year, 584th overall

☑️ 1st SpaceX mission this year, 611th overall (excluding Starship test flights)

☑️ 1st SpaceX launch this year, 620th overall (including Starship test flights)

Mission info

COSMO-SkyMed second generation (Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin observation) or CSG is an Earth observation program of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to replace the first generation COSMO-SkyMed system.

For the second generation, the COSMO-SkyMed constellation has been reduced from four to two spacecraft. The satellites are improved versions of the original design. They utilize an improved version of the Prima Bus. The CSG-SAR (COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation Synthetic Aperture Radar) is also an improved version of the first-generation X-band SAR system. The contract was signed in September 2015.

The satellites will operate in the same circular sun-synchronous dawn-dusk orbit as the first-generation satellites with a nominal altitude of 619 km and an inclination of 97.86º. The satellites operate in the same orbital plane.