Pegasus XL rocket launches secretive ‘space domain awareness’ satellite for US Space Force
A Northrop Grumman rocket successfully launched a secretive Space Force satellite for “space domain awareness” — or detecting artificial objects in orbit — on Sunday (June 13) in a rapid response mission for the U.S. military.
A Northrop Grumman L-1011 carrier aircraft took off from the newly renamed Vandenberg Space Force Base and flew out over the Pacific Ocean, where it launched the a solid fuel Pegasus XL rocket carrying the new satellite at 4:11 a.m. EDT (1:11 a.m. PDT/0811 GMT). Vandenberg officials confirmed the success of the launch in a Facebook statement.
The mission is called Tactically Responsive Launch-2 (TacRL-2) and is part of a program acknowledged by Air Force from at least 2019. In its biennial report of that year, Air Force stated its rocket systems launch program is “developing a tactically responsive launch capability” through awarding Pegasus XL rocket launches to Northrop Grumman.
