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Satellite signatures of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from California

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-18 images of ABI spectral bands 01-16 and a Rocket Plume RGB, from 0033-0048 UTC on 10 February [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) images from all 16 of the ABI spectral bands in addition to a Rocket Plume RGB (above) displayed signatures of a SpaceX Starlink Mission Falcon 9 rocket that was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California at 0034 UTC on 10 February or 4:34 PM Pacific Time on 09 February 2024. A warm thermal signature of the Stage 1 rocket booster was evident in images from most of the Near-Infrared and Infrared spectral bands (Bands 04-16) and the RGB imagery as it quickly moved east-southeastward from the launch site — and either a somewhat bright reflectance signature or a relatively cool thermal signature of the Stage 1 rocket booster condensation cloud was seen in most of the spectral bands as it drifted slowly southward.

In a toggle between Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images from GOES-16 (GOES-East) and GOES-18 (GOES-West) at 0036 UTC, both remapped to a common projection (below) note the large offset in apparent location of the Falcon 9 vapor trail — this is due parallax, which was significant due to (1) the altitude of the rocket’s vapor plume at that time, which was around 45 km and (2) the difference between satellite viewing angle magnitude (62.34 degrees for GOES-16 vs. 43.82 degrees for GOES-18) and direction.

Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images from GOES-16 and GOES-18, at 0036 UTC on 10 February [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-16, GOES-18, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Rocket signatures