08/31/2020 - 17:54
Clarín.com
Society
The Space X rocket that put the Argentine satellite
Saocom 1B
into orbit
surprised and in some cases alarmed the inhabitants of Central American countries.
Shortly after takeoff from Cape Canaveral, in the United States, photos and videos began to go viral on social networks with the question of
what was the "strange object"
that left a trail in the sky: many
confused it with a UFO.
"Unidentified flying object seen tonight in the Dominican Republic," posted a Twitter user.
And another person from the same country asked: "Some expert
tell me what the hell this is
, what happened now through Villa Mella", in the city of Santo Domingo.
People from Puerto Rico wondered the same thing.
The concern was reflected by different journalistic media in the region.
Finally the Diario Libre, of Santo Domingo, revealed the mystery.
One of the posts on Twitter about the "unidentified flying object" in the Caribbean sky.
"The Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC) reported this Sunday night that it was a Space X rocket that was launched into space, the strange object that some Dominicans reported that they sighted in the sky at dusk," he said on his page Web.
"He said that the rocket was launched into space around 7.18 am and that it took off from Florida, in the United States," the online note continued. "It took off in a southerly direction to achieve a polar orbit and locate an Argentine satellite ) in the space".
The same newspaper told why the rocket was sighted from that area: "The SAC explained that the satellite needed to be launched towards the South, and
because it was getting dark
(the Sun was setting in the West), the time and conditions of the launch
they favored observers in the Caribbean
, as happened in the Dominican Republic. "
Saocom 1B is the most advanced Argentine satellite in space.
Twin of 1A, put into orbit in 2018, it will survey soil moisture and monitor crops, among other parameters.
It will be
key for agriculture
and to anticipate natural catastrophes.
It was launched by a reusable Falcon 9 rocket from the Space X company, owned by Elon Musk.
Once it deploys all its instruments and reaches its final orbit, within approximately two and a half months, it will position itself
620 kilometers from Earth
and travel at 27,500 km / h, which will allow it to make
a complete revolution of the planet every 98 minutes.
The operation goes through
a first successful stage
.
The satellite had a first contact with a monitoring station located in the Peruvian city of Lima and from that moment the data began to be collected by the Mission Control Center of the National Commission for Space Activities (Conae), located
in Córdoba.
Launch of the Argentine satellite Saocom 1B from Cape Canaveral, in the USA Photo DPA
LP