NASA Taps SpaceX To Launch Satellite For Ocean-Monitoring Survey

NASA is set to partner with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) yet again for another project using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.

Tech Times reported that the partnership between these two exploration giants intends to conduct a survey on the Earth's waters. Launching NASA's satellite called Surface Water and Ocean Topography vehicle (SWOT) onto SpaceX's rocket from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, the first global survey, which is set for April 2021, will cover about 90 percent of the Earth's surface water.

The $112 million study will conduct observations on the planet's oceans, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, following a series of SpaceX and NASA collaborations involving the Jason-3 ocean-monitoring satellite in 2016 and NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite set for 2017.

SpaceX and NASA had previously signed a $3.1 billion contract in 2014 for a project focused on developing a capsule for astronauts to reach the International Space Station as well.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said that the company is happy to have been trusted and chosen by NASA to be its project partner.

"We're excited to carry this critical science payload into orbit for NASA, the nation, and the international community," Shotwell said in a statement, The Verge reported. "We appreciate NASA's partnership and confidence in SpaceX as a launch provider."

SpaceX's eager participation follows the explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket on its Florida launch pad in September. The accident caused the company to hold its rocket launches since then and is still under investigation.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed that the company will resume its activities in December, adding that a Falcon 9 rocket has already been shipped to the Vandenberg launch site for the upcoming project.

The company has been increasingly involved with various space projects in the past year. Rumor has it that SpaceX representatives are even under negotiations about visiting Mars in the near future.