SpaceX plans to launch the second national security Falcon Heavy mission for the US Space Force on January 12 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The U.S. Space Systems Command said it plans to release details of the launch window 72 hours before the scheduled launch. The mission, called USSF-67, follows USSF-44, which launched into stationary Earth orbit on November 1 and is the first national security launch of Falcon Heavy.

An image released by SpaceX on January 7 showing three Falcon 9 cores from Falcon Heavy confirms that the company is preparing for the upcoming launch. “Falcon Heavy is in the hangar at Launch Complex 39A,” the company said on Twitter.

In August 2020, SpaceX won a $316 million contract to launch the USSF-67. The Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters, salvaged from USSF-44, will be reused for USSF-67. SpaceX will attempt to land both launch vehicles in Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral. The central core will not be restored. The mission will carry two payloads: the Continuous Broadcasting Development SATCOM (CBAS)-2 and the Long-Term Propulsion ESPA ring, a spacecraft capable of carrying up to six small satellites.

Space Systems Command describes the CBAS-2 as a military communications satellite that provides “communication transfer capabilities to support our senior leaders and combatant commanders by augmenting existing military satellite communications capabilities.” Specific abilities and features are classified. Boeing’s CBAS-1 was launched into orbital orbit in 2018 as part of the AFSPC-11 mission on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

Another payload, the LDPE-3A, will be the third launch of this version of the Northrop Grumman-designed ESPA ring. The first was launched in December 2021 as part of the Space Test Program’s STP-3 mission aboard Atlas 5. The second launch took place aboard the USSF-44. Space Systems Command said the LDPE-3A is built from ESPAStar, similar to the ESPA ring, but with added thrust, power and avionics to enable it to operate as a full-fledged satellite. “LDPE provides an affordable domain path for both hosted and reserved loads.”

Lieutenant Colonel Michael Rapp, head of the LDPE program at Space Systems Command, said on December 6 that the team “plans to launch two satellites 70 days apart, which is great for the program.”