SpaceX Jason-3 Mission is set to launch from Vandenberg AFB at 1:42pm EST (10:42am local time)

The Jason-3 Mission launch is targeted for a 10:42am PT launch from Space Launch Complex 4E at the Vandenberg AFB in California. This mission will use the last of the "pre-upgrade" SpaceX Falcon 9.1 rockets.

The mission is to deliver the Jason-3 satellite to LEO. Jason-3 is a combined effort of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration ), CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales - the French space agency), and EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites).

The usual secondary objective pf landing the Falcon 9 first stage will be attempted, with the target being the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions”. Following SpaceX's first successful landing last month at their new, solid-ground landing site, the chances for success seem high. However, the challenge of landing on a floating platform, coupled with the fact that last month's mission used an upgraded version of the Falcon 9, means that the likelihood of success is lower than it will be for upcoming missions.

SpaceX mission to launch the NOAA Jason-3 satellite scheduled to launch January 17th from Vandenberg

SpaceX has scheduled the NOAA Jason-3 satellite launch for January 17th at 10:42:18 a.m. PST from   SLC-4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.  Initially scheduled for March 31, 2015 the mission also missed a tentative launch date of July 22nd, and NOAA had then hoped it would make it into space on August 8.  Failure of the CRS-7 rocket scrubbed that target date, as well as a December fall back date.

The Jason-3 satellite will help NOAA monitor ocean levels, and provide data to help with hurricane intensity forecasting, surface wave forecasting for offshore operators, forecasting tides and currents for commercial shipping and ship routing, coastal forecasting for response to environmental problems like oil spills and harmful algal blooms, coastal modeling crucial for marine mammal and coral reef research, and El Niño and La Niña forecasting.

This will be the last Falcon 9.1 configuration flight, with all future missions (as well as the ORBCOMM OG2 mission this scheduled for this Sunday) using the upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, which  seems to only be called the "full thrust" Falcon 9 for now.   I would imagine a new designation, 9.2 or 9.1a or something completely different, will be announced in the near future.  

SpaceX "coming attractions" - what's next? [Updated]

The next mission kicks off in just 10 days, followed by a packed launch manifest for the remainder of the year and beyond.  Here is the schedule as it stands now.

April 27th [Updated]

TürkmenÄlem, the first telecommunications satellite for Turkmenistan

May TBD

Dragon V2 (manned spacecraft) pad abort test - while not actually a "flight" is worth noting (NASA)

June TBD

Second launch of Orbcomm satellites to complete the OG2 constellation

June 19

ISS resupply mission CRS-7 (NASA)

July TBD

SES-9 geo-transfer orbit (GTO) mission, with the SES-9 spacecraft joining the previously launched SES-8 in geosynchronous orbit

July 22

Jason 3 Earth observation satellite for monitoring and measuring the world’s oceans (NOAA)

Sept 2

ISS resupply mission CRS-8, Bigelow Aerospace's Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) - an expandable (as in inflatable) compartment (NASA)

Sept TBD

The second dual-GTO mission for the Eutelsat 117W B and ABS-2A satellites

Dec 9

ISS resupply mission CRS-9 (NASA)

Mar TBD (2016)

Falcon Heavy Test Flight!

TBD

AMOS-6 satellite
JCSat 14 satellite
SAOCOM 1A and 1B Earth observation satellites (separate launches).

SpaceX Launch Tonight - DSCOVER Mission

First, my apologies for not having any posts in a while.  Hopefully I'll be back to a regular posting schedule going forward.

SpaceX will (hopefully) launch the DSCOVR mission this evening at 6:03 PM EST.  This will be the third launch window, the first two attempts being scrubbed for technical and then weather reasons.

This mission represents another milestone for SpaceX: it's first deep space mission.  The mission will attempt to place the DSCOVR satellite into the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrangian point - a point where the gravitational forces of the Sun and Earth are equalized, allowing a satellite to maintain its position with minimal effort.  Why this is a big deal for SpaceX is that the Sun-Earth L1 is 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth.  That's four times farther than the Moon, and over 40 times farther than any previous SpaceX mission.  While the satellite will be deployed 35 minutes after launch, it will take 110 days for it to arrive at its destination.

I haven't found any information about  plans to recover the Falcon 9 rocket.  SpaceX stated that they would be working towards a soft landing of the first stage on each mission, but the past SpaceX mission to geostationary orbit required so much fuel that an attempt wasn'
t possible, and it seems that would also be the situation with this launch.

Links:
The official SpaceX press kit
Watch live on Livestream starting at 5:45 PM EST.