MinXSS-2 launched on 2018-12-04 at 18:34:00 UTC, just 2 days shy of the 3 year anniversary of the MinXSS-1 launch. As part of the Spaceflight Industries SSO-A SmallSat Express, MinXSS-2 was one of 64 satellites deployed into a sun synchronous orbit at 575 km altitude with a 10:30 AM local time of descending node. What all that means is that MinXSS-2 will have several years on orbit before decaying in the atmosphere and it will spend the same amount of time in the sun each orbit year round (about 60 minutes in the sun, and 34 minutes in eclipse behind the earth).
We are really excited for this new solar mission adding to the Heliophysics System Observatory fleet.
Photo credit: SpaceX