Vandenberg Space Force Base, United States - March 15, 2025 A SpaceX Falcon 9 roared into the sky at 2:43 a.m. Eastern on March 15, hauling over 70 payloads in its Transporter-13 rideshare mission. This launch, the second of three SpaceX pulled off in just over 12 hours, came hot on the heels of the Crew-10 mission from Kennedy Space Center and before a Starlink satellites launch from Cape Canaveral. Talk about a busy night for Elon Musk’s space juggernaut! The rocket carried 74 payloads, including satellites and hosted gear, with 47 deployments planned over 90 minutes. Among them were seven Lemur satellites from Spire and four synthetic aperture radar beauties from Iceye, one boasting a beefy “Gen4” upgrade with a double-sized antenna and twice the juice. Varda Space Industries chipped in with its third W-3 capsule, set to land in Australia after testing kit for the U.S. Air Force. Newbies joined the party too. Albedo’s Clarity-1 promises pin-sharp 10cm-resolution imagery from low orbit, while Startical’s IOD-1 kicks off a constellation for aircraft chatter over remote regions. MuonSpace’s FireSat Protoflight also hitched a ride, eyeing wildfires from above. NASA wasn’t left out, launching its EZIE mission with three cubesats to map aurora-linked currents. “EZIE will help us understand how these currents form,” said NASA’s Larry Kepko. SpaceX’s rideshare gigs, like Transporter and Bandwagon, are a hit with satellite makers but a headache for rival small launch firms. “Cost is an issue because SpaceX has slashed prices,” moaned Stella Guillen of Isar Aerospace at Satellite 2025. Avio’s Marino Fragnito griped, “At $6,000 per kilogram, they’re losing money. Nobody can compete!” Still, Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck reckons dedicated launches will win out for constellation builders wanting control. Yet, with regulars like Iceye and Spire riding Transporter-13, SpaceX’s grip seems tight.