SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with two O3b internet satellites

Watch a live rebroadcast of the countdown and launch of the Falcon 9 rocket with two O3b mPOWER internet satellites on Friday, April 28. SpaceX also attempted to launch the Falcon Heavy later in the evening, but the countdown was canceled at the last minute before liftoff. Follow us Twitter.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off with a pair of O3b internet satellites for SES Friday night from Cape Canaveral Space Station, but a last-minute abort of the Falcon Heavy mission late in the evening prevented the company from launching the rocket. two heads.

The launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Platform 40 at Cape Canaveral at 6:12 p.m. EDT (2212 UTC) sent the second pair of Boeing-built satellites into space for SES’s O3b mPOWER network, a constellation of orbital Internet platforms for companies Telecommunications. . . and mobile communications services.

Three and a half miles to the north, SpaceX is preparing its Falcon Heavy rocket — made by combining three Falcon 9 first-stage boosters — for a flight into a high-altitude orbit more than 20,000 miles (about 35,000 kilometers) above the equator. The Viasat 3 Americas Wide Band satellite, also made by Boeing.

Forecasters predicted unfavorable weather Friday night for both launches, but SpaceX took advantage of a favorable trend in weather conditions to launch the Falcon 9 back to Earth on the O3b mPOWER mission Friday night. The Falcon Heavy launch was scheduled for Thursday night, but SpaceX delayed the flight by 24 hours due to bad weather plaguing Florida’s Space Coast.

In the end, the Falcon Heavy’s countdown was canceled a minute before liftoff for reasons SpaceX didn’t explain during its Friday night broadcast. The last-minute wait killed any chance of SpaceX launching back-to-back rockets Friday night, an event that would have marked the shortest lap between two SpaceX missions in the company’s history and the fastest turnaround between two orbital-class launches. Canaveral since 1966.

Separate SpaceX launch teams watched the near-simultaneous countdown of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy Friday night.

The O3b mPOWER satellites launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Platform 40 will carry high-speed internet services around the world, providing a “fiber-like” connection for users between 50 degrees north and south latitude, according to SES, the Luxembourg operator. Fruita O3b. Airplanes, cruise ships, energy companies, research institutions, and remote communities can stay connected using the O3b network.

The O3b spacecraft on the Falcon 9 rocket, when combined, weighs about 9,000 pounds (4,100 kilograms) in launch configuration, according to Boeing. The first stage of the Falcon 9 booster rocket landed on an unmanned ship in the Atlantic Ocean about nine minutes after takeoff for the O3b mission on Friday.

The Falcon 9 upper stage fired its single engine three times to propel the O3b mPOWER satellite into an elliptical broadcast orbit extending more than 4,300 miles (nearly 7,000 kilometers) above Earth, at an inclination of about 10 degrees relative to the equator. The satellites will use electric propulsion to reach their final operational circular orbits above the equator at an altitude of about 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers).

SES already has 20 first-generation O3b satellites on MEO. They flew into space on Russian Soyuz rockets under a launch services contract with Arianepas.

The new O3b mPOWER satellites will operate in a similar medium Earth orbit, or MEO, as the original O3b satellites. The first of two O3b mPOWER satellites launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in December.

O3b stands for “3 Billion More” in recognition of the billions of people who lack access to a reliable internet service.

The original O3b satellites, built by Thales Alenia Space nearly a decade ago, had 10 user beams per spacecraft. The new O3b mPOWER satellites, built on the spacecraft’s Boeing 702 platform, have more than 4,000 beams that can be tuned to focus bandwidth on areas of high demand.

SES has focused on developing high-bandwidth satellites for the MEO constellation, which place relay stations closer to Earth than in geostationary orbit about 22,000 miles above the planet. This reduces latency, or delay, in Internet signals compared to geostationary satellites. Some geostationary satellites can provide global coverage, but more satellites are needed at MEO to reach all parts of the world.

But that number is still far less than the hundreds or thousands of satellite internet companies like SpaceX and OneWeb that are launching into low Earth orbit. Satellites flying less than 1,600 km above Earth reduce latency even more than MEO satellites, but more spacecraft are needed for global coverage.

Another pair of O3b mPOWER satellites — #5 and #6 — are scheduled to be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket later this year. SES has ordered 11 O3b mPOWER satellites from Boeing so far, with additional launches on SpaceX rockets planned throughout 2024.

The Falcon Heavy is preparing for its sixth commercial flight launch to GEO

After liftoff, the Falcon Heavy mission will be SpaceX’s sixth three-body rocket launch since 2018, and the second of five Falcon Heavy flights the company plans for this year. It’s the first Falcon Heavy launch where SpaceX will intentionally get rid of all three first-stage boosters. SpaceX is devoting all of its rocket power to getting the 6-tonne (13,000-pound) US Visat III satellite and its passengers into near-earth orbit (GEO).

The mission will take about four and a half hours to reach its target orbit, requiring three burns by the upper stage engine. Direct entry into geosynchronous orbit is one of the most challenging mission features in the launch industry. This feat requires longer battery life on the upper stage, as well as a custom strip of gray thermoplastic paint on the rocket to help ensure that the kerosene fuel does not freeze during hours spent in the cold space environment.

Viasat did not say how much it paid SpaceX for the launch. Intelsat officials said last year that SpaceX charged a launch premium as the booster is spent.

The core of ViaSat 3 America’s mission center is all new, while side reinforcements from previous SpaceX missions are reused.

ViaSat 3 Americas is the first of three next-generation broadband satellites for Viasat that deliver Internet signals to underserved consumers, businesses and governments. Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, Viasat has agreements to provide in-flight Wi-Fi to passengers on Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and other commercial airlines.

The satellite is about the size of a school bus, and its solar panels will be deployed in orbit to generate more than 30 kilowatts of energy in orbit, more than a quarter of the electrical energy produced by all the solar panels on the International Space Station. .

The spacecraft has one of the largest antenna reflectors ever sent into space, and will feature all-electric propulsion for precise orbital maneuvers and station maintenance. After separating from the Falcon Heavy rocket, the spacecraft will use plasma thrusters to raise its orbit about 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) into a geostationary orbit, where its speed is proportional to the Earth’s rotation rate.

This will allow the ViaSat 3 Americas spacecraft to fly over the same geographic location along the equator at 88.9 degrees west longitude, providing coverage across North and South America and adjacent maritime regions. Viasat and Boeing are working on two more satellites to provide similar internet services in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Smaller communications satellites from Astranis and Gravity Space, both commercial startups, will go into orbit on a Falcon Heavy rocket.

The Astranis satellite, called Arcturus and weighing about 660 pounds (300 lbs), will provide broadband internet services to Alaska. The Gravity Space mini-satellite will help an Indonesian company maintain regulatory rights to an orbital slot in geostationary orbit with the International Telecommunication Union, which allocates fixed positions relative to commercial satellite operators.

Author’s email.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @employee.