SpaceX is sending two telecommunications satellites into orbit on its 200th launch
SpaceX conducted its groundbreaking 200th orbital mission on Friday (December 16), launching two powerful new communications satellites.
A falcon 9 Rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida on Friday Cape Canaveral Space Force space station at 5:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT).
After the first stage did its job, it came back and landed safely on a SpaceX drone ship in the Atlantic just under nine minutes after liftoff. It was the reusable booster’s eighth touchdown overall.
The second stage, meanwhile, carried the O3b satellites mPower 1 and 2 further towards their intended medium earth orbit (MEO). The satellites were deployed as planned (opens in new tab) about two hours after launch.
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O3b mPower 1 and 2 are owned and operated by SES, a Luxembourg-French satellite telecommunications network company. The spacecraft pair is the first of a planned constellation of an initial 11 high-throughput, low-latency satellites designed to deliver multiple terabits of global broadband connectivity from MEO.
Based on a Boeing BSS-702X satellite bus, each satellite features phased array antennas capable of delivering up to 5,000 spot beams to distribute hundreds of gigabits of capacity to users on the ground. SES plans to launch six more O3b mPower satellites in 2023 and three in 2024.
The mission marked SpaceX’s 200th orbital launch overall. These began with the falcon 1, which flew five times between 2006 and 2009 and led to the Falcon 9’s first launch on June 4, 2010. The Falcon 9 first stage is powered by nine Merlin engines, a fact that contributed to the rocket’s name. The second stage uses a single, vacuum-enhanced Merlin to complete the journey to orbit.
The Falcon 9 launch rate has increased dramatically over the years as the rocket has demonstrated its reliability, versatility and reusability while evolving into its final Block 5 version. The rocket has flown 191 missions so far, including a record 57 in 2022 alone.
Four SpaceX orbital missions have been flown by the powerful Falcon Heavy, which uses three modified Falcon 9 first stages.
SpaceX will have little time to celebrate the 200 missions milestone. The company plans to release a large batch of these Starlink Broadband satellites from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday (December 17).
Editor’s note: This story was updated on December 16th at 8:30pm EST with news of the successful satellite deployment.
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https://www.space.com/spacex-200th-launch-falcon-9-ses-satellites SpaceX is sending two telecommunications satellites into orbit on its 200th launch
