SpaceX announced the successful launch of its communications Satellite in the orbit. The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket was delayed due to unfavorable weather conditions. It was originally going to take place on Tuesday. With the help of this rocket, the EchoStar XXIII satellite was launched to orbit for the satellite operator EchoStar. This communications satellite now resides high above the orbit of the Earth, in the Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). The main purpose of this satellite is to provide broadcast services to the country of Brazil as EchoStar is a global provider of video delivery and satellite solutions. This will take place when the satellite orbits the Earth from 22,000 miles above its surface. The SpaceX satellite launch was successful on its second attempt. The launch eventually took place on Thursday shortly after 2 a.m. EDT.
The SpaceX satellite launch successfully took off on Thursday.
The news was first out on the official Twitter handle of SpaceX. At around 2 a.m. EDT, there was a confirmation about the main engine cutoff and stage separation. A second stage engine burn will follow this which was underway. At 2:35 a.m. EDT, SpaceX tweeted a confirmation about its successful deployment to the GTO. The launch took place from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This historic pad was earlier used for the launch of the first Moon Mission of the company. The launch site has to accommodate other such SpaceX launches in the coming years as a result of a 20-year lease with NASA in 2014.
Liftoff! https://t.co/gtC39uBC7z pic.twitter.com/serafPcpy2
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 16, 2017
Successful deployment of @EchoStar XXIII to a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit confirmed. pic.twitter.com/LpPWLo8YMN
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 16, 2017
More about the SpaceX satellite launch of EchoStar XXIII
The EchoStar XXIII is a highly flexible Ku-band broadcast satellite services (BSS) satellite. It has four main reflectors which are accompanied with multiple sub-reflectors to support numerous mission profiles all at once. Initially, the commercial deployment of this satellite will be at 45 degrees West. Its Satellite End of Life (EOL) power is 20 kilowatts. The SpaceX satellite launch does not include a rocket landing post take-off as the satellite is particularly heavy which needs a lot of fuel for the launch. Therefore there will hardly be any fuel for a rocket landing. As a result of this, the first stage will burn up in the atmosphere which will separate it from the second stage.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that any such heavy payloads in the future will fly on the Falcon Heavy Rocket or the Falcon 9 Rocket. The Falcon Heavy Rocket will have its debut this summer while the Falcon 9 will mostly fly by the year end.
The EchoStar XXIII will orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface.
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