SpaceX launched 54 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It was the 15th mission for the Falcon 9 booster used for this launch. It previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3, and nine Starlink missions. It was the 58th launch of a Falcon 9 in 2022.
SpaceX launched 40 OneWeb satellites to low-Earth orbit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida using a Falcon 9 rocket.
The mission added 40 satellites to OneWeb’s 648 LEO satellite fleet, almost 80% of its first-generation constellation that will deliver global wholesale connectivity for its partners. This milestone mission marks OneWeb’s first time launching from Florida, where its satellites are also produced by OneWeb Satellites – a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus.
The launch will enable the company to significantly expand service and initiate additional connectivity solutions soon for partners across the U.S., Europe and much of the Middle East and Asia, representing all points north of the 35th parallel. The expansion of the OneWeb fleet will also enable coverage between the South Pole and the 35th parallel south, opening up connectivity services in Southern Australia, South Africa and parts of South America.
OneWeb’s connectivity solutions are already active in Alaska, Canada, the UK, Greenland and wider Arctic area to provide internet connectivity to unserved and underserved rural and remote communities and businesses.
OneWeb said it is on track to deliver global coverage in 2023.
The first stage SpaceC Falcon 9 booster previously launched CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, and one Starlink mission. Following stage separation, the first stage landed on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The FCC granted SpaceX authority to construct, deploy, and operate up to 7,500 satellites operating at altitudes of 525, 530, and 535 km and inclinations of 53, 43, and 33 degrees, respectively, using frequencies in the Ku- and Ka-band. The FCC defered a decision on the full SpaceX Gen2 Starlink application, which envisions up to 29,988 LEO satellites in its constellation,
The FCC also granted SpaceX’s request for authority to conduct launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) operations and testing during orbit-raising, as well as tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C) during the process of removing its satellites from orbit, consistent with the parameters described in the application and related materials.
In addition, the FCC ruling deferred consideration of SpaceX’s proposed use of E-band frequencies and tracking beacons.
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-partially-grants-spacex-gen2-broadband-satellite-application
On Tuesday, November 22, SpaceX successfully launched the Eutelsat 10B satellite to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The separation of the all-electric satellite occurred after a 37-minute flight and the spacecraft systems checkout was then successfully completed over a period of approximately 3 hours.
Built by Thales Alenia Space, EUTELSAT 10B is an all-electric satellite based on the Spacebus NEO platform. The satellite embarks a powerful 5th generation digital transparent processor, offering capacity allocation flexibility and an optimal spectrum use.
EUTELSAT 10B is carrying two multi-beam HTS Ku-band payloads: a high-capacity payload, covering the North Atlantic corridor, Europe, the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East, offering significant throughput in the busiest air and sea traffic zones, and a second payload to extend coverage across the Atlantic Ocean, Africa and the Indian Ocean. The satellite’s HTS payloads will be able to process more than 50 GHz of bandwidth, offering a throughput of approximately 35 Gbps.
Eutelsat said it has secured multi-year capacity commitmentswith several leading in-flight connectivity service providers, representing more than one third of the incremental HTS capacity. These partners will rely on EUTELSAT 10B to provide airlines with in-flight connectivity services.
Eva Berneke, Eutelsat Chief Executive Officer, said: "Congratulations to all the teams, from Thales Alenia Space to SpaceX, and the dedicated Eutelsat launch campaign team, involved in this successful launch. EUTELSAT 10B satellite boosts our global connectivity services with High Throughput capacity, meeting increasing in-flight and maritime demand.”
Pascal Homsy, Eutelsat Chief Technical Officer, added: “This is the fourth launch for Eutelsat in just under three consecutive months, quite a remarkable and unequalled technical achievement; congratulations to all! EUTELSAT 10B’s Ku-band payload complements the Ka-band of the EUTELSAT KONNECT VHTS satellite, launched in September 2022, reflecting our ability to serve our customers in both Ka- and Ku-bands with the best-in-class space assets.”
On Saturday, November 12th, SpaceX successfully launched Intelsat's Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 geosynchronous communications satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Intelsat's Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32, which were manufactured by Maxar, will ensure service continuity to Intelsat’s North American media customers.
Galaxy 31 will replace Galaxy 23 at 121 degrees west and will begin service in early 2023. The satellite will provide distribution services to cable headends throughout the United States.
Galaxy 32 will replace the C-band payload of Galaxy 17 at 91 degrees west in early 2023. This satellite will provide service continuity for Intelsat’s media customers with high-performance distribution to viewers in North America.
This was the sixth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, and now one Starlink mission.
The mission was SpaceX’s 61st Starlink mission to date.
It was SpaceX's 3rd Starlink mission in September and 28th Starlink mission this year.
On Saturday, September 10, SpaceX launched 34 Starlink satellites and AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 satellite to orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The mission was SpaceX’s 60th Starlink mission to date.
It was SpaceX's 2nd Starlink mission in September and 27th Starlink mission this year.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/sl4-2/
This was the seventh flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Arabsat-6A, STP-2, COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2, KPLO, and now three Starlink missions.
The mission was SpaceX’s 59th Starlink mission to date.
It was SpaceX's first Starlink mission in September and 26th Starlink mission this year.
https://www.spacex.com
On Tuesday, August 30, SpaceX launched 46 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
The mission was SpaceX’s 58th Starlink mission to date.
It was SpaceX's fifth Starlink mission in August and 25th Starlink mission this year.
On Saturday, August 27, SpaceX launched 54 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The mission was SpaceX’s 57th Starlink mission to date.
It was SpaceX's fourth Starlink mission in August and 24th Starlink mission this year.
T-Mobile US entered a technology partnership with SpaceX that will create a new network, broadcast from Starlink’s satellites using T-Mobile’s mid-band PCS spectrum nationwide. This will enable satellite-to-phone connectivity using existing phones.
Coverage will initially be over the United States, its territories and parts of the open ocean. T-Mobile US is inviting other global mobile operators to join in a reciprocal coverage agreement.
In a press event at the SpaceX Starbase in Texas, Elon Musk described the technology as a very difficult engineering challenge in part because the Starlink satellites will need to be able discertain individual cell phone signal from their low-earth-orbits. No changes are anticipated for the handsets.
The technology, which is currently working in the labs, will require specialized, very large (25m2) phased-array antennas on the next generation of Starlink satellites.
Elon said each ground cell zone would be quite large and might have 2-4 Mbps of shared bandwidth, enough for basic messaging, apps and some voice.
“We’ve always thought differently about what it means to keep customers connected, and that’s why we’re working with the best to deliver coverage above and beyond anything customers have ever seen before,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “More than just a groundbreaking alliance, this represents two industry-shaking innovators challenging the old ways of doing things to create something entirely new that will further connect customers and scare competitors.”
“The important thing about this is that it means there are no dead zones anywhere in the world for your cell phone,” said SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk. “We’re incredibly excited to do this with T-Mobile.”
On Friday, August 19, SpaceX launched 53 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The mission was SpaceX’s 57th Starlink mission to date.
It was SpaceX's third Starlink mission in August and 23rd Starlink mission this year.
SpaceX launched 46 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit on Friday, August 12, from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
This was the 10th flight for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4, Transporter-5, Globalstar FM15, and now two Starlink missions.
The mission was SpaceX’s 56th Starlink mission to date.
It was SpaceX's second Starlink mission in August and 22st Starlink mission this year.
SpaceX launched 52 Starlink satellites from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched SES-22 and now two Starlink missions.
The mission was SpaceX’s 55th Starlink mission to date. It was SpaceX's first Starlink mission in August and 21st Starlink mission this year.
This was the eighth flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, and now three Starlink missions.
The mission was SpaceX’s 54th Starlink mission to date. It was SpaceX's 6th mission during July.
On Friday, July 22, SpaceX launched 46 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The launch came 12 days after the last SpaceX launch from the same SLC-4E pad at Vandenberg, marking its fastest turnaround time to date at Vandenberg.
The mission was SpaceX’s 53rd Starlink mission to date.
On Sunday, July 17 SpaceX launched 53 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
This was the 13th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Dragon’s first crew demonstration mission, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, SXM-7, and now 10 Starlink missions.
It was also the 52nd Starlink mission to date and SpaceX's 31st mission in 2022.
SpaceX launched 53 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The booster was successfully recovered.
This was the 13th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3, and now eight Starlink missions.
The mission was the 28th this year for SpaceX. It was also the 100th time that SpaceX has reflown a first stage.
The FCC issued blanket authorizations to SpaceX to operate consumer and enterprise Ku-band Earth Stations in Motion (ESIM) and to Kepler Communications to operate unlimited Ku-band Earth Stations on Vessels (ESVs) in the territorial waters of the United States and aboard US-registered vessels throughout international waters worldwide.
Both SpaceX and Kepler propose to use the 14.0-14.5 GHz band to transmit (Earth-to-space), and the 10.7-12.7 GHz band, including 12.2-12.7 GHz (generally known as the 12 GHz band), to receive (space-to-Earth).
The grants are subject to a number of conditions, some of which are related to the ongoing 12 GHz rulemaking proceeding.
