{"id":11128,"date":"2022-12-16T22:15:10","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T14:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/200th-launch-of-spacex-falcon-rocket-boosts-o3b-mpower-internet-satellites\/"},"modified":"2022-12-16T22:15:10","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T14:15:10","slug":"200th-launch-of-spacex-falcon-rocket-boosts-o3b-mpower-internet-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/200th-launch-of-spacex-falcon-rocket-boosts-o3b-mpower-internet-satellites\/","title":{"rendered":"200th launch of SpaceX Falcon rocket boosts O3b mPOWER internet satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:&nbsp;<\/strong>Watch a replay of our live coverage of the Falcon 9 launch with the O3b mPOWER 1 and 2 satellites.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>[tabby title=\u201dSFN Live\u201d]<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zFGNLODnyZs\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>[tabbyending]<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Friday from Cape Canaveral on a mission to boost two high-power broadband satellites for SES\u2019s O3b mPOWER network toward a unique equatorial orbit some 5,000 miles above Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Flying due east from Florida\u2019s Space Coast, the Falcon 9 rocket placed the first two O3b mPOWER satellites into orbit to join SES\u2019s 20 first-generation O3b internet satellites launched from 2013 through 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT) Friday, the end of the day\u2019s nearly 90-minute launch window. The mission was the 200th flight of a SpaceX Falcon rocket since 2006, including 191 Falcon 9 flights, five Falcon 1s, and four Falcon Heavy launches.<\/p>\n<p>The Falcon 9 on Friday was filled with a million pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants in the final 35 minutes before liftoff, and the Merlin 1D engines on the first stage booster flashed to life and ramped up to full throttle in the final few seconds before liftoff. Hydraulic clamps opened to release the Falcon 9 for its climb into space.<\/p>\n<p>The nine main engines produced 1.7 million pounds of thrust for about two-and-a-half minutes, propelling the Falcon 9 and and the two O3b mPOWER satellite into the upper atmosphere. Then the booster stage \u2014 tail number B1067 in SpaceX\u2019s fleet \u2014 shut down and separated from the Falcon 9\u2019s upper stage.<\/p>\n<p>The booster extended titanium grid fins and pulsed cold gas thrusters to orient itself for a tail-first entry back into the atmosphere, before reigniting its engines for a braking burn and a final landing burn, targeting a vertical descent to&nbsp;SpaceX\u2019s drone ship \u201cA Shortfall of Gravitas\u201d about 420 miles (670 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_60172\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60172\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-60172\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221216f9o3bremote1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221216f9o3bremote1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221216f9o3bremote1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221216f9o3bremote1-678x452.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221216f9o3bremote1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-60172\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX\u2019s 200th Falcon rocket launch took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT) Friday, Dec. 16. Credit: Michael Cain \/ Spaceflight Now \/ Coldlife Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>SpaceX did not have live video of the rocket landing, but later confirmed the booster successfully touched down on the landing platform holding position in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n<p>The landing marked the completion of the booster\u2019s eighth flight to space. The booster debuted June 3, 2021, with the launch of a Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station, and launched two astronaut crews into space on NASA\u2019s Crew-3 and Crew-4 missions. It has also launched the Turksat 5B communications satellite, another space station resupply mission, and a batch of Starlink internet satellites. Most recently, the booster launched and landed Nov. 13 on a mission with Eutelsat\u2019s Hotbird 13G television broadcasting satellite.<\/p>\n<p>For the O3b mission, the Falcon 9\u2019s upper stage fired its engine three times to send the two Boeing-built broadband satellites into a higher orbit, closer to their final operating altitude about 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) over the equator.<\/p>\n<p>The first O3b mPOWER satellite deployed from the rocket 1 hour and 53 minutes into the mission, followed by separation of the second spacecraft 2 hours after liftoff. The satellites will unfurl their solar panels and switch on xenon-fueled thrusters to maneuver into their operational orbit, a process that will take until about April, according to SES, the Luxembourg-based company that owns the O3b network.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_60146\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60146\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-60146\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221215o3bconstellation.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"773\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221215o3bconstellation.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221215o3bconstellation-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221215o3bconstellation-678x437.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221215o3bconstellation-768x495.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-60146\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist\u2019s illustration of the O3b mPOWER constellation in Medium Earth Orbit. Credit: SES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The two O3b spacecraft, when combined, weigh roughly 9,000 pounds (4,100 kilograms) in launch configuration, a Boeing official told Spaceflight Now.<\/p>\n<p>The O3b mPOWER satellites will beam high-speed internet services around the world, providing \u201cfiber-like\u201d connectivity to users between 50 degrees north and south latitude, according to SES, the Luxembourg-based operator that owns the O3b fleet. Airplanes, cruise ships, energy companies, research institutions, and remote communities can remain connected using the O3b network.<\/p>\n<p>SES already has 20 O3b satellites in Medium Earth Orbit. They flew to space on Russian Soyuz rockets under a launch services contract with Arianepace.<\/p>\n<p>The new O3b mPOWER satellites will operate in a similar Medium Earth Orbit, or MEO, over the equator as the original O3b satellites.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSES\u2019s O3b mPOWER system is a true gamechanger and will transform the way people think about connectivity,\u201d said Ruy Pinto, chief technology officer at SES. \u201cDelivering performance above all, O3b mPOWER will offer connectivity services to government organizations and enterprises based in the most remote regions. In times of natural disasters, when networks are disrupted, O3b mPOWER\u2019s low-latency services can quickly restore critical communications networks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O3b stands for \u201cOther 3 Billion\u201d in recognition of the billions of people without access to reliable internet service.<\/p>\n<p>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 Boeing\u2019s 702 spacecraft platform, each have more than 4,000 beams that can be adjusted to focus bandwidth on high-demand areas.<\/p>\n<p>SES has focused on developing broadband satellites for a MEO constellation constellation, which puts the relay stations closer to Earth than geostationary orbit some 22,000 miles over the planet. That reduces the latency, or lag, in internet signals compared to geostationary satellites. As few as three geostationary satellites could provide global coverage, but more satellites in MEO required to reach around the world.<\/p>\n<p>But that number is still far fewer than the hundreds or thousands of internet satellites companies like SpaceX and OneWeb are launching into low Earth orbit. Satellites flying less than 1,000 miles above Earth reduce latency even further than MEO satellites, but many more spacecraft are needed for global coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Steve Collar, SES\u2019s chief executive, said the O3b mPOWER satellites are comparable to the power provided by conventional large geostationary satellites.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the miniaturization, you don\u2019t see these incredibly large satellites,\u201d Collar said. \u201cIt\u2019s really, really tightly packed. It\u2019s like taking a desktop phone and turning it into an advanced iPhone. It\u2019s the same kind of miniaturization that has to take place. And it\u2019s really impressive what\u2019s been achieved at Boeing.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_60145\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60145\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-60145\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221215o3bmpower.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221215o3bmpower.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221215o3bmpower-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221215o3bmpower-678x452.jpeg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221215o3bmpower-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-60145\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SES\u2019s first two O3b mPOWER satellites stacked on top of another, ready for encapsulation inside SpaceX\u2019s launcher fairing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Boeing is contracted to build 11 O3b mPOWER satellites. More O3b mPOWER payloads are scheduled to launch on Falcon 9 rockets in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSES approached us with a vision to create global equity, by providing people with high-speed connectivity where it wasn\u2019t economically or physically feasible to build fiber infrastructure,\u201d said Jim Chilton, senior vice president of space and launch at Boeing. \u201cWe partnered to create a super computer constellation in space to meet that goal, and we can\u2019t wait to see what SES does as the 702X platform\u2019s first user.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SES operates more than 50 satellites flying in geostationary orbit above the O3b constellation. The company\u2019s network architecture allows them to move customers between the O3b satellites and the geostationary satellites as needed, and software allows the O3b mPOWER satellites to shift their beams to focus on areas with high demand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s going to be particularly relevant for cruise ships, for planes in the air that can fly across the Atlantic using the O3b mPOWER constellation,\u201d Collar said. \u201cAnd then when they arrive over the U.S., they\u2019ll use SES 17, which is our geostationary satellite that we really designed for aviation and aeronautical connectivity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we can combine the merits of what we\u2019re able to achieve with mPOWER and some of our geostationary assets through this software enabled space brain, and the fact that we\u2019re fully digital, we\u2019re fully software reconfigurable, we can point beams anywhere, and we can serve customers from 10 megabits to 10 gigabits. That\u2019s really the strength of the system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One user of the O3b network is Princess Cruises.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom a cruise perspective, the consumer does not care whether it\u2019s Starlink, or SES, or another provider,\u201d said John Padgett, president of Princess Cruises. \u201cWhat the consumer cares about, what guests cares about, is consistent, reliable, affordable, high performance communications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow with mPOWER, we can take that to the next level,\u201d Padgett said in a media telecon Friday. \u201cI think there is a lot of exploration going on in the cruise industry around Starlink. But I can tell you, from a Princess standpoint, we buy into the engineering model that backbones mPOWER because it\u2019s the right number of satellites, it\u2019s the right level of complexity, and it\u2019s industrialized enough where we can then really depend on operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not just a guest amenity to us,\u201d Padgett said. \u201cSo you can\u2019t have high performance one minute, and no performance the next. We need really reliable communications that are high performing. And that\u2019s what we think we get with this mid-Earth orbit satellite configuration, and the portfolio of tools that SES has in in their tool chest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ROCKET:<\/strong>&nbsp;Falcon 9 (B1067.8)<\/p>\n<p><strong>PAYLOAD:&nbsp;<\/strong>O3b mPOWER 1 &amp; 2<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAUNCH SITE: <\/strong>SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAUNCH DATE:&nbsp;<\/strong>Dec. 16,&nbsp;2022<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAUNCH TIME:<\/strong>&nbsp;4:21-5:48 p.m. EST (2121-2248 GMT)<\/p>\n<p><strong>WEATHER FORECAST:<\/strong>&nbsp;Greater than 90% chance of good weather<\/p>\n<p><strong>BOOSTER RECOVERY:&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cA Shortfall of Gravitas\u201d drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAUNCH AZIMUTH:&nbsp;<\/strong>East<\/p>\n<p><strong>TARGET ORBIT:&nbsp;<\/strong>Medium Earth Orbit transfer<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAUNCH TIMELINE:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>T+00:00: Liftoff<\/li>\n<li>T+01:12: Maximum aerodynamic pressure (Max-Q)<\/li>\n<li>T+02:33:&nbsp;First stage main engine cutoff (MECO)<\/li>\n<li>T+02:36: Stage separation<\/li>\n<li>T+02:44: Second stage engine ignition (SES 1)<\/li>\n<li>T+03:22: Payload fairing jettison<\/li>\n<li>T+06:33: First stage entry burn ignition (three engines)<\/li>\n<li>T+06:55: First stage entry burn cutoff<\/li>\n<li>T+08:03: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 1)<\/li>\n<li>T+08:24: First stage landing burn ignition (one engine)<\/li>\n<li>T+08:47: First stage landing<\/li>\n<li>T+27:10: Second stage engine restart (SES 2)<\/li>\n<li>T+27:43: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 2)<\/li>\n<li>T+1:49:52: Second stage engine restart (SES 3)<\/li>\n<li>T+1:50:18: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 3)<\/li>\n<li>T+1:53:19: First O3b mPOWER spacecraft separation<\/li>\n<li>T+2:00:19: Second O3b mPOWER spacecraft separation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>MISSION STATS:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>191st launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010<\/li>\n<li>200th launch of Falcon rocket family since 2006<\/li>\n<li>8th launch of Falcon 9 booster B1067<\/li>\n<li>163rd Falcon 9 launch from Florida\u2019s Space Coast<\/li>\n<li>106th Falcon 9 launch from pad 40<\/li>\n<li>161st launch overall from pad 40<\/li>\n<li>131st flight of a reused Falcon 9 booster<\/li>\n<li>8th SpaceX launch for SES<\/li>\n<li>57th Falcon 9 launch of 2022<\/li>\n<li>58th launch by SpaceX in 2022<\/li>\n<li>55th orbital launch attempt based out of Cape Canaveral in 2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:&nbsp;Watch a replay of our live coverage of the Falcon 9 launch with the O3b mPOWER 1 and 2 satellites. [tabby title=\u201dSFN Live\u201d] \ufeff [tabbyending] SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Friday from Cape Canaveral on a mission to boost two high-power broadband satellites for SES\u2019s O3b mPOWER network toward a unique equatorial orbit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}