{"id":11200,"date":"2022-11-04T00:01:21","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T16:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-launches-airbus-built-tv-broadcasting-spacecraft-for-eutelsat\/"},"modified":"2022-11-04T00:01:21","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T16:01:21","slug":"spacex-launches-airbus-built-tv-broadcasting-spacecraft-for-eutelsat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-launches-airbus-built-tv-broadcasting-spacecraft-for-eutelsat\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX launches Airbus-built TV broadcasting spacecraft for Eutelsat"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT) Thursday with the Hotbird 13G communications satellite. Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX launched the second in a series of three Falcon 9 rocket missions early Thursday for the European satellite operator Eutelsat, delivering to orbit a television broadcasting craft that also hosts an EU-funded payload to provide precise navigation data to airplanes.<\/p>\n

After a two-hour delay, the Falcon 9 rocket ignited its nine Merlin main engines and climbed away from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT) Thursday to begin a 36-minute mission to deploy Eutelsat\u2019s Hotbird 13G communications satellite into an elongated transfer orbit stretching as far as 35,700 miles (57,500 kilometers) from Earth.<\/p>\n

Hotbird 13G separated from the Falcon 9 rocket as it soared over Africa. The new communications satellite completed initial post-launch activation steps, according to Eutelsat, and will use on-board plasma thrusters to maneuver to its operational orbit hovering more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 mission early Thursday occurred less than two days after SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy rocket, the world\u2019s most powerful active launcher, from a launch pad at Kennedy Space Center a few miles north of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Falcon Heavy deployed two main satellite payloads into geosynchronous orbit for the U.S. Space Force.<\/p>\n

It was the fourth flight of SpaceX\u2019s Falcon Heavy rocket, and the first Falcon Heavy launch in more than three years. With that mission in the books, SpaceX\u2019s attention turned back to the company\u2019s workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9, with a commercial satellite delivery flight for Eutelsat.<\/p>\n

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket headed east from Cape Canaveral with its nine engines generating 1.7 million pounds of thrust. After soaring through a broken deck of clouds, the Falcon 9 shed its first stage booster about two-and-a-half minutes into the flight, while a second stage engine took over to power Hotbird 13G into orbit.<\/p>\n