{"id":11959,"date":"2020-12-13T22:41:28","date_gmt":"2020-12-13T14:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/siriusxm-satellite-rides-spacex-rocket-into-orbit\/"},"modified":"2020-12-13T22:41:28","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T14:41:28","slug":"siriusxm-satellite-rides-spacex-rocket-into-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/siriusxm-satellite-rides-spacex-rocket-into-orbit\/","title":{"rendered":"SiriusXM satellite rides SpaceX rocket into orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with the SXM 7 satellite. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A hefty new satellite to beam SiriusXM radio programming across North America rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Sunday from Cape Canaveral on course to replace an aging broadcast station launched more than 15 years ago.<\/p>\n

SiriusXM\u2019s SXM 7 spacecraft, built by Maxar in Palo Alto, California, is the first of two new-generation digital broadcasting satellites set to join the company\u2019s fleet in the coming months.<\/p>\n

The roughly 15,000-pound (nearly 7 metric ton) satellite lifted off at 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT) Sunday on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.<\/p>\n

Rocketing into the sky on an easterly trajectory from Florida\u2019s Space Coast, the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket surpassed the speed of sound in about one minute and then let go of its first stage booster more than two-and-a-half minutes into the flight.<\/p>\n

Using restarts of its Merlin main engines, the first stage guided itself back to an on-target vertical landing on SpaceX\u2019s drone ship \u201cJust Read the Instructions\u201d positioned several hundred miles east of Cape Canaveral in the Atlantic Ocean. This successful recovery marked the seventh trip to space and back for the SpaceX booster, known as B1051 in the company\u2019s rocket inventory.<\/p>\n

Two SpaceX boats were also dispatched downrange to recover the two halves of the Falcon 9\u2019s clamshell-like payload fairing, which jettisoned from the nose of the rocket a few minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9\u2019s single-use upper stage, meanwhile, powered into orbit with the SXM 7 satellite. The upper stage\u2019s first burn placed the spacecraft in a preliminary parking orbit, and a restart about 26 minutes into the mission propelled the commercial satellite into an elliptical \u201csub-synchronous\u201d transfer orbit.<\/p>\n

The rocket was targeting an orbit stretching more than 12,000 miles (20,000 kilometers) above Earth at its highest point. SpaceX said the Falcon 9 delivered its satellite passenger to the correct orbit.<\/p>\n

A live video stream from the rocket showed the 27-foot-tall (8-meter) SXM 7 spacecraft separating from the Falcon 9\u2019s upper stage over Africa.<\/p>\n

Maxar, the spacecraft\u2019s manufacturer, confirmed the satellite was healthy following launch Sunday.<\/p>\n

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The SXM 7 radio broadcasting satellite. Credit: Maxar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maxar said the satellite extended its power-generating solar arrays shortly after arriving in space. Ground teams at Maxar also established contact with the satellite as expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext, SXM 7 will begin firing its thrusters to commence its journey to its final geostationary orbit,\u201d Maxar said.<\/p>\n

The maneuvers will boost SXM 7 toward an operational perch in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers). In that orbit, the spacecraft will orbit Earth at the same rate the planet rotates, giving SXM 7 a fixed view of the Americas 24 hours a day, seven days per week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe satellite will provide continuous, reliable delivery of SiriusXM\u2019s audio entertainment and information services to consumers in the United States, and will expand SiriusXM\u2019s coverage area in Canada and the Caribbean, for years to come,\u201d SiriusXM saiid in a statement. \u201cSXM 7 will deliver the highest power density of any commercial satellite on orbit, sending more than 8,000 watts of content to the continental U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean, increasing the power and reach of the signal for SiriusXM.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once in geostationary orbit, the SXM 7 satellite \u2014 based on Maxar\u2019s 1300-series spacecraft design \u2014 will unfurl a large S-band antenna made reflector made by L3Harris to broadcast radio signals to receivers on moving vehicles.<\/p>\n

SXM 7 is expected to replace the XM 3 radio broadcasting satellite at 85 degrees west longitude. The Boeing-built XM 3 satellite launched in 2005 aboard a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket.<\/p>\n

The launch of SXM 7 was scheduled earlier this year, but a problem encountered during spacecraft testing at Maxar delayed the mission. SpaceX scrubbed a launch attempt Friday to conduct additional ground system checkouts.<\/p>\n

SiriusXM said Sunday it has five satellites in its active fleet, with XM 3 the oldest still operational.<\/p>\n

The launch of SXM 7 and a twin satellite named SXM 8 next year \u2014 also on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket \u2014 will extend SiriusXM\u2019s services through at least 2036, the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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Artist\u2019s illustration of the SXM 7 satellite with its solar panels and S-band antenna deployed. Credit: Maxar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The launch of SiriusXM\u2019s SXM 7 satellite caps a busy week for SpaceX.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 6, SpaceX launched its first upgraded Cargo Dragon spacecraft from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. The automated supply ship \u2014 sporting upgrades and a new shape based on SpaceX\u2019s human-rated Crew Dragon capsule \u2014 arrived at the International Space Station on Monday, Dec. 7, for a successful docking.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, SpaceX teams in South Texas launched a high-altitude test flight of the company\u2019s next-generation Starship vehicle Wednesday. The 164-foot-tall (50-meter) prototype rocket flew to airliner altitudes powered by methane-fueled Raptor engines, then performed a guided descent back toward a landing pad at SpaceX\u2019s test facility in Boca Chica, Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico border.<\/p>\n

The Starship rocket performed a dramatic flip maneuver to set up for landing, but the vehicle erupted in a fireball as it made a crash landing. Elon Musk, SpaceX\u2019s founder and CEO, hailed the test flight as a success.<\/p>\n

The reusable Starship could eventually carry more than 100 tons of cargo into space, and transport people to the moon, Mars and other deep space destinations.<\/p>\n

With SXM 7\u2019s launch, SpaceX has accomplished 25 successful Falcon 9 missions so far in 2020.<\/p>\n

One more launch is left on SpaceX\u2019s schedule this year. A Falcon 9 rocket is set to blast off from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center no earlier than 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) Thursday with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government\u2019s spy satellite agency.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with the SXM 7 satellite. Credit: SpaceX A hefty new satellite to beam SiriusXM radio programming across North America rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Sunday from Cape Canaveral on course to replace an aging broadcast station launched […]<\/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":[1735,771,1736,1573,479,25,1084,1900],"class_list":["post-11959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-b1051","tag-cape-canaveral-space-force-station","tag-complex-40","tag-drone-ship","tag-falcon-9","tag-launch","tag-maxar","tag-maxar-1300"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11959"}],"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=11959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}