{"id":18588,"date":"2018-03-30T22:13:42","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T14:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-launches-fifth-batch-of-iridium-next-telecom-satellites\/"},"modified":"2018-03-30T22:13:42","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T14:13:42","slug":"spacex-falcon-9-rocket-launches-fifth-batch-of-iridium-next-telecom-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-launches-fifth-batch-of-iridium-next-telecom-satellites\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches fifth batch of Iridium NEXT telecom satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_408960\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-408960\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-408960\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/180401-spacex-630x390.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceX Falcon 9 launch\" width=\"630\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/180401-spacex-630x390.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/180401-spacex-768x475.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/180401-spacex-1260x780.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/180401-spacex.jpg 1862w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-408960\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (SpaceX Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another 10 next-generation Iridium telecommunications satellites were sent into orbit today aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.<\/p>\n<p>This makes the fifth set of 10, out of a total of 75 that SpaceX is putting in orbit for the Iridium NEXT constellation.<\/p>\n<p>The two-stage rocket lifted off at 7:13 a.m. PT into a clear California sky, sparking sightings by the likes of actress Bo Derek. \u201cCongratulations @SpaceX #liftoff from my backyard,\u201d the star of the movie \u201c10\u201d tweeted.<\/p>\n<p>Iridium\u2019s satellites are part of what\u2019s been called one of the biggest tech upgrades in history. The Iridium NEXT constellation is designed to support more space-based communication services, including aviation and maritime tracking as well as voice and data services for commercial and government customers.<\/p>\n<p>The first-stage booster used for today\u2019s launch had previously flown during the Iridium-3 mission, which was similarly launched from Vandenberg last October.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Iridium-5\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5-1SEoyWY18?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>SpaceX took a pass on trying to recover the booster this time around, but it did send out a net-equipped ship called Mr. Steven to try catching the rocket\u2019s upper-stage nose cone, or fairing. This was Mr. Steven\u2019s second try, and like the first try in February, today\u2019s effort was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n<p>If fairings can be recovered, that could save millions of dollars per launch. The maneuver has been compared to using a catcher\u2019s mitt to snag a fly ball&nbsp;\u2014 an aptly timed metaphor for the first week of baseball season.<\/p>\n<p>A bit of a stir erupted over today\u2019s webcast coverage, or the paucity thereof.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX launch commentator Michael Hammersley said the webcast had to be stopped about nine minutes after liftoff, when the second-stage rocket engine completed its first burn, due to restrictions issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>\n<p>The interruption caused consternation among SpaceX\u2019s Twitter fans, and it took some time for an explanation to emerge. According to SpaceX, a recent NOAA ruling classified the cameras on the Falcon 9\u2019s second stage as a remote-sensing space system that had to be licensed. A provisional license was issued to cover today\u2019s launch, but that license prohibited SpaceX from airing views from the second stage once it was in orbit.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX doesn\u2019t expect this restriction to apply once a full license is obtained, nor will it apply to next week\u2019s scheduled Falcon 9 launch of a Dragon capsule to resupply the space station.<\/p>\n<p>Updates on today\u2019s mission milestones, including the successful deployment of all 10 satellites, were passed along via tweets from SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk. One of Musk\u2019s tweets explained why Mr. Steven missed catching today\u2019s fly ball:<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=979764513233715200&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2018%2Fspacex-falcon-9-rocket-launches-fifth-batch-iridium-next-telecom-satellites%2F&amp;sessionId=3af6e5e3cdfac1b39b136bc19a0eb86ff45a440b&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"979764513233715200\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782801319809274267=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">GPS guided parafoil twisted, so fairing impacted water at high speed. Air wake from fairing messing w parafoil steering. Doing helo drop tests in next few weeks to solve.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 30, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=980647734888681472&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2018%2Fspacex-falcon-9-rocket-launches-fifth-batch-iridium-next-telecom-satellites%2F&amp;sessionId=3af6e5e3cdfac1b39b136bc19a0eb86ff45a440b&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"980647734888681472\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782801319809274267=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Oh yeah, forgot to mention it actually landed fine, just not on Mr Steven pic.twitter.com\/HckB2OkJ5L<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Update for 12:25 p.m. PT March 31:<\/strong> NOAA has issued a statement providing more information about the licensing policy:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe National and Commercial Space Program Act requires a commercial remote sensing license for companies having the capacity to take an image of Earth while on orbit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow that launch companies are putting video cameras on stage 2 rockets that reach an on-orbit status, all such launches will be held to the requirements of the law and its conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpaceX applied and received a license from NOAA that included conditions on their capability to live-stream from space. Conditions on Earth imaging to protect national security are common to all licenses for launches with on-orbit capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (SpaceX Photo) Another 10 next-generation Iridium telecommunications satellites were sent into orbit today aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This makes the fifth set of 10, out of a total of 75 that SpaceX [&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":[4434,530,20,316],"class_list":["post-18588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-falcon-launch","tag-iridium","tag-satellite","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18588"}],"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=18588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}