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<\/p>\nSpaceX launched Luxembourg\u2019s first military spacecraft on Wednesday, with a flight-proven Falcon 9 carrying the GovSat-1 communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral\u2019s Space Launch Complex 40 was at the start of a 121-minute window that opened at 16:25 Eastern Time (21:25 UTC). Amazingly, the booster survived a water landing, despite the return not involving the drone ship.<\/p>\n
GovSat-1, also known as SES-16, is the first satellite to be launched for LuxGovSat, a partnership between the government of Luxembourg and commercial satellite operator SES. The satellite will provide secure communications for Luxembourg\u2019s military and the country\u2019s allies, as well as supporting civilian government applications.<\/p>\n
The launch was the fifth time SpaceX has deployed a payload for SES. Falcon 9\u2019s first geosynchronous launch carried the SES-8 satellite to orbit in December 2013, while a March 2016 launch deployed SES-9. The launch of SES-10 last March marked the first re-flight of a previously-flown Falcon 9 first stage, with another re-used Falcon 9 used to deploy SES-11 in October. This launch again used a flight-proven booster.<\/p>\n
The SES-16\/GovSat-1 satellite is one of three which SES first announced in February 2015, along with SES-14 and SES-15. Orbital ATK was contracted to build GovSat-1, which is based on the new GeoStar-3 bus. The satellite has a mass of about 4,230 kilograms (9,330 lb) and is expected to operate for at least fifteen years.<\/p>\n
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Orbital ATK\u2019s GeoStar 3 bus.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft\u2019s propulsion system consists of a single IHI Aerospace BT-4 liquid apogee motor and four Aerojet Rocketdyne XR-5 Hall-effect ion thrusters. The satellite will be powered by a pair of deployable solar arrays.<\/p>\n
GovSat-1 was the second satellite based on the GeoStar-3 platform to launch. The first, the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company\u2019s Al Yah 3, was launched last Thursday atop an Ariane 5ECA rocket which was also carrying SES-14. The Ariane 5 placed both of its payloads into an off-nominal inclined orbit, although both satellites are still expected to be able to reach their planned final geostationary orbits. SES-15 was launched successfully by a Soyuz rocket last year.<\/p>\n
The communications payload aboard GovSat-1 consists of X-band and Ka-band transponders, incorporating anti-jamming capabilities, with bandwidth equivalent to sixty-eight 36 megahertz units. The spacecraft will be situated in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 21.5 degrees East, providing coverage of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, as well as the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas.<\/p>\n
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GovSat-1<\/p>\n
As well as serving military applications for Luxembourg and its allies, including NATO, GovSat-1 will also be used by Luxembourg\u2019s government to support disaster recovery and emergency response operations, to facilitate cooperation between civilian and military agencies and to provide communications for government offices in remote locations.<\/p>\n
SpaceX used a Falcon 9 rocket to conduct this launch. Falcon 9\u2019s forty-eighth flight, the GovSat-1 mission saw the rocket fly in the Falcon 9 v1.2 \u2013 or \u201cFull Thrust\u201d \u2013 configuration. It was the sixth Falcon 9 mission to incorporate a previously-flown, or \u201cflight-proven\u201d booster \u2013 that is a first stage that has been recovered and refurbished following a previous launch.<\/p>\n
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Falcon 9 is the only rocket currently flying that is designed to be partially reusable, with the rocket\u2019s first stage \u2013 also known as the Core or Booster \u2013 capable of making a powered landing either back at the launch site or downrange aboard an Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS). On missions where the first stage is to be recovered, it flies equipped with deployable landing legs and grid fins to facilitate a controlled descent and landing.<\/p>\n
The first stage that was used for this launch, Core 1032, was first flown last May when it helped to boost the NROL-76 payload into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office, in what was Falcon 9\u2019s first dedicated launch for the US military. After completing its role in the low Earth orbit launch, Core 1032 made a successful landing at Cape Canaveral\u2019s Landing Zone 1.<\/p>\n
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B1032 landing after its first launch<\/p>\n
Core 1032 was not recovered following this mission. As with December\u2019s Iridium-NEXT launch, SpaceX will dispose of the older Block 3 booster by flying it in an expendable configuration, despite still sporting landing legs. New-build Falcon 9 boosters are currently using the more capable Block 4 configuration, while the first Block 5 vehicles are expected to fly later this year, and SpaceX appears to have opted not to recover cores that would be unlikely to ever fly again.<\/p>\n
Despite not attempting to land the stage, SpaceX may still use Core 1032 for recovery demonstrations \u2013 such as a controlled water landing \u2013 after separation. This turned out to be the case, but more surprisingly, the booster survived the test.<\/p>\n