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LOS ANGELES, July 25 (Xinhua) – The US private space company SpaceX on Wednesday morning launched the Falcon 9 rocket from California, which was carrying 10 more new-generation satellites for Iridium Communications, and landed successfully on a drone After the nine Merlin 1D rocket engines passed an automated health check, the Falcon 9 was released from the 4E space launch complex (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 04:39. PDT (1139 GMT)
Because of the precision needed for satellite insertion, the launch only had a window of one second, John Insprucker, a senior engineer. main integration at SpaceX, said at a live webcast.
smoothly, despite the fact that fog obscured the sight of the rocket before take-off.
At approximately two minutes and 27 seconds, the company confirmed main engine shutdown and phase separation.
quite rough. They are the worst we have ever had to try to get a first step on the drone ship, "Insprucker said in a live webcast about seven minutes and 17 seconds later. Rocket step successfully landed on the drone "Just Read the Instructions" parked in the Pacific Ocean
"Despite harsh weather conditions, the Falcon 9 thruster Just read the instructions," tweeted SpaceX.
The launch also included an attempt to catch the nose cone of the Falcon 9, or a payload fairing, with a giant net stretched across a boat called Mr. Steven. "[traduction]" They have seen the fairing of the payload decrease, but they have not managed to catch him in the net, "said Insprucker during the show about 50 minutes after takeoff. 19659002] SpaceX was tried to catch the carenag es of its rockets for months, the California-based company has not yet managed to catch one. Earlier in July, the company tweeted photos of a boat with an improved network four times larger than the previous version
The main mission of Wednesday's launch, called Iridium-7, is to deliver 10 satellites in low orbit for Iridium. Communications, an American company providing satellite communications
The Iridium Next satellites were deployed about 56 minutes after takeoff, with the process taking about 15 minutes.
"Successful deployment of 10 @IridiumComm NEXT satellites in low Earth orbit" SpaceX tweeted
The mission carried the total number of Iridium satellites into orbit at 65. This is the seventh out of eight SpaceX launches scheduled for the Iridium NEXT global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT.
81 satellites are built, of which 66 are in the operational constellation, nine are used as spare parts in orbit and six spare parts in
Iridium is the only mobile satellite voice and data communications company covering the entire globe, and the company has indicated that it is on track to completely replace the world's largest commercial satellite network of satellites. in low Earth orbit, which will be one of the largest technological upgrades in history
.According to the company, the entire surface of the Earth, including across the oceans, respiratory tracts and polar regions.
Wednesday's launch followed a launch of the opposite coast Sunday and will be followed by another launch scheduled for early August.
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