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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the Telstar 18 Vantage communications satellite into orbit early Monday morning (10 September) before returning for a spectacular drone-ship landing in the Atlantic Ocean.
After 77 minutes, the rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida at 12:45 EDT (0445 GMT) and put into orbit the Telstar 18 Vantage (18V) communication satellite, also known as Apstar 5C. 32 minutes later. About 8 minutes after takeoff, the rocket booster stuck a landing aboard SpaceX's East Coast drone vessel named "Of course, I still love you".
"We have no view, but we hear a request for recovery," the Falcon 9 landed, "said John Insprucker, senior integration engineer of Falcon 9, during the webcast of SpaceX. [See the Evolution of SpaceX’s Rockets in Pictures]
SpaceX has not attempted to recover the payload fairing – the protective cone that surrounds a satellite at launch – this morning. The company has tried to do this during several previous takeoffs using a boat equipped with a net named Mr. Steven but has not been lucky so far.
This mission used the new "Block 5" variant of the Falcon 9 rocket and was the fourth to use this updated model. While the previous Telstar mission was launched on a Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket reused in July, the Telstar 18V satellite was launched on a brand new rocket.
Telstar 18V is the third broadband satellite in a constellation launched by a Canadian company called Telesat. It will be the first satellite of this fleet to cover the entire Asia-Pacific region. Telstar 18V, located above Earth in geostationary orbit, will provide consistent broadband communications services to China, Mongolia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, Telesat officials said in a statement. a statement.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Telstar 18V communications satellite from the Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida on September 10, 2018.
Credit: SpaceX
The new satellite will "replace and expand the capabilities of Telstar's Telstar 18 satellite," launched in 2004, SpaceX officials said in their statement. Its position above the 138th meridian will allow it to provide coverage across Asia and Hawaii, "enabling direct connectivity between any point in Asia and America." Built by the California-based SSL aerospace company, the satellite is designed to last about 15 years in orbit.
Telstar 18V is also the second-largest communications satellite ever launched, weighing 15,564 pounds. (7,060 kilograms), according to Spaceflight Now. Telstar 19V, launched in July, is the heaviest communications satellite; he weighs only 34 pounds. (15 kg) more than the 18V Telstar.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is on the launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida before launching the Telstar 18 Vantage communications satellite in orbit on September 10, 2018.
Credit: SpaceX /Twitter
Today's launch marks the 15th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket in 2018 and the successful 18th SpaceX drone landing in 2016. The next SpaceX mission is expected to be launched Oct. 7 from the air base. from Vandenberg. California with SAOCOM 1A Earth Observation satellite in Argentina.
Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her @hannekescience. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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