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SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with 40 more internet satellites for rival OneWeb

by | Mar 16, 2023 | Current Affairs | 0 comments

  • SpaceX launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with 40 more Internet satellites for OneWeb.
  • The final mission was to complete OneWeb’s first generation LEO satellite constellation and enable global coverage in 2023.
  • With 582 satellites now in orbit, OneWeb has accomplished its global goal of being the first generation LEO satellite constellation.
  • This launch enables OneWeb to continue expanding its connectivity capabilities.
  • The well-traveled first stage boosted the rocket out of the lower atmosphere and then fell away to fly itself back to a picture-perfect landing at the Space Force station while the second stage continued the climb to orbit.
  • The landing marked SpaceX’s 177th successful booster recovery and its 32nd at Cape Canaveral.
  • The second stage, meanwhile, reached its planned orbit after two engine firings and the first two 325-pound OneWeb satellites were released to fly on their own about an hour after launch.
  • The remaining 38 were released over the next 36 minutes.
  • Deployed in an initial 373-mile-high orbit tilted 87 degrees to the equator, the solar-powered satellites will use on-board xenon ion thrusters to reach their operational altitude of about 745 miles.
  • SpaceX and OneWeb are both building space-based constellations of broadband relay satellites, but the two companies are targeting different segments of the data communications marketplace.