With a Thursday late morning liftoff, SpaceX despatched the newest satellite tv for pc within the radio broadcast fleet owned by SiriusXM on geostationary switch orbit trajectory.
The SXM-9 satellite tv for pc lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the opening of the 90-minute launch window at 11:10 a.m. EST (1610 UTC).
The Falcon 9 first stage booster for this mission, tail quantity B1076 within the SpaceX fleet, launched for a nineteenth time. It beforehand supported the launches of CRS-26, Intelsat IS-40e, Ovzon 3 and 10 earlier Starlink missions.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1076 touched down on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions.’ This marked the one hundred and first booster touchdown on JRTI and the 379 booster touchdown to this point.
Maxar Technologies (NSYE: MAXR) is as soon as once more the satellite tv for pc producer behind the SXM-9 satellite tv for pc. The firm has constructed satellites for SiriusXM (NASDAQ: SIRI) going again to 2000 when it manufactured the first-generation Sirius satellites.
SXM-9 is constructed on Maxar’s1300 collection bus as a part of a deal that was introduced by Maxar again in August 2021.
“Maxar’s 1300-class platform has served as a dependable spacecraft platform for many years, and we’re glad to see SiriusXM will depend on its efficiency as soon as once more,” mentioned Robert Curbeam, Maxar Senior Vice President of Space Capture, in a 2021 assertion. “We’re wanting ahead to persevering with our decades-long relationship with SiriusXM.”
This was the second satellite tv for pc launched for SiriusXM because the on-orbit failure of SXM-7, which launched again in December 2020. The roughly 8.2-meter-tall (27 ft), 7,000 kg (15,432 lb) SXM-8 launched in June 2021 and accomplished on-orbit testing a month later.
SXM-9 has the identical dimensions and contains a 9 m (29.5 ft) diameter unfurl ready reflector antenna, which was manufactured by L3Harris Technologies. L3Harris was additionally tapped so as to add its antenna to the forthcoming SXM-10 satellite tv for pc as nicely.
