SpaceX to launch 4 Astranis satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral – Spaceflight Now

Following a uncommon pad abort on Dec. 21, SpaceX is as soon as once more getting ready to launch 4 satellites to a geosynchronous switch orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The firm needed to swap the primary stage booster for one more earlier than continuing with the mission.

Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) is about for 12 a.m. EST (0500 UTC) on Sunday, Dec. 29. This is the beginning of a roughly 2.5-hour-long window.

Spaceflight Now may have stay protection of the mission starting about an hour previous to liftoff.



Coming into the launch try, the forty fifth Weather Squadron forecast an 85 p.c probability of favorable climate at liftoff. The solely concern of be aware was the presence of cumulus clouds.

“Surface excessive stress will proceed to push off the Northeast coast at present. Although remoted

showers are doable close to the Spaceport at present, situations ought to enhance in a single day in the course of the major launch window,” launch climate officers wrote. “A chilly entrance will method from the northwest on Sunday, serving to to extend moisture throughout the area.

“While the principle line of showers and thunderstorms is predicted to clear the realm earlier than the backup launch window opens, scattered showers are anticipated simply forward of the entrance which may have an effect on the backup launch window.”

Following the scrubbed launch, SpaceX switched Falcon 9 first stage booster B1077 for B1083. The latter will launch for a seventh time after beforehand supporting Crew-8 for NASA; the industrial astronaut mission, Polaris Dawn; the CRS-31 flight to the International Space Station and three Starlink missions.

SpaceX didn’t publish any further data concerning the rationale for the scrubbed first launch try nor details about the need to swap the boosters.

Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1083 will land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’ If profitable, it will mark the 91st booster touchdown on ASOG and the 389th booster touchdown up to now.

Small package deal, huge mission

The 4 satellites onboard the FOTM mission are known as MicroGEO satellites since they’re every roughly the scale of a washer. They have been inbuilt Astranis’ Pier 70 amenities in San Francisco, CA, and are designed to function for about eight to 10 years.

Two of the satellites, named NuView Alpha and NuView Bravo, are designed to serve aviation and marine prospects of Anuvu. The settlement between the 2 corporations was introduced again in July 2021 and can service the realm in North America and the Caribbean.

“We purpose to develop our connectivity community in a method that’s scalable and agile for our mobility prospects” stated Josh Marks, CEO of Anuvu in a 2021 press launch. “Astranis and its MicroGEO satellites will supply Anuvu prospects freedom from decades-long contracts or outdated legacy methods. Most considerably, they’re fast to market, have a mission lifetime of seven to 10 years, and might be managed and up to date from the bottom, enabling our mobility purchasers to pivot their enterprise mannequin as new know-how is launched.”

Anuvu ordered the 2 satellites launching on Friday (initially deliberate to launch in “early 2023”) along with six extra that will likely be added sooner or later.



Also onboard the FOTM launch is one known as ‘AGILA,’ which is the identify of nationwide hen of the Philippines. This is the second satellite tv for pc offering service to that nation via a partnership with Orbits Corp.

The first of those two satellites launched, initially deliberate for launch within the first quarter of 2024, will likely be adopted by a second at a later date.

“Expanding our Philippines program to incorporate an extra Astranis MicroGEO satellite tv for pc signifies that Orbits Corp will have the ability to double the variety of people who it connects in probably the most distant islands of the Philippines,” wrote John Gedmark, Astranis Founder and CEO in a November 2023 weblog publish. “Millions of individuals, lots of whom stay on lower than $5,000 per yr, will have the ability to connect with the web as a direct consequence. 

“Orbits Corp estimates that this two-satellite program will carry as much as 10,000 direct and oblique jobs to the Philippines, accelerating financial progress and jumpstarting financial improvement in lots of the smallest and most distant communities within the fast-growing nation.”

GEO mobility

The closing satellite tv for pc launching onboard the FOTM mission known as ‘UtilitySat,’ which is able to initially be utilized in service of Astranis buyer, ISP Apco Networks in Mexico.

This is the primary of two MicroGEO satellites bought to the corporate, which has the power to “join as much as 5 million folks,” Gedmark stated in a 2023 weblog publish.

“A lot of our workers at Astranis come from Mexico, some from small communities the place connectivity could be very poor, or non-existent,” he stated. “As they advised us, and as we discovered from additional analysis, the necessity for higher connectivity in Mexico is self-evident — greater than 30 p.c of the nation doesn’t have web entry at present, and satellite tv for pc is commonly the one option to join the distant and rural communities scattered throughout the tough, mountainous terrain of Mexico’s 32 states.

“And the nation itself is targeted on enhancing satellite tv for pc web availability. Connectivity is a constitutional proper in Mexico, and the President has made connectivity a nationwide precedence.”

UtilitySat is exclusive from the opposite three satellites on this mission as a result of it’s designed to regulate its orbital place and help a unique mission than its unique one at launch.

“UtilitySat is the world’s first multi-mission industrial GEO satellite tv for pc, able to conducting totally operational broadband connectivity missions in Ka, Ku, and Q/V bands,” Astranis wrote on its web site. “A totally maneuverable satellite tv for pc with onboard propulsion, UtilitySat will carry out a number of such missions all through its life on orbit — relocating or repointing every year, month, or day to serve pressing buyer wants.”

The firm stated it plans to launch “a fleet of UtilitySat satellites within the coming years.”