SpaceX is getting ready for its first Falcon 9 launch of 2025, which can launch a telecommunications satellite tv for pc designed to serve areas in Africa, Central Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Liftoff of the Thuraya 4-NGS (Next Generation System) mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 3 at 8:27 p.m. EST (0127 UTC), the opening of a four-hour launch window.
Spaceflight Now could have stay protection starting about an hour previous to liftoff.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster for this mission, tail quantity B1073 within the SpaceX fleet, will launch for a twentieth time. It beforehand launched the CRS-27 mission to the International Space Station, ispace’s Hakuto-R Mission 1, Bandwagon-1 and 13 batches of Starlink satellites.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1073 will land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’ If profitable, this may mark the 92nd booster touchdown for ASOG and the 391st booster touchdown for SpaceX thus far.
Boosting connectivity
The Thuraya 4-NGS satellite tv for pc will likely be launched on behalf of Space42, an organization shaped by the merger of the United Arab Emirates’ main satellite tv for pc supplier, Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), and an AI-powered geospatial options firm, Bayanat.
The newly-formed Space42 maintains two enterprise models: Yahsat Space Services and Bayanat Smart Solutions. It made its debut on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange beneath the “SPACE42” ticker on Oct. 1, 2024.
Space42 at present operates two geostationary satellites: Thuraya 1 (launched Oct. 21, 2001) at 98.5 levels East and Thuraya 2 (launched June 10, 2003) at 44 levels East (Thuraya 2). These present protection to land-based, marine and aviation clients in Africa, Central Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Thuraya 3 was launched on Jan. 15, 2008, by the previous multinational firm, Sea Launch, to the 98.5 levels East place and was designed to supply L-band cellular satellite tv for pc companies primarily for South and East Asia and the Pacific area, in accordance with monetary filings from Yahsat.
But in accordance with these filings from Yahsat, on April 15, 2024, the satellite tv for pc “suffered an surprising payload anomaly inflicting an ongoing service outage.”
“Following implementation of normal incident administration procedures, investigation of the incident along side the satellite tv for pc producer and exhaustion of most restoration choices, [Yahsat] expects companies to stay considerably diminished for a chronic interval in a majority of the geographies affected,” Yahsat wrote in its submitting.
A Q3 submitting for Space42 famous a discount in income from $323 million right down to $298 million (a lack of eight p.c) on account of the Thuraya 3 service loss.
The first three Thuraya satellites had been constructed by Boeing and had an anticipated lifespan of 12 years. However, the primary two satellites launched in 2000 and 2004 are nonetheless in operation.
Thuraya 4-NGS was constructed by Airbus, which delivered the satellite tv for pc to Florida in late November after making the transatlantic flight onboard an Airbus BelugaST aircraft. The firm was tapped to constructed the satellite tv for pc in 2020 by Yahsat.
“Thuraya 4 is on the core of our next-generation mobility options plans and demonstrates our dedication to harnessing superior SpaceTech to unlock revolutionary AI-powered companies for our world shopper base,” stated Ali Al Hashemi, CEO of Yahsat Space Services in an announcement. “Thuraya 4 will considerably broaden our product choices with greater than 15 new merchandise when it turns into absolutely operational.”
The satellite tv for pc is constructed on Airbus’ Eurostar Neo Platform and encompasses a 12-meter (39.4 ft) antenna, which operates in L-band. Airbus stated it should “present superior routing flexibility of as much as 3,200 channels with dynamic energy allocation over numerous spot beams.”
Yahsat chosen SpaceX to launch Thuraya 4 in September 2021. Originally, the satellite tv for pc was speculated to launch within the second half of 2023 to start operational service in 2024.
