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Community => Recreation Commons => Destination: Alpha Centauri => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on March 05, 2018, 08:46:04 PM

Title: SpaceX to Launch Spanish Communications Satellite Early Tuesday: Watch It Live
Post by: Buster's Uncle on March 05, 2018, 08:46:04 PM

SpaceX to Launch Spanish Communications Satellite Early Tuesday: Watch It Live
Space.com
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer |  March 5, 2018 10:56am ET


(https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA3NC80NDIvb3JpZ2luYWwvc3BhY2V4LWZhbGNvbjktcGF6LmpwZw==)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Paz radar-imaging satellite and two SpaceX satellite-internet prototypes into orbit from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on Feb. 22, 2018. Another Falcon 9 is scheduled to loft the Hispasat 30W-6 communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Feb. 25.  Credit: SpaceX



This story was updated on March 5 to include details provided by SpaceX's Hispasat 30W-6 mission press kit.

SpaceX is planning to launch a Spanish communications satellite early Tuesday morning (March 6), after more than a week of delay, and you can watch the liftoff live.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket topped with the Hispasat 30W-6 satellite is scheduled to launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) Tuesday following delays caused by extra work on the rocket and the launch range schedule.You can watch the spaceflight action live here at Space.com (https://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html), courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company's website (http://www.spacex.com/webcast).

SpaceX initially targeted a Feb. 25 launch for Hispasat 30W-6, but called off that attempt to allow time for pressurization checks on the Falcon 9's protective payload fairing, the nose cone that encloses a satellite during liftoff. That delay forced SpaceX to stand down until after another launch from Cape Canaveral — the successful GOES-S weather satellite launch Thursday (March 1) on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

According to SpaceNews, SpaceX expressed an interest in potentially launching Hispasat 30W-6 early Thursday morning, ahead of the GOES-S launch later that day. But Air Force officials said there were too many open questions to allow two rocket launches within 17 hours, SpaceNews reported.

The Hispasat 30W-6 mission will not feature a landing attempt by the Falcon 9's first stage, according to SpaceX representatives, who cited "unfavorable weather conditions in the recovery area off of Florida’s Atlantic Coast."

Hispasat 30W-6 is bound for geostationary orbit, about 22,300 miles (35,900 kilometers) above Earth. Madrid-based company Hispasat will use the satellite to provide broadband internet service to a number of locations worldwide, including Latin America, North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.

Hispasat 30W-6, which was built by California company SSL (formerly Space Systems/Loral), has a design lifetime of 15 years, Hispasat representatives said.


https://www.space.com/39798-spacex-hispasat-30w-6-satellite-launch-webcast.html (https://www.space.com/39798-spacex-hispasat-30w-6-satellite-launch-webcast.html)