Spaceflight firm hails successful 5th launch for its Iridium constellation on 1st anniversary of reusable rockets
U.S. private spaceflight company SpaceX on the morning of March 30 completed the delivery of 50 communications satellites into orbit for Iridium Communications on the one year anniversary of reusable rockets.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 7:13 a.m. PDT, carrying 10 satellites for Iridium Communications, as part of the company's Iridium Next constellation. The satellites began deployment about an hour after launch.
"Today, this is our fifth launch for the Iridium constellation, using only three rockets," SpaceX materials engineer Michael Hammersley said during live commentary.
Falcon 9's first stage for the Iridium-5 mission previously supported the Iridium-3 mission from SLC-4E in October 2017. But SpaceX didn't attempt to recover Falcon 9's first stage after the launch.
March 30 was exactly one year to the day after SpaceX first used a Falcon 9 for rocket launch and landing. Since then, the company has frequently been reusing Falcon 9 first stages for later missions, in pursuit of reusing rockets to lower the costs of spaceflights.
"Due to some restrictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA for short, SpaceX will be intentionally ending live video coverage from the second stage just prior to engine shutdown," Hammersley said, without elaborating on what those NOAA restrictions might be.
The successful deployment of all 10 satellites was confirmed about one hour and 12 minutes after liftoff, with much of the action being recorded on Twitter.
"Successful deployment of all 10 @IridiumComm NEXT satellites to low-Earth orbit confirmed," Hawthorne, a California-based company, tweeted.
By using "Mr Steven," a large navigable platform ship with extended "arms" and a net strung between them, SpaceX tried to "catch" one of the two payload fairings that enclosed the satellite at the top of the rocket.
"Attempting recovery of fairing falling down from space with our boat 'Mr Steven.' It's a giant steel & webbing catcher's mitt superstructure on a high-speed ocean ship," Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, tweeted during the launch.
These fairings were separated from the rocket about three minutes after launch.
The value of these fairings is about $6 million, and recovering and reusing them will save money for SpaceX. Currently, a typical Falcon 9 launch costs around $62 million, according to the company.
"Mr Steven is 5 mins away from being under the falling fairing," Musk tweeted after the launch.
SpaceX's previous attempt to catch a Falcon 9 fairing was missed earlier this year.
Toward the future
The mission on March 30, called Iridium-5, launched the fifth set of 10 satellites in a series of 75, with the rest set to be launched by SpaceX for Iridium's next-generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT.
When completed, the constellation will consist of 66 operational satellites and nine spares in orbit. SpaceX launched the first of four missions in 2017, which brought its total to 40 satellites.
The company plans to have launched a total of 75 satellites into orbit by mid-2018.
Iridium is so far the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that spans the entire globe, including across oceans, airways and polar regions.
According to the company, it is on track to fully replace the world's largest commercial satellite network of low-Earth orbit satellites in what will be one of the largest "tech upgrades" in history.
The satellite communications company has partnered with Thales Alenia Space for the manufacturing, assembling and testing of 81 Iridium NEXT satellites.
Iridium's next-generation global satellite constellation will deploy a cross-linked low-Earth orbit architecture, covering 100 percent of Earth's surface.
The process of replacing the satellites one by one in a constellation of this size and scale has never been completed before.
SpaceX initially aimed to launch the Iridium-5 mission on March 29, but a technical glitch with one of the satellites forced a delay.
Dragon mission
The launch on March 30 is one of two missions in four days for SpaceX. Another used the Falcon 9 rocket to launch an uncrewed Dragon cargo ship, which has flown previously, to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.
The U.S.-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) cargo mission was launched on Monday from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, with Dragon arriving at the space station shortly after.
Under an agreement with NASA, SpaceX is now developing the refinements that will enable Dragon to fly crew. Dragon's first manned test flight is expected to take place as early as this year, according to SpaceX.
The top U.S. telecommunications regulator on March 29 gave formal approval to a plan by Elon Musk's SpaceX to build a global broadband network using satellites.
"This is the first approval of a U.S.-licensed satellite constellation to provide broadband services using a new generation of low-Earth orbit satellite technologies," the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said in a statement.
The system, proposed by privately held SpaceX, will use 4,425 satellites, the FCC said.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in February endorsed the SpaceX effort, saying that "satellite technology can help reach Americans who live in rural or hard-to-serve places where fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach."
SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket on Monday at Cape Canaveral, which then deployed the company's Dragon capsule into orbit, industry website theverge.com reported.
The FCC said SpaceX has been granted authority to use frequencies in the Ka (20/30 GHz) and Ku (11/14 GHz) bands.
Musk, who is also the founder and chief executive of electric automaker Tesla Inc, said in 2015 that SpaceX planned to launch a satellite-internet business that would help fund a future city on Mars.
SpaceX wanted to create a "global communications system" that Musk compared to "rebuilding the internet in space." It would be faster than traditional internet connections, he said.
"This is an important step toward SpaceX building a next-generation satellite network that can link the globe with reliable and affordable broadband services, especially reaching those who are not yet connected," SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said.
