SES will launch next satellite on previously flown SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
Emre KellySES, the first satellite operator to bet on SpaceX's vision of rocket reusability, will again depend on the company to launch its payload on a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket.
The Luxembourg-based satellite operator expects that its next satellite, SES-11, will fly on what SpaceX calls a "flight proven" Falcon 9 from the Space Coast sometime later this year.
"We confirm SES-11 will be launched by a SpaceX flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket," an SES representative told FLORIDA TODAY. "The launch date is to be confirmed but is expected later this year."
SES became the first operator to fly on a used rocket when SpaceX vaulted the SES-10 mission into the history books in March. That mission included a first stage landing on the "Of Course I Still Love You" drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, closing the circle on SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's vision of rocket reusability and lowering of launch costs.
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“We’ve been through this thing with a fine-toothed comb,” said Martin Halliwell, chief technical officer at SES, during a news conference in March. “SpaceX have been through this with a fine-toothed comb. This booster is a really good booster, and we’re confident.”
That confidence paid off for SES, one of the largest operators in the world, which owns O3b Networks and is planning its own low Earth orbit satellite broadband internet constellation. Halliwell said a discount was offered for flying on a used booster, but did not specify how much.
Musk believes lowering costs and increasing launch capacity will not only help deliver more payloads – and people – to space, but will also make humanity a "multi-planetary species."
What remains to be seen for the SES-11 mission, however, is whether or not SpaceX will have Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40 – the pad damaged during a September 2016 Falcon 9 rocket explosion – fully repaired and functional. If so, the mission could either take place from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A, which SpaceX leases from NASA, or Launch Complex 40.
Musk in March said the company would eventually start using Launch Complex 40 for "single stick" launches, meaning rockets with only one core, such as the Falcon 9. Pad 39A, meanwhile, would play host to his much-vaunted Falcon Heavy, which features three cores strapped together for delivering heavier payloads to higher orbits. The 27-engine rocket is expected to become the most powerful launch vehicle in the world when it makes its premiere flight in November.
In the near term, SpaceX is targeting Monday for the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon spacecraft destined for NASA's International Space Station. On board will be 6,400 pounds of cargo and science experiments for the crew.
SpaceX is scheduled to launch during an instantaneous window at pad 39A that opens at 12:31 p.m. A first stage landing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Landing Zone 1 is expected shortly after liftoff.
Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook at @EmreKelly.
Launch Monday
- Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
- Mission: Delivery of Dragon spacecraft to International Space Station
- Launch Time: 12:31 p.m.
- Launch Window: Instantaneous
- Launch Pad: 39A at Kennedy Space Center
- Join floridatoday.com starting at 11:00 a.m. Monday for countdown chat and updates, including streaming of SpaceX's webcast.