Falcon 9 launches radar, broadband satellites
Posted: Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 3:39 PM ET (2039 GMT)
SpaceX launched a Spanish radar satellite and two broadband demonstration satellites early Thursday. The Falcon 9 lifted off on schedule at 9:17 a.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and placed the Paz radar satellite into orbit. Paz, built by Airbus for Spanish company Hisdesat, was originally supposed to launch on a Dnepr but switched to SpaceX in 2017 after three years of delays. The Falcon 9 also placed into orbit the first two demonstration satellites for SpaceX's proposed Starlink constellation, named Tintin A and B. SpaceX attempted to catch at least one half of the payload fairing from the rocket using a ship equipped with a large net, but the fairing section missed the ship by a few hundred meters. Elon Musk later tweeted that a slightly larger parachute in the fairing should slow it down enough to enable a landing.
SpaceX launched a Spanish radar satellite and two broadband demonstration satellites early Thursday. The Falcon 9 lifted off on schedule at 9:17 a.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and placed the Paz radar satellite into orbit. Paz, built by Airbus for Spanish company Hisdesat, was originally supposed to launch on a Dnepr but switched to SpaceX in 2017 after three years of delays. The Falcon 9 also placed into orbit the first two demonstration satellites for SpaceX's proposed Starlink constellation, named Tintin A and B. SpaceX attempted to catch at least one half of the payload fairing from the rocket using a ship equipped with a large net, but the fairing section missed the ship by a few hundred meters. Elon Musk later tweeted that a slightly larger parachute in the fairing should slow it down enough to enable a landing.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Friday, October 24
Cedar Park OKs $1 million in incentives to support Firefly Aerospace expansion, 300 new jobs
Austin (TX) American-Statesman — 7:45 am ET (1145 GMT) Defense giants Airbus, Thales and Leonardo announce space merger to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink
CNBC — 7:45 am ET (1145 GMT) Experts: US Needs Whole-of-Government Approach to Match China in Cislunar
Air and Space Forces Magazine — 7:42 am ET (1142 GMT) European defence giants strike satellite alliance to challenge Musk’s SpaceX
The Daily Telegraph — 7:41 am ET (1141 GMT) Debrief: Competition Intensifies Between China’s SpaceX Challengers
Aviation Week — 7:41 am ET (1141 GMT) |
