SpaceX lofted three telecom satellites to orbit today (Sept. 13) on a milestone mission for the company.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 2:49 p.m. EDT (1849 GMT), carrying the final three satellites for Luxembourg-based SES’ O3b mPOWER constellation.
It was the 700th mission to date for SpaceX’s Falcon rocket family, according to the company. That family first spread its wings in March 2006 when the Falcon 1 debuted. The Falcon 1 flew a total of five times, twice successfully, before giving way to the workhorse Falcon 9 in 2010. The Falcon 9 has conducted the vast majority of the family’s flights; the only other member, the still-active Falcon Heavy, has launched 13 times to date.
The Falcon 9’s first stage came back to Earth a little less than nine minutes after launch today, landing in the Atlantic Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas.” It was the 29th flight for this particular booster, which is designated B1080.
The rocket’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued hauling the O3b mPOWER trio to medium Earth orbit (MEO). The satellites were deployed as scheduled, being released at an altitude of 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) over a 14-minute span starting roughly 33.5 minutes after launch.
SES already operates 10 O3b mPOWER satellites in MEO. The spacecraft that went up today will complete the constellation, which is “purpose-built to deliver predictable low latency, exceptional throughput and unprecedented flexibility for industries where uptime isn’t optional,” according to the company.
“It transforms how networks operate by pairing advanced software defined satellites with an intelligent ground and software ecosystem — ensuring guaranteed performance, even as global bandwidth demands surge,” the company wrote.
The O3b mPOWER satellites, which are built by Boeing, weigh about 3,750 pounds (1,700 kilograms) apiece. SpaceX has launched all of them, on six Falcon 9 launches beginning in December 2022.
Today’s launch was SpaceX’s 107th orbital mission of the year. The Falcon 9 has performed 105 of those flights, with the Falcon Heavy conducting the other two.
SpaceX has also launched two suborbital test flights of its Starship megarocket in 2026 and is gearing up for the third, which apparently will take the giant vehicle orbital for the first time.
