SpaceX's Falcon Heavy made its second launch of the year with ViaSat-3 Americas satellite as its main payload and smaller Arcturus and G-Space 1 rideshare satellites Sunday. The launch was reportedly a success.
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Liftoff Successful After Being Delayed
Falcon Heavy was set to launch Wednesday, April 26, at 8: 26 PM. However, due to bad weather during the Thursday window, SpaceX moved the launch to Friday.
The launch was postponed to Friday before being scrubbed just before liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. On Sunday, the most recent attempt was successful, NSF reported.
Prior to its preflight static firing, this flight, the sixth overall for Falcon Heavy, was supposed to take place on April 18. The fire was not routine and revealed that the vehicle had at least one hidden problem that needed to be fixed in the hangar. As a result, SpaceX changed two engines in the first stage of the Falcon Heavy.
The Falcon Heavy launched straight east into a trajectory characteristic of geostationary satellite launches after igniting all 27 of its Merlin engines, producing a combined thrust of 22.82 meganewtons. The second stage included a belt of gray thermal insulation to maintain the temperature of the rocket's propellant during its prolonged flight.
The rockets of Falcon Heavy were exhausted by splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean following separation due to the direct geostationary orbit insertion. Similar methods were employed to finish the core stage.
None of the booster components include hardware for recovery, such as landing legs and titanium grid fins.
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More About ViaSat-3 Americas
The ViaSat-3 Americas was the primary payload for this trip. It is the first of the three new geostationary communication satellites that, when combined, are expected to offer near-global internet coverage to 99% of the world's population.
The Ka-band-capable ViaSat-3 satellites, which weigh about 6,000 kg each, will also use one of the biggest reflectors ever flown. The reflector, constructed of carbon fiber, reinforced polymers, and graphite, will be raised at the end of a boom similar to the one used to raise the sunshade for the James Webb Space Telescope.
In addition, the ViaSat-3 series will include eight solar panels with a combined capacity of about 25 kilowatts (kW), making it one of the most powerful communications satellites ever. The spacecraft and its solar panels will span about a third of the International Space Station or 43.9 meters.
The satellite is expected to stay in orbit for at least 15 years and use the geostationary orbital slot at 88.9 degrees West. The satellite, constructed in Boeing's El Segundo, California, plant and flown to Florida by a Ukrainian Antonov AN-124 cargo plane, was based on the Boeing 702MP bus.
ViaSat-3 is a worldwide satellite constellation of three high-capacity Ka-band satellites projected to expand our network's capacity and coverage while bringing high-quality, affordable connectivity to areas that need it the most.
Viasat believes it will be able to offer bandwidth economics that is better than those of any other space-based operator. With a significant increase in our total addressable market (TAM) and the ability to concentrate on providing higher margin services, such as real-time earth and space networking, this would allow us to offer unprecedented bandwidth productivity that enables us to keep up with growing market demand and fosters market innovation.
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